Adapter components

Adapters consist of two parts: the adapter framework and the application-specific component. The adapter framework, whose code is common to all adapters, acts as an intermediary between the integration broker and the application-specific component. The application-specific component contains code tailored to a particular application or technology. The adapter framework provides the following services between the integration broker and the application-specific component:

This document contains information about the adapter framework and the application-specific component, which it refers to as the adapter. The WebSphere Business Integration Adapter for e-Mail also uses a data handler, which converts a business object to a specific data format, and converts e-mail attachments in a specific format into business objects. The e-Mail adapter can use one of the IBM-delivered data handlers or a custom data handler. For information on data handlers, see Planning an e-Mail adapter implementation and the Data Handler Guide.

Figure 1 illustrates the architecture of the e-Mail adapter.

Figure 1. e-Mail adapter architecture

Transport protocols

The adapter interacts with mail servers using JavaMail. The adapter supplies the parameters that JavaMail requires to communicate with mail servers, and JavaMail handles the underlying SMTP (Simple Mail Transport Protocol) and IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) protocols.

SMTP is the Internet mail transport protocol. The adapter uses the SMTP protocol for the mail transport.

For polling, e-Mail adapter supports the IMAP protocol via JavaMail for online access of e-mail messages and remote manipulation of the mailbox. IMAP is used for storing and manipulating messages on a mail server, thus enabling access of e-mail from anywhere. IMAP supports online query of messages, selective retrieval of message contents, and server-side searches for messages. Note that the e-Mail adapter does not currently support the POP protocol via JavaMail.

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