Enterprise Integration Patterns: Designing, Building, and Deploying Messaging Solutions (Addison-Wesley Signature Series (Fowler))

by Hohpe Gregor

One of the primary advantages of a Pipes and Filters (70) architectural style is the composability of individual processing units (“filters”) into a sequence by connecting them with channels (“pipes”). Each message is then routed through the sequence of processing units (or components). If we need to be able to change the sequence for each message, we can use multiple Content-Based Routers (230). This solution provides the maximum flexibility but has the disadvantage that the routing logic is spread across many routing components. The Routing Slip (301) provides a central point of control by computing the message path up front, but does not provide the flexibility to reroute the message based on intermediate results or to execute multiple steps simultaneously.