Integration Platform Technologies: Siebel eBusiness Application Integration Volume ll > Siebel eAI and File Attachments >

Exchange of Attachments with External Applications

Siebel eAI supports bidirectional attachments exchange with external applications using the following two message types:

• MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions). MIME is the industry standard for exchanging multipart messages. The first part of the MIME message is an XML document representing the business object being exchanged and attachments to the object are included as separate parts of the multipart message. MIME is the recommended choice for integrating Siebel applications with other applications.
• Inline XML attachments (Inline Extensible Markup Language). With inline XML attachments, the entire business object you are exchanging, including any attachments, is sent as a single XML file. In this case, attachments are included within the body of the inline XML attachment. Inline XML attachments should be considered when integrating two instances of Siebel applications using file attachments. For details, see XML Reference: Siebel eBusiness Application Integration Volume V.