# VMware vCenter Converter Standalone SDK Readme
Welcome to the VMware vCenter Converter Standalone SDK. This document contains the following topics: What’s in the SDK Package? What is the Converter Standalone API? Samples Listings Readme for Java Samples Readme for C# Samples Documentation Checklist of Setup Tasks VMware Resources |
Note: Information in this document may not be current. For up-to-date information, check these VMware Web sites:
Beta or Pre-release Products | VMware Beta Community
Released SDK Products | VMware APIs and SDKs
## What’s in the SDK Package The Converter Standalone SDK is a zipfile that provides: Sample code demonstrating common use cases for programmatically managing Converter Standalone server. The sample code includes Java and C# source code files. For information about building and using the samples, see Readme for Java Samples and Readme for .NET Samples. The WSDL that defines the API available on Converter Standalone server. Batch files and shell scripts for automating the process of generating client-side stubs, and for re-building the sample applications. For C# developers, Microsoft Visual Studio project files (`.sln`) have been included. The Converter Standalone API Reference Guide that provides language-neutral descriptive information (object type definitions, properties, and method signatures) for the Converter Standalone API. ### Structure of the SDK Directory The Converter Standalone SDK package contains the following directories.
Directory or filename | Description
\doc | Contains the Converter Standalone SDK documentation.
\doc\ReferenceGuide | API Reference for the Converter Standalone API. Use a Web browser and open index.html.
\samples | Top-level directory for the language-specific versions of the sample client applications, one for Java, one for C#.
\samples\Axis\ | Directory containing batch files and Java source code.
\samples\DotNet\cs | Directory containing batch files, plus several other sub-directories containing Windows C# sample applications (in the appropriate namespace structure), the Microsoft Visual Studio project files (.sln files).
\wsdl\converter.wsdl | The Web Services Description Language (WSDL) file containing definition of the Converter Standalone API.
\wsdl\converterService.wsdl | A WSDL file defining the Web-services endpoint at which the API is available. The converterService.wsdl file references the converter.wsdl with an import statement, so you'll use the appropriate generation tool with converterService (rather than converter.wsdl directly).
## What is the VMware vCenter Converter Standalone API The Converter Standalone API provides language-neutral interfaces to the Converter Standalone server management framework. The API is implemented as industry-standard Web service, running on Converter Standalone server. The Converter Standalone API complies with the Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I) Basic Profile 1.0, which includes XML Schema 1.0, SOAP 1.1, WSDL 1.1. For more information about the WS-I Basic Profile 1.0, see http://www.ws-i.org/Profiles/BasicProfile-1.0-2004-04-16.html . NOTE Passing invalid or inconsistent data to API functions can make the Converter Standalone server, worker, or agent become unavailable and thus invalidate active running tasks and jobs. To minimize the risk, verify your data on dedicated test computers. ### Accessing the Converter Standalone Web Service By default, the Converter Standalone Web service listens on port 443. This port is for HTTPS (Secure HTTP) and uses SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) to encrypt communications between client application and server. To access the Web service programmatically, use the URN from a Web-services client application, as in: https://FQDN_Server_or_IP_Address/converter/sdk You can configure the server to support HTTP (rather than HTTPS). ## Samples Listing Currently, the Converter Standalone SDK includes one sample project that can be built on both Java and Microsoft .NET (C#). This project contains sample code for: converting physical machines to virtual, including starting synchronizable conversion jobs starting synchronization tasks on synchronizable conversion jobs converting virtual machines to virtual reconfiguring virtual machines querying source machine information validating destinations listing current tasks and jobs fine-grained customization of the conversion jobs, similar to what can be done through the GUI All these details are described in properties files passed to the sample executable. One execution can be passed several properties files. One properties file can contain several operations related to the same source and destination.
Java Samples | C# Samples
Readme for Java Samples | Readme for DotNet Samples
## Documentation The API Reference Guide is included in the Converter Standalone SDK package, located in the doc sub-directory of the SDK package. For information about known and resolved issues, see the VMware vCenter Converter Standalone Release Notes. ## Checklist of Setup Tasks Setting up your workstation for developing client applications using the Converter Standalone SDK involves several steps. Assuming you are already developing applications of one kind or another, some of the steps below may be unnecessary. Modify the details of the process as appropriate for the specifics of your system. To get started with the Converter Standalone SDK: Choose a development language (Java or C#) to use for Web-services client application development. Identify the Converter Standalone servers that are the targets of the client applications that you develop. Install the development environment appropriate for your programming language. For C#, you need one of the Microsoft development environments, such as Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 or later with installed ".NET Desktop development" feature. For more information, visit https://visualstudio.microsoft.com For Java, you need the Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE) 7.0 (JDK 1.7.0_51 or later recommended). For more information, visit Java SE - Downloads | Oracle Technology Network | Oracle Obtain the appropriate Web-services client tools (XML parser, WSDL-to-proxy-code generation tools, runtime) for your programming language: For C#, you need Microsoft .NET Framework SDK 4.8. You can obtain Microsoft .NET Framework SDK at https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet-framework/net48. The .NET 4.8 Software Development Kit is needed, because includes the WSDL-to-stub-generation tool (`wsdl.exe`) and the command-line version of the C# compiler (`csc.exe`). Both of them are called from the `BuildSamplesVS.cmd` to compile the samples. For Java, you need Apache Axis 1.4 or Apache Axis 1.2.1 client-side Web-services libraries. You can use only Apache Axis 1.4 to use the Java samples that ship with the Converter Standalone SDK. For more information, visit https://ws.apache.org/axis/java/releases.html Configure environment and other settings on the workstation as detailed in the respective readme files (readme_java.htm and readme_dotnet.htm) for the samples. ## VMware Resources Developer Center Knowledge Base User Groups VMware Communities Copyright © 1998-2024 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. This product is protected by copyright and intellectual property laws in the United States and other countries as well as by international treaties. VMware products are covered by one or more patents listed at https://www.vmware.com/go/patents.