This document discusses patterns for simplifying development in WebSphere Message Broker. It describes how patterns can reduce common problems, establish best practices, and reduce time to value. The document outlines the pattern generation process and discusses built-in patterns. It also covers topics like pattern authoring, testing patterns, extending patterns through Java and PHP code, distributing patterns through communities, and packaging patterns for installation.

1. Ant Phillips
antphill@uk.ibm.com
WebSphere Message Broker
Introduction to Patterns
© 2012 IBM Corporation

2. The Challenge
From:
MQ
File
WSDL
To:
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3. Patterns for Simplified Development
 Creates top-down, parameterized connectivity solutions
 Reduces common problems in flow development
 Establishes best practices for healthcare integration
 Reduces time-to-value for solution development
 Patterns are easily extended with regular broker functionality
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4. Pattern Generation
 Pattern generation creates the production ready Message Broker projects
– Generated projects reflect the configuration choices of the pattern user
– Configuration is saved so that the pattern can be re-generated if required
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5. Built-In Patterns
 Message Broker provides a core set of built-in patterns
 These implement a variety of common scenarios
– Web service front end to a MQ based application
– Processing data stored in a file and routing to one or more queues
– Adding a proxy in front of a web service provider
– Processing data from an SAP system and routing to MQ
– Shredding messages and routing to one or more queues
 Patterns are selected based on client feedback and field experience
 This core set of patterns continues to grow with each release
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6. Pattern Authoring
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7. Pattern Authoring
 Patterns and pattern authoring are first class concepts
 Pattern authoring is a design activity
– It may be long lived
– It is often not sequential
 We always start with a working solution - one or more Broker projects
 Using patterns is a top-down activity driven by a requirement, but:
– Authoring a working solution is (typically) a bottom-up activity
– So pattern authoring must bridge these two different approaches
 Patterns have their own development cycle
 Creating the working solution is part of the pattern authoring process
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8. Pattern Authoring Workflow
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9. Developing the Solution
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10. Create Your Working Solution
 No change at all - design your Message Broker solution as you do today
– Pattern authoring does not change the tools you use to create solutions
– The key to creating a good pattern is to create a good working solution!
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11. Define Your Target Properties
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12. Pattern Authoring Workflow
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13. Select Your Files and Resources
 Selects the projects and files which the pattern will include
– Clicking on a message flow displays any target properties in that file
– Patterns can include many different types of Message Broker projects
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14. Configure Your Pattern Parameters
 Pattern parameters prompt information from pattern users
– Pattern groups organise parameters into related areas
– Parameters map to target properties in the message flows
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15. Pattern Parameters and Groups
 Add field prompts and help information to pattern parameters and groups:
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16. Refine Your User Interface
 Refine the pattern user interface by using the specialist field editors
– Add XPath expressions to control when a pattern parameter is required
– Enumerations allow you to present a well defined list of options to a pattern user
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17. Add Your Pattern Categories
 User-defined categories are displayed in the Patterns Explorer
– Use the built-in categories or add your own pattern categories
– Categories include a description authored in regular HTML
– Easy to add style sheets, images and any other files as required
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18. Test Your Pattern
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19. Test Your Pattern
 Click Test Pattern and a second workbench is started ready for testing
– Extra metadata can also be configured such as version number and vendor name
– Patterns are implemented by plug-ins which are created in your workspace
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20. Pattern Refinement
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21. Overview
 Pattern authoring in Message Broker supports property changes
– Node, user-defined properties (UDPs) and promoted node properties
 Property variability is the most common type of variability that a pattern
might need to express - there are many others:
– Generate application text files such as ESQL scripts
– Make structural changes to Message Flows
– Create administration files such as MQSC scripts
 It is impossible to try and predict all the possible extensions that a pattern
author might wish to implement
 In Message Broker we provide two ways to extend pattern authoring
– Java code that is invoked when pattern instances are generated
– PHP templates that generate text files in pattern instance projects
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22. Java and PHP code
 Easy to attach Java code and PHP templates to a pattern
– Code is invoked in top down order as shown in the Pattern Authoring editor
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23. Message Broker API
 The MessageFlow API contains all the nodes, connections and artefacts
present in the message flow
 The Message Flow API includes properties, nodes and connections
– This is not an exhaustive list – essentially equivalent to the Message Flow editor
 User Defined Nodes are represented as GenericNode
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24. PHP
 PHP is a general purpose dynamic scripting language
 Easy to use with a gentle learning curve
 Efficient syntax and library have evolved in open source
– Community driven to get more done in less time
– Impressive results with little code
– Extensive library support
– Language well suited to rapid prototyping
 More than 3 million developers worldwide
 4th most populate language after Java, C and Visual Basic
 Message Broker PHP Compute Node since v6.1.0.4
– Java implementation, fully compliant with PHP version 5.2
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25. PHP Templates
 Output from PHP template is written straight to the generated project
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26. Pattern Communities
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27. Distribute Your Pattern
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28. Pattern Communities
 Pattern authoring creates patterns whose value multiplies as they are
shared and used by a community of developers
 Public and private communities are equally interesting!
 A community needs to offer more than just a repository of assets!
– Space for content such as patterns and subflow nodes
– Forums to host discussions and threaded conversations
– Categorisation is important as the community grows! (taxonomies)
– Essential administrative functions such as user management
– News articles and broadcasts keep the site fresh
 There are literally dozens of content management systems available
 On the commercial side we have tried Lotus Connections and Rational
Asset Manager
 Open source projects such as Drupal and Joomla are compelling!
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29. Packaging a Pattern
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30. Pattern Archives
 The goal is to simplify the packaging and distribution of patterns
 Creating Eclipse update sites and features is a fairly complex task
 Code projects are automatically packaged and distributed
 A pattern archive contains the pattern plug-ins and an Eclipse feature
– The version of the feature matches the pattern version:
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31. Creating a Community Space
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32. A Shared Repository for Patterns
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33. Drupal
 The demonstration system is a standard Drupal v6 install
– Drupal is a PHP-based open-source content management system (CMS)
– A key strength of Drupal is its vibrant community of users and developers
– Drupal has an extensive list of many hundreds of add-on modules
 The following contributed modules were installed:
– Voting is provided by FiveStar and VotingAPI modules
– Site search is configured (this is a built in module)
– An easy to use Administration module is available
– Pages based around an image are provided by the Image module
– Categorisation of content made available by the Taxonomy module
 It took just over one hour to complete the system set up!
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34. Community Branding
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35. Install Your Pattern
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36. Installing Patterns
 The Pattern Explorer provides a download
capability for pattern archives
 Pattern archives can be installed from a local
file system or from a URL
 HTTP/S is not supported – instead login,
download and install from the file system
 Installation completes without a toolkit restart
 Patterns are uninstalled through the Eclipse
updates feature: Help > Software Updates
 .patternzip files can also be double clicked
which runs an installer application (the file
extension is registered by the toolkit)
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37. Bringing It All Together!
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38. Microsoft .NET Service Enablement
 How quickly can you build a web service using a .NET application?
– Creating a service where one doesn’t currently exist is service enablement
– Excellent opportunity to show case new features in Message Broker
• Applications and libraries, deployable WSDL/XSD, Pattern Authoring enhancements
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39. Configuring the Microsoft .NET Assembly
 User-defined editor allows the pattern user to select their .NET assembly
– Selection proceeds to a class and the (static) methods available in that class
– Assembly can be developed in any .NET language (for example, VB.NET or C#)
– Return value and parameters are reflected on and displayed by the user-defined editor
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40. Projects Generated by the Pattern
 The pattern generates an application and a library
– Application contains the mechanics of the pattern instance
– Library contains subflows for user customizations
– Customizations are never deleted on re-generation!
 WSDL created to represent the selected .NET methods
– One WSDL operation for each .NET (static) method
– Likewise one message part defined per operation
– WSDL types are defined in a separate XML schema file
– WSDL and XSD are deployed directly to Message Broker
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41. Microsoft .NET Data Types
 The table shows the mapping from .NET data types to ESQL and XSD
 Value types declared as Nullable<> are also supported (relevant for value types)
CLR Data Type XSD (WSDL) ESQL
(System.*)
Int32 xsd:integer INT
Int64 xsd:long INTEGER
Decimal xsd:decimal DECIMAL
Double xsd:float FLOAT
Byte[] xsd:hexBinary BLOB
String xsd:string CHARACTER
Char xsd:string CHAR
Boolean xsd:boolean BOOLEAN
DateTimeOffset xsd:dateTime TIMESTAMP
TimeSpan xsd:time TIME
DateTime xsd:dateTime GMTTIMESTAMP
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42. Pattern Design Points
 Methods must be static, public and visible to be eligible for inclusion
– Intention is to also support .NET instance methods by creating objects
 No method overloading is currently supported by the pattern
– Choose one method which is sufficient for the service definition
 One class per service – create a wrapper class for aggregation
 Exceptions thrown by.NET are returned as regular SOAP faults
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