4.2.19. Advice on Adding Data to the Body of a Message

By default, every component (including actions, listeners, gateways, routers and notifiers) set data on the message via the MessagePayloadProxy. This class handles the default settings but it also allows you to over-ride the defaults. .

Alternatively, you can also override the "get" and "set" settings by configuring the following properties:

You can use the add method to attach more complex content to the payload, which supports named objects. Using <name, Object> pairs allows for a finer granularity of data access. Arbitrary objects can be added to the payload; they do not need to be Java serializable. However, if you add non-serializable objects, you must provide the JBoss Enterprise SOA Platform with the ability to marshal and unmarshal the message when it flows across the network.

It is easiest to work with the message body through the named object approach. You can add, remove and inspect individual data items without having to decode the entire message body. Furthermore, you can combine named objects with the byte array within the payload.