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Globalization and bidirectional transformation
The adapter is globalized to support single- and multi-byte character sets and deliver message text in the specified language. The adapter also performs bidirectional transformation, which refers to the task of processing data that contains both left-to-right (Hebrew or Arabic, for example), and right-to-left (a URL or file path, for example) semantic content within the same file.
Globalization
The Java™ runtime environment within the Java virtual machine (JVM) represents data in the Unicode character code set. Unicode contains encodings for characters in most known character code sets (both single- and multi-byte). Components in the WebSphere Business Integration system are written in Java. Therefore, when data is transferred between WebSphere Business Integration system components, there is no need for character conversion.
To log error and informational messages in the appropriate language and for the appropriate country or region, the adapter uses the locale of the system on which it is running.
Bidirectional transformation
Languages such as Arabic and Hebrew are written from right to left, yet they contain embedded segments of text that are written left to right, resulting in bidirectional script. When software applications handle bidirectional script, standards are used to display and process it. IBM BPM and WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus use the Windows standard format, but an enterprise information system exchanging data with IBM BPM or WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus can use a different format. WebSphere Adapters transform bidirectional script data passed between the two systems so that it is accurately processed and displayed on both sides of a transaction.
Bidirectional formatIBM BPM and WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus use the bidirectional format of ILYNN (implicit, left-to-right, on, off, nominal). This is the format used by Windows.
If an enterprise information system uses a different format, the adapter converts the format before introducing the data to IBM BPM or WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus.
The bidirectional format consists of five attributes. When you set bidirectional properties, you assign values for each of these attributes. The attributes and settings are listed in the following table.
Bidirectional format attributes Letter position Purpose Values Description Default setting 1 Order schema I Implicit (Logical) I V Visual 2 Direction L Left-to-Right L R Right-to-Left C Contextual Left-to-Right D Contextual Right-to-Left 3 Symmetric Swapping Y Symmetric swapping is on Y N Symmetric swapping is off 4 Text Shaping S Text is shaped N N Text is not shaped (Nominal) I Initial shaping M Middle shaping F Final shaping B Isolated shaping 5 Numeric Shaping H National (Hindi) N C Contextual shaping N Numbers are not shaped (Nominal) The adapter transforms data into a logical, left-to-right format before sending the data to IBM BPM or WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus.
Use bidirectional propertiesYou can use multiple bidirectional properties to control the transformation of both content data and metadata. You can set special bidirectional properties to exclude either content data or metadata from bidirectional transformation, or to identify data that requires special treatment during a transformation.
The following table describes four types of bidirectional properties.
Bidirectional property types Property type Data transformations EIS Controls the format for content data, or data that is sent by the enterprise information system. Metadata Controls the format for metadata, or data that provides information about the content data. Skip Identifies content or metadata to exclude from transformation. Special Format Identifies certain text, such as file paths or URLs, that require different treatment during the transformation process. Can be set for either content data or metadata. You can set properties that control bidirectional transformation in three areas.
- Resource adapter properties: These properties store default configuration settings, including the TurnBiDiOff property, which controls whether the adapter instance performs bidirectional transformation or not. Use the administrative console of the server to configure these properties.
- Managed (J2C) connection factory properties: These properties are used at run time to create an outbound connection instance with an enterprise information system. After the managed connection factory properties are created, they are stored in the deployment descriptor.
- Activation specification properties: These properties hold the inbound event processing configuration information for a message endpoint. Set them as you perform external service, or use the administrative console of the server.
Business object annotationsSome adapters allow you to annotate bidirectional properties within a business object.
Do this to add information that specifically controls the transformation of a business object or part of a business object. Use business object editor, a tool within IBM Integration Designer, to add annotations at these levels:
- Business object
- Business object application-specific attribute
- Business object attribute
- Business object attribute application-specific attribute
Property scope and lookup mechanismAfter you set values for bidirectional properties for an adapter and annotate business objects where appropriate, the adapter performs bidirectional transformations. It does so by using logic that relies on a hierarchical inheritance of property settings and a lookup mechanism.
Properties defined within the resource adapter are at the top of the hierarchy, while those defined within other areas or annotated within a business object are at lower levels of the hierarchy. So for example, if you only set values for EIS-type bidirectional properties for the resource adapter, those values are inherited and used by transformations that require a defined EIS-type bidirectional property whether they arise from an inbound (activation specification) transaction or an outbound (managed connection factory) transaction.
However, if you set values for EIS-type bidirectional properties for both the resource adapter and the activation specification, a transformation arising from an inbound transaction uses the values set for the activation specification.
The processing logic uses a lookup mechanism to search for bidirectional property values to use during a transformation. The lookup mechanism begins its search at the level where the transformation arises and searches upward through the hierarchy for defined values of the appropriate property type. It uses the first valid value it finds. It searches the hierarchy from the child object to the parent object only; siblings are not considered in the search.
Related reference:
Properties enabled for bidirectional data transformation