Direct Message

Out of the box, Task Manager fires a business rule with an action of Carrier Message.

The business rule action message content looks like:

type=RunTaskSet
caseId=[Object ID]
taskSetName=[Task Set Name]

Rulemanager turns this into an actual message, and sends it to Carrier. Out of the box, Carrier only knows how to process these messages with a type of RunTaskSet.

This example walks through how to add a custom type, allowing Carrier to perform a custom action, completely independent of Task Manager.

Specifically, it will show how to add a type of GetStockQuote, that will call a web service to get a stock quote. Carrier will simply log the stock quote returned from the service.

Our new custom message will look like:

type=GetStockQuote
symbol=GOOG

The code for this example is located in src/Dovetail.TaskManagerExamples/MessageExample.

Create the Message

We'll start by defining the message that we want to directly consume:

	public class GetStockQuote
	{
		public string Symbol { get; set; }
	}

This message will be constructed after receiving the initial payload from Rule Manager. Properties are assigned through simple databinding.

Dovetail Admin

We'll create a new business rule that sends this new message type to Carrier.

Using Dovetail Admin, create a new business rule with the following properties:

Map the Message

Messages must be mapped so that Carrier understands which message type we're referring to. We can do this simply be creating a subcase of the MessageTypeRegistry class:

	public class StockMessages : MessageTypeRegistry
	{
		public StockMessages()
		{
			Type("GetStockQuote").MapsTo<GetStockQuote>();
		}
	}

All derivatives of MessageTypeRegistry are automatically picked up.

Create a Consumer

We need to create a consumer for our new message. We can do this by implementing the Consumes<T>.All interface.

Let's look at the GetStockQuoteConsumer:

	public class GetStockQuoteConsumer : Consumes<GetStockQuote>.All
	{
		private readonly IStockQuoteService _quotes;
		private readonly ILogger _logger;

		public GetStockQuoteConsumer(IStockQuoteService quotes, ILogger logger)
		{
			_quotes = quotes;
			_logger = logger;
		}

		public void Consume(GetStockQuote message)
		{
			var quote = _quotes.FindBySymbol(message.Symbol);
			_logger.LogDebug("{0} ({1}) is currently at {2}", quote.Name, quote.Symbol, quote.Price);
		}
	}

We have the freedom to do any logic we want within a consumer. However, because we're not leveraging the Task Manager runtime, we have no context for a Case. We only have the data that was passed directly from Rule Manager.

Force the Business Rule to fire

Using Dovetail Agent

• Open case 12345 (or whatever case you used in the business rule condition)
• Log a note to the case
• Refresh page
• History menu - Show Details
• You should see a new history item of Rule Action of Action Get Stock Quote of rule Testing custom carrier messages fired

Review Rulemanager logs

• Open the Dovetail Rulemanager log file (typically C:\Program Files\Dovetail Software\Rule Manager\logs\RuleManager.log)
• You should see a log entry that looks like

FChoice.RuleManager.Carrier.MessagePublisher - (null) Publishing type=GetStockQuote
symbol=GOOG to msmq://localhost/dovetail.carrier

Review Carrier logs

• Open the Dovetail Carrier log file (typically C:\Program Files\Dovetail Software\Carrier\carrierservice\logs\Dovetail.Carrier.Service.log)
• You should see a log entry that looks like

Dovetail.Carrier.Core.RuleManager.RuleManagerConsumer - (null) Carrier message received: type=GetStockQuote
symbol=GOOG

You should see a log entry that looks like

Dovetail.TaskManagerExamples - (null) Alphabet, Inc. (GOOG) is currently at 127.898