Home > Articles > Web Services > SOA

SOA Pattern (#11): Event-Driven Messaging

The Event-Driven Messaging design pattern attempts to address the inefficiencies related to the use of the traditional polling based model by suggesting a publisher-subscriber based model whereby a service interaction occurs only when an event occurs within the boundary of the service provider.
Like this article? We recommend

Like this article? We recommend

Figure

A service composition might be designed such that a service consumer is dependent upon the occurrence of an event within the boundary of a service provider. Polling the service provider in this case would not only make the service composition inefficient but would also make it prone to behavioral unpredictability as a service consumer might not be able to poll the service provider in a way that ensures an event would not be missed. At the same time, as the service consumer becomes directly dependent on the service provider, this periodic polling increases the coupling between the service consumer and the service provider. This in turn affects the individual autonomy of the service consumer as well as the overall autonomy of the service composition. On the other hand, it also affects the service provider in a negative manner in that the service provider is constantly involved in responding to fruitless service interactions.

Having its roots strongly embedded within the object-oriented design paradigm, the service-orientation design paradigm provides the Event-Driven Messaging pattern that is based on the Observer pattern, which works on the basis of a publisher-subscriber model. Although a solution to the issues discussed within the preceding paragraph could be based on the application of the Service Callback design pattern, it still does not allow the service consumer and the service provider to be completely decoupled from each other. Therefore, in order to fully decouple the service consumer and the service provider, the application of the Event-Driven design pattern dictates the use of an event manager that is tasked with event registration as well as automatic event notification. This not only increases the behavioral predictability of the service composition, but also increases its reliability as the event manager makes sure that the subscribed service consumers do not miss any event notifications. The application of this pattern further increases the recomposability level of the service provider as a service that guarantees provisioning of event notifications as and when an event occurs, manifests higher behavioral predictability; therefore, it is bound to be composed repeatedly.

It should be noted that the application of the Event-Driven Messaging pattern requires support from the underlying platform that implements the publisher-subscriber based mechanism. This might incur extra costs in the form of acquisition of architectural extensions (for example, an ESB), if the underlying platform does not already provide such a mechanism. This would further impact the service inventory architecture and the service composition architecture as these architectures would require modifications in order to support the application of the Event-Driven Messaging pattern. In order to minimize any disruptions caused by the application of this design pattern, it is better to identify the need for such architectural extensions as early as possible. Therefore, during the service-oriented analysis phase of the service delivery process, all the services that provide event-based capabilities need to be identified so that the underlying architecture can be upgraded accordingly in advance.

Although the application of the Event-Driven Messaging pattern does address the issues linked with polling based service interactions, it should be noted that because of the asynchronous nature of the message exchange between the service provider and the service consumer, it would be rather difficult to employ such services in a service composition that requires the use of atomic transactions, thereby making the application of the Atomic Service Transaction design pattern somewhat impossible. Similarly, as it cannot be guaranteed that the service consumer has in fact received all the event notifications, it is vital to apply this design pattern along with the Asynchronous Queuing and the Reliable Messaging design patterns for a guaranteed delivery of event notification messages.

It is quite clear from the discussion above that the Event-Driven Messaging design pattern helps to establish an efficient and a reliable messaging system between the service consumers and the service providers; however, it is important to keep in mind the additional costs linked with its application and the impact on the existing service inventory and the service composition architectures.

The SOA Pattern of the Week series is comprised of original content and insights provided to you courtesy of the authors and contributors of the SOAPatterns.org community site and the book “SOA Design Patterns” (Erl et al., ISBN: 0136135161, Prentice Hall, 2009), the latest title in the Prentice Hall Service-Oriented Computing Series from Thomas Erl (www.soabooks.com).

InformIT Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from InformIT and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites, develop new products and services, conduct educational research and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@informit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by InformIT. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.informit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020