Configuring EDI Integration

 

BEA WebLogic EDI Integration must be completely configured before it can be used. Because EDI Integration depends on the Power.Enterprise! software to properly operate, you must properly configure Power.Enterprise! before you can communicate with your trading partners.

 

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General Configuration

This section discusses the general configuration information that you should perform before attempting to configure a specific document exchange with a trading partner.

Configure Trading Partners

Before configuring individual transactions, you should configure all trading partners, including your own company, using Power.Manager!. For more information about configuring trading partners, see the following topics:

• Configuring Trading Partners

• Chapter 4, "Partners," in the Power.Manager! User Reference Manual

Configure VAN/Trading Partner Connectivity

You should also configure your trading partner connectivity before attempting to configure individual document exchanges. See the following topics:

• Connections and VAN Connectivity

• Chapter 3, "Connections," in the Power.Manager! User Reference Manual

Although you may not want to set up connectivity to your production trading partners at this time, you may want to configure them with file connectors for development and testing purposes.

 

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Configuring EDI Integration to Receive an EDI Document

This section describes how to configure EDI Integration so that the BEA WebLogic Adapter for Power.Enterprise! 3.0 can receive an EDI document and send it to the WebLogic Integration process engine as an XML document.

Pre-Planning

• Determine the EDI standard, version, and document type that you will receive. For example, you might select an X12 850 document v4010, which is an X12 standard, 850 type document, version 4010.

• Define the XML format that you will use internally. This XML format should contain a complete data map of the fields in the EDI document that you will use.

• Create a DTD and an XSD for the XML document. You must create both because Power.Enterprise! and WebLogic Integration do not use the same data file format for this step. WebLogic Integration requires an XSD (if you supply one at all), while Power.Enterprise! requires a DTD. You should note that Power.Enterprise! does not provide any export utility to export a DTD or XSD from a map definition once the DTD or XSD has been imported. You will be responsible for creating both the DTD and XSD files.

Within Power.Enterprise!

• Create a map between the XML document and the EDI document. Import the DTD into Power.Map! to load the XML document standard. The appropriate EDI document should already exist in the Power.Server! repository. If the EDI document is not present, contact BEA Customer Support. For more information about how to do this, see the following topics:

  • Mapping XML and EDI Data

  • Chapter 3, "Maps" in the Power.Map! User Reference Manual

• Define an inbound connection. This connection should use your trading partner's connection protocol, which you should have already defined. See Connections and VAN Connectivity for more information.

• Define an RMI target connection. This connection is used to communicate with the WebLogic Integration process engine.

• Define an exchange profile, using the procedure discussed in Configuring Exchange Profiles. This exchange profile should connect the inbound connection from your trading partner to the RMI target connection.

Within BEA WebLogic Integration

• Create an application view, using the procedure in Configuring the BEA WebLogic Adapter for Power.Enterprise!.

• Create an event for the application view you just created, using the procedure in Configuring Events. Be sure to set the following parameters:

  • Event Name: The name of the event. The name should be descriptive (for example, ReceivePurchaseOrder)

  • Event Description: Text description of the event

  • RMI Service Name: This should match the RMI service name defined in the Power.Enterprise! RMI target connection setup in the previous section.

  • XSD: The XML schema of the XML message to be received (optional)

  • XML Root Element: The XML root element of the XML schema (optional)

• Deploy the application view you have created and defined.

Verify that the Power.Server! instance is running. At this point, the application view should be available to the WebLogic Integration process engine using the application integration plug-in. For more information about the application integration plug-in, see Understanding the Application Integration Plug-In for BPM in Introducing Application Integration.

Note: Always start the Power.Server! before you start WebLogic Integration or WebLogic Server. The WebLogic Integration connectors expect to see the Power.Server! running when they are initialized, and they throw exceptions if Power.Server! is not running when they are initialized.

 

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Configuring EDI Integration to Send an EDI Document

This section describes how to configure EDI Integration to send an EDI document using an XML document in the WebLogic Integration process engine as the source.

Pre-Planning

• Determine the EDI standard, version, and document type that you will receive. For example, you might select an X12 850 document v4010, which is an X12-standard, 850-type document, version 4010.

• Define the XML format that you will use internally. This XML format should contain a complete data map of the fields in the EDI document that you will use.

• Create a DTD and an XSD for the XML document. You must create both because Power.Enterprise! and WebLogic Integration do not use the same data file format for this step. WebLogic Integration requires an XSD (if you supply one at all), while Power.Enterprise! requires a DTD. You should note that Power.Enterprise! does not provide any export utility to export a DTD or XSD from a map definition once the DTD or XSD has been imported. You are responsible for creating both the DTD and XSD files.

Within Power.Enterprise!

• Create a map between the XML document and the EDI document. Import the DTD into Power.Map! to load the XML document standard. The appropriate EDI document should already exist in the Power.Server! repository. If the EDI document is not present, contact BEA Customer Support. For more information about how to do this, see the following topics:

  • Mapping XML and EDI Data

  • Chapter 3, "Maps" in the Power.Map! User Reference Manual

• Define an outbound connection. This connection should use your trading partner's connection protocol, which you should have already defined. See Connections and VAN Connectivity for more information.

• Define an RMI source connection. This connection is used to communicate with the WebLogic Integration process engine.

• Define an exchange profile, using the procedure discussed in Configuring Exchange Profiles. This exchange profile should connect the RMI source connection to your trading partner's outbound connection.

Within BEA WebLogic Integration

• Create an application view, using the procedure in Configuring the BEA WebLogic Adapter for Power.Enterprise! in this document.

• Create service for the application view you just created, using the procedure in Configuring Services in this document. Be sure to set up the following parameters:

  • Service Name: The name of the service. The name should be descriptive (for example, SendPurchaseOrder).

  • Service Description: Text description of the service.

  • Connection Name: This name should match the RMI service name defined in the Power.Enterprise! RMI source connection setup, described in the previous section.

  • XSD: The XML schema of the XML message to be sent. (optional)

  • XML Root Element: The XML root element of the XML schema. (optional)

• Deploy the application view you have created and defined.

Verify that the Power.Server! instance is running. At this point, the application view should be available to the WebLogic Integration process engine using the application integration plug-in. For more information about the application integration plug-in, see Understanding the Application Integration Plug-In for BPM in Introducing Application Integration.