Use the SAPInput node to interact with an SAP application.
This topic contains the following sections:
The SAPInput node allows you to interact with SAP applications. For example, the SAPInput node monitors an SAP system for any new purchase orders. When a new purchase order occurs, the SAPInput node generates a message tree that represents the business object with the new purchase order details. The message tree is propagated to the Out terminal so that the rest of the message flow can use the data to update other systems, or to audit the changes.
The SAPInput node is contained in the WebSphere Adapters drawer of the message flow node palette, and is represented in the workbench by the following icon:
To function correctly, the SAPInput node needs an adapter component, which you set using the Adapter component node property, and business object definitions, which are stored in the message set that you reference from the node. For this reason, you must provide a message set. By default, the message that is propagated from the SAPInput node is in the DataObject domain, so the Message domain property is set to DataObject. You cannot specify a different domain. The message type is detected automatically by the node.
The SAPInput node supports coordinated and uncoordinated message flows. For coordinated message flows, the nodes ensures that all updates to resources are committed or rolled back together within a single transaction. For uncoordinated message flows, the node allows updates to resources to occur independently, so that updates are not affected by the overall success or failure of the message flow.
The SAPInput node populates the route to label destination list with the name of the method binding. If you add a RouteToLabel node to the message flow after the SAPInput node, the RouteToLabel node can use the name of the method binding to route the message to the correct part of the message flow for processing.
You can deploy only one input node that uses a particular adapter component to an execution group, but you can deploy many input nodes that use different adapter components to an execution group.
When you have put an instance of the SAPInput node into a message flow, you can configure it. For more information, see Configuring a message flow node. To display its properties, either double-click the node, or right-click the node and click Properties. All mandatory properties for which you must enter a value (those that do not have a default value defined) are marked with an asterisk.
The SAPInput node terminals are described in the following table.
Terminal | Description |
---|---|
Out | Business object events from the adapter are sent to the Out terminal. |
Failure | Business objects from an adapter that are not constructed successfully in the node are sent to the Failure terminal. |
Catch | Business objects are sent to the Catch terminal if they cause an uncaught exception in the message flow. If the Catch terminal is not connected, the retry process is activated to handle the business object. |
The following table describes the node properties. The column headed M indicates whether the property is mandatory (marked with an asterisk if you must enter a value when no default is defined); the column headed C indicates whether the property is configurable (you can change the value when you add the message flow to the bar file to deploy it).
Property | M | C | Default | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
Node name | No | No | The node type, SAPInput | The name of the node. |
Short Description | No | No | A brief description of the node. | |
Long Description | No | No | Text that describes the purpose of the node in the message flow. |
Property | M | C | Default | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
Adapter component | Yes | Yes | The name of the adapter component that contains configuration properties for the adapter. Either enter a name of an adapter file, or click Browse to select an adapter file from the list of files that are available in referenced message set projects. |
Property | M | C | Default | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
Set destination list | No | No | Selected | This property specifies whether to add the method binding name to the route to label destination list. If you select this check box, the method binding name is added so that you can use a RouteToLabel node in the message flow after the SAPInput node. |
Label prefix | No | No | The prefix to add to the method name when routing to label. Add a label prefix to avoid a clash of corresponding label nodes when you include multiple WebSphere® Adapters input nodes in the same message flow. By default, there is no label prefix, so the method name and label name are identical. |
Property | M | C | Default | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
Message domain | No | No | DataObject | The domain that is used to parse the incoming message. By default, the message that is propagated from the SAPInput node is in the DataObject domain. You cannot specify a different domain. |
Message set | Yes | No | The name or identifier of the message set in which the incoming message is defined. | |
Message type | No | No | The name of the incoming message. The node detects the message type automatically. You cannot set this property. | |
Message format | No | No | The name of the physical format of the incoming message. You cannot set this property. |
Property | M | C | Default | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
Transaction mode | No | No | Yes | This property specifies how updates are handled. If you select Yes, updates are performed in a single transaction (coordinated message flows). If you select No, updates are performed independently (uncoordinated message flows). |
Property | M | C | Default | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
Additional instances pool | No | Yes | Use Pool Associated with Message Flow | The pool from which additional instances are obtained.
|
Additional instances | No | Yes | 0 | The number of additional instances that the node can start if the Additional instances pool property is set to Use Pool Associated with Node. By default, no additional instances are given to the node. |
Property | M | C | Default | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
Retry mechanism | No | No | Failure | This property specifies how retry processing is handled
when a failure is rolled back to the SAPInput node.
|
Retry threshold | No | Yes | 0 | The maximum number of times that retry processing is performed for short retry. |
Short retry interval | No | Yes | 0 | The interval between short retry attempts. |
Long retry interval | No | Yes | 0 | The interval between long retry attempts. |