Azure Storage - Peek messages

Declaration

<AMAZURESTORAGE ACTIVITY="peek_messages" QUEUE="text" RESULTDATASET="text" 
PROTOCOL="text (options)" ACCOUNTNAME="text" 
ACCESSKEY="text (encrypted)" BLOBENDPOINT="text" 
QUEUEENDPOINT="text" TABLEENDPOINT="text" 
TIMEOUT="number" PROXYTYPE="text (options)" 
PROXYSERVER="text" PROXYPORT="number" PROXYUSERNAME="text" 
PROXYPASSWORD="text (encrypted)" />

Description: Retrieves one or more messages from the front of the queue, but does not alter the visibility of the message.

Practical Usage

Commonly used to read the contents of a message without altering it in any way. When a message is retrieved using this activity, the visibility of the message is unchanged. The message remains available to other users of 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)

QUEUE="myqueue"

The unique name of the storage queue that contains the message to peek at.

Create and populate dataset with message information

Text (options)

Yes

(Empty)

RESULTDATASET="Message"

The name of the dataset to create and populate with information about the message to peek at. See Datasets below for more details.

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.ExpiryTime

Date

The date/time that the policy expires (e.g., 10/30/2011 7:43:00 AM)

theDataset.Name

Text

The policy name.

theDataset.Permissions

Text

The current permission level (e.g., Read, Write, Delete, List).

theDataset.StartTime

Date

The date/time that the policy was initially set.

Example

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

Description: Peek messages from queue "myqueue" and store information into dataset "theDataset". Azure account name is "netauto".

<AMAZURESTORAGE ACTIVITY="peek_messages" QUEUE="myqueue" 
RESULTDATASET="theDataset" PROTOCOL="http" ACCOUNTNAME="netauto" 
ACCESSKEY="AM3kbFvH+pgzDo=aME" />