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Transformers

Transformers support conversion of IFS Record XML format to/from other formats required by other systems - like other XML standards, flat files, or HTML. IFS Connect supports transformation of both inbound and outbound messages. Synchronous request/response messages may also have transformation of the response.

Note: It is also possible to transform non-XML or binary data using Java transformers.

Transformers change Messages from one format to another.

IFS Connect supports two types of transformers:

  • Stylesheet
    Transformation is performed by a stylesheet engine (XALAN) and transformation rules are defined in an XSLT file.
  • Java
    A Java classimplementing a given interface performs the transformation. There are two types of Java transformers:
    • String transformer - can be used for transformation of any type of text document (XML, HTML, plain text, etc.).
    • Binary transformer - can be used for transformation of binary data, e.g. can be used for digital signing of PDF documents.

Transformers work primarily on the message body. In detail this means that for messages of known types the header will not be transformed.

  • for SOAP_IFS, SOAP_SIMPLE or any other envelope type defined in the system, on the soap body
  • for unknown XML, on the whole content (UNKNOWN_XML means XML file that is not recognized as having a known envelope type).
  • for none XML, on the whole content (NONE_XML means flat files, edifact, PDF, etc.).

Transformers can be created and configured in Setup IFS Connect feature of IFS Solution Manager.

Transformer Types

Two main transformer types are available.

  • Java

Creating Java transformers are more cumbersome compared to XSLT transformers. A special transformer project must be created either using IFS Developer Studio or a third-party tool like Altova MapForce. This project must be checked into version control to support any future changes. Only the compiled class file of the project is loaded to the transformer. Transformation logic is not visible without either decompiling the class file or looking at the original transformer project. However, the transformation process is powerful since all features of Java can be utilized in the transformation logic. This transformer is more suited to transform non-xml data.

  • XSLT

If the requirement is to restructure an XML message to match the format expected by IFS, this transformer is ideal. Online XSLT tools can be used to create the XSLT file. This XSLT file is directly loaded to the transformer. XSLT file is checked-in to version control as the standard practice. However, even without the version controlled file, transformation logic is immediately accessible via the loaded XSLT file.

Special Transformers

Special transformers have been introduced by IFS Connect framework to support conversion of SOAP XML formats to REST API compatible data formats and vice versa.

  • IFS_XML_TO_JSON
  • IFS_XML_TO_JSON_GENERIC
  • IFS_JSON_TO_XML_GENERIC