The Complex Data data handler is a data-conversion module whose primary role is to convert business objects to and from specific data formats. The Complex Data data handler utilizes the ContentMaster product from Itemfield, Inc., as well as the IBM WebSphere Business Integration XML Data Handler to perform these conversions.
The ContentMaster product converts a specified binary or text data format into XML that can then be converted into business objects by the XML data handler. See Run-time components for more information about the components involved in this conversion, and see Converting business objects to specified data formats and Converting specified data formats to business objects for information about how these components interact at runtime.
The ContentMaster product provides both development and run-time components. The development components are used to configure the run-time components and create the schemas and parsers necessary to perform conversions at run time. The following two sections illustrate how the ContentMaster development and run-time environments interoperate with existing WBI adapter components to make up the WBI Data Handler for Complex Data. For more information specific to the ContentMaster development and run-time components, please see the Itemfield ContentMaster documentation.
The development components consist of the following:
The interaction between these components is as follows:
Once the business object definition has been created and the ContentMaster Engine (CMEngine) has been properly configured and published, the adapter can dynamically convert data input from the adapter to business objects and business objects back into data that the adapter can process. The following section describes how this process works at runtime.
The runtime components consist of the following:
The run-time environment comprises event notification, in which input data originating outside the WebSphere Business Integration broker is converted by an adapter and sent to the broker, and request processing, in which the integration broker uses the adapter to convert business objects and send the resulting data to the application, file, or other clients of that data. In both cases, the adapter calls the Complex Data data handler to perform the conversion between the data and XML, and calls the XML data handler to convert the between the XML the business objects.
See Converting specified data formats to business objects for more information about event handling at run time, and see Converting business objects to specified data formats for more information about the request processing process.