As described in Non-XML Types, an XML Schema representation of each MFL file in your application is built by WebLogic Workshop. You can work with every MFL file in your project in its non-XML data representation (in non-XML MFL format) and in its XML Schema representation (XML typed data).
The variable assignment panes in the WebLogic Integration node builders treat MFL and their corresponding XML variables interchangeably, such that you can assign MFL data directly to the corresponding variables of type XML and XML data directly to the corresponding variables of type MFL; no data transformation is required.
In other words, the WebLogic Workshop graphical design environment allows you to assign MFL data (that is passed into a business process from a client or a control) to strongly typed-XML variables directly, and to assign typed-XML data (sent from a business process to a client or a control) directly to MFL variables.
The node builders for the following nodes support the direct assignment of MFL data to XML variables and XML data to MFL variables: Client Request, Client Response, Control Send, Control Return, Control Send with Return. The example described in the following section describes a Client Request and a Client Response node; the steps are similar for any node.
Example Scenario—Requires Assignment of MFL Data to an XML Variable and Assignment of XML Data to an MFL Variable
Consider the following example:
Your business process is started by a request from a client. The request contains a purchase order document in MFL format, which is represented by an MFL file in a Schemas folder in your application. To learn about importing XSD and MFL schemas into your application, see Importing Files into the Schemas Project.
To process the purchase order, your business process must first assign the MFL data to an XML variable (at a Client Request node). This XML variable is used in the processing of the purchase order at subsequent nodes. When the processing is complete, the business process sends a response document (from a Client Response node) to the client. The processed data (a price quote) is in XML format in your business process; because the client expects MFL data, a Client Response node assigns the XML data to a variable of type MFL before sending the response.
The business process in this scenario includes a Client Request node, a Client Response node, and the nodes between them (not described in this example) at which the processing logic is designed:
The following steps describe how to design the Client Request and Client Response nodes to do the MFL-to-XML and XML-to-MFL assignments required for the scenario described in this example.
To Design the Client Request Node
Note: Every MFL file type in your project is listed in the Non-XML Types pane and every XML file type in your project is listed in the XML Types pane. In addition, because an XML Schema representation of each MFL file is built by WebLogic Workshop, an XML Schema representation of your MFL data is also available in the XML Types list.
The following figure shows an example of the XML Types listing and the NonXML Types listing for an application which includes an MFL file named MyMFLFile.mfl:
The Receive Data tab allows you to define the variable to hold the data your business process receives from clients.
The Client Sends field is populated with the parameter (or parameters) you specified on the General Settings tab. In this example, the data is of type MyMessageFormatMflObject:
To create a new variable, from the Select variables to assign drop-list, select Create new variable...
The Create Variable dialog box is displayed with the fields already populated with the variable types expected by the method you specified on the General Settings tab.
The preceding steps described how to design a Client Request node to do a direct assignment of MFL data to an XML variable using the graphical design environment; no data transformation is required.
To Design the Client Response Node
For this example scenario, assume that some processing is done by the business process to process the purchase order request. As a result of the processing, the business process creates a typed-XML price quote document. The client expects a quote in MFL format (the quote message must be valid against an MFL schema named POquote.mfl). Therefore, the business process stores the price quote data in an XML variable that is valid against the XML schema associated with this MFL file (in this case named POquote.mfl.xsd)
Before sending the response to the client, the typed-XML price quote must be assigned to a typed non-XML (MFL) variable at the Client Response node. The following steps describe how to design the Client Response node for this XML-to-MFL scenario:
To create a new variable, from the Select variables to assign drop-list, select Create new variable.... The Create Variable dialog box is displayed and the fields are populated with the variable types expected by the method you specified on the General Settings tab.
The preceding steps described how to design a Client Response node to do a direct assignment of XML data to its corresponding MFL variable using the graphical design environment; no data transformation is required.
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