Creating a Siebel VBC Definition based on a Schema

Siebel Virtual Business Components (VBC) can use the Siebel XML Gateway service to access objects in other applications. The XAI server provides a special adapter, that automatically maps Siebel XML Gateway messages to XAI messages and vice versa. The automatic mapping works, provided that the Siebel VBC is defined based on an XAI schema definition. To facilitate the definition of Siebel VBC and to minimize errors, the schema editor can be used to generate a VBC definition, which can be directly imported into the Siebel Repository. Once the VBC is defined in the Siebel repository, it can be used to build Siebel applets.

Note that VBC have some structural limitations and therefore cannot be used to represent all types of XAI services. VBC can only map a flat structure and therefore are a better fit for accessing search and list services. They are not very good for accessing complex hierarchical XAI services such as page maintenance services. In the case of page maintenance services, only the first level of the page details is accessible through the VBC; any lists underneath the first level are not accessible.

The process of creating a VBC, which maps an XAI service, is as follow:

• In the XAI schema editor, open the schema for the service you want to invoke from Siebel.
• Select Export/Siebel VBC from the menu. The Export Siebel VBC dialog appears.
• In the Siebel SIF file text box, enter the name of the file that should be generated. This file contains the VBC object definition.
• Click Generate.
• To import the VBC definition into Siebel, refer to the 'Siebel Tools Guide' in the Siebel documentation.