You can promote a node property to the message flow level to simplify the maintenance of the message flow and its nodes, and to provide common values for multiple nodes within the flow by converging promoted properties.
To promote message flow node properties to the message flow level:
A new group is automatically created for the message flow, and the property is placed within it, with the original name of the property and the name of the message flow node from which it came displayed beneath the property entry.
When you create a new promoted property, the name that you enter is the name by which the property is known within the system, and must meet certain Java and XML naming restrictions. These are enforced by the dialog, and a message is displayed if you enter a name that includes a non-valid character. For example, you cannot include a space or the double quote symbol.
If you are developing a message flow within a user-defined project that will be delivered as an Eclipse plug-in, you can add translation for the promoted properties that you have added. Translated names can contain characters, such as space, that are restricted for system names. The option to provide translated strings for promoted properties is not available if you are working with a message flow within a message flow project.
For example, you might want to group all promoted properties that relate to database interactions. You can change the groups that promoted properties belong to at any time, by selecting a property in the Promoted properties pane and dragging it onto a different group.
For example, you might want to create a single promoted property that overrides the property on each node that defines a data source.
For more information on converging properties, see Converging multiple properties.
The message flow node properties are now promoted to the message flow. To confirm this, right-click the message flow in the Broker Development view, or right-click the editor view, and select Properties.
The Properties dialog of the message flow is displayed, showing the message flow node properties that you have promoted, organized in the groups that you have created. If you now set a value for one of these properties, that value appears as the default value for the property whenever the message flow is itself included in other message flows.
When you have promoted a property, you can no longer make any changes to that property through the node properties dialog. You can only update its value at the message flow level.
When you select an embedded message flow within another message flow (a subflow) and view its properties, you see the promoted property values. If you look inside the embedded flow (that is, if you select Open Subflow), you see the original values for the properties. The value of a promoted property does not replace the original property, but it takes precedence when you deploy the message flow.
If you promote a property that is mandatory (that is, an asterisk appears beside the name in the properties dialog of the message flow node), the mandatory characteristic of the property is preserved. When a mandatory property is promoted, its value does not need to be set at the node-level. If the flow containing the mandatory promoted property is included as a subflow within another flow, then the property has to be filled in for the subflow node.
You can repeat the process of promoting message flow node properties through several levels of message flow. You can promote properties from any level in the hierarchy to the next level above, and so on through the hierarchy to the top level. The value of a property is propagated from the highest point in the hierarchy at which it is set down to the original message flow node when the message flow is deployed to a broker. The value of that property on the original message flow node is overridden.