Accessing EIS data using WPAI SDO

The EIS data access tools in Rational® Application Developer allow users who don't have extensive programming knowledge to participate in the process of creating and managing Enterprise Information System (EIS) data objects in a portlet. The EIS data access tools use the SDO-based WebSphere® Portal Application Integration (WPAI) mediators as the programming model.

Supported Data Access Methods

Rational Application Developer v6.0.0.1 provides a set of tools to insert data objects from SAP, PeopleSoft, Domino®, or Siebel enterprise information systems (EIS) into a Faces portlet.

Depending on the specific back-end, different actions are supported.
  • SAP BAPI methods or RFM functions:
    • BAPI: invoke a BAPI method. Rational Developer provides visual exploration of SAP Business Object definitions. BAPI methods are explored by their associations to SAP Business object types.
    • RFM: invoke a Remote Function Call enabled Module (RFM). Rational Developer provides exploration of RFM through either direct name search or group search.
  • Siebel business components
    • Create: create new records. Picklist values are automatically retrieved from these records.
    • Retrieve: retrieve existing records.
    • Update: update existing records. Picklist values are automatically retrieved from these records.
    • Delete: delete existing records.
  • PeopleSoft Component Interface
    • Create: create new records. Translate table and prompt table values are supported through manual manipulation
    • Retrieve: retrieve existing records
    • Update: update existing records. Translate table and prompt table values are supported through manual manipulation

For more information on WPAI mediators, refer to Programming model overview.

J2EE Connector Architecture

The WebSphere® Portal Application Integration (WPAI) mediators are based on IBM® JCA connectors, which are developed according to the J2EE Connector Architecture (JCA). These connectors are required to run portlets containing WPAI mediators. When testing the portlets on WebSphere Portal 5.1 Test Environment, Rational Developer automatically deploys and configures the underlying IBM JCA connectors for the WPAI mediators. For other portal server environments, these connectors need to be manually installed. Refer to the documentation for each back-end (For example, SAP or PeopleSoft) for instructions on installing the IBM JCA connectors.

For general information on JCA connectors, refer to ../../com.ibm.etools.j2c.doc/topics/cresadapoverv.html.

Limitations

Limitations for accessing SAP

Limitations for accessing Siebel

Limitations for accessing PeopleSoft

Related concepts
Programming model overview
SAP data access
Siebel data access
PeopleSoft data access
Related tasks
Setting up SAP development environments
Adding SAP service data objects
Adding Siebel service data objects
Adding PeopleSoft service data objects

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