Creating a message flow

Create a message flow to specify how to process messages in the integration node. You can create one or more message flows and deploy them to one or more integration nodes.

Before you begin

  • You can create an application, library, or integration project at the same time as creating a message flow, or you can create it before you create a message flow. To create a container first, follow the instructions in the following topics:
  • One of the steps involved in creating a message flow is to select an existing broker schema, or create a new one. To use a particular broker schema with your message flow, create the schema by following the instructions in Creating a broker schema.

About this task

The message flow 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.

Use this process to create a .msgflow file, in which you can define either a complete message flow that you can deploy, or a subflow that provides a subset of function (for example, a reusable error processing routine), that you cannot deploy on its own. To create a subflow that you can deploy as an individual resource, you must define the subflow in a .subflow file. 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 mode in which IBM® App Connect Enterprise is running can affect the number of message flows that you can use; see Operation modes.

To create a message flow, complete the following steps.

Procedure

  1. To open the New Message Flow wizard, click File > New > Message Flow.
    Alternatively, in the Application Development view, right-click an application, library, or integration project and click New > Message Flow.
  2. Specify the application, library, or integration project in which to create the message flow. 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.
  3. In the Message flow Name field, enter a name for the new message flow.
    You can use all valid characters for the name, but it is helpful to choose a name that reflects its function, for example, OrderProcessing.
  4. 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.
  5. Click Finish.

Results

The new message flow (message_flow_name.msgflow) is displayed in the Application Development view, under the application, library, or integration project. The message flow opens in the Message Flow editor so that you can add some message flow nodes.

What to do next

Define the content of the message flow by following the instructions in Defining message flow content.