Handling Type Conversions

The Payload node in the BatchFTP OTD is predefined as a byte array (byte[]). This definition allows the adapter to handle both binary and character data.

For example, you could use another OTD (such as an OTD from another adapter or a user-defined OTD) where the “data” node has been defined as a String (java.lang.String). If you were to map that String to the BatchFTP OTD’s Payload node, the Collaboration Editor can do an automatic type conversion and create code similar to that shown in the following example.

You must use care with this feature. While it works in many situations, there can be occasions when the default encoding causes errors in the translation.

Code Conversion and Generation

For example, in a string-to-byte array conversion (or vice versa), the generated Java code could be:

 getoutput().setPayload(STCTypeConverter.toByteArray
    (getinput().getBlob()));

or

 getinput().setBlob(STCTypeConverter.toString
    (getoutput().getPayload()));

If you define the blob data as a byte array, no type conversion is necessary. When there is a conversion, the Collaboration Editor uses the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) default encoding to do the conversion to code, as shown in the previous examples.

Type Conversion Troubleshooting

As explained previously, the default encoding and translation works for many situations. There are cases, however (for example, binary data such as a .zip file), when the encoding could cause errors in the translation. Depending on the data character set and JVM default encoding, you should choose the appropriate encoding. In most cases, using the encoding string “ISO-8859-1” is the best choice.

To use this encoding, you can modify the code manually by adding the encoding String. Taking the previous examples, the resulting code using “ISO-8859-1” is:

 getoutput().setPayload(STCTypeConverter.toByteArray
    (getinput().getBlob(), "ISO-8859-1"));

or

 getinput().setBlob(STCTypeConverter.toString
    (getoutput().getPayload(), "ISO-8859-1"));

Using this String solves this type conversion problem. For more information, see the appropriate JVM encoding reference manuals.