Sterling B2B Integrator beginners series - Lab01 BPs 101

Lab01 BPs 101

Objectives

Understand the basics on how to create and run a Business Process in SterlingB2B.

Overview

This labs are set up to be run on windows systems.

The lab involves the following tasks:

1. Start the server and logging in.
2. Creating a BP in GPM
3. Deploy the BP in SB2B
4. Run and debug the BP

1.1      Starting the Server

1. Navigate to the install directory normally under - /opt/IBM/SterlingIntegrator/install/bin/

1. Execute the scrip ./run.sh

• It will deliver more debug info (it’s a verbose run) in case of sucess the following should be displayed.

2. To stop the server there are two approaches and both can be done running scripts or through the web interface.
1. Hardstop: will stop all running services and transactions immediately which might result in data losses, avoid using this in production environments. Run the ./hardstop.sh script under the same directory.

2. Softstop: More suitable for production environments but that might be unable to stop the server under certain circumstances. Run the ./sotstop.sh script.

• Stopping SB2B using the web interface.

1.2      Logging into Sterling B2B Integrator

1. Log in to Sterling B2B Integrator
1. Start Internet Explorer and use the URL: http://localhost:9090/dashboard to reach the Sterling B2B Integrator server
2. Enter admin as the user name
3. Enter password as password
4. Click Sign In

1.3      Download and run the GMP

1. Navigate to Business Process > Manage
2. Click Go on Run Graphical Process Modeler

3. Download the ProcessModeler.jnlp file.
4. Open it using the ibm_jdk javaws.exe, note that it will not work with Oracle Java versions.

§  ProcessModeler.jnlp can be dragged and dropped over javaws.exe so there is no need to change the default java start settings.

1.4      Log in to the GPM

• The GPM uses the same credentials as the SB2B web interface, if a BP is deployed it will be available for the priviledges of the user who created it (the same being used to log in).

1. Log in to GPM
1. The login window migh be in the background so minimize you’re open tasks.On startup it doesn’t show up in the taskbar.
2. Enter admin as the user name
3. Enter password as password
4. Click OK

1.5      Create a new BP file

1. From the GMP top menu navigate to File > New

2. Navigate File > Save As and save file as Lab01_101.bp
3. Chose no to Validate on Save

4. Create a new folder on BPs and open it and hit Save.

1.6      Show the BPML and All Services Stencil

1. Navigate to View > Stencil > BPML
2. Navigate and press View > Stencil > All Services

1.7      Create the Business Process Workflow

1. Drag and drop elements from the BPML stencil to create a BP as shown bellow.

2. Connect the BPML elements by pressing the output arrows and dragging them to the next element.
3. Fill the values of the Assign activity by clicking on top of it
1. Leave append as false.
2. Set constant as World
3. Set to as Hello

4. Save the BP hiting save icon. Press Yes on Validate on Save. A Validation Successful message should appear.

5. Change the Sequence Start element name by entering Begin in the Value inputbox.

6. Save the BP.

1.8      View the BPML source of the BP

1. Navigate and select View > Source

2. Navigate again to the Graphical interface by choosing View > Graph from the top menu.

1.9      Deploy the BP using one of the 3 options

1.9.1       Deploy BP using the GPM

1. Navigate and select Tools > Source Manager
2. Click the folder icon

3. Insert Lab01_101 as Process Name

4. Click the ... button and search the BP previously created, add a Description and click Next.

5. Leave the configuration for the BP on the default values
1. Click next on Process Levels
2. Click next on Deadline Settings
3. Click next on Life Span

6. Confirm the input and make sure the Enable Business Process is check (this will make the BP available for execution).

1.9.2       Delete the Business process

• Before proceding to other BP upload options delete the BP deployed on the previous point.

1. Login to SB2B dashboard
2. Navigate to Business Process > Manager
3. Click Go after entering Lab01_101 under Search > Process Name

4. Click Source Manager

5. Hit Go after Delete All Versions

• In this Panel it is also possible to update existing BPs or check in a new version of the Business Processs.
• Instead of deleting all version one could have selected the Delete Select Versions
• You can also Check Out the BP making it available for editing on the GPM or to import it to another Sterling Server.

6. Click Ok to the pop up prompt window

7. Hit Next on the Delete Resources info window.

8. Click Delete on the warning window.

1.9.3       Import service to SB2B using the web interface

1. Login to SB2B dashboard
2. Navigate to Business Process > Manager
3. Click Go under Create > Process Definifion

4. Give the process name Lab01_101, make sure you have the Check in Business Process created by the graphical modeling tool radio selected.
5. Hit next.

• The two info boxes assinaled in red, these are common to all Sterling forms when setting up configurations using the dashboard.
• The first one provides help hints related to the current configuration
• The second provides a navigation breadcrumb on the current configuration
• Both are updated in each interaction of the form

6. Fill the second form

1. Hit Search and locate the previously BP create with GPM
2. Enter a Description (mandatory)
3. Click Next

• Notice the Help and Steps info boxes have been updated for the current form step.

7. Leave defaults on the next three steps

4. Click next on Process Levels
5. Click next on Deadline Settings
6. Click next on Life Span

• These inputs are advanced topics and are out of context for the current lab obkectives
• The configurations don’t have any impact on how the BP runs and refer to how SB2B manages the BP internally

8. Confirm the input and make sure the Enable Business Process is check (this will make the BP available for execution).

9. Success message is displayed, click Return.

10. Delete the created BP using the Sterling Web Dashboard

1.9.4       Import service to SB2B using the web interface and BPML

1. Login to SB2B dashboard
2. Navigate to Business Process > Manager
3. Click Go under Create > Process Definifion

4. Give the process name Lab01_101, make sure you have the Business Process Text Editor radio selected

5. Change to the GPM application and navigate to View > Source

6. Copy the BPML source


7. Go back to the browser on Sterling Dashboard
1. Paste the copied code from GPM on the Business Process text area
2. Enter a Descrition

11. Leave defaults on the next three steps

7. Click next on Process Levels
8. Click next on Deadline Settings
9. Click next on Life Span

• These inputs are advanced topics and are out of context for the current lab obkectives
• The configurations don’t have any impact on how the BP runs and refer to how SB2B manages the BP internally

12. Confirm the input and make sure the Enable Business Process is check (this will make the BP available for execution).

13. Success message is displayed, click Return.

1.10   Run/Execute the Business Process

1. Login to SB2B dashboard
2. Navigate to Business Process > Manager
3. Click Go after entering Lab01_101 under Search > Process Name

4. Click Execution Manager

5. Hit Execute for the displayed version

6. Leave the Business Input empty and click Go

7. Wait for the results to display

• Each row of the table corresponds to a service/activity being executed in the Business Process
• The process is shown starting at the bottom and ending in the top step 0->1
• The Status report column contains information about errors
• The Document column refers to the Document Area and will be populated if there are documents being transported/translated on the BP workflow
• The instance Data refers to the internal BP control vars, or Process Data where information required to execution of the BP and the translation and flow of the documents is stored. It can be result of SQL queries, XPath, java functions, virtually any function provided by an advance programming language. It is advisable to use always the existing Sterling Services it avoids to reinvent the wheel and make the maintenance easy as new patches might improve those services.

8. Click the info icon with the ! mark

• The Process Data is display as the result of the Assign Service execution
• Process Data is an XML document with tags that contain values
• The result is a tag  <Hello>World</Hello>
• The Message To Service and Message From Service are empty as there is no data coming in or from the service