Using the Adapter in iWay Designer

How to:

You can make an adapter available to a process flow created in iWay Designer, a GUI-based tool, used to build stateless process flows that execute within iWay Service Manager (iSM). The adapter can be incorporated as a node, called an Adapter object, in an iWay process flow, allowing you to integrate it easily into a business process solution.

When creating an Adapter object, you can add an adapter to the object in one of two ways:

To use an adapter in a process flow, you must first configure a target for the adapter within iWay Explorer. For more information on configuring a target, see Creating XML Schemas and iWay Business Services.

Before you begin, ensure that you have created a project and created a process for that project. You can create a project by right-clicking the Processes folder in your project and selecting New Process from the context menu.


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Procedure: How to Add a Previously Defined Adapter
  1. In the left pane of iWay Designer, select the process to which you want to add the adapter.
  2. From the button bar, click and drag the Adapter Object icon from the button bar to the workspace.

    The New Adapter Object dialog box appears.

    1. Provide a descriptive name and description (optional).
    2. If you have updated adapter target information in iWay Explorer, click Refresh Adapters.

      Note: The Deactivate option allows you to configure the object, but suppress its function within the process flow (usually used for debugging). The Design Mode option allows you to insert the object without configuring it, so that it acts as a placeholder in the process flow.

  3. Click Next.

    You are prompted to select the adapter type from the Defined Adapters list.

  4. Select the adapter target from the Defined Adapters drop-down list.

    If you do not see the adapter target in the list, you must go through the process of defining the adapter. For more information, see How to Define a New Adapter in iWay Designer.

  5. Click Next.

    The Main Properties dialog box for the adapter you selected appears.

    You can review and change the properties associated with the target. To change a property, click in the field and edit it directly. If multiple dialog boxes appear, continue to click Next to review all of the properties.

  6. Click Finish.

    An icon representing the adapter object appears in the workspace and the adapter is available to your iWay process flow. You can define relationships to other objects in your iWay process flow.


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Procedure: How to Define a New Adapter in iWay Designer

You can create a new adapter object that has not been previously defined in iWay Service Manager from the New Adapter Object dialog box.

  1. Select the process to which you want to add the adapter object.
  2. From the button bar, click and drag the Adapter Object icon from the button bar to the workspace.

    The New Adapter Object - Adapter Name and Description dialog box appears.

    1. Provide a descriptive name and description (optional).
    2. If you have updated adapter target information in iWay Explorer, click Refresh Adapters.
  3. Click Next.
  4. In the New Adapter Object dialog box, click New.

    The New Adapter Definition dialog box appears.

  5. Type a unique, descriptive name to be used as an alias for the adapter and a brief description (optional).
  6. Click Next.

    The Define Adapter iBSP URL dialog box appears.

  7. Select an available iBSP URL from the drop-down list or type a URL in the following format:
    http://host:port

    where

    host

    Is the name of the machine on which iWay Service Manager is installed.

    port

    Is the port number on which iBSP listens for SOAP requests. The default is 9000.

    The iBSP URL allows you to access targets defined in the iBSP repository.

  8. Click Next.

    The Adapter/Target dialog box appears.

    1. From the Adapter drop-down list, select the adapter.
    2. From the Target drop-down list, select the target you want to use in your iWay process flow.
  9. Click Next.

    The descriptor properties for the adapter and target you selected appear.

    You can review and change the parameters associated with the target. To change a parameter, click in the field and edit it directly. If multiple dialog boxes appear, continue to click Next to review all of the parameters.

  10. Click Next at the last descriptor dialog box.

    The Main Properties dialog box appears. You can review and change the properties for the new adapter definition. For example, if you want to create an error document, change the value to true.

  11. Click Finish.

    The Adapter Type dialog box appears with the newly created adapter in the Defined Adapters field.

  12. To use this adapter to create the Adapter object, click Next.

    The adapter and target properties dialog boxes for the adapter object appear. You can review all parameters associated with the target again. Continue to click Next through the dialog boxes.

  13. At the final dialog box, click Finish.

    An icon representing the adapter object appears in the workspace, and the adapter is available to your iWay process flow. You can define relationships to other objects in your iWay process flow. For information on defining relationships between the Adapter object and other objects in your iWay process flow, see the iWay Designer User’s Guide


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