SOAPUI one could use some lather

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LAPI and its client installer has become very hard to find. Moreover clients written in LAPI  in say Java/.NET will only work if your Livelink a.k.a Content Server is of version less than CS16.Readers who are new to LL programming is encouraged to read this to the approach and not to the exact lines of the code.What I mean is when you used to program in LAPI you were basically passing parameters to discrete calls by modelling it based on the webgui of livelink .SOAP based webservices called CWS is also the same,so if you do not try to do the task in the webgui and try to understand the business rules you will almost have no success in CWS too. OT is notorious for not putting fully functioning use cases and a walk through,so whenever possible I write code assuming the user has not worked in Livelink for X number of years and try to educate you all. Livelink,Content Server,Enterprise Server all of this has been Livelink’s marketing brand name changes over the years.CS i sused in many of the integrations like AGA, XECM, RMLINK  and you know you are programming against livelink if you see a link that looks like this  http(s)://somefriendlyURL/livelink.exe|cs.exe|llisapi.dll|cs.dll|livelink.In many places SAP/ SP /Exchange will be configured to talk to Archive Server and then they will use Livelink to read into archive server and turn that into LL objects for better presentment/RM and other aspects. The AGA product is moving away from LAPI(not sure totally or not) to REST API in LL.

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In many instances I have been dumb founded by many things people get to do with livelink totally unheard of.Since the world has gone mobile and livelink’s own mobile solutions involving REST API are somehow limited people use creative ways to get around that.Many times they get stuck because OT examples once in C# and now days in java as well don’t give them complete working ,hand holding examples using the world’s most used SOAP generator using SOAP UI

Why it is so I don’t know but it could perhaps be drain on OT resources, to make money for OT ECO system consultants and OT professional services but in many cases a frustrated developer is not what OT wants. But wait a minute look at the support job that Web Reports / Active View offers.You post a thing and in two hrs you have answers even though some people not even doing their homework misuses.But what it has made is basically it has geared any new oncoming development to be done in its framework.  Successful software is only possible if there is a good educated programmers complementing the product.Enough said I use SOAPUI to test if the WSDL’s I deployed in an organizations web server works or not meaning see the WSDL on the browser is not enough you need to get a authentication token and do something in livelink to know if everything is working or not.So I use it to do small things and not any involved things.Some SAP/OT consultants have shown me a better SOAP tool that they use internally but I have forgotten its name.

Why this post?

People when they are in a bind do ask me or if I see something and  I have time I experiment.

Here’s an actual email thread that I am publishing so if some other poor soul is in the weeds it may sometime help that person.The email also contains some very simple workflow info which I feel most CWS programmers lack as they have not played really with livelink.Without further ado here it is names has been masked for ovbious reasons but everything else unedited.

 

 

Email qn to me

Hello Mr. Appu,  Looking for a little help. I was searching on the web for an issue with workflowservices for CS10.   I have an issue updating the formdata value using the UpdateWorkitemData using SOAP UI. It gives me the error “Form not Found”.  Although I have the code working in Java, fine.   Please let me know if you faced such similar issues. OT support wasn’t helpful either.   My code below   <soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv=”http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/” xmlns:urn=”urn:api.ecm.opentext.com” xmlns:urn1=”urn:WorkflowService.service.livelink.opentext.com” xmlns:urn2=”urn:Core.service.livelink.opentext.com“>      <soapenv:Header>    REMOVED FOR CLARITY </soapenv:Envelope>   Regards,

My Reply

Do you have access to the KB ,if so see this post of how I helped a person with a SoapUI call https://knowledge.opentext.com/knowledge/cs.dll?func=ll&objId=35766457&objAction=viewincontainer&ShowReplyEntry=35843158#forum_topic_35843158if not have a look at the response I posted http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1741405In any case I don’t do anything with SoapUI other than to test if the WSDL works and I can get authentication. If you are positive the java code gets you what you want observe the SOAP packet and reverse engineer it for SOAPUI SOAPUI does not support polymorphism that is the geek speak on this although I don’t really know what that all means. OT SAP people use another SOAP generator but I have forgotten its name. I saw it about 4 yrs back as part of their archive server offering which they said is superior to SOAPUI.   Now in case you don’t really know about WF /forms etc what I advise people is this Only the “Workflow Manager” user/group people can update things. You can find that by painting the map in the GUI and looking at who is in its “Management” group or simply see if you can click on status of the map and its shows you the executing things. At the minimum the workflow should contain a template of the form you can see that also by looking at the workflow status object   If you are sure the form object is there and you can update it within the GUI then CWS code should work so long as it is written according to what the WSDL expects You may be able to get a little more detail if you put debug=2,wantlapilogs=true, wantlogs=true in that livelink server which receives the request Always do the easiest first look at the workflow status object with the GUI.WF is one of the only things in livelink that as “SA” user like ‘Admin’ cannot see. only people in WF Mangers can see its internals.   Good luck.

Hi Reply Thanking me not many return any such thing so I was very happy.

Hi ,  Thanks a lot for your tip. I debugged the java code thru fiddler and found the XML  structure to be updated. I’m actually working with the SAP mobility project (outsourced to <name withdrawn>). They couldn’t use the  java or C# codes and needed REST API, which unfortunately is not available for workflow services.   Once again a humble thanks for your timely help.     Regards,   <name withdrawn>

 

 

 

 

 

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