Using bidirectional functionality in Activity Editor

The WebSphere Business Integration Server supports bidirectional languages. This support is in a standard Windows-type bidirectional format (logical left to right). Because of this support, all maps also support bidirectional languages. However, data entering a map may come from:

An adapter that supports bidirectional languages. To determine if your adapter supports bidirectional languages, see your adapter's user's guide.

A component that does not support bidirectional languages such as the Access Interface, an adapter that does not support bidirectional languages or data imported from some external source where the bidirectional support is unknown.

Bidirectional format inconsistencies cause comparisons within a map to return incorrect results. These types of errors can be avoided by:

InterChange Server automatically enables BiDi functionality with the following nine connectors: JText, JDBC, Email, XML, MQ Series, SAP, PS, Web services, Lotus Domino. Therefore, when data in Windows BiDi format utilizes these enabled connectors in Web service no special configuration is needed.

In the event that Web service operates with BiDi data that is not in Windows BiDi format, two results are possible. The first result is that the connection to such a service might fail all together. The second result is that the BiDi data is in a format different from Common Windows Bidirectional Format (CWBF) that gives unpredictable results in data processing because the data is being compared against data in the CWBF format. In other words, identical information is being held in different BiDi formats. To rectify these potential situations, you need to follow these steps for Web service deployment inside Activity Editor.

Steps for deploying Bidi API in Web service

Follow these steps to deploy BiDi in Web service:

  1. Register the Web service.

    For information on registering, testing, verifying and exporting a Web service see the System Implementation Guide.

  2. Test the Web service using BiDi data to determine the BiDi format standard.
  3. Export the Web service into Activity Editor.
  4. Design the data flow using Activity Editor. Figure 83 shows an example of a BiDi design process.
    This figure shows the Activity Editor with Web services containing BiDi characters highlighted in red. The screen displays the exported with Web services highlighted in the upper-left section, the Function Blocks highlighted in the lower-left and upper-right sections, and the generated code highlighted in the lower-right section. Any Web service that has BiDi characters must be correctly displayed in each section. (Highlights are circled in red.)

    Figure 83. Activity Editor screen with BiDi elements circled in red

  5. Add calls to BiDi API inside the generated code just before the data is sent to the Web service and just after the reply is received to preserve the BiDi data consistency.
    Note:
    For more information on the BiDi transformations of BO instance content used in the BiDi API, see CwBidiEngine class.

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