How to Work with Processes > Working with the Platform Services Processes Group > Working with Outbox / Post Message Foreground Process

Process Purpose

This is a Messagebox Service related process.

The "Outbox / Post Message Foreground" process is used to synchronously post messages into a specific topic - the back-end is polling the topic to retrieve the posted messages.

This communication is handled in the foreground, meaning, the application handles the call/message posting into the topic and it stops its workflow until the message is delivered.

When you add a process, you are required to define its settings. This occurs in the process's properties window which is displayed automatically after having added the "Outbox / Post Message Foreground" process.

If any subsequent edition is required, double-click the process to open its properties window and enter the necessary modifications.

In this case, the properties window includes two tabs - "Message" and "Error".

"Message" tab

Fill in the following options:

Destination

Topic Name

Select the required topic profile from the drop-down. If necessary, click to edit the messagebox topic profile. See To Edit a Message Box Topic Profile.

Message Header

Header Name column

This column automatically displays the headers that were defined in the selected topic profile. It is NOT editable.

Value column

This column automatically displays the default value for each header that was defined in the selected topic profile.

If required, define a new value for the selected header. Enter it OR click to select the variable that contains the intended header value.

See To Select/Create a Variable.

Message Body

Content

Define the content type for the message's body - "Variable" (default selection) OR "File".

This selection affects the related option (located below).

Select the content type for the message's body. The selection of the target (Variable/File) affects the related option (located below).

Variable/File

Depending on the selected content type, you will access the corresponding field:

Content	Related Field
Variable	Variable field - Click and select the variable that contains the response.
File	File field - Enter the name of the file with the response OR click to edit the selected data file. See Editing a Data File.

A message can consist of headers with an empty body. In that case, leave the "Variable"/"File" fields empty.

Proceed to the "Error" tab.

"Error" tab

Fill in the following options:

If ... Go to
Comm Error	Select a target location from the drop-down or list, in case a communications error occurs. See Detail of a window below.
Http Error	Select a target location from the drop-down or list, in case an HTTP error occurs.
Status Code	Define the variable that stores the status code of the HTTP response. Click to create/select the appropriate variable. See To Select/Create a Variable.

Detail of a window:

"S:Menu" is a screen included in the same program as the process.

"R:Routine_1" is a routine included in the same program as the process.

If required, use the icons on the upper right corner of the process properties window:

Use it to set up a time out. See Time Out.

Use the icon to attach any relevant notes to this process. Click it and enter your notes in the resulting text box. These notes will be displayed in the corresponding "Actions" tab or "Process" window (in the "Notes" field) and in the "Developer Report".

After filling in the required options, click to conclude or to abort the "Outbox / Post Message Foreground" process.

The added process is displayed in the corresponding "Actions" tab or "Process" window.

When creating a file, we recommend you use the related best practices (ex: do NOT use special characters).

For more detailed information, register/log in to our MCL Community and access MCL's Knowledge Base ("File Name Best Practices").

If you want to use a label as a target destination, you can use the "Auto-Label" mechanism. This alternative to the "Set Label" process allows you to create a label in the properties window of a process - specifically, in the fields used to define target destinations (ex: the "If Error..." type fields). See To Automatically Create a Label.

Use the right-click in MCL-Designer's input boxes to access some related options as well as the general "Cut", "Copy"; "Paste"; "Search" actions (active/inactive according to the current context).

Ex: If you right-click the "Variable" input box (included in a "Conversion's" properties window), you are provided with general editing/search actions and other more specific options such as "Variable Select" (see "Variable Select"); "Variable Insert" (see "Variable Insert"); "Insert Special Character" (see To Insert Special Characters into a Control's Text Input Field) and "Localization Select" (see Localization List).

If you right-click another input box, it may provide other possibilities.