Siebel eAI includes four XML converter business services:

  • EAI XML Converter
  • XML Hierarchy Converter
  • EAI Integration Object to XML Hierarchy Converter
  • XML Converter

NOTE:  XML converters may add unexpected carriage returns throughout the output document, for readability reasons. These characters are not significant and can be removed if the receiving application does not expect them and produces a parsing error. You can use eScript or Siebel VB to remove them.

Table 16 outlines the differences among these converters. Using these converters, Siebel eAI supports three types of standard XML integrations:

  • XML integration using Siebel XML. This integration uses XML that conforms to the XML Schema Definition (XSD), Document Type Definition (DTD), or schema generated from any Siebel integration object. Siebel XML is generated by the external application or by a third-party product. This type of integration uses the EAI XML Converter business service.
  • XML integration without using Integration Objects. For this integration, any necessary data mapping and data transformation must be handled using custom eScripts. This type of integration uses the XML Hierarchy Converter business service.
  • XML integration using XML Integration Objects. With this integration, XML integration objects are mapped to Siebel Integration Objects using Siebel Data Mapper and are based on external XSDs or DTDs. XML integration objects are used to map data between the external application and Siebel eBusiness Applications. This type of integration uses the EAI XML Converter business service.

NOTE:  These converters do not support Shift-JIS page code on UNIX platforms.

You can specify most parameters for the XML Converters as either business service method arguments or as user properties on the business service. If a business service method argument and a user property have the same name, the business service method argument always takes precedence over the user property.

NOTE:  There are also two associated business services for XML that combine XML Converters with file reading and writing, which are useful for testing and debugging during the development phase. These are the EAI XML Read from File business service and the EAI XML Write to File business service.

XML Reference: Siebel eBusiness Application Integration Volume V