Concept and use of the Connector for Web Services
This section describes the concept of the Connector for Web Services and sketches in general terms how the connector is used to build a web-based integration with an Infor LN or Baan server.
Infor ES Connector for Web Services is a Java servlet that enables you to access BDE or BOI business objects on an Infor LN or Baan server. This Java servlet is called c4ws and runs in the managed environment of a Tomcat server.
To implement a web service for a specific business object, you use the configuration pages of the Connector for Web Services. On these pages, you define which business objects must be deployed in the web server. For each deployed web service a WSDL file will be available. The WSDL file completely defines the web service and has been generated using the LN Studio. After deployment, the service is running and ready to be used.
Web clients that have access to the web service can use the service. Therefore, a web client can send a SOAP request message to the web service and, if all goes well and no errors occur, the web service sends back a SOAP response message that contains the return value of the invoked method on the BDE or BOI business object. If something went wrong, the web service returns a SOAP result message that contains information about the errors. Web client applications can use the deployed WSDL file to generate WSDL proxies. These proxies form a Client API of the web services for the involved BDE or BOI business object.
To view the current status of the deployed web services and to monitor incoming requests for a particular service, the connector also provides a status page. This Web Services Status page shows which web services are currently active and specifies, for each service, the Infor LN or Baan specific server, the BDE or BOI business object, the URL of the service and number of requests handled by the service.
If you click the WSDL link of a web service, you can view the WSDL file of this service in your web browser, and save it to a local .wsdl file to use it for the generation of proxies.