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Informatica Cloud Real Time Service
Spring 2015 Release
What’s New
Informatica Cloud Real Time: What’s New, Spring 2015
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Contents
Overview ......................................................................................................................................... 3
New Capabilities ............................................................................................................................. 4
OData Provider ............................................................................................................................ 4
Asynchronous Request / Response and Inline Receive Pattern Support .................................... 7
AMQP Support ............................................................................................................................. 9
AMQP Connection Type ......................................................................................................... 10
Process Properties.................................................................................................................. 12
Message Payload .................................................................................................................... 14
Enhancements .............................................................................................................................. 15
Designers ................................................................................................................................... 15
Palette and Property Sheets for Process Designer and Guide Designer ............................... 15
Deleting Multiple Artifacts ..................................................................................................... 16
New Properties in Table Columns .......................................................................................... 16
Salesforce Outbound Message URL .......................................................................................... 18
Service Connectors and Connections ........................................................................................ 18
Data Preview on Connections ................................................................................................ 18
"Shared Binding" for Service Connectors............................................................................... 19
Event Sources and Targets ..................................................................................................... 20
Pattern Improvements .............................................................................................................. 22
Agent to Cloud Process Invocation ........................................................................................ 22
Improved Error Propagation .................................................................................................. 22
HTTP Status Property to End/Milestone Step of Processes ................................................... 22
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Overview
The Spring 2015 release of the Informatica Cloud Real Time (“ICRT”) service includes 39 new
capabilities and enhancements, including:




OData Provider. ICRT now enables OData access to internal data sources such as those
available via a JDBC or an SAP Table Reader. This makes it possible for OData clients
such as Salesforce Lightning Connect and OData clients to access OData streams over
the Web.
Asynchronous and Inline Receive Support. Processes designed with Process Designer
can now asynchronously invoke services and receive callbacks, or accept an incoming
request at any point during the execution of a process.
AMQP Support. Customers can now integrate with AMQP service buses, both on
premises and, for example, using Microsoft Azure.
Enhancements and usability improvements. There have been usability improvements
to Process and Guide designers and Service Connectors. The most noteworthy is a new
palette that allows users to drag and drop activities (steps) on the process and guide
canvases. A dockable property sheet has been introduced for easy access to step
properties.
This document describes these and certain other enhancements in greater detail.
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New Capabilities
OData Provider
OData is a REST-based and standardized protocol that provides access to data over the Web.
OASIS has standardized OData Version 4. Informatica Cloud now lets you utilize the OData
protocol to access data services from the Cloud that exist on-premise. This is made possible in
ICRT by enabling OData access to internal data sources such as those available via a JDBC or an
SAP Table Reader connection.
By enabling OData and specifying which accounts and groups have access, ICRT makes it
possible to access for organizations to expose OData feeds on the web at an endpoint such as:
https://[host].rt.informaticacloud.com/active-bpel/odata/[version]/[connection name]/[data source name]
The Parts connection depicted above exposes the content of the sampleparts table at one of
two endpoints:

OData Version 2: https://[host].rt.informaticacloud.com/active-bpel/odata/v2/Parts/sampleparts

OData Version 4: https://[host].rt.informaticacloud.com/active-bpel/odata/v4/Parts/sampleparts
-or-
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Data is then available in Atom XML format or JSON, as illustrated here.
{
"@odata.context": "$metadata#sampleparts",
"value":
[
{
"make": "Ford",
"model": "Mustang",
"year": "1966",
"category": "exterior",
"sku": "ext1230",
"descr": "front bumper; chrome",
"partCost": 710,
"sampleparts_IID": "ext1230"
},
{
"make": "Chevy",
"model": "Vega",
"year": "1972",
"category": "exterior",
"sku": "ext1234",
"descr": "left front fender",
"partCost": 400,
"sampleparts_IID": "ext1234"
}, …
OData is enabled in ICRT using connections configured to run on Secure Agents. The Secure
Agent, rather than opening a port, opens up an outbound connection to the Informatica Cloud
servers through which all communication occurs. The Secure Agent then has access to any onpremises applications or data sources.
OData is especially well suited to reading external data. The introduction of Salesforce’s
Salesforce1 Lightning Connect capability, for example, makes it possible to work with data that
is stored outside of Salesforce using the same force.com constructs (SOQL, Apex, VisualForce,
etc) that are used with Salesforce objects. Salesforce currently supports the ability to read data
using OData Version 2.
To enable this capability a Salesforce External Data Source needs to be configured.
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Once configured, external data such as the content of the sampleparts table can be exposed to
Salesforce users.
Other tools such as Microsoft Excel’s PowerPivot Add-In or Power Query can also make use of
OData.
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OData and ICRT now make it possible to expose your data as a service in a standardized way.
This complements capabilities already available with ICRT. For example, the Salesforce1
Lightning Connect currently only handles reads. If you want to handle reads or writes of data to
external applications from within Salesforce, you can use ICRT processes or guides that can be
displayed from any Salesforce screen.
Asynchronous Request / Response and Inline Receive Pattern Support
The Spring 2015 release introduces an asynchronous request/response and inline receive
pattern to enable you to handle interrupting and non-interrupting requests during execution of
a long-running process.
Prior to this release request / response patterns needed to be implemented using two separate
processes.
Callbacks initiated from a service invoke can now be received during the execution of a running
process. A running process can now accept both interrupting (for example, canceling further
execution) and non-interrupting (for example, providing current status) requests.
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As shown here, a one-way call to "Track Package" can now be made and a response received
later asynchronously. A GetStatus request (a message) can now be handled during the
execution of a long-running "Order Processor" subprocess.
This is enabled by correlation of the incoming message receive events. Correlation occurs by
matching an inbound message to the process engine with a specific process. The data within a
correlation set is the signature that lets the engine match the message to the process expecting
that message. (By comparison, synchronous calls do not rely on correlation because the
message context is maintained on the stack or across a TCP connection.)
In this case, the orderId field is defined as the input of the GetStatus message handled by the
process; it is also used to correlate the incoming request with a running process instance.
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AMQP Support
OASIS Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP) is a message orientated standard providing
queuing, routing (including point-to-point and publish-and-subscribe), reliability and security
features. AMQP represents “a vendor-neutral and platform-agnostic protocol that offers
organizations an easier, more secure approach to passing real-time data streams and business
transactions”. Unlike JMS, which defines an API and a set of behaviors that a messaging
implementation must provide, AMQP is a wire-level protocol.
The Spring 2015 release enables on premises integration with AMQP brokers such as Apache
ActiveMQ 5.11 or in the Cloud with Microsoft Azure’s Service Bus that implements AMQP.
Support for AMQP 1.0 in the Azure Service Bus means that you can use the queuing and
publish/subscribe brokered messaging features it offers and integrate these with on premises
systems via Informatica Cloud Real Time. This complements the capabilities offered ICRT to
integrate with JMS brokers on premises.
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AMQP Connection Type
Using the new AMQP Connection Type, you can specify the Secure Agent that will be used to
access queues or topics:
An AMQP Event Source needs to be created to dequeue messages or subscribe. Noteworthy
capabilities include:
1. Ability to enable and disable the listener.
2. Support for JSON, Text, XML and Binary formatted payloads.
3. Ability to direct message to a Dead Letter Queue for messages that cannot be
processed.
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The listener operates on an agent.
If the Destination Type is a topic with ActiveMQ for example you would specify the Destination
name as:
topic://topic-name
To enqueue messages, create an Event Target as shown below.
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Process Properties
For the process that handles the AMQP messages, specify the agent and other properties.
Currently, there are options to Start Via REST (JSON/XML) or Event. The AMQP listener
consumes events, so select “Event”.
Event shows the available Event Sources (grouped by Connection:event name).
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To queue a message to AMQP you define an event target on the AMQP connection, in this
example the “orders” connection:
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Once published, to queue the message on the ordersQ2 AMQP queue, use a service call, select
the connection and the ordersQ2 event target.
Message Payload
Similar to other connectors, the message payload for AMQP may be made accessible to the
process as a process object of type $any.
For example:
[{"firstName":"cindy", "lastName": "lou", "department": "qa", "id":1},
{"firstName":"billy", "lastName": "joe", "department": "dev", "id":12}]
or in XML as:
<list>
<employee>
<firstName>cindy</firstName>
<lastName>lou</lastName>
<department>qa</department>
<id>1</id>
</employee>
<employee>
<firstName>billy</firstName>
<lastName>joe</lastName>
<department>dev</department>
<id>12</id>
</employee>
</list>
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If the payload is XML, the field name will be the element name of the list, for example,
'employee'.
If the payload is JSON, the array will not have a field name as defined by the payload and you
can specify an Object Field Name for the Event Source so that the implicit object field name
may be set.
Enhancements
Designers
Palette and Property Sheets for Process Designer and Guide Designer
The Spring 2015 release introduced a dockable palette that allows users to drag and drop
activities on the process and guide canvases. A dockable property sheet has also been
introduced for easy access to properties. You will no longer need to double-click to access
properties. The selection of an activity will display its properties. If the property sheet is
undocked, upon selection of an activity the property sheet will slide from the right.
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Deleting Multiple Artifacts
It is now possible to delete multiple artifacts by selecting multiple artifacts in the deletion
confirmation dialog.
New Properties in Table Columns
When specifying fields to display in a table that appears in a guide, several options have been
added. You can now specify properties based on the column data, including:
-
Hide Currency Symbol (for currency fields)
Display URL as Read-Only (for URL fields)
Show as Boolean (for checkbox fields)
Format (for phone fields)
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The table is rendered using the properties associated with the columns. You might use this, for
example, to specify a label name for URLs that are displayed in a column or the format of a
phone number.
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Salesforce Outbound Message URL
You can invoke a process either directly or in response to a Salesforce Outbound Message.
A specific endpoint is dedicated to process Salesforce outbound messages; it can only be used
for processing these requests. The endpoint now appears in the Properties view for published
processes that apply to Salesforce objects.
The URL displays in the form:
https://[site]/activebpel/services/REST/SalesforceNotificationRESTPort?processName=[processName]
Service Connectors and Connections
Data Preview on Connections
After publishing a new connection, it is often helpful to review the data available through the
connection. This type of data preview—available in Informatica Cloud when adding a new
mapping from a source—is now available for supported connection types.
In the Connection Editor, the Published Meta-Data properties have been enhanced to show:


Database table column name and data types
A sample/preview data option for each field, for supported connectors.
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If the preview option is not enabled or supported for the connection, a message displays on the
tab.
"Shared Binding" for Service Connectors
It can be cumbersome to define properties (e.g. the endpoint URL) for every action. With the
Spring 2015 release you can now create “Abstract” actions that define reusable properties that
are “inherited”. Three action types are now exposed: General where each action fully defines
every property; Abstract which is used to define reusable properties; and Inherit which is used
to select an Abstract action to inherit properties from.
An “Abstract” action contains the same set of functional parts as a general action but can’t be
used at runtime by the service connector. It has the same set of functional parts—inputs,
headers, otherParams, for example. Instead, it can be inherited by an action by selecting
“Inherit” and specifying the abstract action to obtain property definitions from.
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Each action can inherit one abstract action and supplement it with additional logic.
Event Sources and Targets
To support new listener functionality introduced in this release (AMQP being the first of this
kind), we have added the ability to define Event Sources and Event Targets for supported
connection types. The Event Source types (consumers) are dependent on the connector.
Note that:



You can add multiple Event Sources and Event Targets
The Name specified should contain letters, digits, '.', '-', or'_' and be unique among the
list of sources for the connection instance.
You can Enable and Disable individual event sources and targets for more flexibility in
deployment.
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Event Sources
Event Targets
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Pattern Improvements
Agent to Cloud Process Invocation
It is now possible to deploy and schedule a process to a Secure Agent that can execute ICS Tasks
invoked from the agent.
Improved Error Propagation
This release improves error propagation for errors/faults returned by services at runtime,
including:


REST calls that return a 4xx or 5xx HTTP status now throw a fault which, in turn, faults
the process that uses it (or shows an error in a guide).
The error message includes the entire payload returned in the HTTP response.
HTTP Status Property to End/Milestone Step of Processes
The End/Milestone step for a Process now has a property called "HTTP Status" where you can
select the HTTP status code to be included in the generated response.
The default status code is 200.
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