Connector architecture

Figure 1 shows the connector components and their relationships within the WebSphere business integration system and to the MQSI message broker. The connector is metadata-driven. Message routing and format conversion is initiated by an event polling technique. The connector uses an MQ implementation of the JavaTM Message Service (JMS), an API for accessing enterprise-messaging systems.

Figure 1. Architecture of the connector

The connector allows collaborations to asynchronously exchange business objects with applications that issue or receive WebSphere MQ messages when changes to data occur.

The connector retrieves WebSphere MQ messages from queues, calls data handlers to convert messages to their corresponding business objects, and then delivers them to collaborations. In the opposite direction, the connector receives business objects from collaborations, converts them into WebSphere MQ messages using the same data handler, and then delivers the message to an WebSphere MQ queue.

You can configure the connector to use any data handler when processing messages. However, since the MQSI message broker can optionally convert any parsable message into XML format, it is highly recommended that you configure the connector to deliver all messages in XML. This means implementing the XML Data Handler for processing. For more information, see the Data Handler Guide.

The type of business object and verb used in processing a message is based on the FORMAT field contained in the WebSphere MQ message header. The connector uses meta-object entries to determine business object name and verb. You construct a meta-object to store the business object name and verb to associate with the WebSphere MQ message header FORMAT field text.

When a message is retrieved from the input queue, the connector looks up the business object name associated with the FORMAT text field. The message, along with the business object name, is then passed to the data handler. If a business object is successfully populated with message content, the connector checks to see if it is subscribed, and then delivers it to InterChange Server using the gotApplEvents() method.

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