Working With Ebix Archives

In this section:

An Ebix archive is an archive file that expands and improves the concept of the traditional iWay data package archive. As part of the Ebix Management Facility, these archives allow developers to store and manipulate e-business metadata more efficiently. Ebix archives can be created and managed via the Dictionary Builder tool in Transformer.

Transformer allows you to publish Ebix archives to the iWay Service Manager Registry as Ebix components, to be utilized in iWay channels using the iWay Service Manager Administration Console.

There are two types of Ebix archives:

Note: The contents of an Ebix archive can be browsed using any third-party decompression software, for example, WinZIP.

A typical Ebix archive consists of the following parts:

The following diagram illustrates the architecture of an Ebix archive.

The following table lists the improvements of Ebix archives as compared to iWay packages:

Feature

Ebix Archive

iWay Package

Run-time Functionality

Running multiple data format versions simultaneously is supported, for example, EDI X12 4010 or 4030.

Only one data format version per run-time configuration is supported.

Global Documents

Automatic assignment is enabled. A document-based routing table is built within the archive to be accessed by the iWay Service Manager engine at run time.

Manual assignment is required.

Deployment

Stored in the iWay Registry upon deployment in the compressed form. It runs out of the box and on demand.

Must be exploded upon deployment, applies globally across the whole configuration. The updates are manageable since change control is not supported.

Portability

An Ebix archive is exported and redeployed automatically as a part of the channel.

Must be redeployed separately from redeployed components.

Design Time

Supported, out of the box.

Not supported.

History Log and Index File

Supported, automatically updated inside an Ebix archive.

Not supported.

iWay provides a collection of standard Ebix archives, grouped by data format and version. These Ebix archives can be downloaded from the following Web site, which is hosted and maintained by iWay Software:

http://iwse.ibi.com/iway60/ebiz/ism60/


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Creating New Ebix Archives

This section describes how to export one or more of your Ebix Entry projects into the Ebix archive.



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Procedure: How to Create a New Ebix Archive From an Open Ebix Entry Project

You must have one or more Ebix Entry projects open in Transformer to complete this procedure successfully.

To create a new Ebix archive:

  1. Click File in the menu bar and select Export to Ebix.

    The Export to Ebix - Step 1 of 2 dialog box opens.

    Perform the following steps:

    1. In the Name field, specify a name for the Ebix archive.
    2. In the Location field, specify the location of the Ebix archive on the disk. The default location is:
      <iWaySMHome>\tools\transformer\myprojects\package_entry_projects

      where:

      <iWaySMHome>

      Is the directory where iWay Service Manager was installed.

    3. In the Description field, provide a short description (optional) about the archive.
  2. Click Next.

    The Export to Ebix - Step 2 of 2 dialog box opens.

  3. Specify a name and a description for the new Ebix entry.
  4. Click Finish.

    A new Ebix archive is created.


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Creating Custom Ebix Archives

This section describes how to create a custom Ebix archive from an existing Ebix Entry project.



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Procedure: How to Create a Custom Ebix Archive from an Open Ebix Entry Project

You must have one or more Ebix Entry projects open in Transformer to complete this procedure successfully.

To create a custom Ebix archive:

  1. From the File menu, select Open, and then From File.

    The Open dialog box is displayed as shown in the following image.

  2. From the Files of type drop-down list, select Transform Ebix (*.ebx).
  3. Browse to an Ebix Entry project, which contains the entry or entries that you wish to add to your custom Ebix archive. You can use the Ctrl key to select multiple entries.

    Repeat this step as often as necessary to have all of the entries you want added to your custom Ebix opened as separate Ebix Entry projects.

  4. Right-click X12 Ebix Entries and select Export All to Ebix as shown in the following image.

  5. As you proceed through the Ebix Export Wizard, make sure that all of entries that need to be contained in the new custom Ebix are selected as shown in the following image.

  6. Click Finish.

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