Configuring a message flow node

When you have included an instance of a node in your message flow, you can configure its properties to customize how it works.

Before you start:

You can configure all kinds of node: built-in nodes, user-defined nodes, and subflow nodes. You can choose whether the properties appear in the Properties view below the Message Flow editor, or in the Properties dialog box. By default, properties are shown in the Properties view. To switch to the Properties dialog box, take the following steps:

  1. Click Window > Preferences to open the Preferences dialog box.
  2. Expand Broker Development and click Message Flow Editor.
  3. Select Show node properties in a Properties Dialog.
Node properties are displayed in the Properties dialog box when you select a node in the Message Flow editor.

Viewing a node's properties

To view a node's properties:

  1. Switch to the Broker Application Development perspective.
  2. Open the message flow with which you want to work.
  3. Open the palette.
  4. Click Selection above the node palette.
  5. Right-click a node and click Properties to open the Properties view or Properties dialog box, depending on your preference.
    For nodes that do not have an associated resource, you can also double-click the node to display the properties. However, if you double-click any of the nodes in the following table, you open the associated resource.
    Node Result of double-clicking the node
    Compute node Opens an ESQL file
    Database node Opens an ESQL file
    DataDelete node Opens the New Message Map dialog box
    DataInsert node Opens the New Message Map dialog box
    DataUpdate node Opens the New Message Map dialog box
    Extract node Opens the New Message Map dialog box
    JavaCompute node Opens the New JavaCompute Node Class wizard
    Mapping node Opens the New Message Map dialog box
    Warehouse node Opens the New Message Map dialog box
    XMLTransformation node Opens the XSL Selection dialog box
The selected node's properties are displayed in the format of your choice.

Editing a node's properties

Properties are organized into related groups and displayed on tabs. Each tab is listed on the left of the Properties view or Properties dialog box. Click each tab to view the properties that you can edit.

For details of how to configure each individual built-in node, see the node description. You can find a list of the nodes, with links to the individual topics, in Built-in nodes.

If you have included a user-defined node, refer to the documentation that came with the node to understand if, and how, you can configure its properties.

Promoting properties

You can promote node properties to their containing message flow; for more information, see Promoting a property. Use this technique to set some values at the message flow level, without having to change individual nodes. This can be useful, for example, when you embed a message flow in another flow, and want to override some property such as output queue or data source with a value that is correct in this context.

Overriding properties at deployment time

You can override a small number of node property values when you deploy a message flow. These property values are known as configurable properties, and you can use them to modify some characteristics of a deployed message flow without changing the message flow definitions. For example, you can update queue manager and data source information.

Even though you can set values for configurable properties at deployment time, you must set values for these properties within the message flow if they are mandatory. Each built-in node reference topic contains a table of properties, which identifies the configurable and mandatory properties.

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Copyright IBM Corporation 1999, 2009Copyright IBM Corporation 1999, 2009.
Last updated : 2009-01-07 15:20:00

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