AS3 Parse Service

How the AS3 Parse Service Works

The AS3 Parse service parses AS3 messages during an AS3 message exchange. The IBM Sterling B2B Integrator gives you two options in delivering MDNs to your trading partners:

1. Send the MDN directly to the trading partner.
2. Place the MDN in an OUTGOING mailbox for the trading partner to pick it up within a specific time period. Default 60 minutes.

The following steps summarize how the AS3 Parse service works to send an MDN directly to a trading partner:

1. The AS3 Parse service extracts the payload from the AS3 message.
2. The AS3 Parse service generates an MDN for the received AS3 message.
3. The AS3 Parse service invokes a system business process to send the MDN to the trading partner.
4. If the MDN is sent successfully, the AS3 Parse service places the payload into a PAYLOAD mailbox.

   If the MDN is not sent successfully, the AS3 Parse service places the payload into an ERROR mailbox.

The following steps summarize how the AS3 Parse service works to place an MDN in an OUTGOING mailbox for the trading partner to pick it up within a specific time period:

1. The AS3 Parse service extracts the payload from the AS3 message.
2. The AS3 Parse service generates an MDN for the received AS3 message.
3. The AS3 Parse service places the payload into a HOLDING mailbox and the MDN into the MDN_OUTGOING mailbox.
4. The AS3 Parse service invokes a system business process to monitor if the MDN has been picked up by the trading partner within a specified time period (the maximum time permitted is 60 minutes).
5. If the MDN is picked up within the timeout period, the AS3 Parse service moves the payload into the PAYLOAD mailbox.

   If the MDN is not picked up within the timeout period, the AS3 Parse service removes the MDN from the MDN_OUTGOING mailbox and moves the payload into the ERROR mailbox.

If you chose to have the necessary mailboxes and routing rule automatically created during the partner profile creation process, the routing rule created is named Routing Rule created by the AS3 auto create option. The Incoming AS3 Message (InboundAS3) mailbox and the Incoming AS3 MDN (Inbound MDN) mailbox are attached to the rule. If this routing rule already exists, the AS3 system just adds the two mailboxes to the rule. The routing rule is set up to invoke the predefined AS3MbxProcessing business process, which contains the AS3 Parse service.

Whether you create the mailboxes and routing rule automatically or manually, you need to schedule the routing rule to be run. See Using AS3 for more information.

Implementing the AS3 Parse Service

To implement the AS3 Parse service, complete the following tasks:

1. Install the AS3 Parse service.
2. Create an AS3 Parse service configuration.
3. Configure the AS3 Parse service only once in the user interface
4. Configure the AS3 Parse service parameters only once in the GPM.
5. Use the AS3 Parse service in a business process or, if you are using the predefined internal AS3MbxProcessing business process, you do not have to create another business process.

Configuring the AS3 Parse Service

To configure the AS3 Parse service, you must complete the following steps:

1. Select Deployment > Services > Configuration.
2. Search for AS3 Parse service or select it from the list and click Go!
3. Click Edit.
4. Specify field settings in the Admin Console (Creating or Setting Up a Service Configuration in the Admin Console) and the GPM (Setting Up the Service in the GPM).
5. On the Confirm page, verify that the Enable Service for Business Processes check box is selected and click Finish.

Creating or Setting Up a Service Configuration in the Admin Console

To configure the AS3 Parse service, you must specify settings for the following fields in the IBM Sterling B2B Integrator user interface one time only. Additionally, you will need to specify settings in the GPM:

Field

Description

Name

Unique and meaningful name for the service configuration. Required.

Description

Meaningful description for the service configuration, for reference purposes. Required.

Select a Group

Select one of the options:

• None – You do not want to include this configuration in a group at this time.
• Create New Group – You can enter a name for a new group in this field, which will then be created along with this configuration.
• Select Group – If you have already created one or more groups for this service type, they are displayed in the list. Select a group from the list.

Optional.

Setting Up the Service in the GPM

Use the field definitions in the following table to set up the service configuration in the GPM:

Parameter

Description

CustomizedBPML

The customized business process to invoke. Value is any valid business process name in the system. Default is the AS3MessageInitiation business process. Optional.

MDNStoreDirectory

The directory in which to store the MDN that is created or received from a trading partner. Value is any valid directory in the system. Optional.

MessageStoreDirectory

The directory in which to store the AS3 message created or picked up by the trading partner. Value is any valid directory in the system. Optional.

FileSystemInstance

The file system adapter instance to use to write the AS3 message to the file system. Value is any valid file system adapter instance in the system. Optional.

FTPAdapterName

The FTP adapter instance to use. Value is any FTP adapter configured in the system. Default is FTPClientAdapter. Optional.

PipelineTimeoutInSecs

The time out value for building an AS3 message. Valid value is any numeric value. Default is 1800 seconds. Optional.

mdnDocument

The MDN document generated. Optional.

Note: The MDN is only generated when it is requested by the incoming AS3 message. This Value is returned by the service if an MDN exists.

payloadDocument

The document ID of the payload document extracted from the incoming AS3 message. Optional.

Note: This parameter is only available when an AS3 message is received. A payload is not extracted when an MDN is received.

Process Data Example

By default, the AS3 Parse service is invoked from the AS3MbxProcessing internal business process. The AS3MbxProcessing business process is triggered by a mail routing rule when an AS3 message is received from a trading partner.

This example shows an example business process for invoking the AS3 Parse service:

<process name="test_AS3Parse">
  <sequence name="seq1">
       <operation name="AS3 PARSE SERVICE">
      <participant name="AS3Parse"/>
        <output message="outmsg">
        </output>
        <input message="inmsg">
          <assign to="." from="*"></assign>
        </input>
      </operation>
    </sequence>
</process>