i would prefer to use tag names to indicate the message type. e.g. use element text for text messages and element map for map messages <jms name="send message" | connectionFactory="ConnectionFactory" | queue="queue/MyQueue"> | <text> | This is the body | </text> | <transition to="wait" /> | </jms> | <jms name="send message" | connectionFactory="ConnectionFactory" | queue="queue/MyQueue"> | <map> | <entry> | <key><string value="one" /></key> | <value><int value="3" /></value> | </entry> | </map> | <transition to="wait" /> | </jms> | Note that with this map, I used the syntax that is already in jpdl for maps. So you can leverage the map parsing and it will be more consistent. <jms name="send message" | connectionFactory="ConnectionFactory" | queue="queue/MyQueue"> | <object expr="#{someObjectExpression}" /> | <transition to="wait" /> | </jms> | View the original post : http://www.jboss.org/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4269945#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.org/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...