WCF LOB Adapter SDK and BizTalk Adapter Pack : Siebel

WCF Siebel Adapter - Query fails because of misconfigured fields

SandeepP — Mon, 11 May 2009 14:24:00 GMT

Siebel adapter uses the COM interface to invoke calls on Siebel. For business component query, Siebel supports two ways of retrieving the field values for records. One can either use GetFieldValue to retrieve one field at a time or the other option is to use GetMultipleFieldValues to retrieve values for a bunch of fields in one go. The latter is better from a performance standpoint and is what the adapter uses. The problem with this approach though is that even if one of the fields, whose values are being retrieved, is mis-configured, the entire query call fails.

In development environments, it can happen that some of the customizations have issues, resulting in query failure as described above. The first step towards diagnosing the problem is identification of those problematic fields. The error message doesn’t always help identify the fields. When in such situation, one can use the attached Siebel COM sample code to narrow down the fields. You will need to add a reference to sstchca.dll (present in the Siebel install folder, in the bin sub-directory).

Once you have narrowed down the fields, you can either fix the issue with the field or if it’s not of interest, mark them as inactive on Siebel backend. You can then query using the Siebel adapter without any issues. Alternately, you can also use the QueryFields (optional) argument passed to the query operation to retrieve only the fields of interest.

Connection failure when using the WCF Siebel Adapter

SandeepP — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 07:07:00 GMT

I have seen quite a few instances where people run into issues while using the WCF Siebel adapter because of

a. Siebel Web Client is not installed correctly on the machine

b. Or the URI passed to the adapter, that eventually gets transformed to the connection string passed to Siebel, is incorrect

In order to eliminate the above 2 as possible causes, you can try out the following sample code that will use the Siebel COM interface to directly talk with Siebel (adapter is not involved). Please make sure you don’t see any error messages.

/// Application that will issue Login-Logoff request to Siebel

///

/// To run this program,

/// - Set ConnectString, Username and Password. ConnectString is of the format

/// siebel://host/EnterpriseServer/AppObjMgr/SiebelServer

/// (SiebelServer is required in case of Siebel 7.5)

/// For an example, please see the code below.

/// - Add a reference to sstchca.dll (found in siebel client install folder)

/// - Compile and run the program

/// - If the login fails, you will see an error message

using System;

using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

using SiebelBusObjectInterfaces;

namespace Sample

{

class Program

{

const string ConnectString = "host=\"siebel://adapsblsrvr77:2321/ent77/SSEObjMgr_enu";

const string Username = "abc";

const string Password = "def";

static void Main(string[] args)

{

SiebelDataControl sdc = null;

bool loggedIn = false;

try

{

/// Create a connection

sdc = new SiebelDataControl();

sdc.EnableExceptions(1);

sdc.Login(ConnectString, Username, Password);

loggedIn = true;

}

catch (COMException ex)

{

Console.WriteLine("ERROR: " + ex.ToString());

}

finally

{

if (sdc != null)

{

if (loggedIn)

{

sdc.Logoff();

}

Marshal.ReleaseComObject(sdc);

sdc = null;

}

Console.WriteLine("Press any key to terminate...");

Console.ReadLine();

}

Performing MVG operations using the Siebel Adapter

SandeepP — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 13:02:00 GMT

The RTM version of Siebel Adapter no longer supports the MVG operations – Associate, Dissociate and Query_*. The reason for dropping support for these operations is a memory leak in Siebel library that the adapter uses to communicate with Siebel. We are actively following up with Siebel to get this issue (SR# - 38-3489322221) resolved. In the mean time you can use the following alternate approach.

Before the adapter can be used to perform the MVG operations, users must manually obtain some information from Siebel. You can use Siebel Tools to get this information, which includes the MVG business component name and the foreign key fields in that. Below is a step by step description of how to go about finding that information.

1. Obtain the name of the Multi-Value Link based on the specific MVG field.

For example if the field is “Contact Id” in “Action” business component, the name of the MVL is “Contact”

2. From the Multi-Value Link, obtain the name of the Link

For the above example, the name of the Link is “Action/Contact”

3. From the Link, obtain the name of the Intersection Table, Inter Parent Column and Inter Child Column and the Primary ID Field. Note that if the Source Field and/or Destination Field are specified, they will be the primary keys, instead of Id, in the parent and child records.

For the above example, the name of the Intersection Table is “S_ACT_CONTACT”, Inter Parent Column is “ACTIVITY_ID”, Inter Child Column is “CON_ID” and Primary ID Field is “Primary Contact Id”. Both the Source Field and Destination Field are not specified meaning the primary key field is “Id” for either business components.

4. Now obtain a business component whose base table is the above Intersection Table. This would be the MVG business component. Note that if there are more than one, you will have to use some context to figure out the right one.

For the above example, the business component is “Action Contact”.

5. Also find the fields in the MVG business component that obtain their values from the Inter Parent Column and Inter Child Column obtained above. These will be the foreign keys for the parent and child record respectively.

For the above example, the field names are “Activity Id” and “Contact Id”

6. Now obtain a business object that contains this business component.

For the above example, the business object is “Contact”

Once we have the above information, the MVG operations can be performed by directly operating on the MVG business component using the foreign key fields. In the above example, the 3-tuple would be “Action Contact”, “Activity Id” and “Contact Id”.

1. Associate

To associate a specific record of the parent BC with a specific record of child BC, insert a record in MVG BC by setting the foreign key fields appropriately. For example if one wants to associate a record of Action with Id = “a” with a record of Contact with Id = “c”, insert a record in “Action Contact” with Activity Id set to “a” and Contact Id set to “c”.

/// <summary>

/// Associate a "Contact" record with an "Action" record

/// </summary>

/// <param name="mvg">Proxy client for the MVG business component</param>

/// <param name="activityId">Unique identifier for the "Action" record</param>

/// <param name="contactId">Unique identifier for the "Contact" record</param>

/// <returns>Id of the newly created record in MVG BC</returns>

private static string

Associate(

BusinessObjects_Contact_ActionContact_OperationClient mvg,

string activityId,

string contactId

)

{

try

{

/// Insert a record into the MVG BC after setting the

/// "Activity Id" & "Contact Id"

ActionContactInsertRecord[] insertRec = new ActionContactInsertRecord[1];

insertRec[0] = new ActionContactInsertRecord();

insertRec[0].ActivityId = activityId;

insertRec[0].ContactId = contactId;

string[] id = mvg.Insert(insertRec);

return id[0];

}

catch (Exception e)

{

Console.WriteLine("ERROR: Associate - " + e.Message);

}

return null;

}

Once a record has been associated, if you want to make this as the primary association, you need to set the Primary ID Field as well. For the above example, to make the new associated Contact record with Id = “c” as the primary association for the Action record, we will set the “Primary Contact Id” field in the Action record to “c”.

/// <summary>

/// Set the <Primary Id> field in the "Action" record to create a

/// primary "Contact" for this "Action".

/// </summary>

/// <param name="action">Proxy client for the "Action" business component</param>

/// <param name="activityId">Value of the foreign key field for the "Action" record</param>

/// <param name="contactId">Value of the foreign key field for the "Contact" record</param>

/// <returns></returns>

private static bool

SetPrimaryAssociation(

BusinessObjects_Action_Action_OperationClient action,

string activityId,

string contactId

)

{

try

{

/// Set the Primary Id field "Primary Contact Id" in "Action"

/// to the Id of Contact record

ActionUpdateRecord[] updateRec = new ActionUpdateRecord[1];

updateRec[0] = new ActionUpdateRecord();

updateRec[0].Id = activityId;

updateRec[0].PrimaryContactId = contactId;

action.Update(null, updateRec);

return true;

}

catch (Exception e)

{

Console.WriteLine("ERROR: SetPrimaryAssociation - " + e.ToString());

}

return false;

}

2. Dissociate

To dissociate a specific record of the parent BC from a specific record of child BC, delete the record from MVG BC found by using a search expression built using the 2 foreign key fields. For example if one wants to dissociate a record of Action with Id = “a” from a record of Contact with Id = “c”, delete a record from “Action Contact” using the search expression “[Activity Id] LIKE a and [Contact Id] LIKE c”.

/// <summary>

/// Dissociate a "Contact" record from an "Action" record

/// </summary>

/// <param name="mvg">Proxy client for the MVG business component</param>

/// <param name="activityId">Unique identifier for the "Action" record</param>

/// <param name="contactId">Unique identifier for the "Contact" record</param>

/// <returns>Id of the record deleted from the MVG BC</returns>

private static string

Dissociate(

BusinessObjects_Contact_ActionContact_OperationClient mvg,

string activityId,

string contactId

)

{

try

{

/// Delete the record where "Activity Id" and "Contact Id"

/// matche the specified values

string searchExpr = "[Activity Id] LIKE \"" + activityId + "\" and [Contact Id] LIKE \"" + contactId + "\"";

string[] id = mvg.Delete(null, null, searchExpr);

return id[0];

}

catch (Exception e)

{

Console.WriteLine("ERROR: Dissociate - " + e.Message);

}

return null;

}

Note that if the primary record is getting dissociated, you will need to update the Primary ID field to another associated record or if there are none, you will need to clear it. See “SetPrimaryAssociation” code sample above for how to do this.

3. Query associated

To query records of child BC that are associated with a specific record of the parent BC, query the MVG BC using a search expression built using the foreign key of parent BC. For example, if one wants to query records of Contact associated with a record of Action, whose Id = “a”, query “Action Contact” using the search expression “[Activity Id] LIKE a”

/// <summary>

/// Query the "Contact" records associated with a specific "Action"

/// record

/// </summary>

/// <param name="mvg">Proxy client for the MVG business component</param>

/// <param name="activityId">Unique identifier for the "Action" record</param>

/// <returns>Ids of the associated "Contact" records</returns>

private static List<string>

QueryAssociatedContact(

BusinessObjects_Contact_ActionContact_OperationClient mvg,

string activityId

)

{

List<string> id = new List<string>();

try

{

/// Query the MVG business component for all records where

/// "Activity Id" is set to the specified value

ActionContactQueryInputRecord queryIn = new ActionContactQueryInputRecord();

queryIn.SearchExpr = "[Activity Id] LIKE \"" + activityId + "\"";

ActionContactQueryRecord[] queryOut = mvg.Query(null, queryIn);

foreach (ActionContactQueryRecord rec in queryOut)

{

id.Add(rec.ContactId);

}

catch (Exception e)

{

Console.WriteLine("ERROR: Query_Contact - " + e.Message);

}

return id;

}

Upload data from an Excel spreadsheet to Siebel using the Siebel Adapter

SandeepP — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 08:24:00 GMT

If you have data stored in a Excel file and need to upload that to Siebel, this blog illustrates how go about doing that using the Siebel adapter. I will be using the “Account” business component and will show how to create insertion records.

Let’s take a sample Excel spreadsheet that has a bunch of fields that cover the various .Net types supported by the Siebel adapter.

1. Competitor – bool

2. Employees – long

3. Name – string

4. Profit – decimal

5. Reference Date – DateTime (UTC)

6. Start Date – DateTime (plain date)

7. Strategy – static bounded picklist

I will use an OleDbDataReader to read the data from the Excel spreadsheet and create the insertion records. The code below is self explanatory.

/// <summary>

/// Creates the insertion records by reading thru the excel spreadsheet

/// </summary>

/// <returns></returns>

private static AccountInsertRecord[] CreateInsertRecords()

{

string connectionString = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=E:\\junk\\ExcelToSiebel\\Account.xls;Extended Properties=Excel 8.0;";

OleDbConnection connection = null;

OleDbCommand command = null;

OleDbDataReader reader = null;

try

{

/// Connect to the excel file

connection = new OleDbConnection(connectionString);

connection.Open();

/// Start reading from the file & creating the insert records

command = new OleDbCommand("SELECT * FROM [Sheet1$]", connection);

reader = command.ExecuteReader();

List<AccountInsertRecord> insertRecList =

new List<AccountInsertRecord>();

while (reader.Read())

{

AccountInsertRecord insertRec = new AccountInsertRecord();

insertRec.Competitor = GetBool(reader, 0);

insertRec.Employees = GetLong(reader, 1);

insertRec.Name = GetString(reader, 2);

insertRec.Profit = GetDecimal(reader, 3);

insertRec.ReferenceDate = GetUtcDateTime(reader, 4);

insertRec.StartDate = GetDateTime(reader, 5);

insertRec.Strategy = GetStrategy(reader, 6);

Console.WriteLine("-------------------------------------------");

Console.WriteLine(" Competitor - " + insertRec.Competitor);

Console.WriteLine(" Employees - " + insertRec.Employees);

Console.WriteLine(" Name - " + insertRec.Name);

Console.WriteLine(" Profit - " + insertRec.Profit);

Console.WriteLine(" Reference Date - " + insertRec.ReferenceDate);

Console.WriteLine(" Start Date - " + insertRec.StartDate);

Console.WriteLine(" Strategy - " + insertRec.Strategy);

insertRecList.Add(insertRec);

}

/// Create the array of insertion records

AccountInsertRecord[] insertRecs =

new AccountInsertRecord[insertRecList.Count];

int index = 0;

foreach (AccountInsertRecord insertRec in insertRecList)

{

insertRecs[index++] = insertRec;

}

return insertRecs;

}

catch (Exception e)

{

Console.WriteLine("ERROR: " + e.ToString());

return null;

}

finally

{

if (reader != null)

{

reader.Close();

}

if (connection != null)

{

connection.Close();

}

The above code calls on a bunch of helper functions to do the value conversions to appropriate data types. There are a couple of ways to write these helper functions. They can read the raw value and then use standard functions like XmlConvert to actually do the conversion. Or one can set the “Category” on the columns in the Excel file and then use the OleDbReader’s get functions to retrieve the value as a specified type (GetBoolean, GetInt32, …). The helper functions in the code try to cover these different options.

/// <summary>

/// Gets a boolean value from the specific column of the Excel

/// spreadsheet.

/// </summary>

/// <param name="reader">Reader for the spreadsheet</param>

/// <param name="ordinal">Zero based column ordinal</param>

/// <returns></returns>

private static System.Nullable<bool>

GetBool(

OleDbDataReader reader,

int ordinal

)

{

try

{

return reader.GetBoolean(ordinal);

}

catch (Exception)

{

return null;

}

/// <summary>

/// Gets a string value from the specific column of the Excel

/// spreadsheet.

/// </summary>

/// <param name="reader">Reader for the spreadsheet</param>

/// <param name="ordinal">Zero based column ordinal</param>

/// <returns></returns>

private static string

GetString(

OleDbDataReader reader,

int ordinal

)

{

try

{

return reader.GetString(ordinal);

}

catch (Exception)

{

return null;

}

/// <summary>

/// Gets a decimal value from the specific column of the Excel

/// spreadsheet.

/// NOTE Assumes that the excel column "Category" has been set to

/// "Number"

/// </summary>

/// <param name="reader">Reader for the spreadsheet</param>

/// <param name="ordinal">Zero based column ordinal</param>

/// <returns></returns>

private static System.Nullable<decimal>

GetDecimal(

OleDbDataReader reader,

int ordinal

)

{

try

{

return (decimal)reader.GetDouble(ordinal);

}

catch (Exception)

{

return null;

}

/// <summary>

/// Gets a long value from the specific column of the Excel

/// spreadsheet.

/// NOTE Assumes that the excel column "Category" has been set to

/// "Number", with "Decimal places" set to 0

/// </summary>

/// <param name="reader">Reader for the spreadsheet</param>

/// <param name="ordinal">Zero based column ordinal</param>

/// <returns></returns>

private static System.Nullable<long>

GetLong(

OleDbDataReader reader,

int ordinal

)

{

try

{

return XmlConvert.ToInt64(reader.GetValue(ordinal).ToString());

}

catch (Exception)

{

return null;

}

/// <summary>

/// Gets a date/date-time value from the specific column of the Excel

/// spreadsheet.

/// </summary>

/// <param name="reader">Reader for the spreadsheet</param>

/// <param name="ordinal">Zero based column ordinal</param>

/// <returns></returns>

private static System.Nullable<DateTime>

GetDateTime(

OleDbDataReader reader,

int ordinal

)

{

try

{

string value = reader.GetValue(ordinal).ToString();

return DateTime.Parse(value);

}

catch (Exception)

{

return null;

}

/// <summary>

/// Gets a UTC date time value from the specific column of the Excel

/// spreadsheet.

/// </summary>

/// <param name="reader">Reader for the spreadsheet</param>

/// <param name="ordinal">Zero based column ordinal</param>

/// <returns></returns>

private static System.Nullable<DateTime>

GetUtcDateTime(

OleDbDataReader reader,

int ordinal

)

{

try

{

string value = reader.GetValue(ordinal).ToString();

DateTime dateTime = DateTime.Parse(value);

return DateTime.SpecifyKind(dateTime, DateTimeKind.Utc);

}

catch (Exception)

{

return null;

}

/// <summary>

/// Get the Strategy from the specific column of the Excel

/// spreadsheet.

/// </summary>

/// <param name="reader"></param>

/// <param name="ordinal"></param>

/// <returns></returns>

private static System.Nullable<ESPBSUStrategyPickListOptionalPickListType>

GetStrategy(

OleDbDataReader reader,

int ordinal

)

{

try

{

string value = reader.GetValue(ordinal).ToString();

if (value ==

ESPBSUStrategyPickListOptionalPickListType.Create.ToString())

{

return ESPBSUStrategyPickListOptionalPickListType.Create;

}

else if (value ==

ESPBSUStrategyPickListOptionalPickListType.Exit.ToString())

{

return ESPBSUStrategyPickListOptionalPickListType.Exit;

}

else if (value ==

ESPBSUStrategyPickListOptionalPickListType.Expand.ToString())

{

return ESPBSUStrategyPickListOptionalPickListType.Expand;

}

else if (value ==

ESPBSUStrategyPickListOptionalPickListType.Protect.ToString())

{

return ESPBSUStrategyPickListOptionalPickListType.Protect;

}

else if (value ==

ESPBSUStrategyPickListOptionalPickListType.Pursue.ToString())

{

return ESPBSUStrategyPickListOptionalPickListType.Pursue;

}

catch (Exception)

{

}

return null;

}

Using WCF Adapters with SQL Server Integration Services(SSIS)

anilpr@microsoft.com — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 13:26:00 GMT

There are two ways the adapters belonging to Adapter Pack can be used by SQL Service Integration Services:

1. Using ADO layer built on top of base adapters. This option is available with SAP and Siebel adapters.

2. Writing custom SSIS task which directly invokes adapter to communicate with LOB system.

Option 1 covers all scenarios where data need to be moved from LOB system into SQL server. The reason being that ADO layer exposes only Query and Execute interfaces. Using these ADO interfaces, we can only pull out data from LOB system.

If usage scenario is such that data has to be loaded into LOB system, then option 1 doesn't help. But that is the not end of story. We can write custom SSIS task. This custom task essentially wraps the adapter as destination component. Once adapter is exposed as SSIS component, it is available for use in any SSIS scenario.

I am attaching a sample for inserting data from flat file into Siebel. The flat file can easily be replaced by any other SSIS source component.

The sample attached here is modeled on SSIS sample "DatasetDestination Component" distributed as part of SQL SDK.

This sample contains two projects:

1. Custom SSIS component implementation, and

2. SSIS project. This reads data from flatfile source and pushes it to custom SSIS destination component. This custom component internally invokes Siebel adapter to send data to Siebel server.

There is instruction.txt which describes how to use above sample. Since this sample is just a proof of concept there are few assumptions made, which are:

1. We want to insert data into "Contact" business component in Siebel.

2. The name of the fields for which we want to specify value, must be specified in flatfile. These field names should match the field names exposed on Contact proxy object which in turn are derived from Siebel Contact business component's actual field names.

We can easily extend this sample to allow users to decide which back-end object he/she is interested in. The custom task can generate proxy for selected object on demand. Also the fields user is interested can be specified while component is being configured.

Siebel adapter connection URI

anilpr@microsoft.com — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 17:40:00 GMT

Siebel adapter exposes siebel connection string as URI. Siebel URI syntax is given below:

siebel://SiebelGateway[:portno]/?SiebelEnterpriseServer=SiebelEnterpriseServerName&SiebelObjectManager=ObjectManagerToConnect&Language=SiebelLanguageCode&SiebelRepository=CurrentActiveRepository&SiebelServer=servername

various components of URI are:

SiebelGateway: This variable point to siebel gateway hostname or ip address in case only one siebel server is configured for the gateway. If a gateway manages more than one siebel server, then individual server address must be provided. portno is optional if Siebel server is to configured to run with default port no.

SiebelEnterpriseServer: This must be valid Siebel enterprise server name

SiebelObjectManager: Valid siebel object manager name. Examples are SSEObjMgr_enu

Language: Siebel language code like enu

SiebelRepository: This is optional parameter if there is only one repository present on Siebel Server. In case multiple repositories are present, the repository to use must be specified. This is regardless of other repositories being inactive.

SiebelServer: This parameter is applicable to only siebel 7.5 and used to denote SiebelServer name.

WCF Siebel adapter Vs Biztalk Siebel adapter

anilpr@microsoft.com — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 15:44:00 GMT

What are the differences between old Siebel adapter shipped with Biztalk releases and WCF based Siebel adapter? Here is the list:

Since new Siebel adapter is developed using WCF LOB Adapter SDK (ASDK), ASDK features like Browse, Search and Resolve are available to end users via metadata search browse tool. While old adapter supports only browse.
Metadata returned by new adapter complies with standard webservice WSDL format. This means Siebel adapter can be consumed by various technologies as webservices after the generated contract gets hosted as WCF service.
New Siebel adapter has broader reach. It can be consumed by any.NET application, Biztalk, SQL Server integration services, MOSS etc. While old adapter can only work with Biztalk.
Siebel runtime support is much better.

Support for various types of picklists which are static bounded, static unbounded, dynamic etc.
Support for Siebel Multi-valued links. New Siebel adapter supports creation of association, querying for associated records as well as deletion of association.
Streaming support. Siebel adapter always streams the response of Query operation on output side while on input side it stream the insert requests. This makes new siebel adapter ideal for bulk insert/bulk export without worrying about hitting memory overflow issues.

Upcoming Siebel Adapter CTP release

anilpr@microsoft.com — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 13:47:00 GMT

The upcoming release for Adapter pack will have support for Siebel integration objects. This feature will allow users to invoke Siebel Business Service "EAI Siebel Adapter" to operate against any Siebel integration object. EAI Siebel Adapter business service exposes following operations for manipulation of siebel integration objects:

1.Query

2. Insert

3. Update

4. Upsert

5. Delete

6. Synchronize

Siebel adapter will have runtime support for all of these operations though Siebel adapter won't publish these objects schema. What that means is users are supposed to create schema for required integration object using Siebel Tools. Based on that schema users must prepare the input XML. This input XML should be embodied into siebel adapter request message as CDATA node if required Business Service Method expects Hierarchy as input. On the response side, adapter would put Integration object response into siebel adapter response message as CDATA node.

Here a sample for execute Query on integration object "Sample Contact"

----------------------SampleContactQuery.xml-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

<OutputIntObjectName xmlns="http://Microsoft.LobServices.Siebel/2007/03/BusinessServices/EAI_x0020_Siebel_x0020_Adapter">Sample Account</OutputIntObjectName>

<SearchSpec xmlns="http://Microsoft.LobServices.Siebel/2007/03/BusinessServices/EAI_x0020_Siebel_x0020_Adapter">[Account.Name] LIKE '*'</SearchSpec>

</QueryRequestRecord>

</Query>

----------------------End SampleContactQuery.xml----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Above XML is normal siebel adapter request message. It doesn't have any special XML node.

Now lets look at Sample insert xml request:

----------------------------------------------SampleContactInsert.xml-----------------------------------------------------------------

<Insert
xmlns="http://Microsoft.LobServices.Siebel/2007/03/BusinessServices/EAI_x0020_Siebel_x0020_Adapter/Operation">
<InsertRequestRecord />
<InsertInOutRecord>
<SiebelMessage xmlns="http://Microsoft.LobServices.Siebel/2007/03/BusinessServices/EAI_x0020_Siebel_x0020_Adapter">
<![CDATA[<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-16"?><SiebelMessage
MessageId=""
IntObjectName="Sample Account"
MessageType="Integration Object"
IntObjectFormat="Siebel Hierarchical"><ListOfSampleAccount><Account><CurrencyCode>INR</CurrencyCode><Location>Hyderabad</Location><Name>IntegrationObjectTest</Name></Account></ListOfSampleAccount></SiebelMessage>]]>
</SiebelMessage>
</InsertInOutRecord>
</Insert>

----------------------------------------------End SampleContactInsert.xml-------------------------------------------------------------

The node of our interest is <CDATA[[]]> node. It contains integration object representation which Siebel business service expects.

Note the first xml comment inside CDATA node (xmlversion and encoding) should be maintained as is, otherwise Siebel will refuse to accept the message.

More on Siebel Integration Object support will follow:-)

Working with Siebel multi valued link (MVL) using siebel adapter

anilpr@microsoft.com — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 12:46:00 GMT

Siebel adapter supports working with multi valued link in Siebel. Following operations are exposed for MVLs:

1. Associate

2. Dissociate

3. Query_xxx

A sample is attached for associating Contact record with Account business component. Sample starts with:

1. creating record in parent business component which is Account

2. Querying the inserted record in Account.

3. Inserting record in Contact business component

4. Querying for just inserted record to make sure that it got inserted

5. Calling Associated on parent i.e. Account proxy object to link contact record with a parent record. The inputs to associate operation are:

a. search expression to retrieve just inserted record from Account

b. Field name in Account which represents Account/Contact MVL.

c. search expression to retrieved unique record from Contact

6. We verify the association by issuing Query_Contact operation on Account proxy object. Here we ask for retrieval all child records for inserted parent record in step1.

In the attachment, the client section in App.Config should be modified to have correct Siebel server parameters and also Program.cs need to be updated with appropriate Siebel userid and password. Just compile the project and good to go!

Connection management in Siebel adapter

anilpr@microsoft.com — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 11:58:00 GMT

iebel adapter uses Siebel COM control to connect to Siebel backend. Since Siebel COM control objects work only in STA mode, Siebel adapter creates dedicated thread for each connection being opened to server. Sometimes this thread hangs around if Siebel adapter is configured to use ASDK's connection pool and client didn't explicitly call ChannelFactory.Close(). By default this thread will be active for 1min and this setting is control via binding parameter "IdleConnectionTimeout" (or "idleConnectionTimeout" config entry if configuring via config file). Till this thread is alive, the adapter host process doesn't terminate. This issue will be seen where client doesn't call ChannelFactory.Close().

Getting LOB metadata from SAP, OracleDB and Siebel adapter using svcutil

Jayanthi S — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 11:56:00 GMT

The WCF based adapters that ship in the Biztalk Adapter Pack are WCF bindings. The svcutil tool can be used to get metadata for a LOB method using these bindings. The scheme in the URI determines which adapter binding is loaded by svcutil. However when using the svcutil tool, there is no easy way to specify the LOB credentials that should be used to get metadata from the LOB. One way to specify the LOB credentials to our adapters is to set it in the URI. However, by default (for security reasons) the adapters do not accept credentials in the URI.

To get around this, you need to set the binding property acceptCredentialsInUri to true and then specify the LOB credentials in the URI. To be able to set binding properties or other custom settings when using svcutil.exe, you should use the svcutil.exe.config file. This article describes how to use it.

Attached is a sample svcutil.exe.config which has the endpoint and binding configurations for all the three adapter bindings. Place this in the same folder as svcutil.exe.

The following are sample command lines to use to get metadata from our adapters.

SvcUtil.exe "sap://user=youruser;passwd=yourpassword;Client=800;lang=EN@A/adapsap47/00?op=http://Microsoft.LobServices.Sap/2007/03/Rfc/RFC_GET_FUNCTION_INTERFACE"

SvcUtil.exe "oracledb://User=MYUSER;Password=MYPASSWORD@ADAPTER/?op=http://Microsoft.LobServices.OracleDB/2007/03/SCOTT/Table/AEMP/Insert"

SvcUtil.exe "siebel://Username=MYUSER;Password=MYPASSWORD@mssebldemo:2321?SiebelObjectManager=SSEObjMgr_enu&SiebelEnterpriseServer=ent771&Language=enu&op=http://Microsoft.LobServices.Siebel/2007/03/BusinessObjects/Account/Agreement/Query"

Note the quotation mark around the URI. In the configuration for Siebel (in the attached config file) also note the idleConnectionTimeout without which it will take the default 1 minute for svcutil to terminate. Look for more details on the idleConnectionTimeout in a separate post on Siebel.

Note also that if you use the Add Adapter Service Reference tool (that gets installed with the WCF LOB Adapter SDK) to get metadata for a LOB method for use in a C# or VB project, the AcceptCredentialsInUri binding property will not be visible or settable. You can set the LOB credentials using the credentials tab in the tool.