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Procedure documentationCreating an Integration Flow Locate this document in the navigation structure

 

You use this procedure to create an integration flow for enabling communication between two heterogeneous applications or systems.

The integration flow is a graphical model that consists of endpoints (systems, interfaces and channels) and flowsteps (activities that enable integration). When you create an integration flow, a corresponding integrated configuration is created in the Integration Directory.

You can create an integration flow using:

  • Enterprise Integration Patterns: Patterns are based on BPMN 2.0 notations and are provided by SAP as built-in graphical models. You can select any one of the patterns and modify its layout.

    Note Note

    The icons for the integration patterns are based on the book Enterprise Integration Patterns by Gregor Hohpe and Bobby Woolf.

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  • Templates: Templates are graphical models that are partially configured. They are useful in scenarios that require same configuration across multiple integration flows. These templates are stored locally and not in the server.

    Note Note

    SAP does not provide any template.

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    Example Example

    An Agency system needs to interact with the Airlines system to send a flight booking request or a flight cancelling request. You, as a configurator, create an integration flow and configure it with elements, such as the systems and channels, that are unlikely to change across similar use cases . You save this configuration as a template and use the template for the two scenarios, booking a flight and cancelling a flight.

    The figure below shows how templates can be used for scenarios that require similar configurations and is followed by an explanation:

    This graphic is explained in the accompanying text.

    In the figure above, you configure the first integration flow with sender and receiver endpoints (systems, interfaces and channels). Since this configuration can be reused for two scenarios, you can save the integration flow as a template. When you create the integration flows using this template, you just need to specify the sender and receiver interfaces for each of the scenarios.

    End of the example.

If you want to create integration flows that are mutually related in a business scenario, you can use the definition of Process Integration Scenario from the ES Repository to help you generate one or more integration flows at once.

Note Note

For more information, see Working with Process Integration Scenario.

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Procedure

  1. In the main menu, choose   File   New   Integration Flow  .

  2. In the New Integration Flow dialog, enter a descriptive name and ID for the integration flow.

    Note Note

    Every integration flow has a unique ID of maximum 32 characters.

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    Recommendation Recommendation

    It is recommended to provide the ID as a substring of the integration flow name as the ID is used during monitoring.

    End of the recommendation.

  3. Under Categories, select Enterprise Integration Patterns or User Defined Templates and select the corresponding pattern or template.

    Note Note

    The types of patterns available are:

    • Point-to-Point Channel: You select this pattern for direct communication between the sender and receiver.

    • Recipient List: You select this pattern when you need to route the message to two or more receivers based on conditions.

    • Message Translator: You select this pattern when the sender and receiver systems have different message formats.

    • Recipient List (Dynamic Conditions): You select this pattern when you need to dynamically route the messages to the receivers.

    To any of these patterns you can add or delete the flowstep elements such as recipient list, interface split or mapping, from the graphical representation.

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  4. If you have chosen a pattern, perform the following substeps:

    1. If you want to define the endpoints (systems, interfaces and operations) now, choose Next and enter the required fields.

    2. If you want to define the endpoints later, choose Finish.

  5. If you have chosen an integration flow template, choose Finish.

    Note Note

    For more information on how to create integration flow templates, see Creating an Integration Flow Template under Working with Templates

    End of the note.