Azure Storage - Get Messages

Declaration

<AMAZURESTORAGE ACTIVITY="get_all_message" ACCOUNTNAME="text" 
ACCESSKEY="text (encrypted)" PROTOCOL="text (options)" 
TIMEOUT="number" BLOBENDPOINT="text" QUEUEENDPOINT="text" 
TABLEENDPOINT="text" PROXYTYPE="text (options)" 
PROXYSERVER="text" PROXYPORT="number" PROXYUSERNAME="text" 
PROXYPASSWORD="text (encrypted)" QUEUE="text" 
RESULTDATASET="text" VISIBILITY="number" DELETE="YES/NO" 
FOLDER="text" SAVEMODE="text (options)" />

Description: Retrieves all queue messages and populates a dataset with results. 

Practical Usage

Commonly used to archive queue messages before deleting them from the queue.

Connection Parameters

Property

Type

 Required

Default

 Markup

Description

Connection

 

 

 

 

Indicates where user credentials and preferences should originate from. This is a design mode parameter used only during task construction and configuration, thus, comprises no markup. The available options are:

  • Host (default) - Specifies that user credentials and/or advanced preferences are configured individually for this activity. This option is normally chosen if only a single activity is required to complete an operation.

  • Session - Specifies that user credentials and/or advanced preferences are obtained from a pre-configured session created in a prior step with the use of the Azure Storage - Create session activity. This option is normally chosen if a combination of related activities are required to complete an operation. Linking several activities to a single session eliminates redundancy. Additionally, a single task supports construction and simultaneous execution of multiple sessions, improving efficiency.

Session

Text

Yes if connection is session-based

AzureStorageSession1

SESSION="MyAzureSession"

The name of an existing session to associate this activity with. This parameter is active only if the Connection parameter is set to Session. The default session name is 'AzureStorageSession1'.

Account name

Text

Yes if connection is host-based

(Empty)

ACCOUNTNAME="myaccount"

The globally unique name of the Windows Azure storage account. This parameter is active only if the Connection parameter is set to Host.

Access key

Text

Yes if connection is host-based

(Empty)

ACCESSKEY="[AccessKey]"

The primary or secondary access key (each composed of 88 ASCII characters) used to authorize access to Azure Storage. This parameter is active only if the Connection parameter is set to Host.

Protocol

Text (options)

No

HTTPS

  1. PROTOCOL="HTTPS"

  2. PROTOCOL="HTTP"

The type of protocol used to access Azure Storage. The available options are:

  • HTTPS (default) - Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure

  • HTTP - Hypertext Transfer Protocol

Timeout (seconds)

Number

No

90

TIMEOUT="180"

The timeout interval (in seconds) for requests made to the storage service. If the timeout elapses before a server response is returned, the operation times out and the service returns an error. The default timeout value is 90 seconds.

Blob endpoint URI

Text

No

(Empty)

BLOBENDPOINT="http://

accnt

.blob.core.windows.net"

The endpoint for the Blob service, as configured for the Azure Storage account. The default Blob service endpoint is'[http/https]://accountname.blob.core.windows.net',where 'accountname' is the name of the Azure Storage account.

Queue endpoint URI

Text

No

(Empty)

QUEUEENDPOINT="http://

accnt

.queue.core.windows.net"

The endpoint for the Queue service, as configured for the Azure storage account. The default Queue service endpoint is

'[http/https]://accountname.queue.core.windows.net'

, where '

accountname'

is the name of the Azure Storage account.

Table endpoint URI

Text

No

(Empty)

TABLEENDPOINT="http://

accnt

.table.core.windows.net"

The endpoint for the Table service, as configured for the Azure storage account. The default Table service endpoint is '

Property

Queue name

Text

Yes

(Empty)

SESSION="myPDFseesion"

The unique name of the storage queue that contains the messages to retrieve.

Create and populate dataset with message information

Text (options)

Yes

(Empty)

RESULTDATASET="theMessage"

The name of the dataset to create and populate with information about the messages to retrieve. See Datasets below for more details.

Visibility timeout (seconds)

Text

No

(Empty)

VISIBILITY="1000"

After a message has been retrieved, it is reserved for deletion until the interval entered in this parameter has surpassed and no other client may retrieve the message during this period. If the message is not deleted before the time specified, it again becomes visible to other clients.

Delete

Yes/No

No

Yes

DELETE="yes"

If set to YES (default), specifies that the messages will be deleted rather than becoming visible. If set to NO, messages are not deleted, instead, they again become visible to other clients.

Save messages in folder

Text

No

(Empty)

FILE="c:\temp\"

If the corresponding check box is enabled, specifies a valid path and folder name in which to store messages and their contents. If disabled, messages and their contents will not be stored locally.

If filename already exists

Text (options)

No

Do not save

  1. SAVEMODE="do_not_save"

  2. SAVEMODE="unique"

  3. SAVEMODE="overwrite"

If set to YES, any matching file names that exist in the destination folder will be overwritten. If set to NO (default), matching file names will not be overwritten, however, an error will occur as a result.

Description tab - A custom description can be provided on the Description tab to convey additional information or share special notes about a task step.

Error Causes tab - Specify how this step should behave upon the occurrence of an error. (Refer to Task Builder > Error Causes Tab for details.)

On Error tab - Specify what AWE should do if this step encounters an error as defined on the Error Causes tab. (Refer to Task Builder > On Error Tab for details.)

Datasets

A dataset is a multi-column, multi-row object that contains a collection of information gathered during runtime and stored in memory. This activity creates and populates a dataset with the following fields (rows):

Name

Type

Return Value

theDataset.DequeueCount

Number

The number of times this message has been de-queued. When a message is retrieved for the first time, its DequeueCount property is set to 1. If it is not deleted and is subsequently retrieved again, the DequeueCount property is incremented.

theDataset.ExpirationTime

Text

The date/time that the message expires.

theDataset.Id

Text

The unique ID of the message.

theDataset.InsertionTime

Date

The date/time that the message was initially added to the queue.

theDataset.NextVisibleTime

Date

The next date/time that the message will be available to be read, if it is not deleted at the time it was retrieved.

theDataset.PopReceipt

Text

Indicates that the message has been read and is used to verify that the message being deleted is the same one that was retrieved.

theDataset.Text

Text

The message that was retrieved.

Example

The sample AML code below can be copied and pasted directly into the Steps panel of the Task Builder.

Description: This sample task creates an Azure storage session, retrieves all messages from a specified queue and populates a dataset with results. It then loops through the dataset of retrieved queue messages and deletes a message with a specific ID/POP receipt. An End session activity marks the end of the session as well as the task. 

<!-- Create session -->
<AMAZURESTORAGE ACTIVITY="create_session" 
ACCOUNTNAME="netauto2004" ACCESSKEY="AM2rpq73bKmXN7UmqHdyKZZ3qCai
N3apmzen5q83eWmU967mr7d7aZs3oma592opmjeiZqF3eymLN60mpTdtaZu3oiam
N3Upk/ev5qb3eCmK96Vmq7dzqZO3pyant3vplfeq5q23fGmYN7HmuPdyqZZ3tyajt3
UpnHevJqg3femed6impnd7KZ+3r2aht3pplnevJr43aimat7Ymvvd4aZz3sOai93
KpmjepJq73b6mJd7smszdg6YY3g==aME" 
PROTOCOL="http" SESSION="myQueueSession" />
<!-- Get all messages from queue -->
<AMAZURESTORAGE ACTIVITY="get_all_message" 
QUEUE="myqueue" RESULTDATASET="theDataset" 
DELETE="no" PROVIDER="session_based" SESSION="myQueueSession" />
<!-- Loop dataset -->
<AMLOOP ACTIVITY="dataset" DATASET="theDataset">
<!-- Delete message with specific ID/Pop receipt -->
<AMAZURESTORAGE ACTIVITY="delete_message" QUEUE="myqueue" 
ID="3b402357-2f5c-4b10-ae71-d9aca57e3f4e" 
POSTRECEIPT="AgAAAAEAAACzOQAALzOCMJGkzAE=" 
PROVIDER="session_based" SESSION="myQueueSession" />
<!-- End loop -->
</AMLOOP>
<!-- End session -->
<AMAZURESTORAGE ACTIVITY="end_session" 
SESSION="myQueueSession" />