Editing messages: the TIBCO EMS View Message pane

The View Message pane displays messages for TIBCO EMS Queues and Topics. It contains a range of view and edit options, and specific operations that include copying, moving, saving and additional actions.

You can access the View Message pane from Summary Views for Queues and Topics.

Follow these steps to access the View Message pane (in the procedure below Queues is used as an example):

  1. Once a TIBCO EMS Server is selected, click Queues from the Navigation Panel to display the list of Queues.
  2. Identify a queue whose messages you want to view and click the Message icon next to the queue name.
  3. The Messages for Queue... pane is displayed, and the twenty most recent messages are shown, as well as the Message Data column which shows the first 80 bytes of the message data.
  4. At this point, you can select from one of a number of generic options that appear above the Messages list and from operations adjacent to each specific message.
  5. Because of their detail, both options and operations are described in full in the sections below.

Generic Message pane options

The following options are available from the top of the Messages for Queue... pane. Each of the options are accessed from the Messages toolbar, shown below:

 MessageToolbar.jpg

  • New: Displays the New Message Dialog to create and put a new message onto the queue.
  • Upload/Import: Displays the Upload dialog, to upload a message that was saved to a file, and import it into the queue. You can upload three types of file: a BMM Administration Message File, a File as a Single Message, or a File as Multiple Messages (which need to be separated on a new line per message).
  • Move Messages: Displays the Move Message(s) dialog for moving messages from one queue to another queue on the same TIBCO EMS server.
  • Copy Messages: Displays the Copy Message(s) dialog for copying messages from one queue to another queue on the same TIBCO EMS server.
  • Save To File: Enables you to save messages as a file (in .json format).
  • Delete Messages: Displays the Delete Message dialog, facilitates deleting multiple messages from the queue.
  • Find Messages: Displays the Search Details dialog in which you can search for specific messages.
  • Cancel: Returns the display to the Queues Summary view.
  • Expand All: Expands (and collapses) each of the current messages displayed in the message browser.
  • CSV Export: Creates a CSV file of the messages displayed in the message browser.
  • Auto-refresh timer: This refresh timer is by default set to 'off' but can be configured to run according to your requirements by clicking the arrow icon and selecting 5, 10 or 30 minutes. Note that this option re-fetches the data that is currently available in a snapshot so the view may not appear different if the actual snapshot routine is on a different schedule.
  • Refresh: Immediately refreshes the contents of the message browser.
  • Default message size (bytes) [#] - This box allows you to specify the maximum size of the message body that will be displayed when you expand the message details.

In addition, next to and just below the search box, there are additional navigational tools that enable you to browse messages page by page (messages are displayed 20 to a page).
bmm_Messagebrowsingtoolbar.png

  • Browse messages...: (Only displayed if there are more messages than configured to be displayed) Click this to use one of the following options:
    • Message Number: Specify the number of a message that you want to see.
    • Set Size: Change the number of messages that are displayed. Note that this setting is NOT retained, and must be set each time you access the message browsing feature.
    • Browse messages...: Moves the display messages to the previous or next 20 messages.

Individual Message Property Fields that are displayed are: Operations, Expand icon (to expand message contents), Select box (for selecting multiple messages), Index, Put Date/Time, Message data (the first 80 bytes), Size (Bytes), Format, Message Id, Correlation Id.

Message pane operations

Available operations include:

  • Edit: Brings up the detailed properties of the selected message. The message properties and body can be modified and saved back to the queue. Refer to the Working with the Edit Message dialog section below for details.
  • Message Clipboard: Displays the selected message's contents in text format (the text is in JSON format representing the message, including message headers), which can then be pasted elsewhere. Use your keyboard to copy and paste as required into other programs.
  • Copy: Displays the Copy Message Dialog, facilitates copying message from one queue to another queue on the same TIBCO EMS server.
  • Move: Displays the Move Message dialog for moving this message from one queue to another queue on the same TIBCO EMS server.
  • Save to File: Displays the Save File dialog, facilitates saving message to a file.
  • Delete: Deletes message from the queue after confirmation.

Expanding message details

On the Messages Summary View each message has a + icon that can be used to expand a view only display of the message details (includes message headers, properties and body data).
To expand all the messages in the current browser view, click Expand All on the Messages toolbar. 

Working with the Create New Message dialog

This section describes how to work with the Create New Message dialog.

To create a new message:

  1. Access the New Message dialog by clicking on the + (New) button on the Generic Options toolbar. The Message dialog is displayed.
    bmm_CreateNewMessage.png
  2. Select the message format from one of the following:
    • Text Message to create a message with text as payload data
    • Bytes Stream to create a message with binary payload data
    • Message to create a message with no payload data
  3. Parameters are displayed for setting other key message headers or JMS- and EMS-specific properties. These fields can be set as required for the message.
  4. To enter user-defined properties for the message expand the User Defined Properties section and select the bmm_AddIcon.png icon to enter the name and the value for a new message property. Click OK to save the new property. To remove a user-defined property select Remove from its operations drop-down menu.
  5. In the Message section, enter the Message Body data as text. If you have selected Bytes Stream as the message format the text entered will be attached to the message in the appropriate binary format. If you have selected Message as the message format any text entered here will be ignored when creating the message.
  6. Click on the Save button in the Generic Options toolbar to put the new message to the queue. The Message Editor will remain in the workspace so you can easily create more messages.
  7. Click Cancel to return to the Messages for Queue Summary View without saving the current message.

Working with the Edit Message dialog

Access the Edit Message dialog by clicking on the Edit button from a Messages for Queue Summary View. The properties for that individual message are displayed, including the header fields, formatting information, properties and message body.

To edit a message:

  1. Modify header fields and message properties as needed.
  2. Click the Save button in the Generic Options toolbar to save the modified message to the queue.
  3. Click Cancel to leave the message editor without saving the current message and to return to the Messages for Queue Summary View.

To move a message:

Note

You must have Read, Write and Delete Permissions in order to move messages.

Follow these instructions to move one or multiple messages to another queue on the same TIBCO EMS server:

  1. In the Messages for Queue Summary View, click Move from the Operations drop-down menu for each individual message.
    OR
    To move multiple messages, select the checkbox in the Select column alongside the relevant messages and then click the Move Message(s) icon.
  2. Select the Destination Queue from the list of available queues on the current TIBCO EMS server.
  3. Select the Start and End Message Number to select a range of messages to be moved (if you selected multiple messages, a list of message indices is displayed instead).
  4. Define the available options as required for the Move Message(s) Parameters.
  5. Click Move to move the messages. The Messages for Queue Summary view is displayed (messages moved are no longer displayed).

To copy a message:

  1. In the Messages for Queue Summary View, click Copy from the Operations drop-down menu for each individual message.
    OR
    To copy multiple messages, select the checkbox in the Select column alongside the relevant messages and then click the Copy Message(s) icon.
  2. Select the Destination Queue from the list of available queues on the current TIBCO EMS server.
  3. Select the available options as required for the Copy Message(s) Parameters.
  4. Click Copy to copy the messages. The Messages for Queue Summary view is displayed.

To save message(s) to a file:

  1. In the Messages for Queue Summary View, click Save To File from the Operations drop-down menu for each individual message.
    OR
    To save multiple messages, select the checkbox in the Select column alongside the relevant messages and then click the Save To File icon.
  2. Click Save To File, and in the displayed Save dialog, browse to the relevant location.
  3. Click OK to save the message(s) to a file. The message(s) will be written to the file in JSON format.

Note

The message(s) saved will remain on the queue and will not be removed.

To delete messages:

  1. In the Messages for Queue Summary View, click Delete from the Operations drop-down menu for each individual message. In the displayed confirmation message, click OK.
    OR
    To delete multiple messages, select the checkbox in the Select column alongside the relevant messages and then click the Delete Message(s) icon. In the displayed Delete Message(s) screen, confirm the message index numbers are those you want to delete, and click Delete.
  2. The messages are deleted and the Messages for Queue Summary view is displayed.

To upload/import messages:

  1. In the Messages for Queue Summary View, click on the Upload/Import icon in the Generic Options toolbar.
  2. In the displayed screen, click Browse and a File Upload dialog is displayed.
  3. Navigate to a file that contains a saved message, and click Open.
  4. Select Parameters as required for the message.
  5. Click the Save button to save the message to the queue. A confirmation message is displayed in the status pane, indicating how many messages were successfully uploaded.

To find messages:

You can search for specific messages by searching for specific strings or message properties in the message data, message header fields and message properties.

  1. From the Operations drop-down menu, select Find Messages.
  2. In the displayed Search Details dialog, define your search criteria.
  3. Click Find Messages. The relevant messages are displayed in the workspace.

If you need to redefine your search criteria, click on the Search Details tab to redisplay the Search Details dialog.

Using the Message Section

This area is where the Message Body data is entered. Data types that are supported are Text, Binary, and XML (note that the Text, Binary and XML tabs only appear when editing the message).

Use the functions in this section according to these steps and related information:

  1. Enter data using the Text tab.
    All of the data types can be added from this tab. String and XML data must be entered on this tab. 
    If entering an XML formatted message, be sure it is properly formatted XML.
  2. Data entered in the Text tab will display in the Binary tab as the Hexadecimal equivalent of the ASCII data. You can enter data in Hex format on this tab.
    There are 512 bytes of data displayed; if the message is larger than this, multiple pages will be displayed. Use the Page Numbers to browse and view different pages of data, or use the Previous/Next button to page through the data.
    • To the far right of the screen, the ASCII version of the data is displayed for reference.
    • The Go to Page button will display the data for the page specified in the field before the button.
    • The Insert/Overwrite button toggles between these modes for entering new data.
  3. After entering properly formatted XML data in the Text tab, click on the XML tab.
    • The XML data is displayed in a Read-Only format.
    • Enter Valid XPath information in the XPath Filter field to search for particular XPath related data, then clickFind. Note that this does not provide a general text search feature but only applies to XML-formatted messages and valid XPath expressions.
    • Reset will clear the filter and display all the data again.
    • Collapse/Expand All will collapse the entire Data Structure or expand the entire Data Structure.
  4. Click on the Save button in the Generic Options toolbar to put the modified message to the queue.
  5. Click Cancel to leave the message editor and to return to the Messages for Queue Summary View without saving the current message data.

 

Tip: For faster searching, add an asterisk to the end of your partial query. Example: cert*