Submitting a user-defined Connect:Direct process from a file transfer request

We can submit a transfer request for a transfer that goes through the Connect:Direct® bridge agent that calls a user-defined Connect:Direct process as part of the file transfer.

By default, when you submit a file transfer request for a transfer that goes through the Connect:Direct bridge, the Connect:Direct bridge agent generates the Connect:Direct process that is used to transfer the file to or from the remote Connect:Direct node.

However, we can configure the Connect:Direct bridge agent to instead call a user-defined Connect:Direct process by using the ConnectDirectProcessDefinition.xml file.

The ConnectDirectProcessDefinition.xml file

The fteCreateCDAgent command creates the file ConnectDirectProcessDefinitions.xml in the agent configuration directory MQ_DATA_PATH/mqft/config/coordination_queue_manager/agents/cd_bridge_agent_name. Before we can call user-defined Connect:Direct processes from the Connect:Direct bridge agent, you must set up process definitions by editing this file.

The file defines one or more process sets that includes the location of one or more Connect:Direct processes that are called as part of a transfer. Each process set includes a number of conditions. If the transfer satisfies all of the conditions of the process set, the process set is used to specify which Connect:Direct processes are called by the transfer. For more information, see Specifying the Connect:Direct process to start by using the ConnectDirectProcessDefinition.xml file.

Intrinsic symbolic variables

We can use the intrinsic symbolic variables that are defined by Managed File Transfer to substitute values into user-defined Connect:Direct processes. To follow the Connect:Direct naming convention, all intrinsic symbolic variables used by Managed File Transfer have the format %FTE followed by five uppercase alphanumeric characters.

When creating a process to transfer files from a Connect:Direct node to the Connect:Direct bridge system, you must use the intrinsic variable %FTETFILE as the value of TO FILE in the Connect:Direct process. When creating a process to transfer files to a Connect:Direct node from the Connect:Direct bridge system, you must use the intrinsic variable %FTEFFILE as the value of FROM FILE in the Connect:Direct process. These variables contain the temporary file paths that the Connect:Direct bridge agent uses for transfers into and out of the Managed File Transfer network.

For more information about intrinsic symbolic variables, see the Connect:Direct product documentation.

Sample Connect:Direct processes

Managed File Transfer provides sample Connect:Direct processes. These samples are located in the following directory: MQ_INSTALLATION_PATH/mqft/samples/ConnectDirectProcessTemplates.