Using PortalODA in business object designer

This section describes how to use PortalODA in Business Object Designer to convert the existing business definitions to new ones and to generate new business object definitions. This is done by getting information directly from Portal Infranet. For information on starting Business Object Designer, see the Business Object Development Guide.

After you start an ODA, you must start Business Object Designer to configure and run it. There are six steps in Business Object Designer to generate or convert a business object definition using an ODA. Business Object Designer provides a wizard that guides you through each of these steps.

After starting the ODA, do the following to start the wizard:

  1. Open Business Object Designer.
  2. From the File menu, select the New Using ODA... submenu.

    Business Object Designer displays the first window in the wizard, named Select Agent. Figure 16 illustrates this window.

To select, configure, and run the ODA, follow these steps:

  1. Select the ODA
  2. "Configure initialization properties"
  3. "Generating definitions" and, optionally, "Providing additional information"
  4. "Saving definitions"

Select the ODA

Figure 16 illustrates the first dialog box in Business Object Designer's six-step wizard.

Figure 16. Selecting the ODA


To select the ODA:

  1. Click the Find Agents button to display all registered or currently running ODAs in the Located agents field.

    You can also find the agent using the Host name and the Port number.

    Note:
    If Business Object Designer does not locate your desired ODA, check the setup of the ODA.
  2. Select the desired ODA from the displayed list.

    Business Object Designer displays your selection in the Agent's name field.

Configure initialization properties

The first time Business Object Designer communicates with PortalODA, it prompts you to enter a set of initialization properties as shown in Figure 17. You can save these properties in a named profile so that you do not need to re-enter them each time you use PortalODA. For information on specifying an ODA profile, see the Business Object Development Guide.

Figure 17. Configuring agent initialization properties


Configure the PortalODA properties described inTable 13.

Important:
All of the PortalODA properties inTable 13 are required to be entered.

Table 13. PortalODA properties

Row number Property name Property type Description
1 UserName String Portal Infranet application login name
2 Password String Portal Infranet application password
3 CMPortNo String The port number on which the connection manager is running
4 CMHostName String The name or IP address of the machine on which the connection manager is running
5 Database String The database number to which the connection manager is connected
6 Type String The Portal Infranet connection type: 1 is for validating UserName and Password, and 0 is for no validation
7 Version String Version of Portal Infranet
8 LanguageVersion String Example: ENU for English
9 DefaultBOPrefix String Example: Portal_BO
10 FileLocation String The absolute path containing the files with previous versions of business object definitions. For example, in Windows, if the path is C:\PortalBos, you must enter the value C:\\Portal\\In UNIX, if the path is /home/PortalBOs, you must enter the value /home/PortalBos/
11 TraceFileName String Name of the trace file
12 TraceLevel Integer Text that is prepended to the name of the business object to make it unique. You can change this later, if required, when Business Object Designer prompts you for business object properties. For more information, see "Providing additional information"
13 MessageFile String Path to the message file

Expand nodes and select repository files, and storable classes

After you configure all initialization properties for PortalODA, the following screen is displayed by Business Object Designer.

Figure 18. Tree giving two options for BO conversion and BO generation


This screen has two expandable options, Convert and Generate. If you need to convert the old business object definitions into new ones, expand Convert. This displays the repository files containing the business object definitions that need to be converted.

Converting old business object definitions

The old business object definitions have application-specific information as comma delimited values while the new business object definitions have application-specific information as name-value pairs which are comma delimited. Also, the old business object definitions use meta business objects to transform the structure of a business object for a particular opcode while in the new business object definitions, this feature is replaced with the name-value pair of application-specific information at the attribute level of the business object.

Select the files to be converted, then click Next.

Note:
When you select a file, all of the business object definitions in that file are converted. There is no method for selecting a subset of business object definitions to convert. However, if you want to convert only a subset of business object definitions, you can create a new file with a subset of business object definitions, then convert the new file.

Generating new business objects

If you need to generate new business object definitions by getting information from Portal Infranet, expand Generate. This gets all of the storable class names from Portal Infranet and displays a tree.

The storable class names which are presented as nodes in the tree are expandable (see Figure 19). The generated business objects have some properties which have to be set individually before the business object can be used by the connector. The key fields for any business object have to be marked as key fields in the WebSphere business integration system business object. Depending on the opcode being used for the different verbs, the attribute-level application-specific information has to be set. For example, if an attribute is part of the Create verb opcode, the value for the property "Create" should be set to the name of the parent field. Refer to Attribute-level application-specific information for details of various properties in application-specific information of an attribute.

Figure 19. Screen showing the storable classes


This screen allows you to choose a storable class from the list to generate. The "+" sign before the class name means that the class has child objects. Multiple classes can be selected for generation.

Note:
When you select a class to be generated which has child objects, the child objects are not selected by default. You must explicitly select the child objects if you want to generate those as well. You can do this by holding the Shift key while selecting the child object.

Confirming the selection of the repository files and storable classes

After you identify all the repository files or storable classes to be associated with the generated business object definition, Business Object Designer displays the following confirmation screen (see Figure 20).

Figure 20. Confirming your selection


This window provides the following options:

Generating definitions

After you confirm the database objects, the next dialog box informs you that Business Object Designer is generating the definitions.

Figure 21 illustrates this dialog box.

Figure 21. Generating definitions


Providing additional information

If the PortalODA needs additional information, Business Object Designer displays the BO Properties window, which prompts you for the information. This is done only in the case of business object generation. Figure 22 illustrates this window.

Figure 22. Application-specific properties for storable classes


In the BO Properties window, enter or change the following information:

Figure 23. Application-specific information for verbs


The format for the verb-level application-specific information is:

OpCode=;Flag=;TFlag=;IF=;IFP=;IFM=;OF=OFP= describes

Table 14 describes each name in the verb-level application-specific information.


Table 14. Application-specific information for verbs

Name Description
Opcode The name of the opcode which should be executed for this verb
Flag The flag value which should be used with the Opcode
TFlag TFlag is either true or false depending on whether the Opcode maintains its own transaction or not.
IF Input Flist (IF) is the name of the business object that is used to prepare an input flist for the opcode
IFP Input Flist Parameter (IFP) is the name of the optional parameter that can be used to prepare the input flist.
IFM Input Flist Mode (IFM) is the value that defines the kind of flist translation that is done
OF Output Flist (OF) is the parameter that governs how the return flist of the opcode execution should be converted to a business object
OFP Output Flist Mode (OFM) is the value that defines the kind of business object update that is done from the output flist of the opcode

Saving definitions

After you provide all required information in the BO Properties dialog box and click OK, Business Object Designer displays the final dialog box in the wizard. Here, you can save the definition to the server or to a file, or you can open the definition for editing in Business Object Designer. For more information, and to make further modifications, see the Business Object Development Guide.

Figure 24 illustrates this dialog box.

Figure 24. Saving the business object definition


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