IBM MQSeries Explorer snap-in

Introduction

The IBM MQSeries Explorer is a snap-in for Microsoft Management Console. It is shipped with MQSeries for Windows NT version 5.1. It enables users to administer MQSeries queue managers and clusters on the local computer and also on remote computers. The snap-in is intended to be extensible by IBM and third parties. It makes data available to extension snap-ins using custom clipboard formats.

Node Types

The MQSeries Explorer has a wide variety of nodes which support up to 8 custom clipboard formats.

Each node type has its own GUID, as specified in this table:

Node type

GUID

Has property sheet?

IBM MQSeries static node

{23153FE1-F496-11d1-B3c8-0004ACB0F085}

Yes

Queue Managers container

{23153FE2-F496-11d1-B3c8-0004ACB0F085}

No

Queue manager node

{23153FE3-F496-11d1-B3c8-0004ACB0F085}

Yes

Queues container

{23153FE4-F496-11d1-B3c8-0004ACB0F085}

No

Queue node

{23153FE5-F496-11d1-B3c8-0004ACB0F085}

Yes

Cluster queue node

{23153FE6-F496-11d1-B3c8-0004ACB0F085}

Yes

Process Definitions container

{23153FE7-F496-11d1-B3c8-0004ACB0F085}

No

Process definition node

{23153FE8-F496-11d1-B3c8-0004ACB0F085}

Yes

Channels container

{23153FE9-F496-11d1-B3c8-0004ACB0F085}

No

Channel node

{23153FEA-F496-11d1-B3c8-0004ACB0F085}

Yes

Client Connections container

{23153FEB-F496-11d1-B3c8-0004ACB0F085}

No

Client connection node

{23153FEC-F496-11d1-B3c8-0004ACB0F085}

Yes

Namelists container

{23153FED-F496-11d1-B3c8-0004ACB0F085}

No

Namelist node

{23153FEE-F496-11d1-B3c8-0004ACB0F085}

Yes

Cluster Queue Managers container

{23153FEF-F496-11d1-B3c8-0004ACB0F085}

No

Cluster queue manager node

{23153FF0-F496-11d1-B3c8-0004ACB0F085}

Yes

Clusters container

{23153FF1-F496-11d1-B3c8-0004ACB0F085}

No

Cluster node

{23153FF2-F496-11d1-B3c8-0004ACB0F085}

Yes

Queue Managers in Cluster container

{23153FF3-F496-11d1-B3c8-0004ACB0F085}

No

Advanced container

{23153FF4-F496-11d1-B3c8-0004ACB0F085}

No

Only those node types which have property sheets as indicated in the table above will allow extension snap-ins to display their own property pages.

Custom Clipboard Formats

The MQSeries Explorer supports 8 custom clipboard formats. They are described below.

CCF_IBM_MQSERIES_OBJECT_NAME

Purpose

Contains the name of the MQSeries object represented by the node.

Format

Null-terminated Unicode string.

Exported by

Remarks

None.

CCF_IBM_MQSERIES_Q_MGR_NAME

Purpose

Contains the name of the queue manager on which the object is defined.

Format

Null-terminated Unicode string.

Exported by

Remarks

  1. For a cluster queue, the name of the queue manager in the cluster on which the actual definition of the queue is held is available using the format CCF_IBM_MQSERIES_STRING_ATTRIBUTE specifying the value MQCA_CLUSTER_Q_MGR_NAME for the dwAspect member of the FORMATETC structure supplied when calling IDataObject::GetDataHere.
  2. The value supplied for this clipboard format by the Cluster node and Queue Managers in Cluster container refers to the queue manager identified as the connection point for the cluster in the snap-in's Show Cluster... dialog box.

CCF_IBM_MQSERIES_Q_MGR_CONNECTION_NAME

Purpose

Contains the connection name used to communicate with the queue manager associated with the node.

Format

A null-terminated Unicode string.

Exported by

Remarks

  1. This clipboard format is only exported by nodes associated with a queue manager which is on another computer and thus marked as Remote. If you try to get the data for this format from a node associated with a local queue manager, IDataObject::GetDataHere will return DV_E_CLIPFORMAT.
  2. The value supplied for this clipboard format by the Cluster node and Queue Managers in Cluster container refers to the queue manager identified as the connection point for the cluster in the snap-in's Show Cluster... dialog box.

CCF_IBM_MQSERIES_Q_MGR_XMIT_PROTOCOL_TYPE

Purpose

Contains the protocol used to communicate with the queue manager associated with the node.

Format

A value of type MQLONG chosen from the set of MQXPT_ values defined by MQSeries. Currently, only MQXPT_TCP is supported.

Exported by

Remarks

  1. This clipboard format is only exported by nodes associated with a queue manager which is on another computer and thus marked as Remote. If you try to get the data for this format from a node associated with a local queue manager, IDataObject::GetDataHere will return DV_E_CLIPFORMAT.
  2. The value supplied for this clipboard format by the Cluster node and Queue Managers in Cluster container refers to the queue manager identified as the connection point for the cluster in the snap-in's Show Cluster... dialog box.

CCF_IBM_MQSERIES_Q_MGR_IS_CONNECTED

Purpose

Indicates whether the snap-in is currently connected to the queue manager associated with the node.

Format

A value of type BOOL with the following values:

TRUE
The snap-in is currently connected to the queue manager.
FALSE
The snap-in is not currently connected to the queue manager.

Exported by

Remarks

  1. The value supplied for this clipboard format by the Cluster node refers to the queue manager identified as the connection point for the cluster in the snap-in's Show Cluster... dialog box.

CCF_IBM_MQSERIES_PCF

Purpose

Contains a definition of the MQSeries object which the node represents.

Format

The data is encoded as an MQSeries Programmable Command Format (PCF) message. The data begins with a value of type DWORD which indicates the length of the remaining data. The remaining data is in PCF format using the little-endian integer encoding format.

Exported by

Remarks

  1. The character data in the PCF structure is encoded in the CCSID of the queue manager associated with the node. Such data is intended for sending to the command server associated with the node.
  2. However, the data does not constitute a valid PCF response message because the Command member of the MQCFH structure is not initialized. Also, the data often contains the values of read-only attributes which should not be sent to the command server. It is more accurate to think of the data as the message returned from the command server in response to an Inquire PCF command.
  3. Extension snap-ins will probably find it easier to work with the attributes encoded in this clipboard format in the alternative CCF_IBM_MQSERIES_INTEGER_ATTRIBUTE and CCF_IBM_MQSERIES_STRING_ATTRIBUTE formats.

CCF_IBM_MQSERIES_INTEGER_ATTRIBUTE

Purpose

Contains a list of values for a specified integer attribute of the MQSeries object represented by the node.

Format

A value of type DWORD indicating the number of values associated with this attribute. This is followed by a sequence of zero or more values of type MQLONG containing the values of the attribute.

Exported by

Remarks

  1. The attribute of interest is specified using the dwAspect member of the FORMATETC structure passed to IDataObject::GetDataHere.

CCF_IBM_MQSERIES_STRING_ATTRIBUTE

Purpose

Contains a list of values for a specified string attribute of the MQSeries object represented by the node.

Format

A value of type DWORD indicating the number of values associated with this attribute. This is followed by a sequence of zero or more null-terminated Unicode strings containing the values of the attribute.

Exported by

Remarks

  1. The attribute of interest is specified using the dwAspect member of the FORMATETC structure passed to IDataObject::GetDataHere.

More Information

More information on IBM's MQSeries commercial messaging middleware can be found on the MQSeries website.