Introduction
An Adapterflow allows you to define your entry and exit from iCore Process Server in a pre-packaged way. You build your Adapterflows with ready-made elements, which can then be configured to fit your needs.
An Adapterflow always starts with an entry point, but may then contain a number of different activities. You can execute several Event-based Adapterflow definitions simultaneously: If two events occur at the same time, the instances of the Adapterflow will be processed simultaneously.
Basic and Advanced Adapterflow activities
The activities you use to build an Adapterflow are of two types:
Basic activities
There are a number of different basic adapters. Some of these may function as entry points, whereas others can only be activities. Examples are “SaveToFile” and MSMQWriter”.Advanced activities
An advanced activity is either a Data reader or a Data writer. A Data reader reads data from one or several data sources and generates an XML output. Primarily, a Data writer receives XML input and writes it to one or several data sources. In addition, a data writer may also generate XML output.A Data reader may either function as an Entry point or an activity in the Adapterflow, whereas a Data writer can only be an activity. Data readers and writers may fetch data from and write data to a number of record-based data sources. The data source could be a database or an application API, for example ODBC, DB2, MSSQL, Movex API, Sales force API. You may combine any record-based data sources you want in one Data reader or Data writer. For example, you could combine Movex API calls with database calls to generate one XML output.
To learn more, see Data Reader and Data writer.
Two sides of the Adapterflow – "Application friendly" and "ESB friendly"
The Adapterflow has an application-friendly side (towards an ERP system or other application) and an ESB-friendly side (towards any ESB, for example IBM, BizTalk, Tibco, iCore Process Server, etc.).
In between the two sides, we recommend using a generic XML format. Doings so makes the flow "loosely coupled" and easy to change. The two sides also allow you to expose composite services to the ESB, which will result in less complexity and traffic.
We recommend deploying the Adapterflow close to the target application.
