User guide

Version: 1.1

Table Of Contents

Introduction

This is the user guide for the Smooks for Mule module. The Smooks for Mule
module has two different versions. One for Mule 1.4.x and one for Mule 2.1.x. Both versions currently have almost the same features.

Note that this user guide does not explain Smooks itself. The Smooks project has it's own User Guide for that. You can find it here.

Installation

There are installation packages for both the Mule 1.4.x and Mule 2.1.x versions of the Smooks for Mule module. Go to the Download page to download the package for the Mule version that you need. Take a look at the README.txt file for the installation instructions.

Configuration

The following sections explain the configuration options for the components. The configuration options for the Mule 1.4.x and Mule 2.1.x versions are the same.

For Mule 2.1.x the Smooks for Mule module provides a Mule configuration XML Schema. The namespace and schema location are as followed:
Namespace: http://www.muleforge.org/smooks/schema/mule-module-smooks/1.1
Schema location: http://dist.muleforge.org/smooks/schema/mule-module-smooks/1.1/mule-module-smooks.xsd

Transformer Configuration

Mule 1.4.x

The transformer is configured in your Mule Xml configuration file as follows:

<transformers>
    <transformer name="SmooksTransformer" className="org.milyn.smooks.mule.Transformer">
            <properties>
                <property name="configFile" value="smooks-config.xml"/>
            </properties>
     </transformer>
</transformers>

And then specified for the inbound and/or outbound routers like this:

<inbound-router>
    <endpoint address="stdio://System.in" transformers="SmooksTransformer"/>
</inbound-router>

Mule 2.1.x

The transformer is configured in your Mule Xml configuration file as follows:

<smooks:transformer name="smooksTransformer" configFile="/transformer-smooks-config.xml" />

And then specified for the inbound and/or outbound routers like this:

<inbound>
    <vm:inbound-endpoint path="messageInput" transformer-refs="smooksTransformer"/>
</inbound>

Configuration Properties (Mule version independent)

Outbound Router Configuration

Mule 1.4.x

The router is configured in your Mule Xml configuration file as follows:

<outbound-router>
    <router className="org.milyn.smooks.mule.Router">
        <endpoint name="order" address="jms://order.queue"/>
        <endpoint name="order-important" address="jms://order.important.queue"/>
        <properties>
            <property name="configFile" value="/router-smooks-config.xml" />
        </properties>
    </router>
</outbound-router>

The endpoints need a name because it acts as a reference in the Smooks configuration. The name should be unique and shouldn't be the same as the endpoint address.

In the Smooks configuration you use the org.milyn.smooks.mule.MuleDispatcher to route to one of the endpoints you defined in the Mule configuration. More on the MuleDispatcher can be found in the Smooks MuleDispatcher section.

Mule 2.1.x

The router is configured in your Mule Xml configuration file as follows:

<outbound>
    <smooks:router configFile="/smooks-config.xml">
        <jms:outbound-endpoint name="order" queue="order.queue"/>
        <jms:outbound-endpoint name="order-important" queue="order.important.queue"/>
    </smooks:router>
</outbound>

The endpoints need a name because it acts as a reference in the Smooks configuration. The name should be unique and shouldn't be the same as the endpoint address.

In the Smooks configuration you use the org.milyn.smooks.mule.MuleDispatcher to route to one of the endpoints you defined in the Mule configuration. More on the MuleDispatcher can be found in the Smooks MuleDispatcher section.

Configuration Properties (Mule version independent)

Smooks MuleDispatcher

For the MuleDispatcher in Smooks the Smooks for Mule module provides a configuration XML Schema. The namespace is as followes:
Namespace: http://dist.muleforge.org/smooks/schema/smooks-mule-1.1.xsd
Recommended prefix: mule

A MuleDispatcher is defined as follows:

<mule:dispatcher endpointName="order" dispatchOnElement="order">
    <mule:messagePayload beanId="order" />
</mule:dispatcher>

The xml schema is fully documented. But here is a short overview of the configuration properties:

MuleDispatcher messageProperties attribute
Message properties are defined as folows:

<mule:dispatcher endpointName="endpoint" dispatchOnElement="root" >
    <mule:messageProperties beanId="messageProperties">
        <mule:property name="prop1" value="prop1Value" />
        <mule:property name="prop2">
            <mule:expression>"prop2Value"</mule:expression>
         </mule:property>
         <mule:property name="intProp" value="10" decoder="Integer" />
         <mule:property name="dateProp" value="2008-07-11 12:30:56" decoder="Date" >
	         <mule:decodeParam name="format">yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss</mule:decodeParam>
	    </mule:property>
    </mule:messageProperties>
</mule:dispatcher>

The following points explain the four properties:

• The first property uses the 'value' attribute to set the value.
• The second property uses the result of an MVEL expression as its value. The expression is evaluated just before the message is dispatched.
• The third property uses the 'decoder' attribute to define an Integer type. This will convert the value into an Integer. This uses the standard DataDecoder feature from Smooks.
• The fourth property uses the 'decoder' attribute to define a Date type. This will convert the value into a Date. The configuration of the Date decoder is set with the 'decoderParam' child elements.

Description of the 'property' properties