Java Reference
In-Depth Information
Doing Nothing
Problem
You want to use a BPEL construct that requires an activity, but you don't have any actual func-
tionality to execute there. Or perhaps you want to specify a point of synchronization within a
flow, or you want to suppress a fault you've caught.
Solution
Use an
<empty>
activity.
Discussion
The empty activity exists as a placeholder, allowing you to create a point in your BPEL dia-
gram that does not actually do anything. Other related activities, however, can take advantage
of this. Depending on how you structure your process, your process may sometimes need to
have an activity to join two structures. You can use
<empty>
to do this.
The example given in the specification for when to use an empty activity is this: there is a
fault that you must catch, but you'd like to suppress that fact. Of course, this is usually not a
brilliant idea.
