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Administering B2B

Working with the Repository

The following sections describe the WebLogic Integration repository:

- Understanding the Repository

- Managing the B2B Configuration Information in the Repository

Note: The XOCP and cXML protocols are deprecated as of this release of WebLogic Integration. For information about the features that are replacing XOCP and cXML, see the BEA WebLogic Integration Release Notes.

Understanding the Repository

The WebLogic Integration repository is the database that stores the information required by WebLogic Integration. The repository consists of:

- B2B configuration tables—set of database tables that contain the static B2B configuration information.

- Persistence tables—set of database tables in which the persistence state is stored. (dynamic)

- JMS Queue tables—set of database tables that store the message state. (dynamic)

- Workflow tables—set of database tables that store static workflows and dynamic run-time information.

- Common tables—set of database tables that store XML, DTDs, XSLT style sheets, and other entities used by WebLogic Integration.

B2B Configuration Elements

The following two figures show the relationships among the B2B configuration elements in the repository. For information about configuring the repository data elements, see Configuration Requirements.

Figure 6-1 Elements in the Repository (Part 1)

The following figure is a continuation of the previous figure.

Figure 6-2 Elements in the Repository (Part 2)

In the figures, solid lines represent inclusion and dashed lines represent reference. When you remove an element from the repository, the following events occur:

- If the removed element includes other elements, the included elements are removed from the repository, too.

- If the removed element refers to other elements, the referenced elements remain in the repository.

For example, if you remove a collaboration agreement, the referenced conversation definition remains.

You cannot, however, remove an element if another element still has a reference to that element. You must modify the reference to point to another element of the same type or remove the element with the reference. For example, you cannot remove a trading partner from the repository if that trading partner has an indirect reference from a collaboration agreement. This indirect reference from a collaboration agreement to a trading partner is shown in Figure 6-3. In Figure 6-3, a collaboration agreement has an inclusive relationship with a party and that party has a reference to a party identifier. A trading partner has an inclusive relationship with a party identifier. Therefore, to remove a trading partner from the repository, you must either remove the collaboration agreement that is referencing the party identifier or change the reference from the party of the collaboration agreement to a different party identifier.

Figure 6-3 Indirect Reference from Collaboration Agreement to Trading Partner

There are other instances of elements that cannot be removed if another element has a reference to it. For different relationships between repository elements, see Figure 6-1 and Figure 6-2. For example, you cannot remove a conversation definition until you first modify the reference to it in an associated collaboration agreement. That is, either you must change the reference in the collaboration agreement to point to a different conversation definition, or you must remove the conversation definition before removing the associated conversation agreement.

The following table provides an overview of the elements in the repository.

Table 6-1 Elements in the Repository

Element | Description
--- | ---
B2B | The B2B root element. This element represents the B2B engine configuration. All major elements stem from this root element. Note: The B2B root element is wlc. This abbreviation is a legacy from a previous release.
Business protocol definition | Business protocol definition that specifies how the B2B engine processes business messages, including how it reads messages and how it routes messages to recipients. A business protocol definition also specifies persistence, retries, and quality of service.
Logic plug-in chain | A logic plug-in chain is a set of logic plug-ins that changes the way in which B2B integration routes or filters a message.
XPath expression | An XPath expression is a string written in XPath syntax that, when evaluated, results in one of the following types of objects: Node-set (an unordered collection of nodes without duplicates) Boolean Floating-point number String For information about XPath expressions, see "Expressions" at the following URL: http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath.html#section-Expressions
Collaboration agreement | A collaboration agreement is a definition of the interactions that trading partners agree to carry out, along with a specification for the methods through which these interactions are conducted. This specification includes details about transport, messaging, security constraints, and bindings to a process specification.
Party | A party is an entity that binds a role in a conversation definition to a trading partner in a collaboration agreement.
Conversation definition | A conversation definition is a collection of values that defines a conversation.
Role | A role is a definition of activities, such as buying and selling, that can be performed by a trading partner during a conversation. A role is defined in terms of the documents that can be sent or received by a trading partner in the conversation. Each conversation has two or more roles, and each role is defined by a collaborative workflow.
Process implementation | Associates the workflow template name and organization.
Extended property set | An extended property set is a set of user-defined elements, attributes, or text components that can be associated with entities in the repository.
Logic plug-in | Logic plug-ins are Java classes that are invoked when WebLogic Integration is started. At run time, logic plug-ins intercept, process, and output business messages. Built-in router and filter logic plug-ins are associated with each supported business protocol. Customer-provided logic plug-ins can modify the default routing and filtering functionality, or provide functionality other than routing and filtering, such as billing. For information about logic plug-ins, see Introducing B2B Integration and Programming Logic Plug-Ins for B2B Integration.
Trading partner | A trading partner is a business entity that is authorized to send and receive business messages in a conversation.
Certificates | WebLogic Integration supports the following types of digital certificates for use in B2B integration: Client certificates Encryption certificates Server certificates Signature certificates
Delivery channel | A delivery channel is a specification for delivering business messages to one trading partner. There is one delivery channel per trading partner per collaboration agreement.
Document exchange | A document exchange is a definition of the method through which a document is exchanged. A document exchange defines a business protocol and some run-time parameters.
Bindings for business protocols | To participate in a business process, a trading partner needs to define a binding for the business protocol that the business process uses. The binding associates the protocol with a specific delivery channel.
Party identifier | A party identifier is a value that specifies a trading partner participant to a conversation.
Transport | A transport specifies the transport level properties for a delivery channel.
Endpoint | An endpoint is the URI defined for the delivery channel.

Managing the B2B Configuration Information in the Repository

The following figure illustrates the methods you can use to manage the information in the repository.

Figure 6-4 Managing the Information in the Repository

As this figure illustrates, when you update information through the B2B Console or a custom management application, the repository is accessed by means of the MBeans API. The Bulk Loader employs a low-level API to handle database operations.

The MBeans API enables you to update the repository dynamically at run time. That is, database updates can occur while the B2B engine is running. The Bulk Loader, on the other hand, requires B2B engine shutdown.

Additional information about each of these methods of updating the B2B configuration elements stored in the repository can be found in the following documents:

- For information about using the Bulk Loader, see Working with the Bulk Loader.

- For information about using the B2B console, see the Online Help for the WebLogic Integration B2B Console.

- For information about creating your own applications, see the WebLogic Integration development guides.