4.1

To avoid this problem, you can create a function to compare dates in your Web services application. You must
serialize the date and time, taking the time zone information into account. The following Java code example
shows how to transform a String that Orchestrator returns into a Date object.
public Date dateFromString(String value){
java.text.DateFormat s_dateFormat = new java.text.SimpleDateFormat("yyyyMMddHHmmssZ");
Date date = null;
if (value != null && value.length() > 0) {
try {
date = s_dateFormat.parse(value);
} catch (ParseException e) {
System.err.println("Converting String to Date : ERROR");
date = null ;
}
}
return date;
}
Web Service Application Examples
Orchestrator provides working examples of Web services client applications that provide Web access to
Orchestrator.
You can download the Orchestrator examples ZIP file from the VMware vCenter Orchestrator Documentation
download page. For information about where to find the documentation download page, see “Example
Applications,” on page 7.
Web Service API Object Reference
The Orchestrator Web service API provides a collection of objects that serve as WSDL complex types and a
collection of methods that server as WSDL operations.
FinderResult Object
A FinderResult represents an object from the Orchestrator inventory that Orchestrator locates in an external
application by using a plug-in. For example, a FinderResult object can represent a virtual machine from
vCenter Server.
FinderResult objects represent any object that a plug-in registers with Orchestrator in its vso.xml file.
FinderResult objects represent the items, from all installed plug-ins, that you find when you call one of the
find* operations. The items returned can be any type of object that an Orchestrator plug-in defines. Most
workflows require FinderResult instances as input parameters, as most workflows act upon Orchestrator
objects.
You cannot set a FinderResult as a workflow attribute directly. You must set WorkflowTokenAttribute in
workflows instead, which take the type and the dunesUri from FinderResult objects.
The find operation finds objects according to query criteria that the vso.xml file defines. It does not return
FinderResult objects directly, but returns QueryResult objects instead. QueryResult objects contain arrays of
FinderResult objects.
Chapter 8 Developing a Web Services Client
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