Defining Application Views

 

This section contains information on the following subjects:

• Before You Begin

• Introduction to Defining Application Views

  • The Flow of Events

• Steps for Defining Application Views

  • Logging On to the Application View Management Console

  • Defining an Application View

  • Adding Services to an Application View

  • Adding Events to an Application View

  • Testing an Application View's Services

  • Testing an Application View's Events

  • Editing an Application View

 

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Before You Begin

Before you attempt to define an application view, make sure the following prerequisites are satisfied.

• The appropriate WebLogic adapter has been developed. You can only create and configure application views for existing WebLogic adapters.

• Determine which business processes need to be supported by the application view you are configuring. The required business processes determine the types of services and events you will include in the adapter's application views. Normally, this means gathering information about the application's business requirements from the business analyst. Once you determine the necessary business processes, you can define and test the appropriate services and events.

 

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Introduction to Defining Application Views

When you define an application view, you are creating an XML-based interface between your WebLogic server and a particular EIS application within your enterprise. Once you create the application view, a business analyst can use it to create business processes that use the application. For any adapter, you can create any number of application views, each with any number of services and events.

The Flow of Events

Figure 2-1 shows an overview of the steps involved in defining an application view.

Figure 2-1 The Flow of Events for Defining and Configuring Application Views

1. Log on to the Application View Management Console. For detailed information, see Logging On to the Application View Management Console.

2. Click Add Application View to create a new application view for the appropriate WebLogic adapter. An application view enables a set of business processes for this adapter's target EIS application. For detailed information, see Defining an Application View.

3. At the Configure Connection Parameters page, enter application connection parameters. For detailed information, see Defining an Application View.

   The information is validated, and the application view is configured to connect to the system you specified.

4. Click Add Event or Add Service to define the appropriate events and services for this application view.

5. Deploy the application view on the WebLogic server so other entities can interact with it according to your security settings.

   Note: You can only test an application view if it is deployed.

6. Test the services and events to make sure they can properly interact with the target EIS application.

   Once the services and events are tested and functioning, you can use the application view in workflows. For more information, see Using Application Views in WebLogic Process Integrator.

7. Undeploy the application view if you need to reconfigure its connection parameters or add services and events.

   Note: When an application view is undeployed, no other entities can interact with it.

 

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Steps for Defining Application Views

This section explains how to define and maintain application views using an EIS adapter for a fictional database EIS called simply "DBMS." When you create application views for your enterprise, they may look different than the screens shown in this document. This is normal, because the application view's adapter determines the information required for each application view page, and each enterprise has its own specialized adapters. For details on a WebLogic adapter used in your enterprise, consult the relevant technical analyst or EIS specialist.

Logging On to the Application View Management Console

The first step in creating a new application view is to log on to the Application View Management Console page. The Application View Management Console displays all the application views in your WebLogic environment, organized into folders.

To log on to the Application View Management Console:

1. Open a new browser window.

2. Open the URL for your system's Application View Management Console. The actual URL you enter depends on your system. It should follow the format:

   http://localhost:7001/wlai

   The Application Integration Console - Login page displays.
   
   

   
    

3. To log on to the Application View Management Console, enter your WebLogic username and password, then click Login. The Application View Management Console displays.
   
   
    

Notes: If you do not see a page like this, consult the WebLogic system administrator.

To add a folder, click the New Folder icon. For more information, see Creating Folders.

Defining an Application View

After you log on to the Application View Management Console and navigate to a folder, click Add Application View to define an application view. Defining an application view exposes a subset of the functions of an EIS application.

1. Log on to the Application View Management Console (see Logging On to the Application View Management Console.).

2. To add a new application view to the current folder, click Add Application View. The Define New Application View page displays.
   
   
    

   Note: Once you define the application view, you can not move it to another folder.

3. In the Application View Name field, enter a name. The name should describe the set of functions performed by this application. Each application view name must be unique to its adapter. Valid characters are a-z, A-Z, 0-9, and _ (underscore).

4. In the Description field, enter any relevant notes. These notes are viewed by users when they use this application view in workflows using WebLogic Process Integrator.

5. From the Associated Adapters list, choose the WebLogic adapter to use to create this application view.

6. Click OK. The Configure Connection Parameters page displays.
   
   
    

   At the Configure Connection Parameters page, you define the network-related information necessary for the application view to interact with the target EIS. You need to enter this information only once per application view.

7. Enter your WebLogic User Name and WebLogic Password.

Note: Your page may have different fields than the ones shown. The fields are determined by the adapter.

1. For any remaining fields, consult the relevant technical analyst or EIS specialist for the required information.

2. Click Continue. The Application View Administration page displays.

   Note: To save the application view for later completion, click Save at any time.
   
   

   
    

Adding Services to an Application View

After you create and configure an application view, add services that support the application's functions. For information on application view services, see Services and Events.

1. While the application view is open, click Administration. The Application View Administration page displays.
   
   
    

2. Click Add Service. The Add Service page displays.
   
   
    

Note: Your page may have different fields than the ones shown. The fields are determined by the adapter.

1. In the Unique Service Name field, enter a name. The name should describe the function performed by this service. Each service name must be unique to its application view. Valid characters are a-z, A-Z, 0-9, and _ (underscore).

2. In the Description field, enter any relevant notes. These notes are viewed by users when they use this application view service in workflows using WebLogic Process Integrator.

3. For any remaining fields, consult the relevant technical analyst or EIS specialist for the required information or format.

4. When finished, click Add.

Adding Events to an Application View

After you create and configure an application view, add the appropriate events. For information on application view events, see Services and Events.

1. While the application view is open, click Administration. The Application View Administration page displays.
   
   
    

2. Click Add Event. The Add Event page displays.
   
   
    

Note: Your page may have different fields than the ones shown. The fields are determined by the adapter.

1. In the Unique Event Name field, enter a name. Each event name must be unique to its application view. Valid characters are a-z, A-Z, 0-9, and _ (underscore).

2. In the Description field, enter any relevant notes. These notes are viewed by users when they use this application view event in workflows using WebLogic Process Integrator.

3. For any remaining fields, consult the relevant technical analyst or EIS specialist for the required information or format.

4. When finished, click Add. The Application View Administration page displays.

Deploying an Application View

Deploy an application view after you have added at least one event or service to it, and you want to use or test the application view. (See Testing an Application View's Services and Testing an Application View's Events.) Deploy an application view whenever you want to test its services and events or use the application view in your WebLogic environment. Application view deployment places relevant metadata about its services and events is placed into a runtime metadata repository. In this way, the application view is made available to other WebLogic entities. This means other business processes can interact with the application view, and you can test the application view's services and events.

To deploy an application view:

1. Open the application view. (See Logging On to the Application View Management Console.) The Summary for Application View page displays.
   
   
    

2. To automatically redeploy this application view whenever the WebLogic server is restarted, select Deploy Persistently.

3. To deploy the application view, click Deploy App View. The Deploy Application View page displays.
   
   
    

Note: On the Deploy Application View page, the actual fields you see depend on the adapter. For an explanation of all fields, consult the relevant technical analyst or EIS specialist.

1. In the Minimum Pool Size field, enter the minimum number of connection pools to be used by this application view. Example: 1.

2. In the Maximum Pool Size field, enter the maximum number of connection pools to be used by this application view. Example: 10.

3. In the Target Fraction of Maximum Pool Size field, enter the ideal pool size, measured from 0 to 1.0. Example: 0.7. If the Maximum Pool Size is 10 and the Target Fraction is 0.7, this means the adapter will perform load balancing to attempt to maintain the connection pool size at 70% of the maximum, which in this case means 7 connections.

4. To automatically delete unused connections, select Allow Pool to Shrink.

5. On the Log Configuration area, choose one of the following options according to your logging preferences:

   • Log errors and audit messages

   • Log warnings, errors, and audit messages

   • Log informationals, warnings, errors, and audit messages

   • Log all messages

6. If necessary, click Restrict Access using J2EE Security. The Application View Security page displays.
   
   
    

   Use this page to grant or revoke a WebLogic user or group's read and write access to this application view.

7. When finished setting up permissions, click Apply to save your changes.

8. To return to the Deploy Application View page, click Done.

9. To enable other WebLogic entities, such as WebLogic Process Integrator actions, to asynchronously call the services of this application view, select Enable Asynchronous Service Invocation (applies only to application views with services).

   An entity that calls an application view service asynchronously will continue its process without waiting for a response from the service.

10. If this application view has events, enter the URL of the adapter's event router. Example: http://localhost:7001/YourEIS_EventRouter/EventRouter

11. To automatically redeploy this application view whenever the WebLogic server is restarted, select Deploy Persistently.

12. Click Deploy App View. The Summary for Application View page displays.

    Note: To save the application view for later completion, click Save at any time.

Undeploying an Application View

Undeploy an application view when you want to edit its connection parameters or add services and events. For information on editing connection parameters, see Defining an Application View. When an application view is undeployed, no other WebLogic entities can interact with it, and you can not test its services or events.

To undeploy an application view:

1. Click Summary. The Summary for Application View page displays.
   
   
    

2. To undeploy the application view from the WebLogic server, click Undeploy. The Undeploy Application View page displays.
   
   
    

3. Click Confirm. The Summary for Application View page displays, indicating you may deploy the application view again.

Testing an Application View's Services

After you create and deploy an application view that contains services, test the application view services. Testing evaluates whether or not the application view service interacts properly with the target EIS. To test application view services:

1. Define an application view (See Defining an Application View.), add the appropriate services, and deploy the application view (See Deploying an Application View.) if you have not done so already.

   You can test an application view only if the application view is deployed and it contains at least one event or service.

2. On the left navigation area, click Summary. The Summary for Application View page displays.
   
   
    

3. In the Current Services area, find the service and click Test. The Test Service page displays.
   
   
    

4. If necessary, enter the service input data in the Input fields. If the application view service processes this data correctly, the test is successful.

Note: Your Test Service page may have different fields than the ones shown. The fields are determined by the application view service. For an explanation of the fields, consult the relevant technical analyst or EIS specialist.

1. Click Test after entering the service input data. The Test Result page displays. This page displays the input and output documents.
   
   
    

2. Repeat the test procedure for each service you want to test.

3. When finished testing the application view's services, you may keep the application view deployed or undeploy it (See Undeploying an Application View.) to edit the application view.

Testing an Application View's Events

After creating and deploying an application view that contains events, test the application view events. Testing evaluates whether or not the application view responds correctly to the EIS application. To test application view events:

1. Define an application view (See Defining an Application View.), add the appropriate events, and deploy the application view (See Deploying an Application View.) if you have not done so already.

   You can test an application view only if it is deployed and contains at least one event or service.

2. Click Summary. The Summary for Application View page displays.
   
   
    

3. In the Current Events area, find your event and click Test. The Test Event page displays.
   
   
    
    

Note: Your Test Event page may have different fields than the ones shown. The fields are determined by the application view service. For an explanation of the fields, consult the relevant technical analyst or EIS specialist.

1. Choose the method to use to generate the test event:

   • Service (see If you choose Service): Choose Service when you want to use one of the application view's own services to generate a "canned" event.

   • Manual (see If you choose Manual): Choose Manual when you want to generate the event by logging on to an EIS application and perform the appropriate event-generating function.

     If the application view event correctly responds before the specified time elapses, the test is successful.

     If you choose Service

   1. On the Service menu, choose a service that will trigger the event you are testing. Example: If you are testing the "NewCustomer" event, choose a service that will invoke it, such as "Insert Customer."

   2. In the Time field, enter a reasonable time to wait, in milliseconds. If this time elapses before the event succeeds, the test will time out and display a failure message.

   3. Click "Test." The triggering service is executed.

      If the service requires input data, an input page displays.
      
      

      
       

   4. If necessary, enter the service input data in the fields, then click Test.

      The service executes. If the test succeeds, the Test Result page displays. A successful test result displays the event document, the service input document, and the service output document.
      
      

      
       

      If the event is not received in the alloted time, the Test Result page displays only a "Timed Out" message. If an error occurs invoking the service, then the error will be displayed in the top text box.
      
      

      
       

   5. If the test failed, edit the event definition, or contact the system administrator or application manager.

   6. If the test succeeded, repeat the test procedure for each remaining event you want to test.

   7. When finished, save the application view.

      If you choose Manual

   8. In the Time field, enter a reasonable time to wait, in milliseconds. (One minute = 60,000 ms.) If this time elapses before the event succeeds, the test will time out and display a failure message.

   9. Open the application you will use to trigger the event, if the application is not already open.

   10. Click "Test." The test waits for an event to trigger it.

   11. Using the triggering application, perform an action that will trigger the event. In this example, open a query tool, and insert a new row into the Customer_Table.

       If the test succeeds, the Test Result page displays. A successful test result displays the event document from the application, the service input document, and the service output document.
       
       

       
        

       If the test fails or takes too long, the Test Result page displays containing a "Timed Out" message.
       
       

       
        

   12. If the test failed, edit the event definition, or contact the system administrator or application manager.

   13. If the test succeeded, repeat the test procedure for each remaining event you want to test.

   14. When finished, save the application view.
       
       
        

Editing an Application View

When you define an application view, you must configure its connection parameters. After you add and test services and events, you may want to reconfigure the connection parameters or remove services and events. To edit an existing application view:

1. Open the application view.

2. Click Summary. The Summary for Application View page displays.
   
   
    

3. In the Available Actions area, click Edit. The Application View Administration page displays.
   
   
    

4. To reconfigure the application view's connection parameters, click Configure Connection (See Defining an Application View.)

5. To add services and events, click Add Service (See Adding Services to an Application View.) or Add Event (See Adding Events to an Application View.).