Once you've configured at least one Message Channel to define group access and user subscriptions, you can create a message that publishes to that channel.
Right-click on a Channel and create a new Message. Good practice is to give the Message a name that describes the type of content it will generate.
Double-click on the Message to open its editor.
General Properties
The top section of the editor displays the general properties for the Message:
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A general description of the Message, for Flow Config tool users to understand the purpose of this message. |
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This is the number of days that an instance of a message will be stored in the Flow System. After this time, the message will be removed. Note that this property cannot be edited. |
Message Triggers
The next tab is Message Triggers, where you define when this message should be compiled and sent. See How often can I send out Flow Messages? Can Flow Messages be sent out "on demand"?
Message Contents
Once you've configured when the message will be triggered, the Message Contents tab allows you to define what the message should contain.
Messages can contain:
- Static text
- Measure values
- Measure limits
- Event periods
- Chart screenshots
- Dashboard screenshots
You will notice that by default, Flow creates some initial message content. The message content is defined by one or more Sections, and each section can contain one or more Segments. Think of sections as a grouping of your message content.
In a message, one section can be defined as the message subject. This is displayed as the bold section. Within each section, one segment can be defined as that section’s heading. This is displayed as the bold segment.
Looking at the default content Flow has created: the main section is set to be the subject (i.e. bold). The single segment within the section is the name of your message. This is the text that will be used by Flow as the subject of the message.