WebSphere Business Integration Adapters: An Adapter Development and WebSphere Business Integration Solution

588 WebSphere Business Integration Adapters

To create a new XML format:

1. While logged on as hubadmin, select Hub Admin → Hub Configuration →

XML Formats to open the Manage XML Formats window, as shown in

Figure 29-19.

Figure 29-19 Manage XML formats in WebSphere Business Integration Connect

2. Click Create XML Format. A new XML format form is presented. A new XML

format needs to be linked to an existing protocol, which is what you defined

earlier.

3. Select customXML 1.0 in the drop-down box that is labeled Routing Format.

The file type is XML.

4. Select Identifier Type as Root Tag. The root tag in our XML documents is

Maintenance. Other ways of identifying an XML document are by using a

DTD or name space.

5. In the section Schema Attributes, indicate to WebSphere Business

Integration Connect how to identify the source and target business identifiers.

These identifiers could be set as a constant, but in most cases, you use an

element in the XML document as the carrier for information about business

identifiers. That way, it becomes easier to send this kind of XML document to

multiple partners.

Chapter 29. Integrating external contractors using WebSphere BI Connect 589

Figure 29-20 shows a sample XML document that indicates the element

names that store business identifiers. Figure 29-21 on page 590 shows the

form for creating a new XML format.

Figure 29-20 Sample XML file (edited)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<Q1:Maintenance xmlns:Q1="http://external.request.redmaint.com">

<Q1:From>redmaint</Q1:From>

<Q1:To>redcontract</Q1:To>

<Q1:ExpectedCompletion>1110600000000</Q1:ExpectedCompletion>

<Q1:ActualCompletion></Q1:ActualCompletion>

<Q1:StatusDescription></Q1:StatusDescription>

<Q1:Tenant>100</Q1:Tenant>

<Q1:Apartment>100</Q1:Apartment>

<Q1:MaintenanceId>2</Q1:MaintenanceId>

<Q1:CreateDate>1110500000000</Q1:CreateDate>

<Q1:Description>leak in roof</Q1:Description>

</Q1:Maintenance>

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Figure 29-21 Create a new XML format

6. Besides information about business identifiers, WebSphere Business

Integration Connect needs to know what document flow should be invoked for

XML documents of this format. This information could again be carried in the

XML document itself. However, we choose to make this information a

constant. The source document flow is ContractorRequest and the version is

1.0. The document flow was defined earlier, see Figure 29-17 on page 586.

7. Click Save to store the new format.

In our scenario, the ContractorResponse message is actually the same as the

ContractorRequest message. Only a few more elements are needed, but the root

element is the same. Also, the business identifiers are carried in the same

elements for the response as for the request. Therefore, you do not need to

define another document flow definition at the document flow level or to define

another XML format. However, in real-life situations, this is possible. We should

Chapter 29. Integrating external contractors using WebSphere BI Connect 591

then repeat the steps outlined above, so that a document flow definition and XML

format is created to handle ContractorResponse messages.

Creating interaction

Earlier, we created the protocol customXML that could be packaged in AS2,

None, or Backend Integration. We then created the document flow

ContractorRequest that was linked to the protocol customXML for each

packaging method. We defined the XML format linked to that document flow.

The next step is to create the interactions that tell WebSphere Business

Integration Connect how to move from one packaging, protocol, or document to

another. To create this interaction:

1. While logged on as hubadmin, select Hub Admin → Hub Configuration →

Document Flow Definition.

2. Click Manage Interactions. Then, click Create Interaction.

3. We need an interaction from AS/customXML/ContractorRequest to

None/customXML/ContractorRequest, which is the interaction shown in

Figure 29-22 on page 592. Select Pass Through as the action and click

Save.

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Figure 29-22 Creating interaction from packaging AS to None for customXML

4. Repeat steps 1 on page 591 through 3 on page 591 to create the reverse

interaction, from None/customXML/ContractorRequest to

AS/customXML/ContractorRequest. This interaction is shown in Figure 29-23

on page 593. Select Pass Through and click Save.