View the Contents of a Deployed Message Flow in IBM App Connect Enterprise

In the following videos, I explain, using scenarios and examples, how to view the contents of a deployed message flow and how to retrieve and import resources that are deployed to an integration server in IBM App Connect Enterprise.

In the first video, I use a scenario where an HTTP request is sent to a message flow. The message flow sends a REST Request to a back-end REST API, and the REST API then returns a population estimate for a European city that was entered in the original request message that was sent to the message flow.

I've used a Slack Request node to indicate if the REST Request succeeded or failed. The response from the message flow will show the population estimate if the REST Request succeeded. In this example, when I send a message to the message flow, I receive a 404 Not Found error message, and the Slack message in the channel also shows that the request failed.

By using the 'View message flow’ option, the contents of the message flow are shown, which provides me with a visual understanding of what the message flow is doing. I'm able to see the flow properties, and by selecting an Endpoints tab, I'm able to see the Endpoint values for message flows that are using HTTP Input or SOAP Input nodes. If I select a message flow node, the live node values are shown. I'm also able to see the Endpoints at the Integration Server level. These are shown in the toolkit and in the Web UI.

With this visibility, I am able to diagnose the issue and correctly resolve it. 

In the second video, I use the same scenario as shown in video one, where I send an HTTP request to a message flow. I have connected to two Integration Servers, one Integration Server contains the message flow, which I will send a message to, and the other Integration Server contains the back-end REST API.

In this example, again, when I send a message to the message flow, I receive a 404 Not Found error message, and the Slack message in the channel also shows that the request failed.

Selecting the menu option 'Retrieve and import resources' from the Integration Server starts a new wizard where on the first page, all the deployed Applications and Policy Projects are listed, and I can select an Application and one or more Policy Projects from this list. On the second page, the deployed resources that belong to the Application are listed, together with any referenced shared libraries.

After I click Finish, the Application is imported into the workspace, and I can see that the message flow, map, and ESQL resources have been retrieved from the Integration Server. The message flows that are imported contain the original configured values in the message flow nodes, not the overridden values.

So, now that I have retrieved the message flow and resources from the Integration Server, I can try and recreate the problem using the Flow Exerciser. I can see that the request failed again, but now I can see the route taken through the message flow, and I can see the message assembly at any point through the path of the message flow. I can see the Local Environment override for the Base URL was incorrect. The Compute node (before the REST Request) needed to be corrected. After correcting it, I could see that the request could now be sent successfully to the back-end REST API.

In the third video, I demonstrate a further nine examples of using the capability to retrieve and import resources.

Example 1. Import an Application (containing message flow, map, and ESQL) and a policy project
Example 2. Import an Application using nested static libraries.
Example 3. Import the same application again.
Example 4. Import an Application using nested shared libraries.
Example 5. Import an Application containing a JAR file.
Example 6. Import an Application containing a compiled message flow (.cmf file).
Example 7. Import an Application containing .xsdzip and .dictionary for MRM message sets.
Example 8. Import a REST API.
Example 9. Import an Integration Service.

If you would like to recreate the demo, the source projects can be found in the link here.