Connector architecture and processes

In the context of the Siebel EAI, data is transported in the form of an integration message. In this context, a message typically consists of header data that identifies the message type and structure, and a body that contains one or more instances of data, such as orders, accounts, or employee records.

The following diagram illustrates the Siebel connector architecture and processes.

Figure 17. Siebel connector and architecture process


The IBM generic Siebel business service is provided as part of the Siebel connectivity DLL solution. A business service is an object that encapsulates and simplifies the use of some set of functionality, such as the task of moving data and converting data formats. Business components and business objects are typically tied to specific data and tables in the Siebel data model. Alternately, business services are not tied to specific objects; they operate or act upon objects to achieve a particular goal.

IBM generic business service can be invoked by a workflow or other business services. The generic business service receives requests in the form of a property set. The XML converter, converts data from property sets to XML string. During conversion, the string is stripped of the tags that the WBI DataHandler does not support. This stripped down XML string is sent as a property set to the EAI DLL transport to invoke the send or receive method. The EAI DLL transport adapter sends and receives integration messages to and from the IBM Siebel connectivity DLL.

The EAI DLL transport adapter:

To execute the collaboration, the IBM Siebel connectivity DLL makes server access interface calls. The collaboration represents the business process that can represent multiple applications. The XML request from Siebel is then converted to WBI business objects using the XML DataHandler.

The interchange server invokes the XML DataHandler through the server access interfaces. In this instance, the DataHandler converts the XML input from Siebel into a generic WBI business object. The resultant message is passed back by the interchange server to the Siebel connectivity DLL. The connectivity DLL passes the message to the IBM Siebel generic business service. In the generic business service, the Siebel-specific tags stripped earlier are added back to the message and are converted back to a Siebel property set using the XML converter service. The message is set to the generic Siebel business service's output property set. At this point, the Siebel workflow will pickup the message.

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