requestCatalog() Service

The requestCatalog() service is used to issue requests to CES to obtain a catalog with several operation options.
  • Launch. Initiate catalog session to start in requested or default catalog and form.
  • Search. Perform launch operation within additional population of form with provided search criteria.
  • View. Perform search operation with additional execution of search to go directly to the Result window.

Catalog can be accessed using a persistent or transient session.

  • Persistent sessions for use with thick third party clients.
  • Transient sessions for use with thin third party clients.

The topics covered in this section are:

Inputs

This table provides a list of inputs of the requestCatalog()service:
 
Service Inputs Description
USER_OR_GROUP External tools User or Group name.
MODE Type of operation (LAUNCH, VIEW, SEARCH).
APPNAME Name of external tool used in Setup Class in data model.
APPID ID of external tool used in Setup Class in data model.
SESSIONID CES session ID to be reused.
KEEP_SESSION Option to maintain persistent session or use a transient session which is recreated for each punch-in to CES.
ItemData List of data items to be used in View or Search operations.
REDIRECT_URL The URL provided by the external tool that CES will redirect to once a transient session is completed. Not required for persistent sessions.
DATA_URL A webMethods IS service or other web enabled service to be called to process the data submitted from CESin a transient session and pass it to the external tool. Not required for persistent sessions.
CATEGORY The class or category in SRM to start in. Where supplied this overrides the default category specified in the administration tool.
CATEGORY_FORM The form of the category in SRM to start with. Where supplied this overrides the default category form specified in the administration tool.

Outputs

This table provides a list of outputs of the requestCatalog()service:
 
Service Outputs Description
URL The returned URL from CES.
STATUS Returned status from operation (0 = OK).
ERROR Error string.
RET_SESSIONID Returned session ID used to reconnect to an existing session.

Note: The returned session ID might not be the same as the input session ID. For example, where the existing session has expired and a new one must be created.

 

Launch Functionality

Where Launch mode is used, no search data is expected and CES displays the default category specified in the options.

To achieve the launch, the custom services or external adapter call the requestCatalog() service providing the values for:

  • USER_OR_GROUP
  • APPNAME
  • KEEP_SESSION

For transient sessions, DATA_URL and RETURN_URL are needed while for a persistent session SESSIONID is provided.

The integration can be between a thick client and CES, or a thin client (might be html based) and CES.

For thick client. The call returns the URL, if successful. The custom services return this URL to the calling third party tool. Next, the third party tool calls the Browser Launching Helper application by providing the URL. This launches the default browser with the CES URL. The CES Search page with the default categories specified in the options, is displayed.

Search Functionality

The Search mode is similar to Launch and also populates the search form, but without performing the search. Hence extra criteria can be manually entered. In addition to the values provided for a Launch operation, Search requires ItemData as the search criteria.

The search criteria passed to this service is translated *from* the format known by the external tool (for example, SAP).

View Functionality

This operation is similar to Search functionality except that for the View mode, the search criteria specified in the ItemData Input is used to initiate a search in CES. The CES Item Results page is displayed.