Generating business object definitions

This section describes how to use eMatrix ODA in Business Object Designer to generate business object definitions. For detailed information on launching and using Business Object Designer, see IBM WebSphere Business Integration Adapters Business Object Development Guide.

Before you begin

The eMatrix RMI collaboration server must be installed before you can run the eMatrix ODA. Once the collaboration server is installed, you must run the RMI daemon for the ODA to connect to the server.

You can run the ODA and the server on different machines. If you do, you need to know the hostname, port and name of the collaboration server on the remote machine.

Starting the ODA

The ODA for eMatrix has a default name of eMatrixODA. The name can be changed by changing the value of the AGENTNAME variable in the start script.

Running Business Object Designer

Business Object Designer provides a wizard that guides you through the steps to generate a business object definition using the ODA. The steps are as follows:

Start Business Object Designer

To run Business Object Designer from Windows:

  1. Select Start>Programs>IBM WebSphere Business Integration Adapters>
    Tools>Business Object Designer
  2. The Business Object Designer main window opens.
  3. To choose an ODA, Select File > New Using ODA. The Business Object Wizard - Step 1 of 6 - Select Agent screen appears (see Figure 3).

    Figure 3. Select Agent screen


  4. Click Find Agents. The system finds ODAs running on your system, including eMatrixODA, and lists them in the Located agents: window.
  5. Select eMatrixODA and click Next.

Configure the agent

The Business Object Wizard - Step 2 of 6 - Configure Agent screen appears.

In this screen you enter the information that the ODA needs to establish a context to communicate with the eMatrix database. The required properties and their values are shown in Table 17.

Figure 4. Configure Agent screen


  1. Use the Profiles menu to create a new profile. You may also select an existing profile.
  2. Type the name of each property, its value, type and description.
    Note:
    If you use a profile, the property values are filled in for you.


Table 17. Property values for configuring the ODA

Property name Property type Default value Description Required
ContextUser String Creator The user name that is used to
establish a context object to connect
to the eMatrix database.
Yes
ContextPassword String None The password that is used to
establish a context object to connect to
the eMatrix database. May be left empty.
Yes
HostName String
The host name and port for the eMatrix
collaboration server. For example;
katari:1099
Yes
CollaborationServer String
The name of the eMatrix
collaboration server. For example;
:bos
Yes
DefaultBOPrefix String EMatrix The default prefix for the business
object definition.
Nos
TraceFileName String <agentname>
Trace.txt
The name of the trace file. No
TraceLevel Integer 5 Trace level enabled for the ODA. Yes
MessageFile String <agentname>
Agent.txt
The name of the error and message file. Yes

All messages displayed by the eMatrix ODA appear in the eMatrixODAAgent.txt file, which has a standard message file format.

Note:
If the name of the message file is not correctly specified, the ODA will run without messages.
For more information on the range of trace levels and their meaning, refer to

Creating a Profile

You can also can save all the values you enter on this screen to a profile. Instead of re-typing all the data the next time you run the ODA, you simply select a profile from the drop-down menu and use the saved values.

You can save multiple profiles, each with a different set of specified values for the same properties.

When you have finished, click Next.

Select a business object

The Business Object Wizard - Step 3 of 6 - Select Source screen appears. Use this screen to select any number of business object or relationship types for which the ODA will generate business object definitions.

The screen lists the types that have been defined in eMatrix. If eMatrix has not been initialized, the list will be empty.

Figure 5. Select Source screen


  1. Select the business object types you want to use.
  2. Click Next.

Confirm selection

The Business Object Wizard - Step 4 of 6 - Confirm source nodes for business object definitions screen appears. It shows the source nodes you selected.

Figure 6. Confirm source nodes screen


Click Back to make changes or Next to confirm the list is correct.

Figure 7. Generating business objects screen


The next screen requires you to set the business object properties. Here you can select the business object prefix and the verb or verbs that the business objects will use. Deselect any of the verb values that you do not want your business objects to use.

Click OK to move on.

Save the business object definition

The Business Object Wizard - Step 5 of 6 - Save business objects screen appears.

Figure 8. Save business objects screen


Here you choose the location to which your business object definition will be saved.

You can optionally save the generated business object definitions to a file. To do so:

  1. Check Save business objects to a file. A dialog box appears.
  2. Type the location in which you want the copy of the new business object definitions to be saved.

Business Object Designer saves the files to the specified location.

Note:
If you create new custom objects in eMatrix, you must add new business object definitions for them, using the ODA as described in this chapter.

If you have finished working with the ODA, you can shut it down by checking Shutdown ODA: eMatrix ODA before clicking Finish.

Copyright IBM Corp. 1997, 2003