How to pass parameters to a Camel route? - apache-camel

Question

It is possible to pass parameters to a Camel route?, for instance, in the next code snippet:
public class MyRoute extends RouteBuilder {
public void configure() throws Exception {
from("direct:start")
.to("cxf:bean:inventoryEndpoint?dataFormat=PAYLOAD");
}
}
The value for dataFormat is in hard code, but, what if I want set it dynamically?, passing a value from the code where route is called. I know this is possible adding a constructor and passing parameters in it, like this:
public class MyRoute extends RouteBuilder {
private String type;
public MyRoute(String type){
this.type = type;
}
public void configure() throws Exception {
from("direct:start")
.to("cxf:bean:inventoryEndpoint?dataFormat=" + type);
}
}
There is another way?
Thanks so much!

Answer 1

As you mentioned, you can use a constructor (or setters or any other Java/Framework instruments) if the parameters are static from a Camel point of view.
The parameters are configurable in the application, but after the application is started they do no more change. So, every message processed by the Camel route uses the same value.
In contrast, when the parameters are dynamic - i.e. they can change for every processed message, you can use the dynamic endpoint toD() of Camel. These endpoint addresses can contain expressions that are computed on runtime. For example the route
from("direct:start")
.toD("${header.foo}");
sends messages to a dynamic endpoint and takes the value from the message header named foo.
Or to use your example
.toD("cxf:bean:inventoryEndpoint?dataFormat=${header.dataFormat}");
This way you can set the dataformat for every message individually through a header.
You can find more about dynamic endpoints on this Camel documentation page