Request processing

The integration server sends requests, in the form of business objects, to the adapter framework. A request can ask the destination application to do either of the following:

For example, the integration server might send an adapter a request message to delete a contract, update a part, create an order, or retrieve a customer.

When the adapter framework receives an integration server's request, it converts the message into a suitable business object and forwards it to the application-specific component.

For example, if the integration server sends a request to delete a contract, the application-specific component receives the request in the form of a "Contract.Delete" business object. The application-specific component translates the business object into an application request - typically a set of calls to the API - and then returns the results, if needed.

When an application-specific component receives a request, it determines how to process the request based on three types of information:

An adapter's application-specific component responds to the Create, Retrieve, Update, or Delete verb in a request according to the logic and API of its application. The application-specific components of different adapters might handle the same type of request differently, although the result is logically the same.

For some adapters, only one method is required for performing operations on a business object, regardless of what verb the request contains. But for many adapters, each verb requires a different method.

When an application-specific component receives a request, it invokes the method in the EIS that matches the business object's active verb. For example, when an application-specific component receives an "AppAEmployee.Update" business object, it invokes the Update method on the "AppAEmployee" object. The Update method interacts with the EIS in order to perform the update.

When the operation is complete, the application-specific component will optionally populate the business object request with data from the EIS and the status of the operation, and forward it to the adapter framework for return to the integration server. This may be the data retrieved from the EIS in a retrieve operation, or it may be data generated by the application, such as object keys or default values, in a create or update operation.

Copyright IBM Corp. 1997, 2003