Multicast
The Multicast allows to route the same message to a number of endpoints and process them in a different way. The main difference between the Multicast and Splitter is that Splitter will split the message into several pieces but the Multicast will not modify the request message.
Example
The following example shows how to take a request from the direct:a endpoint , then multicast these request to direct:x, direct:y, direct:z.
Using the Fluent Builders
from("direct:a").multicast().to("direct:x", "direct:y", "direct:z");
By default Multicast invokes each endpoint sequentially. If parallel processing is desired, simply use
from("direct:a").multicast().parallelProcessing().to("direct:x", "direct:y", "direct:z");
In case of using InOut MEP, an AggregationStrategy is used for aggregating all reply messages. The default is to only use the latest reply message and discard any earlier replies. The aggregation strategy is configurable:
from("direct:start")
.multicast(new MyAggregationStrategy())
.parallelProcessing().timeout(500).to("direct:a", "direct:b", "direct:c")
.end()
.to("mock:result");
Stop processing in case of exception
Available as of Camel 2.1
The Multicast will by default continue to process the entire Exchange even in case one of the multicasted messages will thrown an exception during routing.
For example if you want to multicast to 3 destinations and the 2nd destination fails by an exception. What Camel does by default is to process the remainder destinations. You have the chance to remedy or handle this in the AggregationStrategy.
But sometimes you just want Camel to stop and let the exception be propagated back, and let the Camel error handler handle it. You can do this in Camel 2.1 by specifying that it should stop in case of an exception occurred. This is done by the stopOnException option as shown below:
from("direct:start")
.multicast()
.stopOnException().to("direct:foo", "direct:bar", "direct:baz")
.end()
.to("mock:result");
from("direct:foo").to("mock:foo");
from("direct:bar").process(new MyProcessor()).to("mock:bar");
from("direct:baz").to("mock:baz");
And using XML DSL you specify it as follows:
<route>
<from uri="direct:start"/>
<multicast stopOnException="true">
<to uri="direct:foo"/>
<to uri="direct:bar"/>
<to uri="direct:baz"/>
</multicast>
<to uri="mock:result"/>
</route>
<route>
<from uri="direct:foo"/>
<to uri="mock:foo"/>
</route>
<route>
<from uri="direct:bar"/>
<process ref="myProcessor"/>
<to uri="mock:bar"/>
</route>
<route>
<from uri="direct:baz"/>
<to uri="mock:baz"/>
</route>
Using onPrepare to execute custom logic when preparing messages
Available as of Camel 2.8
The Multicast will copy the source Exchange and multicast each copy. However the copy is a shallow copy, so in case you have mutateable message bodies, then any changes will be visible by the other copied messages. If you want to use a deep clone copy then you need to use a custom onPrepare which allows you to do this using the Processor interface.
Notice the onPrepare can be used for any kind of custom logic which you would like to execute before the Exchange is being multicasted.
| Design for immutable Its best practice to design for immutable objects. |
For example if you have a mutable message body as this Animal class:
public class Animal implements Serializable {
private int id;
private String name;
public Animal() {
}
public Animal(int id, String name) {
this.id = id;
this.name = name;
}
public Animal deepClone() {
Animal clone = new Animal();
clone.setId(getId());
clone.setName(getName());
return clone;
}
public int getId() {
return id;
}
public void setId(int id) {
this.id = id;
}
public String getName() {
return name;
}
public void setName(String name) {
this.name = name;
}
@Override
public String toString() {
return id + " " + name;
}
}
Then we can create a deep clone processor which clones the message body:
public class AnimalDeepClonePrepare implements Processor {
public void process(Exchange exchange) throws Exception {
Animal body = exchange.getIn().getBody(Animal.class);
Animal clone = body.deepClone();
exchange.getIn().setBody(clone);
}
}
Then we can use the AnimalDeepClonePrepare class in the Multicast route using the onPrepare option as shown:
from("direct:start")
.multicast().onPrepare(new AnimalDeepClonePrepare()).to("direct:a").to("direct:b");
And the same example in XML DSL
<camelContext xmlns="http://camel.apache.org/schema/spring">
<route>
<from uri="direct:start"/>
<multicast _onPrepareRef_="animalDeepClonePrepare">
<to uri="direct:a"/>
<to uri="direct:b"/>
</multicast>
</route>
<route>
<from uri="direct:a"/>
<process ref="processorA"/>
<to uri="mock:a"/>
</route>
<route>
<from uri="direct:b"/>
<process ref="processorB"/>
<to uri="mock:b"/>
</route>
</camelContext>
<bean id="animalDeepClonePrepare" class="org.apache.camel.processor.AnimalDeepClonePrepare"/>
<bean id="processorA" class="org.apache.camel.processor.MulticastOnPrepareTest$ProcessorA"/>
<bean id="processorB" class="org.apache.camel.processor.MulticastOnPrepareTest$ProcessorB"/>
Notice the onPrepare option is also available on other EIPs such as Splitter, Recipient List, and Wire Tap.
Using This Pattern
If you would like to use this EIP Pattern then please read the Getting Started, you may also find the Architecture useful particularly the description of Endpoint and URIs. Then you could try out some of the Examples first before trying this pattern out.