Introduction to Metaconnectors

A metaconnector provides preprocessing operations on connection data prior to transfer within a defined activity form.

HCL Enterprise Integrator (HEI) supports the following Metaconnectors:

  • Collapse/Expand Metaconnector -- The Collapse/Expand Metaconnector provides the capability to take multiple records from a data source table, and "Collapse" them to a single form field, and perform the reverse operation, or "Expand" the data into multiple records.
  • Meter Metaconnector -- The Metering Metaconnector provides a way to collect statistical usage data. A Metering Metaconnection can identify and quantify data access.
  • Order Metaconnector -- The Order Metaconnector is useful when ordering data sets from different server sources. For example, a DB2® table on an IBM® i system and a Notes® database on a Domino® server may use different order systems when ordering data. This can result in a data set comparison problem when using a HEI Replication activity, which requires data sets to be ordered in parallel for data set comparisons. The Order Metaconnector may be applied in this situation to preprocess the data sets to be compared during the activity, ensuring the order pattern will be in parallel for accurate data set comparisons during the Replication activity.
  • Trace Metaconnector -- The Trace Metaconnector allows you to trace events associated with a specified sub connection. You may specify options including where to capture data and whether or not to include a timestamp with each trace log entry. The Trace Metaconnector is a tool for you and the support staff to use when troubleshooting.

Once you have created and saved a metaconnection, it will appear in the Connections view of the HEI Administrator user interface.

You can use HEI browsing functionality within a Metaconnector. However, you must first select a metadata object (table, form, view, and/or procedure) in every base Connector that is used with the Metaconnector. If base Connectors referenced by the Metaconnector do not have metadata selected, a message appears at which time you can return to the base Connector, select metadata, and then rebuild the metaconnection document. This is a requirement only if you intend to browse the Metaconnectors for fields, etc.

Refer to Chapter 2, "Connectivity" for information about configuring and testing connectivity.

Refer to Chapter 3, "Introduction to Connectors" for general information about Connectors.

Common Features

Each HEI connection document contains the following common features.

User Assistant Help

You can enable the User Assistant in order to open a connection document with explanatory text at the beginning of the document. To turn the User Assistant on or off, use the option in the Help portion of the HEI Administrator's Navigator panel.

Pop-up Help

Dark blue text in the section headings in a connection document indicates that pop-up help is available. To display pop-up help, place the cursor on the heading and press and hold the mouse button.

Name

This field provides a name that identifies the connection. Each connection requires a unique name. The maximum number of characters is 255. The comma character is not allowed.

Password Encryption

This option enables the author of a connection document to encrypt passwords using Notes® encryption keys. See the "Introduction to Connectors" chapter for details.

Options Tabs

Connection document options are classified and displayed by logical tab naming and grouping. The same Table Creation Options and Logging Options are common to all connection documents.

Comment

The Comment field provides space for you to annotate the connection document with meaningful descriptive text.

Edit Action Button

Selecting this option opens the current document for edit. You can also enter Edit mode by simply double-clicking anywhere in the document.

Save and Close Action Button

Selecting this option saves the changes that you have made to the document and returns you to the HEI or DECS Administrator.

Author Privileges Action Button

This option enables the Author or Administrator to view or edit the Editor-level access for the active document. Using this option, you can:

  • Add name[s] to document editor list.

    Choose this option to add a name(s) from the Notes® Public Name and Address Book (Domino® Directory) to the list of editors for this document.

  • Remove a name from the list of editors for this document.

    Choose this option to delete a name from the list of editors for this document.

  • View document editor list.

    Choose this option to view the list of editors for this document.

Users with Author-level access may view and edit the document.

Reader Privileges Action Button

This option enables the Author or Administrator to view or edit the Reader-level access for the active document. Using this option, you can:

  • Add name[s] to document reader list.

    Choose this option to add a name(s) from the Notes® Public Name and Address Book (Domino® Directory) to the list of readers for this document.

  • Remove a name from document reader list.

    Choose this option to delete a name from the list of readers for this document.

  • View document reader list.

    Choose this option to view the list of readers for this document.

Users with Reader-level access may view the document but may not edit its content.

All users added to the Readers field must also be resident in the HEI Administrators database ACL as a minimal access level of Reader. It is also good practice to add in the LocalDomainServers entry to the readers field, to avoid any issues that could happen if this database is replicated.

If the author does not add any names to the Readers field, all users are able to read the document. The author needn't add his own name to the Readers list, the author is automatically granted read and write access.

Note: If the Reader field is empty, then all users who open the document can read it. However, if the Reader field is not empty, then only the users whose names are listed will have read access to the document. In this scenario, users who are not the Author of the document must add their name (or have their name added by either the author or another user who has read access) to the Reader list in order to have read access to the document. To have both read and write access, the user's name must appear in both the Author and the Reader fields.