Azure Activities: Azure Service Bus
This page covers the Azure Service Bus feature from the Azure Activities Extension Library. The IntegrationSoup.AzureActivities.msi installer turns on two built-in workflow types: the Azure Service Bus receiver and the Azure Service Bus Sender activity.
Download IntegrationSoup.AzureActivities.msi
Turning The Activities On
1. Run the Azure Activities MSI on the Integration Soup server.
2. Restart the Integration Soup service if it is not restarted automatically.
3. Close and reopen any open Workflow Designer windows so the new activity types are refreshed.
4. In the Workflow Designer, look for Azure Service Bus as a receiver type and Azure Service Bus Sender as an activity type.
Using Azure Service Bus Sender
1. Add Azure Service Bus Sender after the step that prepares the message you want to send.
2. In the Outbound Message section, use Insert Activity Message so the current workflow content becomes the Service Bus message body.
3. Fill in the connection and destination fields below.
4. Use the advanced metadata fields only if the receiving system expects them.
Sender Parameters
- Connection String: enter the Azure Service Bus connection string for the namespace.
- Target Type: choose Queue or Topic.
- Queue or Topic: enter the queue name or topic name to send to.
- Content Type: usually leave this as
text/plain, or change it to something likeapplication/jsonwhen appropriate. - Encoding: usually leave this as
utf-8. - Subject, Message Id, Correlation Id, Session Id, Reply To, Reply To Session, and To: optional message metadata if your downstream system uses it.
- Application Properties: optional name/value properties to place on the Service Bus message.
Sender Message Body
The sender uses the current workflow message as the Service Bus message body. In most workflows this is text such as HL7, JSON, XML, or CSV.
If you choose a binary message type in the normal sender settings, Integration Soup will send the actual bytes rather than UTF-8 text.
Sender Response Message
The sender returns a simple text response confirming that the Service Bus message was sent successfully.
Using Azure Service Bus As A Receiver
1. Create or edit a workflow and choose Azure Service Bus as the receiver.
2. Fill in the connection and destination fields below.
3. In the Inbound Message section, choose the message type that matches what you expect to receive, such as HL7, Text, Binary, or DICOM.
4. Optionally paste a sample message into the Message Template area to make bindings and later workflow design easier.
Receiver Parameters
- Connection String: enter the Azure Service Bus connection string.
- Target Type: choose Queue or Topic Subscription.
- Queue or Topic: enter the queue name or topic name to receive from.
- Subscription: required when Topic Subscription is selected.
- Receive Mode: choose Peek Lock to complete or abandon the message after workflow processing, or Receive and Delete to remove it immediately when received.
- Prefetch Count: optionally improve throughput by prefetching messages. Leave it at
0unless you have a reason to tune it. - Encoding: usually leave this as
utf-8for text payloads. - Dead-letter failed messages: when enabled in Peek Lock mode, failed workflow processing moves the message to the dead-letter queue instead of returning it to the queue.
- Expose application properties as variables: when enabled, Service Bus application properties become workflow variables using the prefix you provide.
- Prefix: the default is
ServiceBusApp_, so a property namedEventTypebecomesServiceBusApp_EventType.
Receiver Variables
The receiver also makes Service Bus metadata available as workflow variables, including ServiceBusMessageId, ServiceBusCorrelationId, ServiceBusSubject, ServiceBusSessionId, ServiceBusReplyTo, ServiceBusContentType, ServiceBusDeliveryCount, and ServiceBusApplicationPropertiesJson.
Typical Uses
- Receiving HL7 or FHIR work items from Azure Service Bus and routing them into Integration Soup workflows.
- Publishing workflow output to Azure queues for downstream cloud processing.
- Using topic subscriptions to separate partner, facility, or event-specific message streams.
Azure Activities Extension Library