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Creating a subflow
Create a .subflow file, in which you can define subflow content to include in your message flow applications. Use .subflow files to create subflows that you can deploy to an execution group as individual resources, independent of the message flows that use the subflow. You can create one or more subflows and deploy them to one or more execution groups.
- You can create an application, library, or Message Broker project at the same time as creating a subflow, or you can create it before you create a subflow. To create a container first, follow the instructions in the following topics:
- One of the steps involved in creating a subflow is to select an existing broker schema, or create a new one. To use a particular broker schema with your subflow, create the schema by following the instructions in Creating a broker schema.
You can create subflows to define content that provides a subset of function (for example, a reusable error processing routine) that you can reuse in your message flow applications. You can create subflows either in .subflow files or in .msgflow files. For more information about subflows and the differences between subflows that are defined in .subflow files and subflows that are defined in .msgflow files, see Subflows. The information in this topic describes how to create a .subflow file.
The subflow and its resources are stored in a file system or in a shared repository. A file system can be on the local drive, or a shared drive. If you store files in a repository, you can use all the available repositories that are supported by Eclipse; for example, CVS.
The mode that your broker is working in can affect the number of message flows that you can use; see Restrictions that apply in each operation mode.
To create a .subflow file, complete the following steps:
- To open the New Subflow wizard, click Alternatively, right-click an application, library, or .Message Broker project and click .
- Specify the application, library, or Message Broker project in which to create the subflow. Either select an existing container from the list, or create a container by clicking New. If you right-clicked a particular container in step 1, the name of that container is selected automatically.
- In the Subflow name field, enter a name for the new subflow. You can use all valid characters for the name, but it is helpful to choose a name that reflects its function, for example, ErrorProcessing.
- Decide whether you want to create a default broker schema. By default, a default broker schema is created. If you do not want to create a default schema, clear the check box and select an existing schema from the list. However, if no schemas exist in the project, you must create a default schema at this point.
- Click Finish.
- Define the content of the subflow by following the instructions
in Defining message flow content. Every Input node defined in the subflow
represents an In terminal on the subflow node. Every Output node defined in the
subflow represents an Out terminal on the subflow node. You can use
these terminals to connect the subflow node to other nodes in the
parent flow. You cannot add the following nodes to a subflow that
is defined in a .subflow file:
- Nodes representing subflows that are defined in .msgflow files
- User-defined nodes created from subflows that are defined in .msgflow files
- MQOptimizedFlow nodes
- Add your subflow to a message flow; see Adding a subflow.