Saving a message flow

You might want to save your message flow when you want to:

Before you start:

To complete this task, you must have completed the following task:

To save a message flow:

  1. Switch to the Broker Application Development perspective.
  2. Select the editor view that contains the open message flow that you want to save.
  3. If you want to save the message flow without closing it in the editor view, press Ctrl+S or click File > Save name on the taskbar menu (where name is the name of this message flow). You can also choose to save everything by clicking File > Save All.

    The message flow is saved and the message flow validator is invoked to validate its contents. The validator provides a report of any errors that it finds in the Tasks view. The message flow remains open in the editor view.

    For example, if you save a message flow and have not set a mandatory property, an error message appears in the Tasks view and the editor marks the node with the error icon The error icon (white cross in a red circle). The message flow in the Navigator view is also marked with the error icon. This can occur if you have not edited the properties of an MQInput node to define the queue from which the input node retrieves its input messages.

    (If you edit the properties of a node, you cannot click OK unless you have set all mandatory properties. Therefore this situation can arise only if you have never set any properties.)

    You might also get warnings when you save a message flow. These are indicated by the warning icon The warning icon (black exclamation mark in a yellow triangle). This informs you that, although there is not an explicit error in the configuration of the message flow, there is a situation that might result in unexpected results when the message flow completes. For example, if you have included an input node in your message flow that you have not connected to any other node, you get a warning. In this situation, the editor marks the node with the warning icon. The message flow in the Navigator view is also marked with a warning icon.

  4. If you save a message flow that includes a subflow, and the subflow is no longer available, three error messages are added to the Tasks view that indicate that the input and output terminals and the subflow itself cannot be located. This can occur if the subflow has been moved or renamed.

    To resolve this situation, right-click the subflow node in error and click Locate Subflow. The Locate Subflow dialog is displayed, listing the available message flow projects. Expand the list and explore the resources available to locate the required subflow. Select the correct subflow and click OK. All references in the current message flow are updated for you and the errors removed from the Tasks view.

  5. If you want to save the message flow when you close it, click the close view icon The close view icon (black cross) on the editor view tab for this message flow or click File > Close on the taskbar menu. The editor view is closed and the file saved. The same validation occurs and any errors and warnings are written to the Tasks view.

For information about using the File > Save As option to take a copy of the current message flow, see Copying a message flow using save.

See Correcting errors from saving a message flow for information about handling errors from the save action.

Related concepts
Message flows overview
Deployment overview
Related tasks
Copying a message flow using save
Correcting errors from saving a message flow
Developing message flows
Opening an existing message flow
Defining message flow content
Editing configurable properties
Related reference
Broker Application Development perspective
Built-in nodes