Overview for PQEdit Users

PathWAI Editor for Messages represents a re-engineering of Candle’s popular PQEdit message editing product, coupled with a powerful message format editor. PathWAI Editor preserves all the functionality of PQEdit and introduces new features requested by many users:

Feature comparison

Migrating to PathWAI Editor

Feature comparison

 

PQEdit

PathWAI Editor

Message formats

Supports simple fixed-width formats.  Fields are defined in a flat file that is read by the application at start up.

Supports  XML with and without DTD and XML schemas, SOAP, fixed width, delimited fields, fields with length prefixes, fields with tag prefixes, optional fields, variable length data fields, repeating groups of fields, generic data container messages, and more. Formats are specified at the field level, and a wide variety of data types are supported.

Message length

Does not handle messages greater than 4Mb.

No limitation on message length.

Sharing of message format definitions

Format definitions exist in the FORMATS.ini file. This file must be copied from machine to machine if formats are shared.

Format definitions can be stored in either a local configuration file or a central LDAP server, from which they can be accessed by PathWAI Editor agents.

XML messages

Does not support XML messages. XML message appears as an ordinary character stream, making it difficult to view and modify the message.

Supports XML messages. XML messages can be edited in either a text editor or an XML tree editor.

Filters

Row filters allow you to limit the set of messages displayed by specifying threshold values for particular fields.  Column filters are part of the format definition and cannot be specified separately.

Row filters allow you to limit the set of messages displayed by specifying threshold values for particular fields. Column filters allow you to select which fields you want displayed.

Dependence on client connections

Unless client connections are used, users must be logged onto the machine hosting the queue manager to which the queue belongs.

Browser clients can connect directly from any networked machine to PathWAI Editor agents on remote machines running on a supported platform. Client connections can be used to access a queue managers on machines where  PathWAI Editor for Messages agents (servers) are not installed, not running, or not supported.

Editing capabilities

Text and hexadecimal editors

Provides text editor for unformatted string and XML messages, tree editor for formated string and XML messages, hex editor for binary messages or messages containing unprintable characters.

Migrating to PathWAI Editor

PathWAI Editor uses a format editor to create and store message formats definitions. The definitions are stored in a metadata repository which can be housed in either an LDAP server or a local configuration file. To use formats you have already defined in existing FORMAT.ini files, you must import the files into the metadata repository. If you are using an LDAP server to house the metadata repository, the format definitions will become available to all PathWAI Editor agents configured to use that server. If you are using configuration files, the converted definitions must be made accessible to the agents through a networked file system or manually distributed to the machines on which the agents reside. See Migrating a FORMAT.ini File.

PathWAI Editor also provides a utility for migrating messages previously unloaded with PQEdit (files with the .pqu suffix). See Migrating Unloaded Messages.