Mediation Sequences

A mediation sequence, commonly called a "sequence," is a list of mediators that are executed in order. When a message is delivered to a sequence, the sequence sends it through all its mediators.

Configuring a Mediation Sequence

You can define mediation sequences using the Management Console as described in Adding a Mediation Sequence. The underlying Synapse configuration uses the following syntax:

<sequence name="string" [onError="string"] [key="string"] [trace="enable"] [statistics="enable"]>
    mediator*
</sequence>

You can list the mediators right in the sequence definition (referred to as an in-line sequence) and refer to other sequences by name. For example:

<sequence name="foo">
    <log/>
    <property name="test" value="test value"/>
    <sequence key="other_sequence"/>
    <send/>
</sequence>

This sequence specifies three mediators in-line: the log mediator, property mediator, and the send mediator. It also references the named sequence "other_sequence" and therefore uses all the mediators defined in that sequence.

In addition to mediators and other sequences, you can configure the following:

• Create a dynamic sequence by referring to an entry in the Registry, in which case the sequence will change as the registry entry changes.
• Activate statistics collection by setting the statistics attribute to enable. In this mode the sequence will keep track of the number of messages processed and their processing times. For more information, see Monitoring the ESB.
• Activate trace collection by setting the trace attribute to enable. If tracing is enabled on a sequence, all messages being processed through the sequence will write tracing information through each mediation step. For more information, see Mediation Tracer.
• Use the onError attribute to define a custom error handler sequence. If an error occurs while executing the sequence, this error handler will be called. If you do not specify an error handler, the fault sequence will be used, as described in the next section.

About the Main and Fault Sequences

A mediation configuration holds two special sequences named main and fault. All messages that are not destined for Proxy Services are sent through the main sequence. By default, the main sequence simply sends a message without mediation, so to add message mediation, you add mediators and/or named sequences in the main sequence.

By default, the fault sequence will log the message, the payload, and any error/exception encountered, and the drop mediator stops further processing. You should configure the fault sequence with the correct error handling instead of simply dropping messages. For more information, see Error Handling.