Connector architecture

Connectors consist of an application-specific component and the connector framework. The application-specific component contains code tailored to a particular application. The connector framework, whose code is common to all connectors, acts as an intermediary between the integration broker and the application-specific component. The connector framework provides the following services between the integration broker and the application-specific component:

The connector is metadata-driven. You specify metadata-- information about business object attributes and application-specific processing--in connector configuration properties and in meta-objects that serve as business object definitions. This obviates the need to hard-code instructions in the connector itself. For more on metadata for the connector, see Connector configuration as well as Adapter business object structure.

The connector uses WebSphere MQ messaging to receive messages and a SOAP/HTTP protocol-based channel to send them. For more information, see Application-connector communication. The sections below describe how the connector processes information.

Connector processing

The connector allows QAD MFG/PRO eB2 applications to exchange business objects with:

Figure 1 shows, at a high-level, the connector processing environment.

Figure 1. Connector architecture

For event processing, message routing and format conversion are initiated by an event polling technique. When an event is detected, the connector retrieves a message from a QAD MFG/PRO queue. Messages sent to the connector may be in Triplet or QDoc format. For more information on formats, see Data formats. The connector instantiates the QAD MFG/PRO data handler to convert the message to a corresponding business object (BO). The connector then delivers the BO to the integration broker for further processing.

Request processing is synchronous. The connector receives a top-level object (TLO) from an integration broker. A specialized business object, a TLO contains a request, response, and fault business object. Using the QAD MFG/PRO data handler, the connector adds a SOAP header and converts the request BO into a SOAP/XML format. For more information on formats, see Data formats. The connector then delivers the message to the MFG/PRO application via a SOAP/HTTP protocol-based interface. Upon receiving a response message, the connector converts it from SOAP/XML to a business object, which it passes back to the integration broker.

For a more detailed overview of event and request processing as well as of data formats, see Application-connector communication below.

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