Event processing adapters

CICS® event processing (EP) adapters are programs that format and then emit events from a CICS system. EP adapters format event data into a suitable output format and route the event using a transport mechanism that makes it available to potential event consumers.

You can use CICS EP adapters to emit business events to your consumers by using these transport mechanisms:

IBM® MQ, in XML format for consumption by IBM Operational Decision Manager or IBM Business Monitor, or in binary CICS flattened event (CFE) format for consumption directly from IBM MQ
HTTP POST, in XML format for consumption by IBM Operational Decision Manager, IBM Business Monitor, or any other event processor that accepts XML events using HTTP.
A CICS transaction
A CICS temporary storage queue

You can also implement a user-written or vendor-written custom EP adapter for specific user or vendor business requirements.

Any business events that are captured from a CICS application or system are processed and then dispatched by the event dispatcher to the EP adapter specified for that event, for formatting and routing to the relevant processor or consumer.

You can cause the same event to be directed to more than one EP adapter by creating an EP adapter set containing the names of multiple EP adapters. You can specify the EP adapter set name in one or more event bindings.

You specify business events and the CICS EP adapters that they use by using the CICS event binding editor. For more information about adapter properties and supported formats, see Specifying EP adapter and dispatcher information.

Figure 1 illustrates the CICS EP adapter data flow from capture point to the final event consumer.

This diagram shows five CICS EP adapters which are passed captured events from the event dispatcher. These adapters then format the captured event for routing using the appropriate transport mechanism, to the event consumer. The event consumer can be an IBM Business Monitor, IBM Operational Decision Manager, an HTTP 1.1 compliant server, a CICS transaction, or a CICS temporary storage queue. — Figure 1. Conceptual view of the CICS EP adapter data flow

You specify the required format and transport in the EP adapter configuration of the event binding, so that all events in a binding are formatted and routed in the same way.

CICS provides some EP adapters. Alternatively, a user or vendor can write a custom EP adapter, which can be modified to suit your requirements.

Because only certain combinations of format and transport are valid, or supported, with the EP adapters that are supplied by CICS, you select the EP adapter for the required transport and then, where appropriate, select the format.

Table 1 shows the transport mechanisms and message formats that are available.

Table 1. EP adapter transports, formats, and intended consumers
CICS event binding editor: adapter specification	Event Processing adapter used	Transport for emission	Event format emitted	Intended consumer
Message queue	WebSphere MQ	IBM MQ	Common base event	IBM Business Monitor and any application that consumes a Common Base Event
			CICS flattened event	An application that gets the CICS flattened event (CFE) from the message queue and consumes it by using the mappings that are provided by these copyboooks: The DFHEPFE* copybooks in either SDFHMAC or SDFHC370 The copybook that is exported for the CFE event.
			Decision Server Insights Event	Decision Server Insights component of IBM Operational Decision Manager
			WebSphere® Business Event	Decision Server Events component of IBM Operational Decision Manager
HTTP	HTTP	HTTP	Common base event	Any application that consumes a Common Base Event
			Common Base Event REST	IBM Business Monitor or any application that consumes a Common Base Event REST
			Decision Server Insights Event	Decision Server Insights component of IBM Operational Decision Manager
			WebSphere Business Event	Decision Server Events component of IBM Operational Decision Manager
Transaction Start	Transaction start	CICS containers	CICS container-based event	A CICS application that consumes the event data from containers
TS queue	TSQ	A temporary storage record	Common base event	A CICS application that consumes the event from the temporary storage queue (TSQ). The TSQ EP adapter is generally used for testing and debugging, not production.
			Common Base Event REST
			CICS flattened event
			Decision Server Insights Event
			WebSphere Business Event
Custom	User-written or vendor-written. With a custom EP adapter, the transport mechanism and message format are determined by the custom EP adapter, allowing any transport mechanism that can be accessed from a CICS program to be used and any required format to be supported.

Table 2 shows the combinations of emission modes and transactional modes that are supported for each EP adapter. The letter x indicates a supported combination of modes.

Table 2. EP adapter emission and transactional modes
Event processing adapter	Emission mode		Transactional mode		Notes®
Event processing adapter	SYNC	ASYNC	TRANS	NONTRANS	Notes®
WebSphere MQ	x		x		Event emission is assured by using synchronous emission mode. For the WebSphere MQ EP adapter, event delivery is assured when synchronous emission mode is used in combination with persistent queues.
	x			x
		x	x
		x		x
HTTP	x			x	The HTTP EP adapter cannot emit events in a recoverable way and therefore does not support synchronous, transactional event emission.
		x	x
		x		x
Transaction start		x	x		The transaction start EP adapter does not support assured emission of events.
Transaction start		x		x
TSQ	x		x		For synchronous event emission, the TS queue must be recoverable for transactional events and unrecoverable for non-transactional events. The TSQ EP adapter is generally used for testing and debugging, not production.
	x			x
		x	x
		x		x
Custom	Each combination of adapter, emission mode, and transactional mode is possible depending on how you have configured your custom EP adapter.				The custom EP adapter must conform to the recoverability requirements of the event. Consult the documentation for your custom EP adapter.