Message system and method

• US 20060248536A1
• Filed: 04/29/2005
• Published: 11/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LinkedIn Corporation (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines SA (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Eckert, Robert W.
• Granted Patent: US 7,853,956 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/314
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/547 Messaging middleware
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues

Abstract

A method and system for bridging services is provided. The method and system includes retrieving at last one message from a first messaging tool using at least one processing thread to retrieve message objects from a messaging queue of the first messaging tool. This aspect of the invention further includes executing a preprocessing on the retrieved message object using a predefined application programming interface (API) and placing the preprocessed message on an API of a second messaging tool. A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium including a computer readable program which, when executed causes the computer to implement the steps of the method.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

retrieving at least one message from a first messaging tool using at least one processing thread to retrieve message objects from a messaging queue of the first messaging tool;

executing a preprocessing on the retrieved message object using a predefined application programming interface (API); and

placing be preprocessed message on an API of a second messaging tool for process of a message.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the retrieving step comprises utilizing independent threads to allow for parallel processing of the messages.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising passing the at least one message through a preprocessor object using another API and placing the result of the preprocessing on the API of the second messaging tool.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising monitoring a status of the at least one processing thread and restarting the at least one processing thread, if necessary.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising maintaining a copy of a configuration file, which specifies each messaging queue of the first messaging tool to listen to, and an appropriate configuration setting for the each messaging queue of the first messaging tool.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

setting and creating a processing thread object which represents a MQ listener for each configured processing thread of the at least one processing thread;

applying a processing thread configuration setting which instructs the at least one processing thread to listen for messages on a specific queue of the first messaging tool;

instructing the at least one processing thread to load a preprocessor in order to form any application specific processing on any messages received by the at least one processing thread.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least one processing thread receives an instruction to direct any output from the preprocessing to a specific location on the second messaging tool.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising accessing a default envelope preprocessor to wrap an original message of the at least one message in an envelope.

9. A method, comprising;

preprocessing messages as a set of loadable objects having access to a first messaging tool;

accessing a second messaging tool interface; and

creating a thread for loading a preprocessor object to process a message body incoming from the first messaging tool before passing the thread to the second messaging tool interface.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising exposing an AIC interface, and looking up destination MQ Queue manager and destination Queue information based on document type, sender id or by a predefined destination.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising creating the thread for each configured queue.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising monitoring multiple queues simultaneously.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the thread executes under an independent application domain and exposes the application programming interface to allow dynamic loading and unloading of individual components without the need to restart a service.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising accessing a preprocessor module which allows custom processing of an MQ message received from a queue.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising monitoring a status of thread and restarting the thread, if necessary.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising maintaining a copy of a configuration file, which specifies each queue to listen to, and an appropriate configuration setting for each queue.

17. The method of claim 9, further comprising stepping through configuration settings and creating a thread object which represents a MQ listener for each configured thread, and applying individual thread configuration settings.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising accessing a default envelope preprocessor to wrap an original message from the at least one messaging tool in an envelope.

19. A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium including a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to;

preprocess messages as a set of loadable objects having access to a first messaging tool;

access a second messaging tool interface; and

create a listener thread for loading a preprocessor object to process a message body incoming from the first messaging tool before passing the listener thread to the second messaging tool interface.

20. A system, comprising:

an application programming interface for preprocessing messages as a set of loadable objects having access to a first messaging tool;

a module for accessing a second messaging tool interface; and

a service for creating at least one listener thread for loading a preprocessor object to process a message body incoming from the first messaging tool before passing the at least one listener thread to the second messaging tool interface.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the service preprocesses messages with .Net API, as a set of loadable objects.

22. The system of claim 20, further comprising a second module which exposes an AIC interface, and has an ability to look up destination MQ Queue manager and destination Queue information based on document is type, sender id or by a predefined destination.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein the service is a .Net Windows service which creates one listener thread for each configured queue.

24. The system of claim 20, further comprising background threads to monitor multiple queues simultaneously.

25. The system of claim 20, wherein the at least one listener thread executes under an independent application domain and exposes the application programming interface to allow dynamic loading and unloading of individual components without the need to restart the service.

26. The system of claim 20, wherein the application programming interface accesses a preprocessor module which tasks custom processing of an MQ message received from a queue, the preprocessor being updated and a new version loaded while the service is running.

27. The system of claim 20, further comprising a control thread to monitor a status of listener threadsand restart the listener threads, if necessary.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the control thread maintains a copy of a configuration file, which specifies each queue to listen to, and an appropriate configuration setting for each queue.

29. The system of claim 20, further comprising:

a controller which steps through configuration settings and creates a listener thread object which represents an MQ listener for each configured listener thread of the at least one listener thread, and applies individual thread configuration settings; and

a timer to wake up the controller at a pre-selected interval, at which time the controller steps through a list of listener threads of the at least one listener thread and checks a status property,

wherein the controller starts the at least one listener thread by creating a new thread object which executes a listener thread'"'"'s process manage method.

30. The system of claim 20, further comprising counters which monitor a state of the service.

31. The system of claim 20, wherein the application programming interface accesses a default envelope preprocessor to wrap an original message in an envelope.