Configuring Business Protocols

 

A business protocol is a set of rules that governs the electronic exchange of business information between enterprises across a network. A business protocol specifies the structure of business messages, how to process the messages, and how to route them to the appropriate recipients. WebLogic Collaborate trading partners can use the XOCP, RosettaNet, and cXML business protocols to send and receive business messages.

A business protocol definition is a set of logic plug-ins that implement a business protocol. You cannot create a new business protocol definition. These are available in the WebLogic Collaborate repository. You can view available business protocols and map these business protocol definitions to user-created logic plug-ins. For example, you can modify the filters and routers using logic plug-ins and XPATH expressions.

The Business Protocols Details tab displays a read-only list of available user-defined filters, routers, and system encoders and decoders. The order of items in the lists reflects the sequence chain or order in which they are activated.

This topic includes the following sections:

• Displaying a Business Protocol Definition

• Modifying User-defined Filter and Router Chains

• Modifying XOCP Filter and Router Expressions

• Displaying Business Protocol Definition Details

For more information, see Advanced Configuration Tasks in Administering BEA WebLogic Collaborate.

 

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Listing Business Protocol Definitions

To list a business protocol definition, do one of the following:

• Click Business Protocols in the navigation tree to display the Business Protocols page, then locate and click the appropriate business protocols desired.

• Click a business protocol listed in the navigation tree. (This option is only available if the option Display entities on the navigation tree is checked on the WebLogic Collaborate Preferences tab as described in Displaying Items in the Navigation Tree.)

The business protocols definitions are displayed.

For more information about a business protocols definition, see Displaying Business Protocol Definition Details.

 

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Displaying a Business Protocol Definition

To modify a business protocol definition:

1. Do one of the following:

   • Click Business Protocols in the navigation tree to display the Business Protocols page, then locate and click the appropriate business protocols desired.

   • Click a business protocol listed in the navigation tree. (This option is only available if the option Display entities on the navigation tree is checked on the WebLogic Collaborate Preferences tab as described in Displaying Items in the Navigation Tree.)

     The Business Protocols Configuration tabs are displayed.

2. Select the General tab if it is not active. It displays read-only information about the business protocol, as shown in the following table.

   Table 7-1 Business Protocol Definition Fields

   Field	Description
   Name	Name of the business protocol definition. (Once the instance is created, this field is read-only.)
   Description	Description of the business protocol definition. (Read-only)
   Business Protocol	Name and version of the protocol used in this business collaboration. (Read-only) Supported protocols for this release are: XOCP 1.1 RosettaNet 1.1 RosettaNet 2.0 cXML 1.1, 1.2
   Java Class Name	Java class used to implement the selected business protocol definition. (Read-only)

   
    

You can now modify the user-defined plug-ins. These can be both Java-classes defined as filters and routers and XPATH statements used as filters and routers.

 

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Modifying User-defined Filter and Router Chains

A chain is a series of ordered statements that act on and manipulate message routing. You can create your own logic plug-ins for changing the behavior of business protocol definitions. For more information, see Creating a Logic Plug-In. For a detailed description of logic-plug-ins, see Advanced Configuration Tasks in Administering BEA WebLogic Collaborate.

To modify logic plug-ins to a business protocol definition:

1. Do one of the following:

   • Click Business Protocols in the navigation tree to display the Business Protocols page, then locate and click the appropriate business protocols desired.

   • Click a business protocol listed in the navigation tree. (This option is only available if the option Display entities on the navigation tree is checked on the WebLogic Collaborate Preferences tab as described in Displaying Items in the Navigation Tree.)

     The Business Protocols Configuration tabs are displayed.

2. Click the Filters & Routers tab if it is not active.

3. Using the arrow buttons, move the available filters and routers as needed to configure the business protocol definition. Valid values are described in the following table.

   Table 7-2 Business Protocol Definition Plug-Ins

   Field		Description
   Filter Chain		You can create new filter logic plug-ins. For more information, see Creating a Logic Plug-In.
   	Available Filter Logic Plug-Ins	This drop-down list lists all available filter type logic plug-ins.
   	Chosen Filters	This drop-down list lists the active logic plug-ins for the selected business protocol definition.
   Router Chain		You can create new router logic plug-ins. For more information, see Creating a Logic Plug-In.
   	Available Router Logic Plug-ins	This list box lists all available router type logic plug-ins.
   	Chosen Routers	This list box lists the active logic plug-ins for the selected business protocol definition.

   
    

4. When you complete configuring the filters and routers, click Apply.

 

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Modifying XOCP Filter and Router Expressions

XPath is the XML pattern matching language used to address parts of a document. An XPath expression is a string that specifies the intended recipients of a business message using XPath syntax. You define XPath expressions and associate them with filtering and routing chains.

The filter expression can examine different parts of the message-context document to determine whether or not to forward the message to the recipient trading partner. Each XPath filter expression can return true or false using different selection criteria. After an XPath filter expression returns false, the message is blocked from further evaluation and is not sent to the intended recipient.

In the XOCP router logic plug-in, each XPath router expression can examine different parts of the message-context document and select a different set of recipient trading partners. The filters and routers produced by each expression can either replace the previously generated set of recipient trading partners filters and routers or add to the current set.

You can only modify user-defined logic plug-ins. For more information, see Creating a Logic Plug-In. For a detailed description of logic-plug-ins, see Advanced Configuration Tasks in Administering BEA WebLogic Collaborate.

Create an XPath Expression

To create an XPath expression:

1. Do one of the following:

   • Click Business Protocols in the navigation tree to display the Business Protocols page, then locate and click the appropriate business protocols desired.

   • Click a business protocol listed in the navigation tree. (This option is only available if the option Display entities on the navigation tree is checked on the WebLogic Collaborate Preferences tab as described in Displaying Items in the Navigation Tree.)

     The Business Protocols Configuration tabs are displayed.

2. Select the XOCP Filters & Routers tab if it is not active.

3. Enter values in the XPath Expression and Type fields, as described in the following table.

   Table 7-3 XOCP Filters and Routers for Business Protocol Definitions

   Field		Description
   XPath Expression		XPath expressions are evaluated in sequence at run time against the message-context XML document. The document contains the message content along with meta information about the message, such as the sending and receiving trading partners, conversation information, and versioning.
   Type	Append	Select Append to add the evaluation results of the new XPath expression to the results of any previous evaluation of an XPath expression.
   	Replace	Select Replace to overwrite the results of any previous evaluation of an XPath expression.
   XOCP Filter Chain		This list box displays the entire XOCP expression currently active for the XOCP filter chain. A filter chain is simply a series of XPath filter statements connected in a specific sequence.
   XOCP Router Chain		This list box displays the entire XOCP expression currently active for the XOCP router chain. A router chain is simply a series of XPath router statements connected in a specific sequence.

   
    

4. Click Set to create a new XPath filter chain. Use the up and down arrow keys to arrange the statements within a chain in the necessary order.

5. Click Apply when you are ready to save your changes.

For a detailed description of logic-plug-ins, see Advanced Configuration Tasks in Administering BEA WebLogic Collaborate.

Removing an XPath Expression From a Business Protocol Definition

To remove an XPath filter chain or XPath router chain from a business protocol definition:

1. Click Business Protocols in the navigation tree to display the Business Protocols Definitions page.

2. Click the business protocol definition containing the XOCP filter or router you want to remove. The business protocol tabs are displayed.

3. Click the XOCP Filters & Routers tab if it is not active.

4. Select the XOCP Filter Chain or XOCP Router Chain(s) you want to delete. Click Remove to delete the filters from the list.

For a detailed description of logic-plug-ins, see Advanced Configuration Tasks in Administering BEA WebLogic Collaborate.

 

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Displaying Business Protocol Definition Details

Encoders and decoders are all system-level entities. Filters and routers lists include both system-level entities and user-created plug-ins. You can only modify user-defined logic plug-ins. For more information, see Creating a Logic Plug-In.

To view business protocols details:

1. Do one of the following:

   • Click Business Protocols in the navigation tree to display the Business Protocols page, then locate and click the appropriate business protocols desired.

   • Click a business protocol listed in the navigation tree. (This option is only available if the option Display entities on the navigation tree is checked on the WebLogic Collaborate Preferences tab as described in Displaying Items in the Navigation Tree.)

     The Business Protocols Configuration tabs are displayed.

2. Select the Details tab if it is not active. All available user-defined filters and routers and system encoders and decoders are displayed.