Service container

Services located in the service container (including long-lived and short-lived services) can be invoked using various providers, such as an EJB provider, that enables services located in the service container to be invoked over RMI/IIOP and a web service provider that exposes services as web services (WSDL Generation) using standards such as SOAP/HTTP and SOAP/JMS. For information, see Understanding processes.

The following table describes the different ways in which the service container enables services to be invoked.

 

Invocation method	Description
Remote integration	Remote integration provides the ability for Flex clients to invoke service operations. Flex integration supports both synchronous and asynchronous invocation. Like other asynchronous invocations, a job identifier is returned by an operation that is invoked asynchronously. Using this identifier value, you can check the status of the operation at a later date. For information, see Invoking LiveCycle ES Using LiveCycle Remoting.
Java API	A Java API can be used to programmatically invoke a service. Using the Java API, you can invoke both long-lived services and short-lived services. In addition, there are Java client libraries for invoking services such as Rights Management. For information, see Invoking LiveCycle ES Using the Java API.
Web services	LiveCycle ES supports web service standards such as SOAP/HTTP. A service can be exposed as a web service, with the automatically-generated WSDL complying to web service standards defined by W3C. A service can be invoked from any web service stack, including the .NET Framework, Sun Web Services SDK, and web services stacks from the major application server vendors. For information, see Invoking LiveCycle ES Using Web Services.
Watched folders	Enables a service to be invoked when a file(s) is placed in a configured folder within the file system. For information, see Invoking LiveCycle ES Using Watched Folders.
Email	Enables a service to be invoked when a configured email account receives an email message, typically with a document as a file attachment. For information, see Invoking LiveCycle ES Using Email.

Service container functionality

The service container provides the following functionality:

•	Allows services to be invoked using different methods. You can configure a service so that it can be invoked using all methods: the Java API, web services, watched folders, and email. For information, see Archive Administration Help.

•

Converts a message into a normalized format called an invocation request. An invocation request is sent from a client application (or another service) to a service located in the service container requesting that a specific operation be performed. An invocation request contains information such as the name of the service to invoke, the service’s operation, and data values that are required to perform the operation. Many services require a document in order to perform an operation. Therefore an invocation request usually contains a document, which can be PDF data, XDP data, XML data, and so on.

•	Routes invocation requests to appropriate services (the name of the service to invoke is part of the invocation request).

•	Performs tasks like determining whether the caller has permission to invoke the specified service operation. The invocation request must contain a valid LiveCycle ES user name and password.

There are different ways to send an invocation request to a service. As well, there are different ways to send input values that are required by the service to perform an operation. For example, if you use the Java API (or web service API) to programmatically invoke a service that requires a PDF document to perform an operation, then the Java method used to invoke the operation contains a parameter that accepts a PDF document. For information, see Passing data to services using the Java API.

If you invoke a service using watched folders, then an invocation request is sent to a service when you place a file in a specific folder that is configured as a watched folder. If you invoke a service using email, then an invocation request is sent to a service when an email message arrives in a configured email endpoint.

The service container sends back an invocation response once the operation is performed. An invocation response contains information such as the operation results. For example, if the operation modifies a PDF document, then the invocation response contains the modified PDF document. If the operation was unsuccessful, then the invocation response contains an error message.

An invocation response can be retrieved in the same way in which an invocation request is sent. That is, if the invocation request is sent using the Java API, then an invocation response can be retrieved using the Java API. Assume, for example, that an operation modifies a PDF document. You can retrieve the modified PDF document by getting the return value of the Java method that invoked the service.

In the case of a long-lived process, an invocation response contains an identifier value that is associated with the invocation request. Using this identifier value, you can check the status of the process at a later time. For example, consider the MortgageLoan long-lived service. Using the identifier value, you can check to determine whether the process successfully completed. For information, see Invoking a long-lived process using the Invocation API.

The following diagram shows a client application (that uses the Java API) invoking a service.

When a client application invokes a service, three events occur:

1.	A client application sends an invocation request to a service.

2.	The service performs the operation that is specified in the invocation request.

3.	The service container returns an invocation response to the client application.

Invoking an example service

To fully explain how to invoke a service, this document describes how to invoke the Repository service’s writeResource operation, which places a new resource into the Repository. The examples in this document show how to programmatically place a form design (an XDP file) into the Repository. When invoking this operation, you must create a new resource and specify the location in the Repository where the resource is placed.

For information about using the Java API to invoke the Repository service, see Invoking a service using a Java client library.

For information about using a .NET client assembly to invoke the Repository service, see Invoking a service using a .NET client assembly.

For information about using Java proxy classes to invoke the Repository service, see Creating Java proxy classes using Apache Axis.

Note: Using a .NET client assembly and Java proxy classes are both examples of invoking the Repository service using web services.

 

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