Custom Configuration Properties Provider

You can use the Mule SDK and Mule API to create a custom configuration properties provider that enables an app to discover configuration properties values.

Mule API

The main interfaces of the API are:

ConfigurationPropertiesProviderFactory
This interface is used to discover custom implementations of configuration properties providers. When Mule runtime engine (Mule) finds a configuration element that matches the namespace and name provided by the getSupportedComponentIdentifier() method, Mule requests the factory to create a ConfigurationPropertiesProvider using the configuration you define with the createProvider(..) method. Mule discovers instances of ConfigurationPropertiesProviderFactory by using SPI.
ConfigurationPropertiesProvider
When Mule finds a configuration property, Mule invokes this interface to resolve the property’s value.

Example: Secure Configuration Properties Provider

The Security module uses the API to implement ConfigurationPropertiesProviderFactory:

import static org.mule.runtime.api.component.ComponentIdentifier.builder;
import org.mule.runtime.properties.api.ConfigurationPropertiesProviderFactory;

public class SecureConfigurationPropertiesProviderFactory implements ConfigurationPropertiesProviderFactory {

  public static final String EXTENSION_NAMESPACE = "secure-properties";
  public static final String SECURE_CONFIGURATION_PROPERTIES_ELEMENT = "config";
  public static final ComponentIdentifier SECURE_CONFIGURATION_PROPERTIES =
      builder().namespace(EXTENSION_NAMESPACE).name(SECURE_CONFIGURATION_PROPERTIES_ELEMENT).build();

  ...

  @Override
  public ComponentIdentifier getSupportedComponentIdentifier() {
    return SECURE_CONFIGURATION_PROPERTIES;
  }

  @Override
  public SecureConfigurationPropertiesProvider createProvider(ConfigurationParameters parameters,
                                                              ResourceProvider externalResourceProvider) {
    String file = parameters.getStringParameter("file");
    ..

    String key = parameters.getStringParameter("key");
    ...

    return new SecureConfigurationPropertiesProvider(..);
  }

}

The ComponentIdentifier returned by getSupportedComponentIdentifier() matches against the following configuration component:

<mule xmlns="http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/core"
      xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
      xmlns:secure-properties="http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/secure-properties"
      xsi:schemaLocation="
        http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/core http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/core/current/mule.xsd
        http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/secure-properties http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/secure-properties/current/mule-secure-properties.xsd">

    <secure-properties:config key="decryption-key" file="file1.yaml" name="test">
        <secure-properties:encrypt algorithm="AES" mode="CBC"/>
    </secure-properties:config>

</mule>

When processing the configuration, Mule finds the secure-properties:config component, and then invokes the SecureConfigurationPropertiesProvider.createProvider(..) method to create an instance of SecureConfigurationPropertiesProvider to resolve configuration properties.

public class SecureConfigurationPropertiesProvider extends DefaultConfigurationPropertiesProvider {

  private final static String SECURE_PREFIX = "secure::";
  private final static Pattern SECURE_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("\\$\\{" + SECURE_PREFIX + "[^}]*}");

  private final EncryptionAlgorithm algorithm;
  private final EncryptionMode mode;
  private final boolean fileLevelEncryption;
  private final SecurePropertyPlaceholderModule securePropertyPlaceholderModule = new SecurePropertyPlaceholderModule();


  public SecureConfigurationPropertiesProvider(ResourceProvider resourceProvider, String file, EncryptionAlgorithm algorithm,
                                               String key, EncryptionMode mode, String encoding, boolean fileLevelEncryption) {
      ...
  }

  @Override
  public Optional<ConfigurationProperty> getConfigurationProperty(String configurationAttributeKey) {
    if (configurationAttributeKey.startsWith(SECURE_PREFIX)) {
      String effectiveKey = configurationAttributeKey.substring(SECURE_PREFIX.length());

      ConfigurationProperty originalConfigurationProperty = configurationAttributes.get(effectiveKey);
      if (originalConfigurationProperty == null) {
        return empty();
      }
      String originalString = ((String) originalConfigurationProperty.getRawValue());
      String encryptedValue = originalString.substring(originalConfigurationProperty.getKey().length() + 1,
                                                       originalString.length() - algorithm.name().length() - mode.name().length()
                                                           - 2);
      final String decryptedValue = resolveInnerProperties(securePropertyPlaceholderModule.convertPropertyValue(encryptedValue));
      return of(new ConfigurationProperty() {

        @Override
        public Object getSource() {
          return originalConfigurationProperty.getSource();
        }

        @Override
        public Object getRawValue() {
          return decryptedValue;
        }

        @Override
        public String getKey() {
          return originalConfigurationProperty.getKey();
        }
      });
    } else {
      return empty();
    }
  }

  @Override
  public String getDescription() {
    ComponentLocation location = (ComponentLocation) getAnnotation(LOCATION_KEY);
    return format("<secure-properties file=\"%s\"> - file: %s, line number: %s", fileLocation,
                  location.getFileName().orElse(UNKNOWN),
                  location.getLineInFile().map(String::valueOf).orElse("unknown"));
  }

  ...
}

Define a prefix (with the format PREFIX::) that is unique to this resolver. The prefix enables the user to target a specific resolver. This is implemented in SecureConfigurationPropertiesProvider by using the prefix defined by SECURE_PREFIX.

In the configuration, the prefix must be used in the following way:

<mule xmlns="http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/core"
      xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
      xmlns:secure-properties="http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/secure-properties"
      xsi:schemaLocation="
        http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/core http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/core/current/mule.xsd
        http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/secure-properties http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/secure-properties/current/mule-secure-properties.xsd">

    <secure-properties:config key="decryption-key" file="file1.yaml" name="test">
        <secure-properties:encrypt algorithm="AES" mode="CBC"/>
    </secure-properties:config>

    <flow name="main">
        <set-payload value="${secure::property.key2}"/>
    </flow>

</mule>

Notice how the value attribute of set-payload is using the resolver for secure properties by using the secure:: prefix.

Example: Mule SDK Module

To create a configuration element that enables the custom configuration properties provider within Studio, you must create a Mule SDK module.

You can download or checkout the sample project, which contains all the infrastructure code to get started implementing your custom configuration properties resolver extension.

The sample project is a Mule SDK module. See Getting started with the Mule SDK for additional information.

Customizing the Module to Access Your Custom Properties Source

Follow these steps to customize the Mule SDK Module:

Import the sample project into your favorite IDE.
Open the pom.xml file:
1. Define the GAV (groupId, artifactId, and version) of your module.
2. Define the name of your module.
3. Review the minimum Mule version you want your properties provider to require. This example is compatible with Mule 4.1.1 and later to cover all possible scenarios. See Choosing the SDK Version.
Change the package name (com.my.company.custom.provider.api) of your code.
Open resources/META-INF/services/org.mule.runtime.config.api.dsl.model.properties.ConfigurationPropertiesProviderFactory, and change the content to match the package name you changed previously.
Open the CustomConfigurationPropertiesExtension class:
1. Change the EXTENSION_NAME constant to the name of your module.
2. Change the vendor method parameter on the @Extension annotation to your company name.
3. Customize the section at the end to define the parameters that can be configured in the config element of your module.
Open the CustomConfigurationPropertiesProviderFactory class:
1. Change the CUSTOM_PROPERTIES_PREFIX value to a meaningful prefix for the configuration properties that your module must resolve.
2. Change the class implementation to look up the properties from your custom source.
Update the MUnit test cases in test/munit with more test cases to cover your new module functionality.

Once your module is ready, you can install it locally using mvn clean install to make the module accessible from Studio.

Using the Custom Properties Provider in a Mule Application

To use the custom properties provider:

Create an application in Studio.
Add the dependency to you new module:
1. Open the pom.xml file.
2. Within the <dependencies> tag, add a new dependency using the GAV that you put in your module.
3. Remember to add <classifier>mule-plugin</classifier> because it is a Mule module.
4. Save your changes.

Now, open the application XML file and in the Global Elements tab and click Create. Under Connector Configuration, you should see an option for selecting the configuration from your custom module, for example:

Screen for selecting a type of global configuration element with a search function

You can now configure your new component and start using properties with the prefix defined in your module.

Using Custom Configuration Properties Provider versus a Connector

For static properties, use the properties provider approach, because static properties don’t change during runtime. If your properties might change during runtime, create a connector that can provide the value as one of its operations.

Although the Mule SDK for Java is used to implement a custom configuration properties provider, you can’t use ConnectionProviders to connect to external sources. This is because ConnectionProviders are managed by Mule runtime and are initialized at a later stage, after the static properties are resolved. Consequently, connectivity testing isn’t supported for custom properties providers.