How to get the URL to Lawson Web Services in a Mashup

Here’s a technique for a Mashup to call a Lawson Web Service (LWS) using the correct Lawson Web Service server and the correct environment (DEV, EDU, PRD, TST, etc.).

The problem

By default, when we use the Web Service wizard in Mashup Designer, the URL to the Lawson Web Service server is hard-coded in the two Parameters WS.Wsdl and WS.Address.

For instance, in the following example we’re using a Lawson Web Service that calls the M3 API CRS610MI.LstByNumber, but the server (hostname), the port number (10000), and the environment (TST) are hard-coded in the URL:

<Grid xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" xmlns:ui="clr-namespace:Mango.UI.Controls;assembly=Mango.UI" xmlns:mashup="clr-namespace:Mango.UI.Services.Mashup;assembly=Mango.UI">
    <mashup:DataPanel Name="WS">
       <mashup:DataPanel.Events>
          <mashup:Events>
             <mashup:Event SourceEventName="Startup" />
          </mashup:Events>
       </mashup:DataPanel.Events>
       <mashup:DataPanel.DataService>
          <mashup:DataService Type="WS">
             <mashup:DataService.Operations>
                <mashup:DataOperation Name="Read">
                   <mashup:DataParameter Key="WS.Wsdl" Value="http://hostname:10000/LWS_TST/svc/CRS610MI.wsdl" />
                   <mashup:DataParameter Key="WS.Address" Value="http://hostname:10000/LWS_TST/services/CRS610MI" />
                   <mashup:DataParameter Key="WS.Operation" Value="LstByNumber" />
                   <mashup:DataParameter Key="WS.Contract" Value="CRS610MI" />
                   <mashup:DataParameter Key="mws.user" Value="LSO.USER" />
                   <mashup:DataParameter Key="mws.password" Value="LSO.PASSWORD" />
                </mashup:DataOperation>
             </mashup:DataService.Operations>
          </mashup:DataService>
       </mashup:DataPanel.DataService>
    </mashup:DataPanel>
 </Grid>

Because the server and environment are hard-coded in the XAML, it will be difficult to deploy the Mashup on other servers, and on other environments (DEV, EDU, PRD, etc.). The workaround would be to make one copy of the Mashup per target server and per target environment. But it would quickly become a maintenance nightmare.

The goal is to make that URL dynamic, based on the server and on the environment we are currently running.

The solution

The solution is to dynamically read at runtime the URL to Lawson Web Services that’s defined in the Smart Office Profile:

Step 1 – Get the value

We get the URL to Lawson Web Services in the Mashup with:

{mashup:ProfileValue Path=M3/WebService/url}

For example:

Step 2 – Create a parameter

Then, we create an Event parameter with a SourceKey and the value, and we call it for example BaseUri:

<mashup:Event SourceEventName="Startup" >
    <mashup:Parameter SourceKey="BaseUri" Value="{mashup:ProfileValue Path=M3/WebService/url}" />
</mashup:Event>

Step 3 – Move it to an Event

Then, we move the two WS parameters from the DataPanel to the Event as TargetKeys:

<mashup:Event SourceEventName="Startup" >
    <mashup:Parameter SourceKey="BaseUri" Value="{mashup:ProfileValue Path=M3/WebService/url}" />
    <mashup:Parameter TargetKey="WS.Wsdl" Value="http://hostname:10000/LWS_TST/svc/CRS610MI.wsdl" />
    <mashup:Parameter TargetKey="WS.Address" Value="http://hostname:10000/LWS_TST/services/CRS610MI" />
</mashup:Event>

Step 4 – Variable substitution

Finally, we use Karin’s solution for variable substitution and markup extension to un-hard-code the URL:

<mashup:Event SourceEventName="Startup" >
    <mashup:Parameter SourceKey="BaseUri" Value="{mashup:ProfileValue Path=M3/WebService/url}" />
    <mashup:Parameter TargetKey="WS.Wsdl" Value="{}{BaseUri}/svc/CRS610MI.wsdl" />
    <mashup:Parameter TargetKey="WS.Address" Value="{}{BaseUri}/services/CRS610MI" />
</mashup:Event>

Final code

Here’s the resulting source code:

<Grid xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" xmlns:ui="clr-namespace:Mango.UI.Controls;assembly=Mango.UI" xmlns:mashup="clr-namespace:Mango.UI.Services.Mashup;assembly=Mango.UI">
    <mashup:DataPanel Name="WS">
       <mashup:DataPanel.Events>
          <mashup:Events>
             <mashup:Event SourceEventName="Startup" >
                <mashup:Parameter SourceKey="BaseUri" Value="{mashup:ProfileValue Path=M3/WebService/url}" />
                <mashup:Parameter TargetKey="WS.Wsdl" Value="{}{BaseUri}/svc/CRS610MI.wsdl" />
                <mashup:Parameter TargetKey="WS.Address" Value="{}{BaseUri}/services/CRS610MI" />
             </mashup:Event>
          </mashup:Events>
       </mashup:DataPanel.Events>
       <mashup:DataPanel.DataService>
          <mashup:DataService Type="WS">
             <mashup:DataService.Operations>
                <mashup:DataOperation Name="Read">
                   <mashup:DataParameter Key="WS.Operation" Value="LstByNumber" />
                   <mashup:DataParameter Key="WS.Contract" Value="CRS610MI" />
                   <mashup:DataParameter Key="mws.user" Value="LSO.USER" />
                   <mashup:DataParameter Key="mws.password" Value="LSO.PASSWORD" />
                </mashup:DataOperation>
             </mashup:DataService.Operations>
          </mashup:DataService>
       </mashup:DataPanel.DataService>
    </mashup:DataPanel>
</Grid>

Conclusion

With this solution we learned how to create a Mashup that calls a Lawson Web Service such that the Mashup will use the correct Lawson Web Service server and the correct environment (DEV, EDU, PRD, TST, etc.).

Maybe LPD should make this a native feature of Mashups so that developers don’t have to implement it themselves.

For more examples on how to call a Lawson Web Service from a Mashup, refer to Karin’s post.

That’s it!