Assets
A package is a container that is used to bundle services and related elements, such as specifications, webMethods Integration Server document types, webMethods Integration Server schemas, and triggers. When you create a folder, service, webMethods Integration Server document type, or any element, you save it in a package.
Packages are designed to hold all of the components of a logical unit in an integration solution. For example, you might group all the services and files specific to a particular marketplace in a single package. All the components that belong to a package reside in the subdirectory of the package.
Once you deploy the packages in IBM® webMethods Cloud Container, you can view the packages and its assets under Assets Explorer. Assets Explorer provides you with two layout options to view packages in a solution, namely List view and Card view. The default view is the Card view, which allows you to see the packages in solutions as blocks. However, you can switch to the List view by clicking on the List icon located on the upper-right corner of the Solutions page.
You will now see all the information related to solutions, including description, nodes, and version numbers used in a solution, in a block display.
You can search or filter the results in the following ways by type or by keyword.
To search for an item, type a string in the search box in the search navigation bar. The search result list is displayed below the search box. If you want to see all the search results, select All in the drop-down list
In a clustered solution, the Asset Explorer always connects to the first node of the webMethods Integration Server instance. If the first instance of the webMethods Integration Server node fails, the Asset browser displays the assets of the next processing node.
In the Administration page of IBM webMethods Cloud Container, Cloud Container connects to the same Integration Server instance that is currently connected to the Asset Explorer. To change the default instance of the Integration Server node, navigate to the Administration page and select a different Integration node from the drop-down list.
Note that when you change the Integration Server instance node in the Administration page, the Asset Explorer displays the assets available for the newly assigned node. However, if you use the Shut down or Restart functionality to schedule a complete shutdown of the server, the Asset Explorer will not display the assets of the next available node. Once you log off from the existing solution, the Asset Explorer displays the assets of the next available node.
Click the arrow beside a folder or package to view its contents.
Downloading assets
You can download user deployed packages and configurations from the Asset page. To
download assets, point to an asset, click the 
icon,
and then click Download. The assets will be zipped and downloaded to your local storage
space. You cannot download default packages such as packages that come with webMethods Integration
Server installation, for example, Default, WmART, WmCloud, WmJDBCAdapter, and WmPublic.
Services
Services are method-like units of logic that operate on documents. You build services to carry out work such as extracting data from documents, interacting with back-end resources, for example, submitting a query to a database or executing a transaction on a mainframe computer), and publishing documents. Adapters and other add-on packages provide additional services that you use to interact with specific resources or applications. The service editor allows you to view and run the services.
Service Signature
Input and output parameters are the names and types of fields that the service requires as input and generates as output. These parameters are also collectively referred to as a signature. You declare a signature for all types of services: flow services, Java™ services, and services written in other supported programming languages.
For a flow service, the input side describes the initial contents of the pipeline. In other words, it specifies the variables that this flow service expects to find in the pipeline at run time. The output side identifies the variables produced by the flow service and returned to the pipeline. An webMethods Integration Server document type can also be used to define the input or output parameters for a service.
Click Run once to run the service after providing the data to pass into the service.
Service Editor
Use the service editor to view the services. The source code, properties, inputs, and outputs are read only. The editor has the following tabs:
- Source tab contains the code or flow for the service.
- Input/Output tab contains the input and output signature of the service.
- Logged Fields tab indicates the input and output parameters for which the data is logged. You define the data to pass into the service by defining the input parameters on the lower panel of the editor.
- API Details After deploying assets, on the Asset explorer page, click the API Details option to view the API details of the service such as the HTTP Method, URL, Input structure, and the parameters that are required to invoke this service from an external system, for example, a REST client. You can copy the required API details to execute the service from the external system.
Key Points to Consider for Services
-
The API Details option appears only for executable services. Some examples of executable services are Adapter services, Flow services, Java services, Flat File Schema, and Map services.
-
You will be able to execute a Flat File Schema by using only the SoapUI tool. You must specify the following settings in the SoapUI tool: Set the following query parameters in the Request section:
- skipWhiteSpace =
true - encoding =
UTF8 - file =
file:file1
- skipWhiteSpace =
-
In the Attachments section, browse for the source file and update the following column values:
- Name = file1
- ContentID = file
-
While invoking a service using external API calls, if the file size exceeds the 100 MB limit, the application will throw an error.
Load pipeline for testing services
The pipeline is the general term used to refer to the data structure in which input and output values are maintained for a service in Designer. The pipeline holds the input and output for a service. The pipeline starts with the input to the service and collects inputs and outputs from subsequent services. When a service runs, it has access to all data in the pipeline at that point.
When you run a service in Designer, you can click Save and save the pipeline data as an XML document to your local file system. After you deploy the service, you can click the Load Data option in the service editor to select the XML file, and load or update the pipeline data to test the service.
Integrations can now invoke IBM webMethods Cloud Container webMethods Integration Services for the same tenant. A new pre-defined Application, IBM webMethods Cloud Container, is added in the integration. Using this application, you can select the solution webMethods Integration Server services that you want to call from IBM webMethods Cloud Container.
See the Service Development Help, webMethods Integration Server Administrators Guide, and the webMethods Adapter for JDBC Installation and User Guide for detailed descriptions of all the services and document types including Adapter services.