Apache Camel : “direct:start” endpoint - what does it mean ?

Question

I\'m new to Apache Camel. Can someone explain what \"direct:start\" means in Camel. Please see

http://camel.apache.org/http

from(\"direct:start\")
.to(         


        

Answer 1

Consider it like this : There are two things whenever you are sending a message to camel route. 1. The URI scheme, which defines how your message is going to be delivered. And to which component type it is going to be delivered. 2. URI path, which defines the instance of that component.

Now, to your direct:start location. 'direct' tells that this message should send synchronously to the Direct Component. 'start' tells which instance of the Direct Component this message should be delivered.

Importance of different URI path: Now consider if you are having to different routes. And wants to produce message from two different threads synchronously. Using 'direct:start' as start point for the routes will not work. Unless you are having some conditional processing component, forget this if you are beginner. For, successfully deliver the messages to both the routes , you will have to add 2 entries i.e. 'direct:somename1' and 'direct:somename2'. 'start' is not a mandatory thing , you can give whatever name you like to.

I recommend you to read some chapters from Martin Fowler's EIP books. It is a wonderful resource to begin with. This will make you very easy to understand Camel.