Validation properties for messages in the MRM domain

You can control validation by setting properties presented by the Validation tab on the Compute, Mapping, and MQInput nodes.

Validate
Whether validation is required. Set it to None (the default) or Content And Value.

Content And Value indicates that you want to perform content checks (such as Content Validation and Composition) and value checks (such as value data type, null permitted, length, range, enumeration).

Failure Action
The action that you want to be taken when a validation failure occurs. You can set Exception (the default), User Trace, or Local Error Log.

Exception throws an exception on the first validation failure. The failure is logged in the user trace if you have asked for user tracing of the message flow, and validation stops. This default setting is most useful after you have completed debugging your message flow and application.

User Trace writes all validation failures to the user trace, even if you have not asked for user tracing of the message flow.

Local Error Log writes all validation failures to the error log (for example, the Event Log on Windows).

In both the User Trace and Local Error Log cases, validation continues. These settings are useful when you first set the Validate property to Content And Value, so that you see all validation failures, not just the first.

Timing
When to have input message fields validated. You can set Deferred (the default), Immediate, or Complete.

Immediate validates the entire message, although any unresolved subsets resulting from the use of Composition Choice or Message are not validated until they are resolved.

Complete validates the entire message.

Deferred validates each field when it is parsed. Partial parsing might cause this to be late in the message flow, or never.

The MRM parser uses partial parsing, which means that an input message is not completely parsed at the start of a message flow. When fields in the message are referenced, as much of the message is parsed as is necessary to completely resolve the reference. The Timing property gives you control over how message validation interacts with partial parsing:
  • If you select a Timing value of Complete or Immediate, partial parsing is overridden, and as much of the message as possible is parsed immediately. For Complete, this is the whole message; for Immediate, everything is parsed except those complex types with a Composition of Choice or Message (because they can be parsed only when the content has been resolved by the user in ESQL).
  • If you select a Timing value of Deferred, validation of a field in the message is delayed until it is parsed by partial parsing.
If you select Deferred or Immediate, validation errors might not be detected until later in the processing of a message by a message flow, or might never be detected if a portion of the message is never parsed. To make sure that all fields in a message are validated, either select Complete, or select Immediate and make sure that you resolve all unresolved types at the start of your message flow.

The Timing property is available only on the MQInput node.

Include All Value Constraints
The check box is selected; you cannot change it.

Include All Value Constraints specifies these value constraint checks:

  • Min Length
  • Max Length
  • Null Permitted
  • Date Template
  • Scale
  • Min Inclusive
  • Max Inclusive
  • Enumeration
  • Pattern

See Simple type logical value constraints for a description of these value constraints.

Fix
The default value is None; you cannot change it.
None specifies that only limited remedial action is to be taken when Validation is set to Content And Value, validation failures occur, and Failure Action is not set to Exception:
  • Extraneous fields are discarded for fixed formats in the MRM domain (CWF and TDS non-tagged).
  • If mandatory content is missing, defaults are supplied (if available) on both parsing and writing for fixed formats (TDS non-tagged).
  • If an element's data type in the tree does not match that specified in the dictionary, the data type is converted to match the dictionary definition if possible. This happens when the MRM parser writes the bit stream at the output of the message flow (all formats).
If Failure Action is set to Exception, no remedial action is taken, and an exception is thrown at the first validation failure.

Related concepts
Message flows

Related tasks
Validating messages
Designing a message flow
Creating a message flow
Defining message flow content

Related reference
Built-in nodes