Chapter 3. Messages and channels
This chapter covers
- Introducing messages and channels
- How different types of channels work
- Customizing channel functionality with dispatchers and interceptors
Now that you have an idea of the high-level concepts of messaging and Spring Integration, it’s time to dive in deeper. As mentioned in chapter 1, the three fundamental concepts in Spring Integration are messages, channels, and endpoints. Endpoints are discussed in a chapter of their own (chapter 4), but first you get to read about messages and channels.
In our introduction to messages, we show how the information exchanged by Spring Integration is organized. When describing channels, we discuss the conduits through which messages travel and how the different components are connected. Spring Integration provides a variety of options when it comes to channels, so it’s important to know how to choose the one that’s right for the job. Finally, there are a couple of more advanced components you can use to enhance the functionality of channels: dispatchers and interceptors, which we discuss at the end of the chapter.