TRANSFER Programming Manual

Item Handles
TRANSFER Services
5–6 40970 Tandem Computers Incorporated
Item Handles To refer to an item produced by a previous UOW within the same request (IPC), you
can use an item handle. You can also use an item handle to refer to an external object.
You can substitute an item handle for the standard item ID in any UOW that, within
the same IPC, follows the UOW whose item you want to reference. An item handle is
valid only within one IPC.
You can use an item handle more than once, either in the same UOW or in successive
UOWs after the one that produced the item being referenced.
For example, to scan a folder and then save an item found there into another folder,
your process would:
1. Specify the SCAN-FOLDER UOW.
2. Specify one of the SAVE-ITEM UOWs, using the item handle in place of the
specific item ID.
3. Send the IPC to TISERV.
Package Handling Package handling involves the following activities:
Submittal preparation
Recipient list definition
Package delivery
Package-receiving operations
Submittal Preparation Before items can be delivered from one correspondent to another, they must be
assembled as packages. Each package includes a package header item, which consists
of zero or more records or component items and a list of recipients. The package
header is a special kind of item, designated by the IS-PKG-HDR field of a
CREATE-ITEM UOW. The item descriptor of a package header item indicates who is
sending the package, who is receiving the package, and when the package was sent.
Since a package can be altered or submitted only by its creator, the sender of a package
is always the creator.
The package header can contain text records and item IDs of components. If the
components list includes another package header item, the result is a package nested
in another package.
The item descriptor of a package header also contains the following information that
your application can supply: timestamps, priority, agent selector, and certification.
The simplest package is a package header with no components. A package header
item, like any other item, can contain data records. For example, the package header
might include a data record that contains a package sequence number, so that the
recipient application can process packages in a specific order.
You build a package by creating the package header item and making separate
requests to add recipients, component items, and delivery parameters.