Connectors consist of an application-specific component and the connector framework. The application-specific component contains code tailored to a particular application. The connector framework, whose code is common to all connectors, acts as an intermediary between the integration broker and the application-specific component. The connector framework provides the following services between the integration broker and the application-specific component:
The connector is metadata-driven. You specify metadata-- information about business object attributes and application-specific processing--in connector configuration properties and in meta-objects that serve as business object definitions. This obviates the need to hard-code instructions in the connector itself. For more on metadata for the connector, see Connector configuration as well as Adapter business object structure.
The connector uses WebSphere MQ messaging to send and receive messages. For more information, see Application-connector communication. The sections below describe how the connector processes information.
When configured with the WebSphere InterChange Server (ICS) integration broker, the connector allows IBM WebSphere Business Integration collaborations to asynchronously exchange business objects with QAD MFG/PRO applications.
Figure 1 shows the processing context for an ICS integration broker configuration.
Figure 1.
Connector architecture for ICS integration broker
For event processing, message routing and format conversion are initiated by an event polling technique. The connector can poll multiple input queues, polling each in a round-robin manner and retrieving a specified number of messages from each queue. When an event is detected, the connector retrieves a message from a QAD MFG/PRO queue and instantiates the MFG/PRO data handler to convert the message to a corresponding business object (BO). The connector then delivers the BO to a collaboration via the ICS.
For request processing, the connector receives a business object from a collaboration via the ICS and, using the MFG/PRO data handler, converts the BO into a WebSphere MQ message in a native MFG/PRO data format. The connector then delivers the message to the MFG/PRO application queue.
For a more detailed overview of event and request processing as well as of data formats, see Application-connector communication below.