This topic contains the following sections:
Use the FlowOrder node to control the order in which a message is processed by a message flow. The input message is propagated to the first output terminal and the sequence of nodes connected to this terminal process the message. When that message processing is complete, control returns to the FlowOrder node. If the message processing completes successfully, the input message is propagated to the second output terminal and the sequence of nodes connected to this terminal processes the message.
The message that is propagated through the second output terminal is the input message; it is not modified in any way, even if the sequence of nodes connected to first terminal has modified the message.
You can include this node in a message flow at any point where the order of execution of subsequent nodes is important.
If you connect multiple nodes to the first output terminal, the second output terminal, or both, the order in which the multiple connections on each terminal are processed is random and unpredictable. However, the message is propagated to all target nodes connected to the first output terminal, which must all complete successfully, before it is propagated to any node connected to the second output terminal.
Your message flow performance can benefit from including the FlowOrder node in a situation where one sequence of processing required for a message is significantly shorter than another sequence of processing. If you connect the shorter sequence to the first terminal, any failure is identified quickly and prevents execution of the second longer sequence of processing.
The FlowOrder node is represented in the workbench by the following icon:
For an example of using this node, assume that your company receives orders from customers using the Internet. When the order is received, it is processed by nodes connected to the first terminal of a FlowOrder node to debit the stock level in your database and raise an invoice. A check is made to see whether the customer has indicated that his details can be sent to other suppliers. If the customer has indicated that he does not want this information to be divulged, this check fails and no further processing occurs. If the customer is happy for you to share his details with other companies (that is, the test is successful), the input message is propagated to the second terminal so that the customer's details can be added to the mailing list.
When you have put an instance of the FlowOrder node into a message flow, you can configure it. Right-click the node in the editor view and click Properties. The node's properties are displayed.
All mandatory properties for which you must enter a value (those that do not have a default value defined) are marked with an asterisk on the properties dialog.
Configure the FlowOrder node as follows:
Click Cancel to close the dialog and discard all the changes that you have made to the properties.
The FlowOrder node has no configurable properties that impact its operation. You determine how it operates by connecting the first and second output terminals to subsequent nodes in your message flow.
The message that is propagated through the second terminal is identical to that propagated through the first terminal. Any changes that you have introduced as a result of the first phase of processing are ignored by this node.
If the first phase of processing fails, the FlowOrder node does not regain control and does not propagate the message through the second terminal.
The FlowOrder node terminals are described in the following table.
Terminal | Description |
---|---|
In | The input terminal that accepts a message for processing by the node. |
Failure | The output terminal to which the message is routed if a failure is detected during the computation. |
First | The output terminal to which the input message is routed in the first instance. |
Second | The output terminal to which the input message is routed in the second instance. The message is routed to this terminal only if routing to First is successful. |
The following table describes the node properties; the column headed M indicates whether the property is mandatory (marked with an asterisk on the properties dialog if you must enter a value when no default is defined), the column headed C indicates whether the property is configurable (you can change the value when you add the message flow to the bar file to deploy it).
The FlowOrder node Description properties are described in the following table.
Property | M | C | Default | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
Short Description | No | No | A brief description of the node. | |
Long Description | No | No | Text that describes the purpose of the node in the message flow. |
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