Managing files is a very important part of the integration development process. Because files are so widely used in integration jobs, we need to have strategies to effectively deal with them and, even though file management is the less "glamorous" part of the integration job—compared to XML mapping or database extraction, for example—its importance cannot be overstated. Moving files in a logical manner, renaming and archiving appropriately, and checking for the existence of a file before attempting to do anything with it is simply good practice. Without these techniques your integration jobs will only be partially complete; so it is highly recommended that readers spend time planning their developments to incorporate these elements.
In chapters 3 to 6, we have spent time looking at specific components and the integration techniques associated with them. Our example integration jobs were focused and relatively simple, but, in the real world, integration jobs are much more complex,...
