Defining meta-data

The adapter for Microsoft Exchange Server is meta-data-driven. In the WebSphere business integration system, meta-data is defined as application-specific information exported by Exchange Server that describes its data structures. The meta-data is used to construct business object definitions which the connector uses at run time to build business objects.

A meta-data-driven adapter handles each business object that it supports according to the meta-data encoded in the business object definition. This enables the adapter to handle new or modified business object definitions without requiring modifications to the code.

Application-specific meta-data includes the structure of the business object and the settings of its attribute properties. Actual data values for each business object are conveyed in message objects at run time.

The adapter makes assumptions about the structure of its supported business objects, the relationships between parent and child business objects, and the format of the data. Therefore, it is important that the structure of the business object exactly match the structure defined for the corresponding object within Exchange Server or the adapter will not be able to process business objects correctly.

Note:
If you modify the Outlook model to add fields to a business object, you must then use Business Object Designer to add the new fields to the business object definition.

For more information on modifying business object definitions, see WebSphere Business Integration Adapters Business Object Development Guide.

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