Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 2. Configuring
BPEL
Processes
Web applications usually have business logic, workflow, integration with existing en-
terprise applications such as SAP/JDE/EBS/SDFC, and packages such as Java/
ASP.NET. An example of workflow that can be part of a web application is
order pro-
cessing
. A typical order processing workflow contains references to services, or in
other words, consumes services such as create order, process payment, send order
to warehouse, check inventory, process, and send order to customers. The order pro-
cessing service illustrates a typical Business Process Execution Language (BPEL)
process scenario.
BPEL is a replacement to simplify your workflow and also, to some extent, a replace-
ment to the custom code that describes and implements the business workflow. Typ-
ical web applications require more than one service to fulfill the business require-
ments. The key challenges are: how to create the services and how to orchestrate the
services. We can use BPEL for describing, integrating, and orchestrating a business
workflow.
BPEL is an XML-based programming language used for describing high-level busi-
ness processes. The WS-BPEL standard facilitates the orchestration of business pro-
cesses and externalizes the processes as services. BPEL also facilitates the interac-
tion either among organizations or between different applications within an organiza-
tion.
Understanding
the
BPEL
language
framework
BPEL isanXML-based languageforcreating end-to-end processflow.BPEL isbased
on the WS-BPEL 2.0 specification and built on the
Web Services Description Lan-
guage
(
WSDL
) 1.1 specifications.
ABPELprocessalwaysstartswitha
process element
.Aprocesselementmusthave
at least one activity.
Activities
are the core of the BPEL language framework. Usually
