TimeoutControl node

Use the TimeoutControl node to process an input message that contains a timeout request.

This topic contains the following sections:

Purpose

The TimeoutControl node validates the timeout request message, stores the message, and propagates the message (unchanged) to the next node in the message flow. For more information, see Timeout request message.

The TimeoutControl node is contained in the Timer drawer of the palette, and is represented in the workbench by the following icon:

Timeout Control node icon

Using this node in a message flow

Use a TimeoutControl node and a TimeoutNotification node together in a message flow for an application that requires events to occur at particular times, or at regular intervals.

Examples of when you can use the timeout nodes in a message flow include:
  • You need to run a batch job every day at midnight.
  • You want information about currency exchange rates to be sent to banks at hourly intervals.
  • You want to confirm that important transactions are processed within a certain time period and perform some other specified actions to warn when a transaction has not been processed in that time period.

You can use more than one TimeoutControl node with a TimeoutNotification node. Timeout requests that are initiated by those TimeoutControl nodes are all processed by the same TimeoutNotification node if the same Unique identifier is used for the TimeoutNotification node and each of the TimeoutControl nodes.

Look at the following sample for more details about how to use the timeout processing nodes: You can view samples only when you use the information center that is integrated with the Message Brokers Toolkit.

Terminals and properties

When you have put an instance of the TimeoutControl node into a message flow, you can configure it; see Configuring a message flow node. The properties of the node are displayed in the Properties view. To display the properties of the node in the Properties dialog, either double-click the node, or right-click the node and click Properties. All mandatory properties for which you must enter a value (those that do not have a default value defined) are marked with an asterisk.

The TimeoutControl node terminals are described in the following table.

Terminal Description
In The input terminal that accepts a message tree for processing (which includes validating the timeout request specified in the message tree at Request location) and adds it to the control queue.
Failure The output terminal to which the input message is propagated if a failure is detected during processing in this node. If this terminal is not connected to another node, error information is passed back to the previous node in the message flow.
Out The output terminal to which incoming messages are propagated, unchanged, after successful timeout request processing. If this terminal is not connected to another node, no propagation occurs. If propagation of the message fails, the message is propagated to the Failure terminal.

The following tables describe the node properties. The column headed M indicates whether the property is mandatory (marked with an asterisk 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 Description properties of the TimeoutControl node are described in the following table.

Property M C Default Description
Node name No No The node type, TimeoutControl The name of the node.
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.

The Basic properties of the TimeoutControl node are described in the following table.

Property M C Default Description
Unique identifier Yes Yes None This is the only mandatory property for the node. Its value must be unique within the broker. The equivalent property of the TimeoutNotification node with which it is paired must have the same value. The maximum length of this identifier is 12 characters.
Request location No No None This property describes where to find the timeout request information in the incoming message. This value can be any valid location in the input message tree and is validated at run time. If you do not specify a request location, InputLocalEnvironment.TimeoutRequest is assumed. For more information about the timeout request message, see Timeout request message.
Request persistence No No Automatic This property controls whether an incoming timeout request survives a restart of either the broker or the message flow that contains the TimeoutNotification node that is paired with this TimeoutControl node.

Select Yes if you want the incoming request to persist; select No if you do not. If you select Automatic (the default), the Persistence setting in the Properties folder of the incoming message is used.

The Message properties of the TimeoutControl node are described in the following table.

Property M C Default Description
Stored message location No No None This property identifies the location of the part of the request message that you want to store for propagation by the TimeoutNotification node with which this node is paired. If you do not specify a value, the entire message is stored. You can specify any valid location in the message tree. If you choose to store the entire message, you do not need to specify any values in Message domain, Message set, Message type, or Message format.
Message domain No No None The domain that is used to parse the stored timeout request message by the TimeoutNotification node.
Select the name of the parser that you are using. This value, and the three corresponding values in Message set, Message type, and Message format, are used by the TimeoutNotification node with which it is paired when it rebuilds the stored message for propagation. If you have stored the entire request message (by leaving Stored message location blank), do not specify any values here. If you choose to store part of the request message, specify values here that reflect the stored request message fragment as if it were the entire message, which is the case when it is processed by the TimeoutNotification node. Choose from the following parsers:
  • MRM
  • XML
  • XMLNS
  • XMLNSC
  • BLOB
Message set No No None The name or identifier of the message set in which the stored timeout request message is defined. If you are using the MRM parser, select the Message set that you want to use from the list.

Leave Message set blank for XML, XMLNS, XMLNSC, and BLOB parsers.

Message type No No None The name of the stored timeout request message. If you are using the MRM parser, select the correct message from the list in Message type. This list is populated with messages that are defined in the Message set that you have selected.

Leave Message type blank for XML, XMLNS, XMLNSC, and BLOB parsers.

Message format No No None The name of the physical format of the stored timeout request message. If you are using the MRM parser, select the format of the message from the list in Message format. This list includes all the physical formats that you have defined for this Message set.

Leave Message format blank for XML, XMLNS, XMLNSC, and BLOB parsers.

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Copyright IBM Corporation 1999, 2009Copyright IBM Corporation 1999, 2009.
Last updated : 2009-01-07 15:20:28

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