General meta-objects

There are three groups of general meta-objects in the connector that correspond to, and are set by, three properties in the connector configuration file:

This section describes the objects and shows you how the objects look in the Business Object Designer. Note that these are examples of the types of information the business objects can contain.

Configuration meta-object (BIA_Static_MO)

The configuration meta-object is a BIA_Static_MO. It stores static meta information for processing various message types as Application Specific Information (ASI) values.

Figure 21. BIA_Static_MO in the Business Object Designer
A screen shot of BIA_Static_MO.

The pertinent attributes of this example object are as follows:

Meta-object-level attributes Description
Default Describes the default values.
<object>_<verb> Describes the static meta attribute values for the verb associated with an object (for example, in Figure 21, MyLocalBO_Create and Employee_Create).
<object> Describes the static meta attribute values associated with an object (for example, in Figure 21, MyLocalBO and Employee).

The types of static meta information for processing message types that are stored as ASI values for each specified message type are as follows:

Application-specific information for each message type Description
mode = Possible values are sync or async. When the value is sync, the connector in event processing contacts the broker in a synchronous manner. When it is async, the contact is asynchronous.
collabName = Relevant only in synchronous event processing. Names the collaboration that the connector needs to invoke.
client = Clientx Relevant for service call request processing. Names the remote server configuration stored in the connector configuration attribute Clientx.
requestMode = Possible values are sync (for synchronous request processing) and async (for asynchronous request processing).

Service Registration meta-object (BIA_MO_Service)

The service registration meta-object is a BIA_MO_Service. This is the top-level object in a set of objects that describe multiple types of "services" that can be used in processing message types. A service is any reusable functionality. Only a data handler service is defined for this release, but others, such as a Database Service for database access, could also be defined.

Figure 22. BIA_MO_Service in the Business Object Designer
A screen shot of BIA_MO_Service.

The pertinent attribute of the object is as follows:

Meta-object-level attribute Description
DataHandlerService References a BIA_MO_DataHandlerServiceDetails, which contains further information.

The BIA_MO_DataHandlerServiceDetails object provides additional information for a data handler service.

Figure 23. BIA_MO_DataHandlerServiceDetails in the Business Object Designer
A screen shot of BIA_MO_DataHandlerServiceDetails.

The pertinent attributes of the object are as follows:

Meta-object-level attribute Description
Service Type Contains additional information for specifying the service type. It is not used for connector processing.
ServiceName Specifies the service name. In the case of the DataHandlerService, this is the mime type of the message to be processed as designated in the connector configuration file in the DataHandlerMimeType attribute.
ServiceInformation References a BIA_MO_DataHandlerService, which contains further information.

The BIA_MO_DataHandlerService object provides specific information for invoking the appropriate data handler and its methods.

Figure 24. BIA_MO_DataHandlerService in the Business Object Designer
A screen shot of a sample BIA_MO_DataHandlerServiceDetails.

The pertinent attributes of the object are as follows:

Meta-object-level attributes Description
hl7 Defines the handling for a specific mime type. The object (in Figure 24, BIA_MO_DataHandlerService_HL7) referenced in this attribute contains specific information used by the data handler. The related child attributes in this table (indicated by a +) belong to the contained object. They are used if the mime type listed here matches the ServiceName attribute in the BIA_MO_DataHandlerServiceDetails object.
+EventMethodFormat Stores the HL7 DataHandler method to be invoked for event processing
+RequestMethodFormat Stores the HL7 DataHandler method to be invoked for service call request processing
+CharSet Stores the CharSet of the message data coming into the socket. This setting should match the CharacterEncoding property in the connector configuration file.
+SupportMultipleMessages Tells the connector whether the data coming in contains single or multiple messages.
ncpdp Defines the handling for a second mime type through a reference to another type-specific object (in Figure 24, BIA_MO_DataHandlerService_NCPDP).

Data handler meta-object (BIA_MO_DataHandler_Default)

The data handler meta-object is a BIA_MO_DataHandler_Default. This is the top-level object in a hierarchy that stores information used by the designated data handler. This information is distinct from the information stored in the Service Registration object hierarchy.

Figure 25. BIA_MO_DataHandlerDefault in the Business Object Designer
A screen shot of BIA_MO_DataHandler_Default.

The pertinent attribute of the object is as follows:

Meta-object-level attribute Description
hl7 Defines the handling for a mime type, as designated in the connector configuration file in the DataHandlerMimeType attribute. The referenced object (in Figure 25, BIA_MO_DataHandler_HL7) contains type specific information used by the data handler.

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