Supercharge Your Applications with Mendix Microflows and Solace

Special thanks to my friends at Streben Technik for their valuable contributions in bringing this piece to life.

In the fast-paced world of digital transformation, where everything moves at lightning speed, organizations are turning to low-code platforms like Mendix to whip up powerful applications faster than ever. But speed isn’t enough; these businesses also crave real-time responsiveness and the ability to scale on demand. Enter event-driven architecture—specifically, the dynamic duo of Mendix and Solace.

Mendix, a leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms, is making waves with its rapid development capabilities. A big part of their approach is the use of microflows – lightweight, focused integrations that handle specific tasks within a broader architecture. We call such things micro-integrations, and we see and support them as a critical element of event-driven integration. So when you combine Mendix and Solace, you get micro-integrations that don’t just connect applications; they supercharge them. Buckle up as I dive into how this integration works and why it’s a game-changer for your digital toolkit.

Why Integrate Mendix with Solace?

Mendix simplifies the development process, allowing developers to create robust applications with minimal coding. On the other hand, Solace provides a powerful event streaming platform, ensuring real-time data distribution across various environments.

By integrating these two, organizations can leverage the agility of Mendix while benefiting from Solace’s platform, allowing for responsive and scalable microservices.

• Real-time Processing: Achieve near-instantaneous data processing and updates across your Mendix applications.
• Scalability: Leverage Solace’s distributed architecture to handle high volumes of messages and data without performance degradation.
• Flexibility: Create micro-integrations that can be easily adjusted or scaled as business requirements evolve.

Understanding REST Integration

REST (representational state transfer) is a stateless communication protocol that uses standard HTTP methods to interact with resources. Mendix natively supports REST, making it a perfect candidate for integrating with Solace’s REST endpoints. This integration is particularly useful for scenarios where real-time data flow between applications is required, such as updating a Mendix app with live data from IoT devices or other systems connected through Solace.

Setting Up the Integration

Step 1: Set up Solace

• Follow these steps to set up Solace event broker; either software or cloud service.
  https://docs.solace.com/Get-Started/tutorial/event-broker-set-up.htm

Step 2: Configure Mendix

• Creating Microflow
  Mendix microflows are lightweight, focused integrations that handle specific tasks within a broader architecture.
  (We call them micro-integrations)
  
• Add Call REST Service from Integration Activities:
  
• Configuring REST endpoint: Start by mapping the Solace broker’s endpoint and specifying the topic where your application will publish events—in this case, “test.” The format for the endpoint should look like this: https://<broker>:9443/test. Your application can use the HTTP POST method to push events to Solace over REST.
  
• Set up Authentication and Headers: In the HTTP Headers tab, select HTTP Authentication. To keep things straightforward, I’m opting for Basic Authentication in this setup however u get to chose various authentication scheme as per requirement. Furthermore, add all custom header properties as required by the application.
  
• Solace related properties
  Other properties can be chosen from https://docs.solace.com/API/API-Developer-Guide/Message-Delivery-Modes.htm
  
• Payload
  Payload can be put under request section, manually or can be built dynamically as well.
  

• Response handling
  Response can be handled by variable so it can used for processing if required.
  

Step 3: Test the Integration

• Simulate Data Flow: Test the integration by sending test messages from Mendix to the Solace REST endpoint. Verify that the data is correctly received, processed, and that any updates are reflected in the Mendix application.

• Monitor and Optimize: Use Solace’s monitoring tools to track the performance of the REST integration. Optimize the Mendix microflows if needed to handle large volumes of data or to reduce latency.
  

Conclusion

Integrating Mendix with Solace opens up numerous possibilities for creating agile, responsive, and scalable applications. By leveraging the strengths of both platforms, organizations can develop micro-integrations that enhance the overall efficiency and capability of their digital solutions. Whether you’re synchronizing data, triggering events, or integrating with IoT devices, this powerful combination ensures your applications are ready for the demands of a real-time world.