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Using FML with WebLogic Tuxedo Connector

The following sections discuss the Field Manipulation Language (FML) and describe how the WebLogic Tuxedo Connector uses FML.

- Overview of FML

- The WebLogic Tuxedo Connector FML API

- FML Field Table Administration

- tBridge XML/FML Translation

Overview of FML

Note: For more information about using FML, see Programming a BEA Tuxedo Application Using FML.

FML is a set of java language functions for defining and manipulating storage structures called fielded buffers. Each fielded buffer contains attribute-value pairs in fields. For each field:

- The attribute is the field's identifier.

- The associated value represents the field's data content.

- An occurrence number.

There are two types of FML:

- FML16 based on 16-bit values for field lengths and identifiers. It is limited to 8191 unique fields, individual field lengths of 64K bytes, and a total fielded buffer size of 64K bytes.

- FML32 based on 32-bit values for the field lengths and identifiers. It allows for about 30 million fields, and field and buffer lengths of about 2 billion bytes.

The WebLogic Tuxedo Connector FML API

The FML application program interface (API) is provided by the WebLogic Tuxedo Connector jatmi.jar file. The details of the FML API implementation are documented in the index.html file included doc directory of your WebLogic Tuxedo Connector distribution.

Note: The WebLogic Tuxedo Connector implements a subset of FML functionality. For example, views are not supported.

FML Field Table Administration

Note: For more information on field tables, see the index.html file included doc directory of your WebLogic Tuxedo Connector distribution for references on the FldTbl and the mkfldclass32 classes.

Field tables are generated in a manner similar to Tuxedo field tables. The field tables are text files that provide the field name definitions, field types, and identification numbers that are common between the two systems. To interoperate with a Tuxedo system using FML, the following steps are required:

1. Copy the field tables from the Tuxedo system to WebLogic Tuxedo Connector environment.

   For example: Your Tuxedo distribution contains a bank application example called bankapp. It contains a file called bankflds that has the following structure:

       #Copyright (c) 1990 Unix System Laboratories, Inc.
       #All rights reserved
       #ident  "@(#) apps/bankapp/bankflds     $Revision: 1.3 $"
       # Fields for database bankdb

       # name                         number  type    flags   comments
       ACCOUNT_ID                     110     long    -       -
       ACCT_TYPE                      112     char    -       -
       ADDRESS                        109     string  -       -
       .

       .

       .

2. Converted the field table definition into Java source files. Use the mkfldclass utility supplied with the WebLogic Tuxedo Connector jar file. This class is a utility function that reads a FML32 Field Table and produces a Java file which implements the FldTbl interface. There are two instances of this utility:

   - mkfldclass

   - and mkfldclass32

     Use the correct instance of the command to convert the bankflds field table into FML32 java source. The following example uses mkfldclass.

     java weblogic.wtc.jatmi.mkfldclass bankflds

     The resulting file is called bankflds.java and has the following structure:

         import java.io.*;
         import java.lang.*;
         import java.util.*;
         import weblogic.wtc.jatmi.*;

         public final class bankflds
                 implements weblogic.wtc.jatmi.FldTbl
         {
                 /** number: 110  type: long */
                 public final static int ACCOUNT_ID = 33554542;
                 /** number: 112  type: char */
                 public final static int ACCT_TYPE = 67108976;
                 /** number: 109  type: string */
                 public final static int ADDRESS = 167772269;
                 /** number: 117  type: float */

         .

         .

         .

3. Compile the resulting bankflds.java file using the following command:

   javac bankflds.java

   The result is a bankflds.class file. When loaded, the WebLogic Tuxedo Connector uses the class file to add, retrieve and delete field entries from an FML32 field.

4. Add the field table class file to your application CLASSPATH.

5. Update the WebLogic Tuxedo Connector XML configuration file.

- Update the T_DM_RESOURCES section to reflect the fully qualified location of the field table class file.

- Use the keywords required to describe the FML buffer type: fml16 or fml32.

- You can enter multiple <FldTblClass> lines to specify additional field tables.

For example:

            <T_DM_RESOURCES>
                    <FieldTables>
                    <FldTblClass Type="fml32">com.bea.mystuff.bankflds</FldTblClass>
                    </FieldTables>
            </T_DM_RESOURCES>

1. Restart your WebLogic Server to load the field table class definitions.

tBridge XML/FML Translation

The <translateFML> element is used to indicate if FML translation is performed on the message payload. There are two types of FML translation: FLAT and NO.

Note: The data type specified must be FLAT or NO. If any other data type is specified, the redirection fails.

FLAT

The message payload is translated using the WebLogic Tuxedo Connector internal FML/XML translator. Fields are converted field-by-field values without knowledge of the message structure (hierarchy) and repeated grouping.

In order to convert an FML buffer to XML, the tBridge pulls each instance of each field in the FML buffer, converts it to a string, and places it within a tag consisting of the field name. All of these fields are placed within a tag consisting of the service name. For example, an FML buffer consisting of the following fields:

NAME JOE
ADDRESS CENTRAL CITY
PRODUCTNAME BOLT
PRICE 1.95
PRODUCTNAME SCREW
PRICE 2.50

The resulting XML buffer would be:

    <FML32>
      <NAME>JOE</NAME>
      <ADDRESS>CENTRAL CITY</ADDRESS>
      <PRODUCTNAME>BOLT</PRODUCTNAME>
      <PRODUCTNAME>SCREW</PRODUCTNAME>
      <PRICE>1.95</PRICE>
      <PRICE>2.50</PRICE>
    </FML32>

NO

No translation is used. The tBridge maps a JMS TextMessage into a Tuxedo TypedBuffer (TypedString) and vice versa depending on the direction of the redirection. JMS BytesMessage are mapped into Tuxedo TypedBuffer (TypedCarray) and vice versa.

FML Considerations

Remember to consider the following information when working with FML:

- For XML input, the root element is required but ignored.

- For XML output, the root element is always <FML32>.

- The field table names must be loaded as described in FML Field Table Administration.

- The tBridge translator is capable of only "flat" or linear grouping. This means that information describing FML ordering is not maintained, therefore buffers that contain a series of repeating data could be presented in an unexpected fashion. For example, consider a FML buffer that contains a list of parts and their associated price. The expectation would be PART A, PRICE A, PART B, PRICE B, etc. however since there is no structural group information contained within the tBridge, the resulting XML could be PART A, PART B, etc., PRICE A, PRICE B, etc.

- When translating XML into FML32, the translator ignores blank values. For example, <STRING></STRING> is skipped in the resulting FML buffer.

- Embedded FML is not supported in this release.

- TypedCArray is not supported for FML to XML conversion. Select from the following list of supported field types:

  - SHORT

  - LONG

  - CHAR

  - FLOAT

  - DOUBLE

  - STRING

  - INT (FML32)

  - DECIMAL (FML32)

- If you have TypedCArray in your FML, encode to TypedString and decode the XML to TypedCArray.

- If you need to pass binary data, encode to a field type of your choice and decode the XML on the receiving side.

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