WebLogic Server Process Edition Overview
Data transformation is the mapping and conversion of data from one format to another. For example, XML data can be transformed from XML data valid to one XML Schema to another XML document valid to a different XML Schema. Other examples include the data transformation from non-XML data to XML data.
Data transformation enables you to translate between XML, non-XML, and Java data formats, allowing you to rapidly integrate heterogeneous applications regardless of the format used to represent data. The data transformation functionality is available through a Transformation Control, and data transformations can be packaged as controls and re-used across multiple business processes and applications.
The following sections provide an overview of data transformation and introduce the key features of data transformation:
In a WebLogic Workshop business process, you can transform XML data using XQuery expressions or eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLTs). WebLogic Server Process Edition provides the functionality for executing existing XSLTs in business processes, and also offers a new and easier path to data transformation through XQuery. XQuery is a standards-based query language with the familiar simplicity of SQL-like expressions and an easy-to-use data mapping tool.
WebLogic Server Process Edition features a powerful visual data mapping tool, the XQuery Transformation Mapper, that enables you to easily generate complex transformations. The following figure shows the XQuery Transformation Mapper. The mapper functionality of WebLogic Workshop enables the conversion of data of different types. In addition, you can assign untyped data to typed variables, include parameter names and custom Java classes in maps, and display links implied from user-edited functions and structural relationships in maps.
Figure 4-1 XQuery Transformation Mapper
WebLogic Workshop generates a query from this graphical representation of a data transformation. The generated query is invoked during run time by the business process to transform data. The query is written in the XQuery language—a language defined by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) that provides a vendor independent language for the query and retrieval of XML data.
You can also import an existing XSLT into WebLogic Workshop for data transformation. An XSLT is written in the eXtensible Stylesheet Language (XSL)—an older language defined by the W3C that supports the use of stylesheets for the conversion of XML data. In WebLogic Workshop, the preferred method for data transformations is queries in the XQuery language. Data transformations using XSL transformations is supported primarily for legacy applications.
The following table details the key data transformation features.
For more information on data transformation, see Guide to Data Transformation in Building Integrated Applications in the WebLogic Workshop Help.