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WebSphere Message Brokers
File: as04496_
Writer: Lorraine Waitt

Task topic

This build: July 31, 2007 21:37:02

Defining the node properties

Before you start:

Complete the following tasks:
  1. Creating a user-defined node project
  2. Creating the user-defined node plug-in files
This topic describes how to define the properties for a user-defined node.
  1. Add the terminals to the node. You must define an input terminal. Output terminals are optional. For each input terminal, put the cursor in the In Terminals field, and click Add. Likewise, for each output terminal, put the cursor in the Out Terminals field, and click Add.
  2. To rename a terminal, right-click the terminal name and click Rename.
  3. Click the Properties tab at the bottom of the editor area. From here you can add the node's attributes: for example, a database name, a host server name, or a password. The attributes that you set here must match the attributes specified in the user-defined node itself using the get and set methods. You can also customize the text that appears 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.
  4. If the node is an input node, select the node name in the hierarchy and select Input node. Select Use broker defaults if you want the node to initialize with the broker's default values.
  5. Right-click Basic in the hierarchy and click Add Property. To create separate pages of properties, use the Add Property Group function.
  6. 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.
  7. Enter any default values, which will be shown in the Properties view when the node is included in a message flow.
  8. To generate a property editor or a compiler, specify the location of these resources in the relevant field.
  9. Specify the system property for each attribute that you define:
    • Hidden: the property is not displayed in the Properties view or the Promotion Property dialog.
    • 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.
  10. If required, drag the properties to change the order in which they are listed.
  11. Close the nodename.msgnode file.

Next:

The following tasks are optional:

You can now test your node. Select Run > Run as > Runtime Workbench to launch another instance of the workbench. See Enabling PDE runtime capabilities, and the PDE Guide, for more information about testing using the Runtime Workbench.

Related concepts
User-defined input nodes
User-defined message processing nodes
User-defined output nodes
Related tasks
Creating a user-defined node project
Creating the user-defined node plug-in files
Promoting a property
Related reference
User-defined extensions
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Copyright IBM Corporation 1999, 2007Copyright IBM Corporation 1999, 2007. All Rights Reserved.
This build: July 31, 2007 21:37:02

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