Vijay Mutalik-Desai

STEP 4: Use the Metadata explorer to create the Metadata to be published to the IBF Service. (continued):

h) Visualize the UI: Before one gets started with creating the Metadata to describe the User interface, it is a good idea to identify the form in which data will be presented to the user. Given below is how we would like to display the data returned by the GreetingService application to the end user.

i) Define a title/caption for the UI: As seen in the above figure, the Title bar tells the user that they are looking at a Greeting Message for a friend named Harry.The existing Metadata requires the following modifications to deliver this functionality to the end user.

1. The View element defines how an Entity is displayed to the end user. So, naturally the starting point for describing metadata for the GreetingService user interface will be the view “GretingMessage”. IBF provides a “Menu Item Definition” node, as shown below, which can be used to define what should be appear in the Information Bridge window menu for the end user.

Right click “Menu Item Definition” node associated with “GreetingMessage” view & select Properties. Set the MenuType property to 1 to indicate that the menu item will be displayed to the end user.

2. Click the button labeled “…” associated with the property MenuDefinitionOperationInstance to open up Menu Item Definition dialog box and select the checkbox labeled “Use an operation to define the menu item name & description” as shown below.

3. MenuDefinitionOperationInstance outputs XML that is used by OperationQueryMenu to display the caption and ToolTip for a menu item. Given below is an overview of the steps to be done in order to output the XML

-Create an operation of the type OperationTransformationAggregation that takes one or more XML input corresponding to pre-defined schemas and transforms them to XML confirming to the following schema, which is used by the IBF client engine to show the caption on the title bar.

Schema Name: MenuDefinitionSchema

<xs:element name="ViewProperties" type="ViewPropertiesType" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">

<xs:complexType name="ViewPropertiesType" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">

<xs:sequence>

<xs:any namespace="##any" processContents="lax" minOccurs="0" />

</xs:sequence>

<xs:attribute name="Caption" type="xs:string" use="optional" default="" />

<xs:attribute name="Description" type="xs:string" use="optional" default="" />

</xs:complexType>

</xs:element>

-Create transformation instances to provide input XML for the Operation created above.

Now let us get into the details of the above two steps.

We will first define the transformation that will provide input to the operation of type OperationTransformationAggregation. When the user moves the mouse over the name Harry & selects “Show Details” from the Smart Tag menu, a XML string confirming to FriendSchema is passed to IBF. We will need to extract the value of the name attribute of the FriendSchema to make it a part of the value to be assigned to the Caption Attribute of the MenuDefinitionSchema. In effect, we shall transform the FriendSchema to MenuDefinitionSchema. To define this transformation

-In the Transformations folder, double click the node labeled “[Add Transformation…]” to open the Add Transformation dialog box.

-Enter the Transformation name as “MenuCaptionCreation”.

-Select “Transformation Xsl” as the type of Transformation.

-Select “FriendSchema” as the InputSchema.

-The Output Schema for this Transformation has not yet been defined. Follow the steps given below to create the “MenuDefinitionSchema”.

oClick “Add Schema” button associated with Output Schema drop down list to open up the “Add Schema” dialog box.

oIn the Schema Properties tab, enter the name of the schema as “MenuDefinitionSchema”.

oSelect the Type as “SchemaXsd”

oClick the “ Add Port ” button to supply the XML Schema definition.

oIn the Port properties tab, name the port “MenuDefinitionPort” and select the port type as “PortFileXml”.

oSelect “Enter XML port data to save in the metadata” and paste the following block of code in the input text box.

<xs:element name="ViewProperties" type="ViewPropertiesType" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">

<xs:complexType name="ViewPropertiesType" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">

<xs:sequence>

<xs:any namespace="##any" processContents="lax" minOccurs="0" />

</xs:sequence>

<xs:attribute name="Caption" type="xs:string" use="optional" default="" />

<xs:attribute name="Description" type="xs:string" use="optional" default="" />

oGiven below is what we have after following these steps

oClick OK to complete the creation of this port and return to the “Add Schema” dialog box.

oGiven below is what we have in the “Add Schema” dialog box

oClick OK to complete the schema creation and return to the “Add Transformation” dialog box.

oGiven below is what we have at the end of these steps.

-Follow the steps given below to create a new port to supply the XSL transformation required to transform FriendSchema to MenuDefinitionSchema.

oClick the “ Add Port ” button associated with Port drop down list

oEnter the name as “MenuDefinitionProvider”.

oSelect “Port File Xml” as the type of Port.

oSelect the option “Enter XML port data to save in the metadata” and paste the following XSL in the input text box.

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" xmlns:iwb="http://schemas.microsoft.com/InformationBridge/2004" xmlns:ab="urn-GreetingService-Data">

<xsl:template match="/">

<iwb:ViewProperties Description="Default Friend view" ShowAs="MenuItem">

<xsl:attribute name="Caption">Greeting Message for <xsl:value-of select="//@Name"></xsl:value-of></xsl:attribute>

</iwb:ViewProperties>

</xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

oGiven below is what we have after following the above steps

oClick OK and return to the Add Transformation dialog box

-Given below is what we have after defining the port for the transformation.

-Uncheck the box “Apply Translations” and click the OK to complete the process of defining the transformation.

To facilitate addition of a new operation, a button has been provided adjacent to the Operation Name drop down list, as seen above. Click this button to open up the Add Operation Dialog box.

-In the Operation Properties tab, let us name the operation as “DefineMenuItemName”.

-Select the entity “Friend” from the drop down.

-MenuDefinitionOperationInstance requires the operation to be of type OperationTransformationAggregation or OperationCallComponent. For simplicity, we select OperationTransformationAggregation

-We will be associating the transformation “MenuCaptionCreation” created above with an instance of this operation. The output of transformation “MenuCaptionCreation” will serve as input to this operation. Hence the input to the operation instance DefineMenuItemName must be an XML confirming to MenuDefinitionSchema.

oClick the edit button associated with the “Input Schema” to open the “Select Schemas” Dialog box.

oSelect “MenuDefinitionSchema” and add it to the list of Selected schemas. Given below is what we have at the end of these steps.

oClick OK to complete the process of associating an Input Schema with the “DefineMenuItemName” operation and return to the “Add Operation” dialog box.

oSelect “MenuDefinitionSchema” from the Output Schema drop down list.

oSince the Input & Output Schemas use the same XSD, keep the Transformation property set to “None”.

oGiven below is what we have after performing the above steps.

oClick OK to return to the “Menu Item Definition” dialog box as shown below.

- Assign “Reference” as the value for the Input Operation Name.

- Assign “(None)” as the value for the Input Operation Output Argument.

- Select “MenuCaptionCreation” as the value for Transformation Name.

Given below is what we have at the end of these steps.

- Click OK to complete the Menu Item Definition.

j) Describe how the view on an entity is to be located by Information Bridge .

When IBF client receives an XML confirming to the FriendSchema as input, we need to let it know, which operation has to be executed for this reference so that we get the data associated with it. This is done by defining a ViewLocator element as shown below.

1. In VS.NET, right click the child node of the “View Locators” folder & select “Properties”. Assign the value “FriendSchema” to the property ReferenceSchemaName.

Given below is what we have in the Metadata explorer window.

2. The operation “GetGreetingMessage” is to be executed when “FriendSchema” is received as input. Right click the immediate child node of “FriendSchema” and select Properties. Assign the value “GetGreetingMessage” to the property “OperationName”

3. Click the button labeled “…” associated with the property “TransformationInstances” to open up the Transformation Instances Dialog box. Assign the value “Reference” to the property “Input Operation Name”. Leave the remaining properties unmodified. Given below is what we have at the end of these steps.

Click OK to complete the ViewLocator definition.

k) Describe actions that can be performed on the view:

1. Double click “[Add Action…]” node under the “Actions” folder to open up the Add Action Dialog box. Fill the entries in the dialog box as shown below.