WebSphere MQ Connector

Usage

The WebSphere MQ Connector connects the IBM WebSphere MQSeries software to the INUBIT Process Engine.

Connector types

Depending on its configuration the connector sends or receives messages:

Input connector

Retrieves messages from a Message Queue.
Input listener connector

Is notified by the WebSphere MQ software when there are new messages in the queue, retrieves these messages and starts the workflow.
Output connector

Writes messages into the message queue.

Requirements

You need to make the files com.ibm.mq.jar and com.ibm.mq.allclient.jar available for the INUBIT software.

Proceed as follows

Close the INUBIT Workbench.
Stop the INUBIT Process Engine.
Copy the files com.ibm.mq.jar and com.ibm.mq.allclient.jar into the <inubit-installdir>/inubit/client/lib/ext directory. The files are part of the IBM WebSphere MQ program package (<mq-installdir>/java/lib).
Additionally, copy the files into the following directory:

<inubit-installdir>/inubit/server/process_engine/webapps/ibis/WEB-INF/lib
Restart the INUBIT Process Engine and the INUBIT Workbench.

Dialog WebSphere Message Queue Connector

In this dialog you have the following options:

Basic configuration

Manager name

Name of the queue manager to which the connection is to be established.
Server name

Name of the server on which WebSphere Application Server is running.
Port

Number of the port over which the communication with WebSphere Application Server takes place. The default port number is 1414. The Default button resets the port number to its default value.
Channel

Name of the channel for which you want to configure the connection. The MQ Series queue manager can have more than one channel. Each channel must have its own name.

Queue configuration

Queue name

Name of the queue via which you want to receive messages. In a channel more than one queue can be managed.
Method

Methods for handling messages. When messages are retrieved from a queue, they are listed there on a FIFO basis; the first message that was received is also the first to be retrieved.
- Input Connector
  - GET: The first message is retrieved and is then deleted from the queue.
  - BROWSE: A copy of the first message is retrieved from the queue. The message remains on the message queue.
  - INQUIRE: The number of messages in the queue is queried. The result is issued as an integer in an XML-formatted message.
- Output Connector
  - PUT: Writes the message into the given Message Queue.

Security

UserID

Enter the user ID to authenticate at the WebSphere MQ server.
Password

Enter the password corresponding to the given user ID.

Message configuration

Priority

Default is MQPRI_PRIORITY_AS_Q_DEF. This value is taken from the DefPriority attribute which is part of the queue manager configuration. In addition, integer values between 0 (lowest priority) and 9 (highest priority) can be attached to the priority.

Accept the default value, MQPRI_PRIORITY_AS_Q_DEF.
Format

Describes the format of the incoming message. The majority of the applications that exchange messages via WebSphere MQ use only one of the formats MQFMT_STRING and MQFMT_NONE.
- MQFMT_STRING: for retrieving a message consisting entirely of characters, that is, TextMessage, StreamMessage or MapMessage.
- MQFMT_NONE: For ObjectMessage, BytesMessage and messages without a body.
- MQFMT_PCF (Programmable command format): For user-defined data structures.
Wait interval

Choose between a wait interval of 5 milliseconds and an unlimited wait interval (MQWI_UNLIMITED).

Always keep the default value of 5.

The option does not have any effects on Output Connectors.
Read message header only

(For input connectors only)
- Read message header only without the Read message line-by-line option
  
  The output message of the MQ Connector contains the first message in the message queue. In addition, the header information of this message is passed to the output message as variables.
Read message header only without the Read message line-by-line option

The MQ connector reads from the message queue line-by-line until it reaches the line containing the string mqsende.

The output message consists of all the lines that were read up to this special string. The header information comes from the message containing the string mqsende.

If none of the messages contains the string mqsende, all the lines from all the messages are read from the queue. The header information is that from the last message and the output message contains all the lines from all the messages in the message queue.
Read message line-by-line

Transfer messages line-by-line, each line of a message is treated and transferred as a separate message.

When operating in this mode, it is important, that the last line of the message is the string mqsende. When receiving messages line-by-line, this string guarantees that only the first message in the queue is read through to the end. When the string mqsende is not contained, all messages in the queue are read line-by-line until the end of the queue is reached.

The MQ Connector does not add the String mqsende. If required, you need to add it manually.

Convert message to XML

This option assumes that each line read from the MQ connector is a syntactically correct XML message. The XML message is checked by an internal parser; if an incorrect message is found, an exception is generated.

Generates output messages containing all the lines that were read. Each line read is an XML message with the following structure <MQGET>A syntactically correct XML message</MQGET>.

Commit method

The Commit ensures that the message queue remains in a consistent state.
- after every message: A Commit is performed after each message. This method ensures that the queue manager is in a consistent state after each message is retrieved. This does however affect performance.
- on disconnection: The Commit is not performed until all the messages in an order have been retrieved from the queue. This method ensures better performance.

Connection test

Test connection

For testing whether the connection can be successfully established using your configuration.