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1. Select the item type that you want to create a message for in the navigator tree, and choose New Message from the Edit menu. A Message property page appears.

2. Provide an internal name for the message that is all uppercase with no spaces and provide a display name. You may also enter an optional description. All Oracle Workflow APIs, SQL scripts, and PL/SQL procedures refer to the internal name when identifying a message.

Attention: You cannot update the internal name of a message once it is defined.

Caution: Do not include colons ":" or spaces in your internal name.

3. Enter a value between 1 (high) and 99 (low) for the default priority of the message. The priority is for the recipient's information only. It does not affect the processing or delivery of the message.

Note: You can override this default priority value with a priority value that is dynamically set at runtime. See: To Dynamically Set the Priority of a Notification Activity.

4. Choose Apply to save your changes.

5. Select the Roles tab page to specify the roles that have access to this message. (This functionality will be supported in a future release.)

6. Select the Access tab page to set the access levels allowed to modify this message. See: Allowing Access to an Object.

7. Select the Body tab to display the Body property page of the message.

8. Enter a description of the message in the Subject field. The subject can include message attributes that get replaced with runtime values when the message is delivered. To include a message attribute, use an "&" followed by the message attribute's internal name. See: Send and Respond Message Attributes and To Define a Message Attribute.

Suggestion: For clarity, you can give a message attribute the same name as the item type attribute it references.

9. Enter the message body in the Body field. This is the text of the message delivered to the recipient.

You can include message attributes that get replaced with runtime values when the message is delivered. Use an "&" followed by the message attribute's internal name.

10. Choose Apply to save your changes, OK to save your changes and close the property page or Cancel to cancel your changes and close the property page.

11. The message you just defined now appears beneath the Message branch in the navigator tree. You can review or edit the properties of this message at any time by double-clicking on the message in the navigator tree or by selecting the message and choosing Properties from the Edit menu.

12. You must now define all the message attributes that you have included in the subject and body of this message.

13. To create a message attribute that references an item type attribute, select the referenced item type attribute in the navigator tree, and hold down your mouse select button as you drag the item type attribute to your message.

Edit the property page that appears, making sure the message attribute has the proper source set. In the Default Value region, select Item Attribute, then use the poplist icon to select the name of the item type attribute that this message attribute references.

14. You can also create message attributes that are not based on existing item type attributes. See: To Define a Message Attribute.

Attention: If you want your message to prompt the recipient for a response and that response determines what the next eligible activity in the process is, then you must define a special message attribute that has an internal name called RESULT. RESULT should have a source of 'Respond' and should be of type Lookup, where its Lookup Type is the same as the notification activity's Result Type. This ensures that a response to the notification is identified as the notification activity's result.

See Also