In Dell Boomi, properties play a crucial role in handling values that may change during the execution of an integration process. Among the different types of properties, Dynamic Process Properties and Dynamic Document Properties are often confused because both can be set and modified at runtime. However, they serve different purposes and scopes within an integration.
1. What is a Dynamic Process Property?
A Dynamic Process Property is a property tied to the execution instance of the process.
- Scope: Process-wide (shared across all documents being processed in a single execution).
- Persistence: Lives only during the lifecycle of the process execution. Once the process completes, the property value is discarded.
- Usage: Useful for storing values that need to be referenced or updated across multiple shapes and documents within a single process execution.
- Example: Storing a timestamp, a batch ID, or an API token fetched at the start of a process that will be reused for all documents processed in that run.
Key Point: If multiple documents flow through the process, they will all share the same Dynamic Process Property value.
2. What is a Dynamic Document Property?
A Dynamic Document Property is a property tied to a specific document instance.
- Scope: Document-specific (each document carries its own property value).
- Persistence: Lives as long as the document exists in the process execution. Once the document leaves the process, the property value is discarded.
- Usage: Useful for storing values that are unique per document, such as a record ID, customer ID, or a transformation flag that applies only to that document.
- Example: While processing a batch of customer records, each document can carry its own
customerIDorerrorMessagewithout interfering with other documents in the flow.
Key Point: Each document maintains its own Dynamic Document Property independently of others.
3. Key Differences at a Glance
Aspect Dynamic Process Property Dynamic Document Property Scope Process-level (shared across documents) Document-level (unique per document) Persistence Exists until process execution ends Exists until document lifecycle ends Usage Shared data like tokens, counters, or flags Document-specific data like IDs or messages Impact with Batches Same value for all documents in a batch Each document carries its own value 4. When to Use Which?
- Use Dynamic Process Properties when the value applies to the entire process run and must be shared across all documents.
- Use Dynamic Document Properties when the value applies only to a specific document and should not affect others.
Conclusion
Both Dynamic Process Properties and Dynamic Document Properties are essential for flexible and dynamic integrations in Boomi. The key distinction lies in their scope: process-wide vs document-specific. Understanding when to use each ensures cleaner, more reliable, and easier-to-maintain integrations.