Version: 4.2.5

Getting started with iCIS

This topic serves as a quick introduction to iCore Integration Suite (iCIS) and is aimed at iCore beginners. The topic contains the following sections:

Install iCore Integration Suite.
Create a new User with Developer rights.
Create and execute your first Adapterflow.

Install iCore Integration Suite

For detailed instructions on how to install iCIS, refer to Installing iCore Process Server (new installation). Make sure to also perform the post-installation tasks.

Create a new User with Developer rights

note

The purpose of this task is only to show you how to create a User with full development rights (including the right to create and modify Scripts. The Adapterflow tutorial later in this topic does not require that you are logged on as a Developer. For more information about user authorization, see User and User Groups.

To create a new User in iCore Administrator

Log on to the iCore system as Admin.
In the system explorer (the left-hand pane), select SystemConfiguration -> Users.
Right-click and select Add User… The Add new User dialog box opens.
In the Name field, enter the name of your new User.
In the User group field, select Developer from the drop-down list.
In the Password field, enter a password for the new User.
note
The password must comply with the system's current User Password Policy (UPP). You can view the UPP on the Security tab in the System settings. To be able to modify the UPP, you need to be logged on as a User that has access to the restricted operation User Password Policy.
Click OK. The new User has now been created.
Log off the iCore system, and log back on using the new User credentials.

To create a new User with PowerShell Cmdlets

Open the PowerShell console.
Follow the example provided in Using cmdlets.

Create and execute your first Adapterflow

This tutorial shows you how to create a simple Adapterflow that does the following:

Picks up a test file from a local file folder.
Writes a short message to the log.
Stores the contents of the file in a Node.
Extracts some contents from the file and writes it to the log.

Once the Adapterflow has been created, you will also learn how to:

Test the Adapterflow in the Run Component tool.
Configure the Adapterflow to run in iCore runtime.

Create a test file

In this step, you will create the XML test file that will be picked up by the Adapterflow.

Start a simple text editor, for example Notepad.

Copy the following text and paste it into the file:

    <?xml version="1.0"?>
    <catalog>
       <book id="bk101">
          <author>Gambardella, Matthew</author>
          <title>XML Developer's Guide</title>
          <genre>Computer</genre>
          <price>44.95</price>
          <publish_date>2000-10-01</publish_date>
          <description>An in-depth look at creating applications
          with XML.</description>
       </book>
    </catalog>

Save the file as "BookOrder1.xml" on your desktop (or in any other location where it can easily be found).

Create a file reader Adapterflow

Open your browser and navigate to the Administrator website.
Log on to the iCore system as a User with Developer privileges.
In the main tree, select Definitions -> Adapterflows.
Right-click and select Add Adapterflow. The Adapterflow Wizard starts.
note
Starting the Adapterflow Wizard requires that iCore tools have been installed locally. For more information, see Starting iCore tools.
In the Name field, enter "MyAdapterflow".
Click >>. The Entry point page opens.
From the Adapter Entry Point drop-down box, select Filesystem reader.
Select Standard/Directory, right-click and select Directory Path.
Click and select a suitable Scan directory (for example C:/Temp).
Next, you are going to add an activity which writes a short message to the log confirming that a file has been found.
Click >>. The Add Activities page opens.
Click Add…
From the drop-down list, select the Write to log activity.
In the activity properties, select Text, right-click and then select String Value.
Type “File Found [” and press Enter.
To add the name of the found file, right-click on the added line (String), and select AddItem -> Activity Binding -> FileSystemReader1 -> Standard -> Original Filename Out.
Right-click on the newly added line and add the closing “]”, by choosing Add Item -> Base Types -> String Value and type the character “]”.
Click OK. Note that the new activity has been added to the activities summary.
In the next few steps you are going to add an activity which stores the content of the file in a Node.
Click Add….
From the drop-down list, select the Create Node activity.
Under the Standard heading, select Name, right-click and then select Add Item -> Activity Binding -> fileSystemReader1 -> Standard -> Original filename Out. This activity will retrieve the original file name, and is an example of when data from a previous activity is used in a later activity.
Click OK.
Finally, you will add an activity that extracts some data from the retrieved file.
Click Add….
Select Other -> Get Value By Regular Expression.
Scroll down to Expression, right-click on the left part of the line, and select Regular Expression (shortcut: CTRL + ENTER). Click to open the Regular expression editor. The Regular expression editor lets you add and test regular expressions before they are implemented in the Adapterflow.
Right-click in the top pane to bring up a list of templates. Select Miscellaneous – XML Element.
In the expression, replace "ElementName" with "title". Note that regular expressions are case-sensitive.
Test the expression: copy and paste the content of the test file into the middle pane (on the Input tab). Click Test. If the expression is correct, the contents of the element \<title> will be displayed in the lower pane. The lower pane contains three lines (Before match, Match and After match), Match is selected by default. Select Before match and After match to see the contents.
Click OK to save the expression.
Click OK in the Add Activity window to save the activity.
Add another Write to log activity to the Adapterflow.
In the Text field, type “Book title [” and press Enter.
Right-click on the added line (String), and select AddItem ->Activity Binding ->getValueByRegularExpression1 ->Matched Result ->Matched Data Out.
Add a closing bracket (“]”) to the log line (String value).
Before saving the activity, change the Node ID property by adding a binding to the created Node: select AddItem -> Activity Binding -> createNode1 -> Standard ->Node ID Out. This will connect the log line to the Node, and improve tracking possibilities.
Click >> twice. The Adapter Summary is displayed.
Review the summary and check that the flow is activated and the activities are enabled.
If everything looks ok, click Create. The Adapterflow is created.

Execute the Adapterflow in the Run Component tool.

In the Administrator, select Tools -> Run Component Tool.
Locate and select the new Adapterflow in the list.
Click the Run icon in the upper left corner to run the Adapterflow. As the execution progresses, logs are displayed in the right-hand pane. Verify that the last log line contains the text “Running”.
Place a copy of the BookOrder1.xml in the scan directory.
Check that the file is removed within 30 seconds (this is the default scan interval).
Check the log in Run Component tool. The log should now contain additional rows (file found and book title).
In iCore Administrator, select Tracking -> Nodes. The retrieved file should now be stored as a Node. Select the Node, and open its contents by clicking the path displayed in the details pane with the title "File name".
In the Run Component tool, click Stop to stop the file reader Adapterflow from executing.

Execute the Adapterflow in iCIS runtime

To be able to execute the Adapterflow in iCIS runtime, you need to create a Component configuration and an Event configuration. For more information, see Runtime.

Make sure the iCore Server is enabled, the service is installed, and your iCore license is active.
In the system explorer tree, select Configuration -> Components.
Right-click and select Add Component. The Add Component window opens.
In the Definition field, open the drop-down list and locate the Adapterflow “MyAdapterflow”.
In the Name field, enter “MyAdapterflow”.
Set the Lifetime property to “Session”. This means that, once the Component is executed, it will continue to run for the entire iCore system session (i.e. until the iCore system is stopped).
Click OK.
Select Configurations ->Event configurations.
Create an Event configuration with the following properties:
- Name: MyAdapterflow
- Event type: _iCore_SystemStarted
- Execute: MyAdapterflow
  note
  This is the Event configuration that will trigger the integration flow in iCPS. It uses a system-defined Event type called _iCore_SystemStarted.
Restart the iCore system.
Place another copy of the BookOrder1.xml in the scan directory.
Verify that the file has been processed in iCore by studying the tracking entities.
- Check the log.
- Check the Node and the contents of the Node.
- Check the Events and Jobs.
- Check the System monitor to see the current status of the Server parts and the Events created, Jobs dispatched etc. The System monitor also provides valuable information about currently available slots, processes running in the different Application pools etc.

Getting started with iCIS

Install iCore Integration Suite

Create a new User with Developer rights

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To create a new User in iCore Administrator

note

To create a new User with PowerShell Cmdlets