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Standard operations

As described by the JCA specification, a resource adapter is generally intended to expose low-level, EIS-specific operations. These EIS-specific operations range from create, retrieve, update, and delete (for database-type applications) to those that are unique to customer EIS instances (for function-based adapters such as SAP).

The WebSphere business object model and a variety of WebSphere components (such as the relationship management service) assume that most adapters support a set of standard create, retrieve, update, and delete operations. This leaves a gap for most adapters where the supported low-level operations do not natively meet the expectations of other WebSphere components. To fill this gap, all adapters should support higher-level create, retrieve, update, and delete operations, depending on what is provided by the EIS. With such support, a Create operation for one adapter follows the same naming conventions and behavior as a Create operation for another adapter. The result is better tooling and consistency in terms of user experience.

The following are the supported, standard top-level operations:

Supported standard top-level operations
Inbound Operation Signatures If s
emitCreateAfterImage<BOType> emitUpdateAfterImage<BOType> emitDeleteAfterImage<BOType> These operations should generate after-image business objects with verbs that match the operation signature; for example, emitCreateAfterImageCustomer should generate a Customer object with verb Create.
emitDelta<BOType> This operation should generate a delta business object with a summary depicting the changes that occurred in the EIS.

Outbound Operation Signatures If s

applyChanges<BOType>
create<BOType>
update<BOType>
delete<BOType>

These operations can handle delta or after-image business objects. The assumption is that the adapter can consume either type of object or, if not, can convert after-image and delta as required by the business object structure.

For applyChanges, the adapter determines the operation (create, update, or delete) based on the top-level verb or the change summary.

applyChanges allows users to easily pass any create, update, or delete business objects.

The create, applyUpdate and delete operations are specific to one operation. If that applyChanges, for after-images, should invoke the appropriate <x> operation.


Exceptions:

If the adapter cannot support delta for a given business object type (because it lacks retrieve capability to convert), a signature of applyAfterImage<BOType> may be substituted.

retrieve<BOType> Retrieve one object based on key values.
retrieveAll<BOType>

Retrieve multiple objects that match some user-defined predicate; this is a query option intended to replace RetrieveByContent.

RetrieveAll should always return a top-level container with 0..n matching child business objects. It should never return a single top-level matching business object as with the Retrieve operation.

Business object standards