You submit a flat file to a flow service using one of the methods discussed in this chapter. The WmFlatFile package registers a content handler for the content type “application/x–wmflatfile.” This content handler passes the contents of the flat file to the service specified in the submit method in an InputStream named ffdata. If an InputStream or ByteArray named ffreturn is present when the service completes execution, the InputStream is read and the results are returned to the invoker of the service, for example, HTTP, FTP, etc.

The WmFlatFile package provides services that can be called within customized flow services or the File Polling processing service to initially accept and consume inbound flat files. These services are described in Choosing the Service to Receive the Flat File from the Content Handler. For more information about File Polling, see Submitting a Flat File to Integration Server via File Polling.