Track 2 - Construct Entirely New Interface - No Default Values

Track 1 demonstrates an existing interface's main activity, transferring files from a data producer to a data consumer, while assuming that a default B2B interface had already been constructed. Track 2 takes a step back in order to introduce 2 new admin actions - each with its own HttpForm - required to actually setup a new B2B interface. Due to the constraints of the Demo and to restrictions on the scope of the software install, the topics and the subscriptions that you create with the demo Forms will not persist in a DataBase. Rather, each form submission binds the entities ( Topic, Subscription ) to your Session. For as long as your session lasts ( about 20 minutes ) you may run command line demos that trigger data interface activity on your new Topic and Subscription.

Create New Topic

The First form binds a Topic to your session. One text field needs to be completed on the left of this form. Enter a name for your topic. When you have filled it in use the submit topic button. The URL for the real form is here. The webapp requires authentication, so on a challenge, use the following for credentials:

  • user=dogtown
  • password=zboys
Successful interaction with the topic creation form will result in this browser view.

Create New Subscription to the Topic

Submission of the second form binds a Subscription to the session. Note that successful creation of any subscription is mirrored by a specific ChannelData Command (CDC) and that it's the CDC that actually gets connections and moves data. Whenever a Publish Event occurs on your new topic, the Post Office dispatchs the Channel Data Command as an Event Handler to transfer data. See Output Part 2 below for more details.

This time you complete 4 fields on the right hand side of this form. Set Server IP Value to any valid IP Address where there exists an FTP daemon for which you posess valid Credentials. As an example, you may use the IP="66.35.250.221" for server, and the values "anonymous" and "yourmail@myIsp.com" for credentials. Anything can be supplied for File Name because this property is not used. Successful submission of the form creates a CDC and returns it to the browser in this view. Any data that is interfaced to this subscriber (66.35.250.221) will be deleted at the end of 24 hours.

Publish Collection of Files to the New Topic

Get a command shell on your system and enter the command line below, adjust it to the path requirements of your system, remembering Windows conventions require all the information on a single line and with a "\" as the path separator. Refer to help with Shell commands. 

bin/b2bpo
data.topic.name=yourtopic
data.source.sourcedirectory=/data/outbnd 
data.source.regex=tm11.*

The above expression data.source.regex=tm11.*, results in an interface sending 2 files to the destination system defined by the values provided to the Subscription Form. This works because of a Demo Default scenario where resources in the download include a couple of files in the /data/outbnd directory that match the regex property above.

You may change the values of these 2 properties and you may send your own files across the interface by using new values to point the properties at directories and files on your PC or LAN. Adjust the following properties to send your own files:

  • data.source.sourcedirectory
  • data.source.filename
  • data.source.regex
Remember that the properties data.source.regex and data.source.filename are mutually exclusive, USE ONE OR THE OTHER. Instructions for setting properties are available by going to Instructions(long) and scrolling down to the command line parm entry. Note: demo will limit fileSizes to 20K. Larger files will be ignored unless you really dig thru the install package to discover the workaround.

Output part 1

-- listing properties --
data.topic.action=publish
data.source.sourcedirectory=\data/outbnd
data.source.filename=
rename.session.id.disp.from=0
wsdl.service.addr.port.name=urn:EchoAttachmentsService
rename.session.id.disp.to=15
wsdl.service.addr.axis.webapp=axis/services
data.source.regex=tm11.*
soap.rpc.methodname.attachment=postFile
wsdl.service.addr.host=http://localhost:80
data.source.lastfile=2001-11-01T15:23:30.609-08:00
data.topic.name=yourtopic
ws.invocation.typ=soapconnparms

Output part 2

------=_Part_1_2545159.1062955328946
Content-Type: text/xml; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary
Content-Id: <3990206B81F992EAB4BF692D2138096D>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" 
  xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" 
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
 <soapenv:Body>
  <ns1:postFileResponse 
    soapenv:encodingStyle="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/" 
    xmlns:ns1="urn:EchoAttachmentsService">
   <ns1:postFileReturn href="#id0"/>
  </ns1:postFileResponse>
  <multiRef id="id0" soapenc:root="0" 
    soapenv:encodingStyle="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/" 
    href="cid:6E694A6450ACC1E64539F645C4B5A4CC" 
    xmlns:soapenc="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/" 
    xmlns:ns2="http://xml.apache.org/xml-soap"/>
 </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>

Output part 3


    <exchangeSession>
        <session>3B6258C0887C26CABF7472F7F0E6FAC4</session>
        <asof>2003-09-10T13:34:48.128-08:00</asof>
        <endson>2003-09-10T13:34:48.128-08:00</endson>
        <host>
            <server>66.35.250.221</server>
        </host>
        <client>
            <username>anonymous</username>
            <password>******</password>
        </client>
        <items>
            <fileAssociation>
                <source>
                    <filename>fff</filename>
                    <sourcedirectory>
                 G:\jakarta-tomcat-5\dist\work\Catalina\localhost\axis
                    </sourcedirectory>
                    <regex>DE2B887FF27FF18.*</regex>
                    <lastfile>2003-09-10T13:34:48.128-08:00</lastfile>
                </source>
                <target>
                    <targetdirectory>incoming</targetdirectory>
                </target>
            </fileAssociation>
        </items>
    </exchangeSession>
</network_file_exchange>

------=_Part_1_2545159.1062955328946--

Verify Data Transfer

First wait 30 Seconds while the Dispatcher at the Post Office and threads that it runs perform the actual interface work, getting subscriber connections and sending files over the connections. Then, by going to the following URL ( if you used the suggested IP Address for the Subscription ) and observing files within the list having a name matching the value of the regex element in Output Part 3 above:

  • ftp://upload.sourceforge.net/incoming
Note that the URL gets you to a root directory from which you have to find the incoming directory and then CD into it. From there, you get the proper filelist. Completing the example, note that in this snapshot listing of files preserved at the time that the sample demo was run, you see DE2B887FF27FF18 as the prefix of 2 files interfaced by the demo.

File Renaming:

As evidenced by 2 files that started this example on your PC with names like tm1102a.txt and finished up on SourceForge's Server named as DE2B887FF27FF18testRpc0.txt, file renaming is a software feature designed to preserve flexiblity in managing the requirements for logging, for de-coupling and for availability. More information on file renaming is available by going to Help then scrolling the table for the following entries:

  • Verify Details Track 1A
  • File Renaming
Remember that the Output Part 3 contains the Channel Data Command whose property values for server and for target determine where the data will be sent to.