Procedure
- Click the Properties tab at the
bottom of the Message Node editor.
On
the Properties page, you can set the properties
for the node, for example, a database name, a host server name, or
a password. The properties that you set here must match the properties
that you specified in the user-defined node itself by using the get and set methods.
- If the node is an input node, click the node name in the
hierarchy to highlight it, and select Input node.
Select Use integration node default values if
you want the node to initialize with the default values for
the integration node.
- By default, all properties are grouped under
the Basic group. You can add new groups in which to place properties.
When your custom node is selected in the IBM® Integration Toolkit, each group of properties is
rendered as a separate tab in the Properties view.
To create additional groups of properties, click Add Property
Group
.
- To add a simple property, click the name of a property
group in the hierarchy to highlight it, and click Add Simple
Property
The
new property is added to the hierarchy as a child of the property
group. Its name is highlighted so that you can change it. A number
of fields are displayed in the Details section,
where you can configure the property.
- Select the correct attribute type: one of the built-in
types, or a type to match the list of values that the property can
have.
- Enter any default values, which are shown in the Properties view
when the node is included in a message flow.
- Optional: If you want to use a custom property
compiler, in the Custom Compiler Class field,
click Import and select the class you want
to use for your custom compiler. The class must implement the IRuntimePropertyCompiler
interface. For more information, see Adding a property editor or compiler.
- Optional: If you want to use a custom property
editor, in the Custom Editor Class field, click Import and
select the class you want to use for your custom editor. The class
must implement the IPropertyEditor interface. For more information,
see Adding a property editor or compiler.
- Specify the system property for each attribute that
you define:
- Hidden
- The property is not displayed in the Properties view
or the Promote Property dialog box.
- Read only
- The property is displayed, but cannot be changed.
- Mandatory
- A value is required. The field cannot be left blank. Boolean and
enum properties are always mandatory.
- Configurable
- The property can be configured at deployment time
- To add a table property, select the name of a
property group in the Properties view and click Add
Table Property
. In
addition to simple properties, a node can also have complex properties.
A table property represents a repeating property of a complex type.
The new property is added to the hierarchy as a child of the property
group. A number of fields are displayed in the Details section
where you can configure the table property.
- To add a column to an existing table, select
the name of the table property in the hierarchy, and click Add
Simple Property.
For example, the following figure shows the
Property Hierarchy of the usernode, where Filter and Route columns
have been added.
A number of fields are displayed in the Details section
where you can configure the properties of the column. Define table
columns, where each column is assigned to a type.
- Select the correct attribute type in the Type field:
one of the built-in types, or enumeration.
- Enter the default value, in the Default Value field.
This value is shown in the Properties view when
the node is included in a message flow.
- Specify a qualified class name in the Custom
Compiler Class field for a property compiler. To create
a custom compiler, use the IRuntimePropertyCompiler interface.
- Specify a qualified class name in the Custom
Editor Class field to generate a custom property editor.
The property editor specified in this field implements the IColumnPropertyEditor
interface responsible for cell editing behavior. Leaving the Custom
Editor Class field blank means that a property editor
matching-column type is used. Specify your own IColumnPropertyEditor
only if you need custom cell editing behavior.
- Specify the following attributes for each column that
you define:
- Hidden
- Use a hidden column when you want to store, for each row, metadata
that is not being displayed.
- Read only
- The column is displayed, but cannot be changed.
- Mandatory
- A value is required. The field cannot be left blank. Boolean and
enum properties are always mandatory.
Leave the Custom Editor Class field
of the Details section of a table property blank, unless you want
to overwrite the behavior of the entire table. For example, if the
table becomes disabled in response to a change in another property
editor.
The following figure shows how the Table properties
are rendered as a table in the Properties view,
where you can add, edit, and delete values, and change the order of
the values in the table.
- Optional: Drag the properties in the properties
hierarchy to change the order in which they are listed on the properties
page.
- Close the nodename.msgnode file.
- Optional: You can customize the text that is
displayed in the node properties view for each property.
To
set the text, open the
nodename.properties file
and edit the line:
Property.propertyName = your descriptive text
What to do next
The following tasks are optional:
You
can now test your node, see Testing a user-defined node.
