New users: before you start developing your applications, use the links in this topic to get information about concepts that you should understand.
A message flow is a sequence of processing steps that run in the broker when an input message is received. You define a message flow by including a number of message flow nodes, each of which represents a set of actions that define a processing step. For more information about message flow nodes, see message flow nodes.
You can define the structure of messages for use with your message flows.
How can I use WebSphere Message Broker to route messages?
You can select from a number of ways of routing messages using message flows:
You can route messages through a message flow based on the content of the message using a Filter node. The nodes that are connected to the different terminals of the Filter node can be used to apply different processing and routing to messages based on their content.
You can create a destination list to define the recipients of output messages using a Compute, Mapping or JavaCompute node. This list can then be used to route messages using RouteToLabel and Label nodes. Alternatively, a single message can be sent to many locations using a destination list for the destination mode, on some output nodes.
In publish/subscribe messaging, a message can be assigned a topic by a publisher. The broker matches the topic with a list of applications that have subscribed to the matched topic, and delivers the message to each of the subscribing applications.
Extended Structured Query Language (ESQL) is a programming language based on Structured Query Language (SQL) that is commonly used to work with databases. ESQL is extended to access and manipulate data in messages and databases. You can code ESQL to transform and enrich messages using the Compute node.
Use the JavaCompute node to add any valid Java code to your message flow. You can access, create and transform messages in your message flows using Java.
Message mappings use a drag-and-drop interface to transform messages. You can use conditional logic, ESQL functions, and XPath functions to create complex mappings and transformations. You can also use message mapping to select and manipulate data in database tables. You can create message mappings to transform and enrich messages using the Mapping node.
You can use the XMLTransformation node to transform from one type of XML message to another, based on rules provided by an Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) stylesheet.
Use the links in this section to find out how you can connect your applications to WebSphere Message Broker.
Find out about the differences between the two types of application communication model that WebSphere Message Broker supports.
Find out about the many programming interfaces supported by WebSphere Message Broker.
Find out about the communication transports and protocols that WebSphere Message Broker supports.
Publish/subscribe is a style of messaging in which the providers of information (publishers) are decoupled from the consumers of that information (subscribers).
Use the links in this section to find out about the logical message tree and the internal representation of messages within message flows. When a message is received by a message flow, a logical structure is created, known as the logical message tree or the message assembly. The message assembly contains a message tree, which is the internal representation of the physical message, plus a number of other trees that are used to store information during the processing of the message in the message flow.
Use the links in this section to get information about the physical messages received by message flows, and to find out how the different structures and formats are handled by your WebSphere Message Broker applications.
A user-defined extension is an optional component that is designed by the user to extend the functionality of WebSphere Message Broker. A user-defined extension can be either a node or a parser.
The Configuration Manager Proxy (CMP) is an application programming interface that you can program to control broker domains using a remote interface to the Configuration Manager.