Using the HTTP Binding Component

Using Normalized Message Properties to Propagate Binding Context Information

Normalized Message properties are commonly used to specify metadata that is associated with message content. javax.jbi.security.subject and javax.jbi.message.protocol.type are two examples of standard normalized Message properties defined in the JBI Specification.

Normalized Message properties are used to provide additional capabilities in Open ESB, such as:

Some of the use cases mentioned above require protocol/binding specific properties, typically used by a particular binding component. Other properties are considered common or general purpose properties that all participating JBI components make use of, for example, the message ID property, which can be utilized to uniquely identify or track a given message in the integration.

Using Normalized Message Properties in a BPEL Process

The Normalized Message properties are accessed from the BPEL Designer Mapper view. When you expand a variable's Properties folder it exposes the variable's predefined NM properties, as well as the regular BPEL specific WSDL properties used in correlation sets, assigns, and to build expressions . If the specific NM property you need is not currently listed, additional NM properties can be added.

Using Predefined Normalized Message Properties in a BPEL Process

Predefined Normalized Message properties are ready for use, from a variable's Properties file.

ProcedureTo use predefined normalized message properties in a BPEL process

  1. From the Design View diagram, select the activity with the process you want to edit.

  2. Click Mapper to switch to the Mapper view of the BPEL process.

  3. From the Output pane, expand the Variable you want to edit and its Properties file.

    The Properties file contains the predefined Normalized Message (NM) properties.

    Image shows the BPEL Designer Mapper view as described
in context
  4. To use a predefined NM Property, select the property and use it to build an expression or an assign.

Adding Additional Normalized Message Properties to a BPEL Process

If the specific NM Property you want is not listed, you can add additional NM properties.

There are two options available when adding NM Properties:

ProcedureTo add a Normalized Message Property Shortcut to a BPEL process

  1. From the Output or Input panes of the BPEL Mapper, expand the node for the variable to which you want to add an NM property. Right-click that variables Properties directory node and select Add NM Property Shortcut from the pop-up menu.

    The Add NM Property Shortcut dialog box appears.

  2. Enter the information for the new NM property into the the Add NM Property Shortcut dialog box, as follows:

    1. Property Name: The NM property name (see each binding component's documentation for available NM properties).

    2. Display Name:The display name for the NM property. This is a user-defined name that appears in the Mapper tree. The display name is optional.

      Image shows the NM Property Shortcut dialog box
  3. Click OK.

    The new NM property is added to the Mapper tree under the variables Properties directory. The property can now be used in assigns and to build expressions.

ProcedureTo edit an NM Property Shortcut

  1. To edit an existing NM property shortcut, right-click the NM property shortcut in the BPEL Mapper tree and choose Edit NM Property Shortcut in the pop-up menu.

    The Add NM Property Shortcut dialog box appears.

  2. Edit the NM Property Name or Display Name, and click OK.

ProcedureTo delete an NM Property Shortcut

  1. To delete an NM property shortcut, right-click the property in the Mapper tree.

  2. Choose Delete NM Property Shortcut in the pop-up menu.

    The NM Property Shortcut is deleted.

ProcedureTo add a Normalized Message Property to a BPEL process

  1. From the Output or Input panes of the BPEL Mapper, expand the node for the variable to which you want to add an NM property. Right-click that variables Properties directory node and select Add NM Property from the pop-up menu.

    The Add NM Property dialog box appears.

  2. Enter the information for the new NM property in the the Add NM Property dialog box, as follows:

    1. Property Name: User-defined property name. This name is displayed in mapper tree and stored in WSDL file.

    2. Type or Element:Displays the property type or element associated with the selected node in the Map Property To tree.

    3. Associate property with message: Specifies with which message type the property is associated.

      • A check mark indicates that the new NM property is associated with all variables of the specified message type. For example, in the image below, the new NM property will be associated with the requestMessage type.

      • Unchecked indicates that the new NM property is associated with all variables of any message type.

    4. Map Property To: The Map Property To tree displays all of the predefined NM properties. This is used to build a query or choose a property type.

      When you select a node within the property tree the Type or Element and Query fields are populated automatically. Valid endpoint nodes are displayed in bold.

    5. New NM Property: Select the New NM Property checkbox to add a specific NM property, and enter the name of the property in the New NM Property field. The new NM property is added to the Map Property To tree.

    6. Sync with tree:When this checkbox is selected, the Query field is automatically synchronized with the selected node in the Map Property To tree.

    7. Query: Displays the query type associated with the selected node in the Map Property To tree.

      Image shows the NM Property Shortcut dialog box
  3. Click OK. The new NM property name is added to the tree in the BPEL Mapper, and the NM property is stored in nmPropertiesDefinitions.wsdl as a pair of elements: <vprop:property> and <vprop:propertyAlias>

    Image shows the elements of the new NM property in the
nmPropertiesDefinitions.wsdl

    The new NM property can now be used in assigns and to build expressions.

ProcedureTo delete an NM Property

  1. To delete a new NM property, right-click the property in the Mapper tree.

  2. Choose Delete NM Property in the pop-up menu.

    The property is deleted.

BPEL Code Generation Using NM Properties

Data copied from an NM property or an NM property shortcut generates code that is similar to the following:


<from variable="inputVar" sxnmp:nmProperty="org.glassfish.openesb.file
.outbound.dcom.username"/>

Data copied from WSDL properties based on NM property generates code that is similar to the following:


<from variable="inputVar" property="ns3:DemoNMProperty"/>

When properties and NM properties are used to build an expression, code similar to the following code is generated:


<from>concat(bpws:getVariableProperty('inputVar', 'ns3:DemoNMProperty'), 
sxnmp:getVariableNMProperty('inputVar','org.glassfish.openesb.file.outbound.dcom.
username'))</from>

An NM property used in a condition generates code that is similar to the following:


<condition>sxnmp:getVariableNMProperty('inputVar', 'my.nmProperty.boolean')</condition>

Normalized Message Properties

Normalized Message properties are either General, available to all participating JBI components, or protocol/binding specific, used by a particular binding component.

Table 19 General Normalized Message Properties

Property Name 

Type 

Description and Use 

org.glassfish.openesb.messaging.groupid 

java.lang.String 

Uniquely identifies a message with the group to which a message belongs. For example, it applies the RM sequence group number for SOAP messages, or a time stamped file name (where the file record message comes from). 

This property is optional.  

org.glassfish.openesb.messaging.messageid 

java.lang.String 

Uniquely identifies a message. For batch processing this might be a record number (for example, a particular record in a file), or a GUID. 

This property is mandatory.  

org.glassfish.openesb.messaging.lastrecord 

java.lang.String 

The value is a string representation of boolean ("true" or "false"). This property can be used to signal the last record in a group, e.g. the last record in a RM sequence for SOAP messages, or the last record in a file when multiple record processing is turned on for File BC. 

This property is mandatory.  

org.glassfish.openesb.exchange.endpointname 

java.lang.String 

The value a string representation of the endpoint name set on the exchange. This represents the endpoint name of the "owner" of the message, and could be made available by JBI runtime. 

SOAP HTTP Binding Component Specific Normalized Message Properties

The following properties are specific to the HTTP (SOAP) Binding Component.

Table 20 SOAP HTTP Binding Component NM Properties

Property Name 

Type 

Description and Use 

org.glassfish.openesb.headers.soap 

java.util.Map 

The map contains a list of SOAP header elements. The key is the QName of the SOAP header. 

The value is a DocumentFragment object. The DocumentFragment has one node in it, the header element itself. 

org.glassfish.openesb.inbound.http.headers 

java.util.Map 

The map contains a list of HTTP headers. The key is the HTTP header name. 

The value is the string representation of the HTTP header value. 

This property provides all of the HTTP headers that the HTTP BC receives in the incoming message. The map also includes two additional properties that the HTTP Binding Component populates based on the transport context: ClientHostName and ClientPortNumber, which provide the information about the client's host IP address and port number

org.glassfish.openesb.outbound.http.headers 

java.util.Map 

The map contains a list of HTTP headers. The key being the HTTP header name. 

The value is the string representation of the HTTP header value.  

This property is used to allow any custom HTTP headers to be propagated to the outgoing service invocations. 

org.glassfish.openesb.outbound.custom.properties 

java.util.Map 

The map contains a list of custom properties*.  

The map key is a string. 

The map value can be any Object. 

org.glassfish.openesb.inbound.address.url 

java.lang.String 

On the receiving (server) side, this property is populated by the HTTP Binding Component with the server address URL (for example, address URL on soap:address) 

org.glassfish.openesb.outbound.address.url 

java.lang.String 

On the sending (client) side, this property is used to dynamically overwrite the default address defined in the SOAP or HTTP binding WSDL.  

The HTTP Binding Component does a basic URL validation on the address set on the property before using it to invoke an external service. If it is an invalid URL, the HTTP BC proceeds with the service invocation using the statically configured address URL. 

org.glassfish.openesb.outbound.basicauth.username 

java.lang.String 

This is a sender (client) side property only.  

When set, the user name will be set on the HTTP basic authentication header. 

org.glassfish.openesb.outbound.basicauth.password 

java.lang.String 

This is a sender (client) side property only.  

When set, the user name will be set on the HTTP basic authentication header. 


Note –

The org.glassfish.openesb.custom.properties property is designed to allow custom data to be set on the HTTP/SOAP binding message context. The custom properties on the binding message context can then be made available in the security CallbackHandlers. For example, you can allow custom SAML assertion headers to be set in the SAML CallbackHandler based on the user credentials (application data) set on the binding message context.