2 Designing an Adapter

This section contains the following topics:

• Preparation
  Before attempting to design your adapter, you can prepare by reading related topics and gathering important information.
• Requirements for Load Set, Data Mart, Program, and Business Area Adapters
  The functionality required for an adapter depends in large part on whether the adapter's purpose is to load data intoOracle Life Sciences Data Hub (Load Set adapters), export data from Oracle LSH (Data Mart adapters), transform data (Program adapters), or to allow an external tool to view data contained in Oracle LSH(Business Area adapters). However, the requirements also vary depending on the external system.
• Planning Adapter Areas
  Most external systems require only a single Adapter Area but, depending on your situation, you may need to implement multiple adapter areas.
• Planning Technology Types
  You must create at least one new technology type for each Adapter Area.
• Planning Services
  Services are required to handle the interaction of Oracle Life Sciences Data Hub with the external system.
• Planning PL/SQL Functions and Procedures
  For each action a user performs in the user interface (UI) to define or install a Load Set, Data Mart, Program, or Business Area, or to run a Load Set, Data Mart, or Program or launch an IDE, you must write a PL/SQL function or procedure to do the work.
• Planning Parameters and Parameter Sets
  You must plan parameters and parameter sets to get information from the user.
• Adding Lookup Values
  You must extend certain lookups. You can also enable your customers to add lookup values in their own environment.
• Planning Planned Outputs
  Data Mart adapters may require predefined Planned Outputs to support the actual data file produced by running the Data Mart.
• Planning Data Structures
  If you are creating a Load Set adapter and your source data system has fixed data structures, you can define Tables in your Adapter Area with the same structure.
• Planning for Object Execution
  Programs, Load Sets, and Data Marts are all executable objects and an adapter of these types must handle the object execution. Business Area and Program IDE adapters may also require execution functionality.
• Planning Security
  The security required for your adapter depends on the interaction with the external system that it requires.
• Planning Integrated Development Environment Adapters
  There are a number of things your Definers may need to be enabled to do in an integrated development environment (IDE). You must consider these needs when planning IDE adapters.