IBM BPM, V8.0.1, All platforms > Authoring services in Integration Designer > Services and service-related functions > Work with data handlers, faults and registries
Application Specific Information (ASI) registry preferences page
The application specific information (ASI) registry preferences page is a registered list for your ASI schemas created by IBM Integration Designer generations or by yourself.
When working with a resource adapter we need to capture the information required by the adapter to marshal the Enterprise Information Systems (EIS)-neutral data objects to the native objects used to interact with the EIS. The information that describes the data conversions is stored in XML schema files in the form of annotations. The XML schema provides an appInfo tag for providers to describe application-specific information. This schema is called the ASI schema. Application Specific Information (ASI) is metadata related to data wire formatting and schema editing that is encapsulated as annotations within a schema. This information describes a request message to an EIS or a response message from an EIS. In general, ASI schemas are provided by a resource adapter.
The Application Specific Schemas Registry (ASI registry) component provides a global point of access to the repository of XML Schema documents (ASI Schemas) that specify application-specific information used by an application to map a business object into its corresponding enterprise entity. Ultimately, all XML schemas are stored into an XML catalog component. Therefore, one of the main functions of the ASI registry is to create XML catalog entries for ASI Schemas. These entries are then used by an XML processor when resolving entity references.
To see the available ASI registry entries, from the menu select Window > Preferences. In the Preferences window, expand Business Integration and click Application Specific Schemas Registry.
The preference page is divided into a Registry Entries view where all registry entries are shown and a Details view where properties of a selected entry are shown. You can add a new entry to the User specified entries section using the Add button or edit an existing user specified entry buy using the Edit button.
You can also remove a user-specified entry using the Delete button. The Plug-in specified entries and Adapter-specified entries are treated as system entries and cannot be changed.
- Adding application-specific entries
- Each ASI schema is described by a set of properties that make it unique. This allows an ASI schema to be registered in the ASI registry. The add and edit windows allow you to contribute new ASI schema information or modify existing ASI schema information. The following properties, shown when you use the add and edit buttons, describe the ASI schema.
- Display name - Contains a short name that identifies the ASI schema that will be displayed by the IBM Integration Designer tools.
- Description - Provides the detailed description of the ASI schema.
- XSD file location -URL that specifies the ASI schema unique location.
- Namespace URI - Identifies the namespace of the ASI schema.
You can browse for the ASI schema location in either the workspace or the file system using the button next to the XSD file location field. The namespace URI field will be completed automatically after the ASI schema is specified.
- Importing and exporting user-specified entries to and from the workbench
- You may decide to remove your entries from the registry but do not want to lose the entries' information. In that case you can store selected entries from the user-specified entries tree into a file using the export function. The function is available by clicking the Advanced button. The entries stored in the file can be added back into the registry by again using the same button but using the import function. This feature means you can share user-defined content among workbenches.
- Export Application Specific Schemas Registry User Specified Entries
- This window lets you copy user-defined entries to an external file so that the entries can be shared among other workbenches. In the window, you need to specify the name of the file with an .asi file extension. You also need to specify the location in the workspace where the file should be saved. Typically, you would save the file to a folder under your Business Integration module and then export the module as an Integration module or Project Interchange file.
Only files with .asi file extensions will be processed by the import function when you want the entries stored in the file to be added back into the ASI registry. DO NOT change this file extension.
- Import Application Specific Schemas Registry User Specified Entries
- This window lets you load user-defined entries from an external file back into the ASI registry. In the window, you need to specify the location in the workspace where the file with .asi file extension is stored. If you do not have the file in the workspace, you can import it from the file system into workspace folder using Import Files function.