A bit late perhaps to write about it, but as of the middle of July the Oracle Unified Method (OUM) has been approved by the Open Group (responsible for TOGAF) as an accepted architectural method!
I case you did not already do so, you might be interested to know that OUM blends an architectural method with a project delivery method based on the Unified Process. It is therefore reasonable to state that OUM is your "One Stop Development Method" (OSDM). Can I claim this acronym somewhere?
Friday, August 02, 2013
Friday, May 17, 2013
Handling Service Calls from Oracle BPM
In this posting I explain why in Oracle BPM Suite 11g you should consider using reusable subprocesses to handle service calls. The example is based on a synchronous service, but the same holds for asynchronous and fire & forget services.
If you have never experienced during process design with BPMN that the final process model became twice, if not three times more complex than you thought it would be, than you haven't been doing process design for real. You might for example have experienced how, what initially looked like a simple service call, finally exploded in your face. Let me tell you how it did in mine. I made up the example I'm using, but it is not far from reality.
It all started with a simple call to a synchronous service to store an order using some Insert and Update Order Service, or Upsert Order for short. The initial process model looked as simple as this.
This process is kicked off as a service with some initial customer data, after which a SalesRep enters an order that then gets stored using the Upsert Order service. But then I found that to use this service, I had to instantiate some custom request header. So I had to add a Script activity, as you cannot do that in the Service activity itself. The result was this:
But now I was exposing technical aspects in a business process, so to prevent the business audience to get distracted from that, I hid the complexity inside an embedded Store Order subprocess, like this:
And inside the embedded subprocess like this:
So far so good. But then I found that I also had to create a message id, log the request and response message, and catch exceptions to forward them to a generic exception handling process because the business might be involved to solve data issues. So before I knew it, my embedded subprocess looked something like this:
Hurray for the embedded subprocess, which hid all this complexity! But then I had to call the same Upsert Order service a second time, requiring me to do all the wiring again. Arghh!! Which brought me to the "brilliant" idea of pushing all this logic to a reusable subprocess, like this:
So in the business process itself, I only have to map the (context-specific) request and response messages to and from, what now has become the generic, and reusable wiring of the service call, like this:
Now you might ask yourself why we did not do the service wiring in PBEL. After all, implementing logic regarding service calls (like exception handling, more complex data transformations) is easier in BPEL. But not every BPM developer is also good in BPEL, making BPMN the better choice from a development process point of view. However, the next evolution could be to create some even more generic Service Request/Response Handler that is capable of calling any synchronous service, taking an anyType input and output argument.
If you have never experienced during process design with BPMN that the final process model became twice, if not three times more complex than you thought it would be, than you haven't been doing process design for real. You might for example have experienced how, what initially looked like a simple service call, finally exploded in your face. Let me tell you how it did in mine. I made up the example I'm using, but it is not far from reality.
It all started with a simple call to a synchronous service to store an order using some Insert and Update Order Service, or Upsert Order for short. The initial process model looked as simple as this.
This process is kicked off as a service with some initial customer data, after which a SalesRep enters an order that then gets stored using the Upsert Order service. But then I found that to use this service, I had to instantiate some custom request header. So I had to add a Script activity, as you cannot do that in the Service activity itself. The result was this:
But now I was exposing technical aspects in a business process, so to prevent the business audience to get distracted from that, I hid the complexity inside an embedded Store Order subprocess, like this:
And inside the embedded subprocess like this:
So far so good. But then I found that I also had to create a message id, log the request and response message, and catch exceptions to forward them to a generic exception handling process because the business might be involved to solve data issues. So before I knew it, my embedded subprocess looked something like this:
Hurray for the embedded subprocess, which hid all this complexity! But then I had to call the same Upsert Order service a second time, requiring me to do all the wiring again. Arghh!! Which brought me to the "brilliant" idea of pushing all this logic to a reusable subprocess, like this:
So in the business process itself, I only have to map the (context-specific) request and response messages to and from, what now has become the generic, and reusable wiring of the service call, like this:
Now you might ask yourself why we did not do the service wiring in PBEL. After all, implementing logic regarding service calls (like exception handling, more complex data transformations) is easier in BPEL. But not every BPM developer is also good in BPEL, making BPMN the better choice from a development process point of view. However, the next evolution could be to create some even more generic Service Request/Response Handler that is capable of calling any synchronous service, taking an anyType input and output argument.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
BPM: how to time out synchronous calls to external services?
This article has been updated on November 13, to fix naming a wrong property oracle.soa.local.optimization.force instead of oracle.webservices.local.optimization.
In the Oracle SOA Suite for calls to synchronous services the maximum time a composite should wait for a service to respond, can be set using the SyncMaxWaitTime (which has a default of 45 seconds). For services deployed on the same engine, this also works for the BPM Suite.
However, for the BPM Suite 11.1.1.6 (PS5), and probably all versions before that, this property is ignored for calls to external services (that is, not being deployed on the same engine). A BPMNConfig specific version of this property is not present (yet?).
A work-around is to set the oracle.webservices.httpReadTimeout binding property on each specific reference of the composite.xml, as shown in the picture below. The weblogic.wsee.wsat.transaction.flowOption comes automatically with that.
It is a bit more work, as you have to do that for each individual reference. On the other hand, this gives you the opportunity to set it for one reference different than for another one.
As a matter of fact you don't even have to set these properties design-time. By navigating to the deployed composite, and then go to the Service/Reference Properties, you will see that you can set this property run-time as well. I haven't checked (yet) if you do both which one will prevail. I would guess the run-time one.
Related property is oracle.webservices.local.optimization, which can be set to false to force that the SOA Suite will not optimize service calls by using Java-level calls, but instead use the SOAP stack. This property is not necessary to set for external references, as for that it will always use SOAP. However, you can use it if you want to set it for services calls within the same SOA server.
Another property is the oracle.webservices.httpConnTimeout which can be used to configure the maximum time the composite should wait to connect to the service. You don't have to set that to time out waiting for the response.
Interesting reading regarding Oracle Fusion Middleware timeout settings it a recent posting from Manish Kumar Gupta.
In the Oracle SOA Suite for calls to synchronous services the maximum time a composite should wait for a service to respond, can be set using the SyncMaxWaitTime (which has a default of 45 seconds). For services deployed on the same engine, this also works for the BPM Suite.
However, for the BPM Suite 11.1.1.6 (PS5), and probably all versions before that, this property is ignored for calls to external services (that is, not being deployed on the same engine). A BPMNConfig specific version of this property is not present (yet?).
A work-around is to set the oracle.webservices.httpReadTimeout binding property on each specific reference of the composite.xml, as shown in the picture below. The weblogic.wsee.wsat.transaction.flowOption comes automatically with that.
It is a bit more work, as you have to do that for each individual reference. On the other hand, this gives you the opportunity to set it for one reference different than for another one.
As a matter of fact you don't even have to set these properties design-time. By navigating to the deployed composite, and then go to the Service/Reference Properties, you will see that you can set this property run-time as well. I haven't checked (yet) if you do both which one will prevail. I would guess the run-time one.
Related property is oracle.webservices.local.optimization, which can be set to false to force that the SOA Suite will not optimize service calls by using Java-level calls, but instead use the SOAP stack. This property is not necessary to set for external references, as for that it will always use SOAP. However, you can use it if you want to set it for services calls within the same SOA server.
Another property is the oracle.webservices.httpConnTimeout which can be used to configure the maximum time the composite should wait to connect to the service. You don't have to set that to time out waiting for the response.
Interesting reading regarding Oracle Fusion Middleware timeout settings it a recent posting from Manish Kumar Gupta.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
BPMN Naming Conventions
So far I have not found many references discussing BPMN naming
conventions, and there is no official one. So I thought I share a few of
mine that I developed over the years. Hope you can make use of it.
Most of them are captured in the following picture.
Unfortunately I cannot depict them all, so here are a few more:
Like most naming conventions, the prime reason is to have consistency. So don't treat it like a religion, and don't think that mine are better than yours. Of course they are, but just don't think that. Most of them are more like a guideline.
To help you with your choice, consider this:
Most of them are captured in the following picture.
Unfortunately I cannot depict them all, so here are a few more:
- Do not use the component type name in its name, for example do not use Expenses Process, Submit Expenses Activity, Expenses Rejected Exception.
- Name a process so that its name fits in the following phrase: "the [Process Name] process", for example: "the Order Handling process".
- Give an activity a short, but meaningful name. So:
- Don't use uncommon abbreviations,
- To keep the reader focused on the keywords, do not capitalize prepositions and possessive pronouns ("Review and Finalize Order"),
- Avoid articles and pronouns ("Add Order Lines" instead of "Add all Lines to the Order").
- Name Catch Events, Business Exceptions, and Signal Events so that is reads like an answer to the question: "What happened?", "Well the Customer Cancelled".
Like most naming conventions, the prime reason is to have consistency. So don't treat it like a religion, and don't think that mine are better than yours. Of course they are, but just don't think that. Most of them are more like a guideline.
To help you with your choice, consider this:
- Using active verb-noun phrases is a psychological thing. Don't ask me why but somehow it helps your brains to determine the right scope of an activity. For example, one person may interpret Order Handling as one single activity (done by one person as one logical "transaction") while some other guy considers it to be a complete process. If you call it Handle Order that just "sounds" more like one single activity. It is not for nothing that this also is a de facto standard for use cases.
- Using the question mark for exclusive gateways helps with limiting the amount of text you have to put in the diagram, as all conditions on the outgoing sequence flows read as a simple answer to the question of the gateway.
Monday, April 23, 2012
When to Use Custom XPath Functions in the SOA Suite
If you want to know how to create custom XPath functions, then have a look for example at Anthony Reynold's Blog entry on the topic. I have little to add to that excellent posting except for how to add parameters, which is done using the <param> tag as in the following example:
And the following simple piece of Java code to get the parameter from the list:
}
If you want to know when or why to use custom XPath functions, then read on.
Before I come to some sort of a conclusions, first let's discuss some of the specifics of the mechanism of adding custom XPath functions.
One Function, One Class
First observation is that a custom XPath function is exposed by a class that implements the IXPathFunction interface. This interface enforces implementation of a call() method which executes the XPath function. As there can be only one call() method in the class, it can realize only one function. So if you want to implement more functions you will need to create as many classes as there are functions. To support reuse you can let each of those classes extend an (abstract) super class that will contain the common behavior and (static) reusable attributes.
No Runtime Versioning
A second observation is that the class to implement an XPath function ends up in a jar file that is deployed in the SOA infra structure. A class is not a service, so there can be only one implementation of that class at the same time. If you need to deploy a new version of the XPath function while keeping the previous one, you either need to put it in a different package or give it another name. On top of that you will also have to give the <function> another name (in the example resulting in a compressGuid, and compressGuid2). How ugly do you want it to get? An obvious other aspect is that the XPath function by definition is reusable for everybody that is deploying on the SOA engine on which the jar file is deployed.
No Right-Mouse-Click Deployment
By now you will realize that you cannot simply deploy a new version of the jar file on the server by just right-mouse-clicking it and then choose "deploy", and that this is for a reason. You will have to copy the jar file to a specific folder, run an ant script, and restart the server.
Conclusion
Custom XPath functions is not the silver bullet to do any type of Java embedding in SOA or BPM processes. Especially as a BPM developers you just might have hoped for this as, unlike in BPEL, there is no Java Embedding activity in BPM (also for a good reason you might argue, but that's another blog entry).
You should only create XPath function for specific types of cases, while applying some best practices:
Unbelievable, this is actually the first time in my life that I manage to post two entries on the same day. Normally I don't even find the time to do two in a week, or even a month for that matter!
And the following simple piece of Java code to get the parameter from the list:
public static Object compressGuid(IXPathContext iXPathContext,
List arguments) {
String guid = (String)(arguments.get(0));
...String guid = (String)(arguments.get(0));
}
If you want to know when or why to use custom XPath functions, then read on.
Before I come to some sort of a conclusions, first let's discuss some of the specifics of the mechanism of adding custom XPath functions.
One Function, One Class
First observation is that a custom XPath function is exposed by a class that implements the IXPathFunction interface. This interface enforces implementation of a call() method which executes the XPath function. As there can be only one call() method in the class, it can realize only one function. So if you want to implement more functions you will need to create as many classes as there are functions. To support reuse you can let each of those classes extend an (abstract) super class that will contain the common behavior and (static) reusable attributes.
No Runtime Versioning
A second observation is that the class to implement an XPath function ends up in a jar file that is deployed in the SOA infra structure. A class is not a service, so there can be only one implementation of that class at the same time. If you need to deploy a new version of the XPath function while keeping the previous one, you either need to put it in a different package or give it another name. On top of that you will also have to give the <function> a
No Right-Mouse-Click Deployment
By now you will realize that you cannot simply deploy a new version of the jar file on the server by just right-mouse-clicking it and then choose "deploy", and that this is for a reason. You will have to copy the jar file to a specific folder, run an ant script, and restart the server.
Conclusion
Custom XPath functions is not the silver bullet to do any type of Java embedding in SOA or BPM processes. Especially as a BPM developers you just might have hoped for this as, unlike in BPEL, there is no Java Embedding activity in BPM (also for a good reason you might argue, but that's another blog entry).
You should only create XPath function for specific types of cases, while applying some best practices:
- Only use it for XPath functions that clearly fits between all other already available XPath functions. An example is an XPath function I just created (based on the brilliant algorithm of my dear colleague Tonio Voerman), which compresses the 32 character Oracle GUID into 30 characters (because the column in which we have to store it, is only 30 characters long). After all the (existing) oraext:generate-guid() is also an XPath function.
- Be sure that the XPath function indeed is an obvious candidate for reuse (our compress-guid() function will be used by every BPM process). Otherwise, other solutions like including a Sprint Context in your composite, probably are better.
- Do your utter best to get the proper requirements for the interface, and functionality, to prevent you find yourself in a situation (and trouble) where you have to deploy a new version of the function next to an existing one.
- Test the XPath function thoroughly, preferable using some unit-testing framework like JUnit
Unbelievable, this is actually the first time in my life that I manage to post two entries on the same day. Normally I don't even find the time to do two in a week, or even a month for that matter!
OBPM 11g Multi-Langual Process Models
Sometimes simple things are simple!
Take for example creating process models that you can show in 2 different languages. With OBPM this is so simple, that I at first I could not find it because I was looking in the wrong place.
That is: simple if you realize that you can also access (BPM) Project Preferences from the BPM Navigator (next to the Project Properties that can be accessed from the Application Navigator). But once found it's dead simple. Just add an extra language on the languages tab, as shown in the next figure.
You can then enter a second localized label to the pool, events, activities and gateways by going to its properties, and then click on the globe and enter the label.
After that, you can modify the language of your model on the fly by changing the default language, for example from English:
into Dutch:
If you were paying attention, or looked carefully, you will have noticed that I was not mentioning the role and sequence flow. Alas, those are not multilingual.
Oh, and eh... there is a small bug. The label of the pool only refreshes after reopening the model.
Take for example creating process models that you can show in 2 different languages. With OBPM this is so simple, that I at first I could not find it because I was looking in the wrong place.
That is: simple if you realize that you can also access (BPM) Project Preferences from the BPM Navigator (next to the Project Properties that can be accessed from the Application Navigator). But once found it's dead simple. Just add an extra language on the languages tab, as shown in the next figure.
You can then enter a second localized label to the pool, events, activities and gateways by going to its properties, and then click on the globe and enter the label.
After that, you can modify the language of your model on the fly by changing the default language, for example from English:
into Dutch:
If you were paying attention, or looked carefully, you will have noticed that I was not mentioning the role and sequence flow. Alas, those are not multilingual.
Oh, and eh... there is a small bug. The label of the pool only refreshes after reopening the model.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
OBPM 11g And Human Workflow Services
In this posting I describe a case in which I demonstrate the working of the Human Workflow Services of the Oracle BPM Suite 11g. Or rather the SOA Suite 11g, as it is used for human workflow in BPEL as well.
But before I do so, a brief explanation of what the Human Workflow Services is.
So What is it?
It probably is the most used part of what also is known as the SOA Suite API. The Human Workflow Services provide services to, how surprising, handle human tasks. But there also is an API for Oracle Business Rules, B2B, and the User Messaging Services, to mention a few others.
Ever worked with the OBPM's Workspace or Worklist? Just realize that practically all data you see in there and all actions you can perform are provided by the Human Workflow Services. If you ever need to provide a custom worklist, for example to embedded it in some 3rd party application, the Human Workflow Services is what you will be using.
The most commonly used services probably are the following:
Except for the IdentityService all other services have both a SOAP as well as a remote EJB interface. The IdentityService is a thin SOAP layer on top of WebLogic.
How to Use It?
All services require authentication, except for the IdentityService (obviously). Authentication is based upon a user name/password combination or a previously determined login token. It is a best practice to only authenticate the user once per session, using a user name/password combination. The engine will instantiate a workflow context (similar to a servlet context) and returns a token that references the workflow context. This token can then be used in successive calls to the API. This prevents that with every call a new workflow context needs to be instantiated, which is a relatively expensive operation.
It is also a best practice to use identity propagation of an already logged on user, which in case of SOAP can be done by passing on a SAML token. All SOAP services (except for the IdentityService) have two different end points: one that requires a SAML token and one without. To prevent getting frustrated because of problems with authentication, be aware that when using a tool like soapUI the default end point probably is the SAML one. If you cannot use identity propagation, you will be using the TaskQueryService.authenticate operation to get the workflow context token.
A typical pattern to execute a human task, would be as follows:
The addresses of the WSDL's are not too consistent, I suppose to prevent us from becoming lazy. The address of the TaskQueryService WSDL is:
http://host:port/integration/services/TaskQueryService/TaskQueryService?WSDL
The address of the TaskService WSLD is:
http://host:port/integration/services/TaskService/TaskServicePort?WSDL
Executing a Human Task Example
Step 1
To get a workflow context token, the following request would give me one for the user "cdoyle" with password "welcome1":
The response will be a <workflowContext> element with a <token> in it that can be used in successive calls.
Step 2
Now I can query tasks for the user cdoyle. Let's assume I want to query all tasks that either are assigned to the group cdoyle belongs to or explicitly have been assigned to cdoyle. I can use the TaskQueryService.queryTasks operation with the following query (the simplest I can think of):
As you can see the token has been copied into the request. To get all tasks I have set the <taskPredicateQuery> attributes startRow and endRow to 0. I could also have left these attributes out all together. The startRow and endRow attributes support paging of tasks, which can be handy in case of a custom worklist. The response is a <taskListResponse> with a list of <task> elements. Each <task> element has subelements like <title>,
<priority>, and <taskId>.
Step 3
The <taskId> uniquely identifies the task instance, and is used in the next call to the TaskService.acquire operation, to lock a task, for example:
The response of this operation will contain a <payload> element which is of type anyType and contains the human task payload as configured in the process. In my example the payload concerns a (how original!) a sales
<QuoteReqest> element:
The response also contains a <state>, <substate> and <taskId> elements, that will show that the task has been assigned and acquired:
Step 4
Now let's assume that this is the payload of a Review Quote task, and that I want execute that task by updating the quantity to 2 and setting the status from "new" to "OK".
To update the payload of the task, I use the TaskService.updateTask operation. This has a lot of attributes. I will keep it simple, meaning that I don't add attachments or comments, etc., so for me it suffices to copy and paste the complete <task> element from the response of Step 3 into the <task> element of the request:
In its response it will give the updated payload, and (among a lot of other things) it will say who did the update and when:
Step 5
To commit the task, I use the TaskService.updateOutcome operation. You will also find that this operation has a lot of attributes. I will keep it simple again, and copy and paste the complete <task> element from the response of Step 4 into the <task> element of the request of the TaskService.updateOutcome operation (left out a lot of the elements for reasons of brevity):
If you watch carefully, you will see that the <taskId> is both in the <systemAttributes> subelement of <task> as well as a separate <taskId> element of its own (at the bottom). The latter one is used to determine the task instance.
The value I entered for outcome, has to correspond with the possible outcomes I defined for the Human Task definition:
In its response this operation will give back the changed payload, plus a number of other elements, among them the <state> element that will have the value COMPLETED now:
hAPI programming!
But before I do so, a brief explanation of what the Human Workflow Services is.
So What is it?
It probably is the most used part of what also is known as the SOA Suite API. The Human Workflow Services provide services to, how surprising, handle human tasks. But there also is an API for Oracle Business Rules, B2B, and the User Messaging Services, to mention a few others.
Ever worked with the OBPM's Workspace or Worklist? Just realize that practically all data you see in there and all actions you can perform are provided by the Human Workflow Services. If you ever need to provide a custom worklist, for example to embedded it in some 3rd party application, the Human Workflow Services is what you will be using.
The most commonly used services probably are the following:
- TaskQueryService To provides operations to query tasks, based upon keywords, category, status, business process, attribute values, etc.
- TaskService Provides single task operations, to manage task state, to persist, update, complete, reassign, or escalate tasks, etc.
- IdentityService To authenticate users (when loggin on into the workspace), to lookup user properties, roles, group memberships, etc.
Except for the IdentityService all other services have both a SOAP as well as a remote EJB interface. The IdentityService is a thin SOAP layer on top of WebLogic.
How to Use It?
All services require authentication, except for the IdentityService (obviously). Authentication is based upon a user name/password combination or a previously determined login token. It is a best practice to only authenticate the user once per session, using a user name/password combination. The engine will instantiate a workflow context (similar to a servlet context) and returns a token that references the workflow context. This token can then be used in successive calls to the API. This prevents that with every call a new workflow context needs to be instantiated, which is a relatively expensive operation.
It is also a best practice to use identity propagation of an already logged on user, which in case of SOAP can be done by passing on a SAML token. All SOAP services (except for the IdentityService) have two different end points: one that requires a SAML token and one without. To prevent getting frustrated because of problems with authentication, be aware that when using a tool like soapUI the default end point probably is the SAML one. If you cannot use identity propagation, you will be using the TaskQueryService.authenticate operation to get the workflow context token.
A typical pattern to execute a human task, would be as follows:
- Requiring a token using the TaskQueryService.authenticate operation,
- Getting a list of tasks based upon some filter using the TaskQueryService.queryTasks operation,
- Acquiring (locking) a specific task for execution using the TaskService.acquireTask operation,
- Updating the payload of the task using the TaskService.updateTask operation,
- Setting the outcome (commiting) the task using the TaskService.updateOutcome operation.
The addresses of the WSDL's are not too consistent, I suppose to prevent us from becoming lazy. The address of the TaskQueryService WSDL is:
http://host:port/integration/services/TaskQueryService/TaskQueryService?WSDL
The address of the TaskService WSLD is:
http://host:port/integration/services/TaskService/TaskServicePort?WSDL
Executing a Human Task Example
Step 1
To get a workflow context token, the following request would give me one for the user "cdoyle" with password "welcome1":
The response will be a <workflowContext> element with a <token> in it that can be used in successive calls.
Step 2
Now I can query tasks for the user cdoyle. Let's assume I want to query all tasks that either are assigned to the group cdoyle belongs to or explicitly have been assigned to cdoyle. I can use the TaskQueryService.queryTasks operation with the following query (the simplest I can think of):
As you can see the token has been copied into the request. To get all tasks I have set the <taskPredicateQuery> attributes startRow and endRow to 0. I could also have left these attributes out all together. The startRow and endRow attributes support paging of tasks, which can be handy in case of a custom worklist. The response is a <taskListResponse> with a list of <task> elements. Each <task> element has subelements like <title>,
<priority>, and <taskId>.
Step 3
The <taskId> uniquely identifies the task instance, and is used in the next call to the TaskService.acquire operation, to lock a task, for example:
The response of this operation will contain a <payload> element which is of type anyType and contains the human task payload as configured in the process. In my example the payload concerns a (how original!) a sales
<QuoteReqest> element:
The response also contains a <state>, <substate> and <taskId> elements, that will show that the task has been assigned and acquired:
Step 4
Now let's assume that this is the payload of a Review Quote task, and that I want execute that task by updating the quantity to 2 and setting the status from "new" to "OK".
To update the payload of the task, I use the TaskService.updateTask operation. This has a lot of attributes. I will keep it simple, meaning that I don't add attachments or comments, etc., so for me it suffices to copy and paste the complete <task> element from the response of Step 3 into the <task> element of the request:
In its response it will give the updated payload, and (among a lot of other things) it will say who did the update and when:
Step 5
To commit the task, I use the TaskService.updateOutcome operation. You will also find that this operation has a lot of attributes. I will keep it simple again, and copy and paste the complete <task> element from the response of Step 4 into the <task> element of the request of the TaskService.updateOutcome operation (left out a lot of the elements for reasons of brevity):
If you watch carefully, you will see that the <taskId> is both in the <systemAttributes> subelement of <task> as well as a separate <taskId> element of its own (at the bottom). The latter one is used to determine the task instance.
The value I entered for outcome, has to correspond with the possible outcomes I defined for the Human Task definition:
In its response this operation will give back the changed payload, plus a number of other elements, among them the <state> element that will have the value COMPLETED now:
hAPI programming!
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Tips for Installing Oracle BPM Suite 11g FP4
Edited on October 20, 2011 regarding the location of OPatch (due to progressive insight, and some comments).
When installing Oracle BPM Suite 11g FP4 I ran into a couple of things, of which I thought I better write that down for some next time. If you are a SOA Suite install crack, don't bother to read on, as I probably have nothing new to tell you. In case you are new to it or do installations only occasionally, you might find this saving you considerable time. It would have done so in my case.
You typically install the SOA/BPM Suite on top of WebLogic. The MW_HOME is the (middleware) folder containing the wlserver_10.3 folder (among others). The Common Oracle Home will be [MW_HOME]\oracle_common, while the SOA_ORACLE_HOME will be [MW_HOME]\Oracle_SOA1. In the readme for the PS4 installation ORACLE_HOME refers to both, so read the instructions carefully.
The first instruction is to make sure you have the latest OPatch. When you download it, you will find that the instructions of OPatch itself say you can find OPatch in ORACLE_HOME. There actually is one in both ORACLE_HOMES. Probably the same one, I did not bother to find out and copied the download OPatch to both folders.
The instructions are particularly written for Unix, so needs some "translation" to make it applicable for Windows:
PSA stands for Patch Set Assistant. I skipped the backup of the database, because as a developer I can simply recreate the SOA INFRA any time without loosing any valuable information.
The instructions will tell you to run PSA from the ORACLE_HOME\bin folder. Now that's a bit confusing as there is a psa.bat in the bin folder of both ORACLE_HOME's. But if you read the PSA instructions carefully, you will find it refers to SOA_ORACLE_HOME ([MW_HOME]\Oracle_SOA1. An educated guess already made me already think so.
If you are using OTN you may not be referred to the proper post-installation guide. The one it currently points to, is the post-installation steps for Oracle SOA Suite for Healthcare Integration. If you need that do that first, but then you still have to do the BPM post-installation instructions.
BTW, this guide discusses the commands for Unix as well as Windows, and specifically uses SOA_ORACLE_HOME. But that's for weenies, and not us developers, as we like finding out the hard way, right?
While I'm at it I might as well past the command I used for updating the policy store, as it may just fit your environment as well:
wlst.cmd %soa_oracle_home%\bin\bpm-ps4fp-upgrade.py --username weblogic --password welcome1 --wlsHost localhost --adminServerListenPort 7001
The post-installation instructions tell you to delete the DOMAIN_HOME\servers\...\tmp. Many of us developer probably choose to deploy the SOA Suite on the Admin Server, so the only servers\tmp folder you then have is DOMAIN_HOME\servers\...\AdminServer\tmp. According to the documentation about domain configuration files, you can simply delete the contents of that folder, so that is what I did. Have some patience, as that folder contains GB's of files.
If you followed my example, the next post-installation instruction may make you start cursing, as it will tell you to copy some library into a sub-folder of the tmp you just deleted. I, on the contrary, kept my usual cool, and just started the server. I still kept my cool when looking at several exceptions, not recalling if those were new, of whether I've seen those before. So I bounced the server and found that the exceptions disappeared. Also the WebLogic Console and the Enterprise Manager appear to function normally (pfew!).
I stopped the server, and continued with task 3, regarding copying the jar file adflibSOAMgmt.jar. And bounced the server again.
Finally, the readme on OTN mentions that you should have a soa-jdev-extension.zip. The one I have also mentions a bpm-jdev-extension.zip. Both instructions do not mentions to actually install them. I did both in the usual way (JDeveloper -> Help -> etc.).
That's when I was ready.
When installing Oracle BPM Suite 11g FP4 I ran into a couple of things, of which I thought I better write that down for some next time. If you are a SOA Suite install crack, don't bother to read on, as I probably have nothing new to tell you. In case you are new to it or do installations only occasionally, you might find this saving you considerable time. It would have done so in my case.
You typically install the SOA/BPM Suite on top of WebLogic. The MW_HOME is the (middleware) folder containing the wlserver_10.3 folder (among others). The Common Oracle Home will be [MW_HOME]\oracle_common, while the SOA_ORACLE_HOME will be [MW_HOME]\Oracle_SOA1. In the readme for the PS4 installation ORACLE_HOME refers to both, so read the instructions carefully.
The first instruction is to make sure you have the latest OPatch. When you download it, you will find that the instructions of OPatch itself say you can find OPatch in ORACLE_HOME. There actually is one in both ORACLE_HOMES. Probably the same one, I did not bother to find out and copied the download OPatch to both folders.
The instructions are particularly written for Unix, so needs some "translation" to make it applicable for Windows:
- Where it reads "$ORACLE_HOME" you should replace that by "%ORACLE_HOME%" (duh!)
- To patch the Oracle Common Home it tells you to use the following command:
$ORACLE_HOME/OPatch/opatch napply -invPtrLoc $ORACLE_HOME/oraInst.loc
It took me some time to find out that the invPtrLoc only applies to Unix only, and that for Windows you can simply leave it out. On Windows the inventory information is located in the registry instead of the oraInst.loc file. So the command for Windows is simply:
%ORACLE_HOME%\OPatch\opatch napply
PSA stands for Patch Set Assistant. I skipped the backup of the database, because as a developer I can simply recreate the SOA INFRA any time without loosing any valuable information.
The instructions will tell you to run PSA from the ORACLE_HOME\bin folder. Now that's a bit confusing as there is a psa.bat in the bin folder of both ORACLE_HOME's. But if you read the PSA instructions carefully, you will find it refers to SOA_ORACLE_HOME ([MW_HOME]\Oracle_SOA1. An educated guess already made me already think so.
If you are using OTN you may not be referred to the proper post-installation guide. The one it currently points to, is the post-installation steps for Oracle SOA Suite for Healthcare Integration. If you need that do that first, but then you still have to do the BPM post-installation instructions.
BTW, this guide discusses the commands for Unix as well as Windows, and specifically uses SOA_ORACLE_HOME. But that's for weenies, and not us developers, as we like finding out the hard way, right?
While I'm at it I might as well past the command I used for updating the policy store, as it may just fit your environment as well:
wlst.cmd %soa_oracle_home%\bin\bpm-ps4fp-upgrade.py --username weblogic --password welcome1 --wlsHost localhost --adminServerListenPort 7001
The post-installation instructions tell you to delete the DOMAIN_HOME\servers\...\
If you followed my example, the next post-installation instruction may make you start cursing, as it will tell you to copy some library into a sub-folder of the tmp you just deleted. I, on the contrary, kept my usual cool, and just started the server. I still kept my cool when looking at several exceptions, not recalling if those were new, of whether I've seen those before. So I bounced the server and found that the exceptions disappeared. Also the WebLogic Console and the Enterprise Manager appear to function normally (pfew!).
I stopped the server, and continued with task 3, regarding copying the jar file adflibSOAMgmt.jar. And bounced the server again.
Finally, the readme on OTN mentions that you should have a soa-jdev-extension.zip. The one I have also mentions a bpm-jdev-extension.zip. Both instructions do not mentions to actually install them. I did both in the usual way (JDeveloper -> Help -> etc.).
That's when I was ready.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Oracle BPM FP4 Is Out!
Finally, it's there, the long awaited Feature Pack 4 for the Oracle Business Process Modeling Suite.
Instructions for Customers to get this are as follows:
Information on PS4FP will be blogged at http://blogs.oracle.com/bpm soon.
Documentation is available at http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/soasuite/documentation/11gr1ps4featurepackdoc-462677.html
Instructions for Customers to get this are as follows:
- This is available as a patch under the following bug id: Patch 12413651: SOA PS4 BPM FEATURES PACK
- The patch is password protected and is available to those BPM customers that request it from support by filing an SR
- It is intended for use by BPM customers only. SOA Suite customers should check with Support and Product Management before requesting it.
Information on PS4FP will be blogged at http://blogs.oracle.com/bpm soon.
Documentation is available at http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/soasuite/documentation/11gr1ps4featurepackdoc-462677.html
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
OBPM 11g: Showing More Detailed Log Info
One of those too stupid to be discussed items is how you can make the SOA Suite show detailed information about the payload for activities like a script activities, or what is going on inside a business rule. After all, every SOA/BPM developer is assumed to know how to set log levels, right?
Well every developer is also assumed to know what they say about assumptions, and how frustrating it is to loose valuable time on finding out how to do simple things. So bare with me while I state the obvious.
Showing Detailed Payload Information
When the audit level is set to Production (which seems to be the default), only data associations for asynchronous activities are logged. You can see which level you are using, e.g. in the Audit Trail page, as shown below.
Because I have set the log level to Development, I do not only see detailed information about the payload that left the Handle Time-out sub-process, but also of the instance system fault.
This log level can be set in the Enterprise manager, but (as the pop-up with the information indicates) not in the Log Configuration, but in the SOA Infrastructure Common Properties. You can find it as shown below.
Show What's Going on in Business Rules
Another one of those "too obvious" things is showing detailed information about what is going on inside a business rule.
When you ask you always get an answer like: "You can turn on debug tracing in the Rules SE by setting the log level for oracle.soa.services.rules to TRACE:32 to get more detailed logging of what is happening." Absolutely a valid answer, but when you have not had to much exposure to setting log levels, this can take you some time to find out how to do.
This is done by changing the Log Configuration, as follows:
Well every developer is also assumed to know what they say about assumptions, and how frustrating it is to loose valuable time on finding out how to do simple things. So bare with me while I state the obvious.
Showing Detailed Payload Information
When the audit level is set to Production (which seems to be the default), only data associations for asynchronous activities are logged. You can see which level you are using, e.g. in the Audit Trail page, as shown below.
Because I have set the log level to Development, I do not only see detailed information about the payload that left the Handle Time-out sub-process, but also of the instance system fault.
This log level can be set in the Enterprise manager, but (as the pop-up with the information indicates) not in the Log Configuration, but in the SOA Infrastructure Common Properties. You can find it as shown below.
Show What's Going on in Business Rules
Another one of those "too obvious" things is showing detailed information about what is going on inside a business rule.
When you ask you always get an answer like: "You can turn on debug tracing in the Rules SE by setting the log level for oracle.soa.services.rules to TRACE:32 to get more detailed logging of what is happening." Absolutely a valid answer, but when you have not had to much exposure to setting log levels, this can take you some time to find out how to do.
This is done by changing the Log Configuration, as follows:
Friday, August 12, 2011
Oracle SOA/BPM - Searching and Reporting Using Process Payload
For searching business process instances using specific attributes from the payload, the regular way to do so when using the Oracle SOA Suite is by using mapped attributes (formerly known as flex fields).
Using mapped attributes is pretty straight-forward. You configure them in the Administration tab of the Workspace, and map a specific element of the payload onto a mapped attribute. Once it has been mapped, the attribute can be added as a column to the task list and is available for filtering. The mapped attributes can also be used in custom code via the API.
Things to Consider
Mapped attributes have some important aspects to consider:
In such cases an alternative to using mapped attributes (and reporting using the dehydration store) is to have a some custom database in which significant updates to process data are being stored. The advantage over using flex fields would be that:
Instead of using service calls to save this data, you may consider composite sensors. A composite sensor is a specific type of BPEL Process Manager Sensors. Be aware though that composite sensors can only monitor incoming and outgoing messages, and not changes of the payload within a process instance. For this reason in most cases this won't be an alternative.
Using mapped attributes is pretty straight-forward. You configure them in the Administration tab of the Workspace, and map a specific element of the payload onto a mapped attribute. Once it has been mapped, the attribute can be added as a column to the task list and is available for filtering. The mapped attributes can also be used in custom code via the API.
Things to Consider
Mapped attributes have some important aspects to consider:
- They can only be used for simple type attributes (String, Number, Date),
- Mappings are task-specific, so to be able to search for example on an order.status element throughout the process you have to map it for each activity,
- There is a limited amount of mapped attributes (20 Strings, 10 Number and 10 Dates),
- Changes to mapped attributes are only applied to instances instantiated after the mapping took place,
- When instances are purged all historical data of those instances will no longer be available. In a production environment, purging of instances typically is done by a Systems Administrator with no (functional) knowledge of specific processes.
In such cases an alternative to using mapped attributes (and reporting using the dehydration store) is to have a some custom database in which significant updates to process data are being stored. The advantage over using flex fields would be that:
- There is no limitation in the amount of attributes,
- The data of old instances can be manipulated, e.g. by providing default values for new attributes,
- Management of the custom database can be delegated to some Application Administrator that does have (functional) knowledge about the process.
Instead of using service calls to save this data, you may consider composite sensors. A composite sensor is a specific type of BPEL Process Manager Sensors. Be aware though that composite sensors can only monitor incoming and outgoing messages, and not changes of the payload within a process instance. For this reason in most cases this won't be an alternative.
Tuesday, August 09, 2011
Using JAXB for Manipulating Payload of Human Tasks in SOA Suite
In some cases you may want to manipulate the payload of a human task of an OPBM or BPEL process instance using JAXB. An example would be when you are using some other framework than ADF Faces for creating the UI, and you want to work with Java objects instead of manipulating XML programatically.
To do so with JDeveloper, you can generate the JAXB content model by right clicking the xsd and choose "Generate JAXB x.x Content Model".
Be aware that you must do this using the human-task-specific payload, and not the xsd that was used to define the variable that gets passed into that human task, otherwise to your sad surprise you will get all kind XML validation issues when trying to push the data back to the process. Fortunately on its turn the xsd of the human-task-specific payload imports the original xsd, so when the original xsd changes, the human task specific payload automatically changes with it. You still have to regenerate the JAXB content model to let it reflect the changes.
The following picture shows the OrderCreationPayload.xsd of an OrderCreation human task. It imports an Order.xsd. The JAXB content model has to be generated using the OrderCreationPayload instead of the Order.
To do so with JDeveloper, you can generate the JAXB content model by right clicking the xsd and choose "Generate JAXB x.x Content Model".
Be aware that you must do this using the human-task-specific payload, and not the xsd that was used to define the variable that gets passed into that human task, otherwise to your sad surprise you will get all kind XML validation issues when trying to push the data back to the process. Fortunately on its turn the xsd of the human-task-specific payload imports the original xsd, so when the original xsd changes, the human task specific payload automatically changes with it. You still have to regenerate the JAXB content model to let it reflect the changes.
The following picture shows the OrderCreationPayload.xsd of an OrderCreation human task. It imports an Order.xsd. The JAXB content model has to be generated using the OrderCreationPayload instead of the Order.
Friday, June 03, 2011
DWM FT and Hyperion BPM Solution Workbench for Essbase Retired
As of December 2010, OUM provided full support - Estimating, Delivery, and Training - for Business Intelligence (BI) Custom engagements (including Hyperion Essbase). This support represented a major milestone in the evolution of OUM and enables BI Custom (including Hyperion Essbase) practices to transition from the legacy methods to OUM.
The following methods and their associated estimating models therefore have been officially retired:
- Oracle Data Warehouse Method Fast Track (DWM FT)
- Hyperion BPM Solution Workbench for Essbase Engagements
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Use Cases or User Stories
When teaching use cases, a question that comes up now and then is what the difference is between a use case and a user story as used on agile projects. There is a lot to be found on the internet discussing this. Two useful references and a start for further investigation are mentioned below. What I try to do here is capture my conclusion of these discussions. But before coming to this, let's briefly discuss what is what.
User Story
A user story is a short statement about what a user wants to do, and why. A user story typically fits on an index card. The idea is that the development team uses this user story as a starting point of a conversation with this user about how this should work in practice, to get an understanding of what needs to be done to support that.
On some projects a particular format is being used for user stories, being "As a ... I want ... so that ...". Reviewing this format it becomes clear that the first ... can be compared with the actor of a use case, and the last one with the goal of a use case (although in many cases tend to be finer-grained). So the big difference apparently is in the middle, where it is described what the actor does to achieve that goal.
Use Case
Next to specifying a goal, a use case captures one or more scenarios describing the interaction between an actor and a system to achieve that goal. Scenarios may be captured using a format like:
1. This use case starts when the actor does ...
2. The system responds by doing ...
3. The actor does ...
...
x. The use case ends when ...
There is one main success scenario (happy path), there may be one or more alternate scenarios (other ways to achieve the same goal), and there may be one or more exception scenarios (describing what happens when that goal is not achieved).
You also capture what triggers the use case (which in many cases will be repeated as the first sentence of the main success scenario), pre-conditions (what needs to be in place when the use case starts), and post-conditions (what will have been achieved when the use case ends).
What's Different?
So, apparently, a use case elaborates more on what the actor does to achieve a goal. A user story has just one statement regarding that and, compared to a use case, concerns just one scenario. Also, compared to a user story, a use case adds a trigger, pre-conditions and post-conditions to that.
Some people say that use cases capture too much detail, and claim that user stories are better for this reason. Other people state that in practice user stories tend to oversimplify things, resulting in the first iterations taking much more time than anticipated. The way to resolve that is by elaborating more on the user story. When you think about it, that makes sense, doesn't it? I mean, at the end of the day even on agile projects the developers need to deal with details as well. They only may do it in a different way.
Conclusion
In my opinion the core difference has best been captured by a guy called Jim Standley who stated that a user story is a promise to have a conversation and a use case is the recording of that conversation.
So rather than arguing if user stories are better than use cases or vise verse, I think the better question is: "How formal do you need to be?". The more formal, the more appropriate use cases start to become.
Added to this, you should also think about "When do we need to be this formal?". I can imagine systems being developed starting with user stories, and then write use cases after the fact, because some external testing team requires that, or because the customer needs it for system maintenance.
Some Suggestions
If you are on an agile project creating use user stories, but you are required or may need to create use cases later on, make sure that a user story matches exactly scenario, and name them uniquely. That should not be too difficult.
Then, when the user stories have been realized and you need to deliver the use cases, you can then use the name of the user story as the name of the corresponding scenario. You combine all user stories that share the same user goal into one use case. Add the trigger, pre-conditions, and post-conditions to that, stir for one minute, and you're done!
Further Reading
Stellman/Green: User Stories vs Use Cases
Discussion at Allistair Cockburn: A user story is to a use case what a gazelle is to a gazebo.
User Story
A user story is a short statement about what a user wants to do, and why. A user story typically fits on an index card. The idea is that the development team uses this user story as a starting point of a conversation with this user about how this should work in practice, to get an understanding of what needs to be done to support that.
On some projects a particular format is being used for user stories, being "As a ... I want ... so that ...". Reviewing this format it becomes clear that the first ... can be compared with the actor of a use case, and the last one with the goal of a use case (although in many cases tend to be finer-grained). So the big difference apparently is in the middle, where it is described what the actor does to achieve that goal.
Use Case
Next to specifying a goal, a use case captures one or more scenarios describing the interaction between an actor and a system to achieve that goal. Scenarios may be captured using a format like:
1. This use case starts when the actor does ...
2. The system responds by doing ...
3. The actor does ...
...
x. The use case ends when ...
There is one main success scenario (happy path), there may be one or more alternate scenarios (other ways to achieve the same goal), and there may be one or more exception scenarios (describing what happens when that goal is not achieved).
You also capture what triggers the use case (which in many cases will be repeated as the first sentence of the main success scenario), pre-conditions (what needs to be in place when the use case starts), and post-conditions (what will have been achieved when the use case ends).
What's Different?
So, apparently, a use case elaborates more on what the actor does to achieve a goal. A user story has just one statement regarding that and, compared to a use case, concerns just one scenario. Also, compared to a user story, a use case adds a trigger, pre-conditions and post-conditions to that.
Some people say that use cases capture too much detail, and claim that user stories are better for this reason. Other people state that in practice user stories tend to oversimplify things, resulting in the first iterations taking much more time than anticipated. The way to resolve that is by elaborating more on the user story. When you think about it, that makes sense, doesn't it? I mean, at the end of the day even on agile projects the developers need to deal with details as well. They only may do it in a different way.
Conclusion
In my opinion the core difference has best been captured by a guy called Jim Standley who stated that a user story is a promise to have a conversation and a use case is the recording of that conversation.
So rather than arguing if user stories are better than use cases or vise verse, I think the better question is: "How formal do you need to be?". The more formal, the more appropriate use cases start to become.
Added to this, you should also think about "When do we need to be this formal?". I can imagine systems being developed starting with user stories, and then write use cases after the fact, because some external testing team requires that, or because the customer needs it for system maintenance.
Some Suggestions
If you are on an agile project creating use user stories, but you are required or may need to create use cases later on, make sure that a user story matches exactly scenario, and name them uniquely. That should not be too difficult.
Then, when the user stories have been realized and you need to deliver the use cases, you can then use the name of the user story as the name of the corresponding scenario. You combine all user stories that share the same user goal into one use case. Add the trigger, pre-conditions, and post-conditions to that, stir for one minute, and you're done!
Further Reading
Stellman/Green: User Stories vs Use Cases
Discussion at Allistair Cockburn: A user story is to a use case what a gazelle is to a gazebo.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Old Methods Die, Long Live OUM!
Just wanted to let you know that the retirement of the following methods is planned for June 01, 2011:
* Oracle Data Warehouse Method Fast Track (DWM FT)
* Hyperion BPM Solution Workbench for Essbase Engagements
* Oracle Data Warehouse Method Fast Track (DWM FT)
* Hyperion BPM Solution Workbench for Essbase Engagements
Thursday, March 17, 2011
OUM 5.4 Has Been Released!
Yesterday OUM 5.4 has been released. Among other things, the following improvements has been made:
The templates concern a Service Contract, a Service Catalog spreadsheet in case you don't have an Enterprise Repository, and some more.
Check it out!
- Tactical SOA View added
- Various techniques regarding monitoring and improving SOA (instrumentation)
- A white paper about how to apply OUM with Scrum
- Several SOA templates
The templates concern a Service Contract, a Service Catalog spreadsheet in case you don't have an Enterprise Repository, and some more.
Check it out!
Thursday, March 03, 2011
Installing OBPM Suite 11g PS3 using XE
When installing the OBPM Suite 11g PS3, I ran into an issue with the Metadata Services (MDS) schema on my XE database. The error I got when I tried to start the WLS SOA domain was "ORA-04063: package body "DEV_MDS.MDS_INTERNAL_SHREDDED" has errors". I checked the schema and found that all three existing packages were invalid. Recompile did not solve the issue.
I Googled a bit and found out that I had to re-run the Repository Creation Utility, as apparently there is an extra environment variable to set before you run this. I fixed it as follows:
set DEFAULT_MEM_ARGS=-Xms512m -Xmx768m
I Googled a bit and found out that I had to re-run the Repository Creation Utility, as apparently there is an extra environment variable to set before you run this. I fixed it as follows:
- Open a dos-box in the ..\rcuHome\bin folder
- Enter: set rcu_jdbc_trim_blocks=true
- Run rcu.bat
- Drop the existing repository
- Recreate a new one
- All invalid objects disappeared!
set DEFAULT_MEM_ARGS=-Xms512m -Xmx768m
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
OPBM and External Activities
I'm currently involved in a project where OBPM 10g is being used in combination with another system providing the user interface.
The idea is that this external system (let's call it system X), polls the engine to find out if there is a task to perform by some logged on user, and if so supports that task as (what is called) an external activity. This polling mechanism would allow you to go from one activity to another where each activity supports one single screen. As a result you are basically modeling a screen flow rather than a business process.
The problem is that you cannot model the screen flow 100%. Think for example about a screen that should provide a pop-up to do some things and then return. There is no (reasonable) way to use OPBM to support this pop-up functionality.
Another problem becomes apparent when you need to call services inside a screen flow. What are the criteria to decide whether OPBM or system X should call the services?
After a couple of weeks and progressive insight, I have come to the conclusion that you should try to prevent modeling a screen flow as a process. So my guideline is to let system X handle the complete screen flow (including the service calls that are specific for that screen flow), in a similar way how you would use a native OBPM screenflow. That really makes life simpler. More over, if you later decide to implement the screen flow in OPBM instead, there is a straight-forward "migration" that won't impact the business process itself.
The idea is that this external system (let's call it system X), polls the engine to find out if there is a task to perform by some logged on user, and if so supports that task as (what is called) an external activity. This polling mechanism would allow you to go from one activity to another where each activity supports one single screen. As a result you are basically modeling a screen flow rather than a business process.
The problem is that you cannot model the screen flow 100%. Think for example about a screen that should provide a pop-up to do some things and then return. There is no (reasonable) way to use OPBM to support this pop-up functionality.
Another problem becomes apparent when you need to call services inside a screen flow. What are the criteria to decide whether OPBM or system X should call the services?
After a couple of weeks and progressive insight, I have come to the conclusion that you should try to prevent modeling a screen flow as a process. So my guideline is to let system X handle the complete screen flow (including the service calls that are specific for that screen flow), in a similar way how you would use a native OBPM screenflow. That really makes life simpler. More over, if you later decide to implement the screen flow in OPBM instead, there is a straight-forward "migration" that won't impact the business process itself.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Some Tips for Installing Oracle BPM 11g on Windows XP
Some tips to get Oracle BPM 11g running on Windows XP, that you may not easily find in the documentation available.
What to collect before you install Software used:
When it is not possible to connect JDeveloper to the internet for a check for update:
Install the software according to the Quick Installation Guide for Oracle SOA Suite as can be found on the Documentation for Oracle SOA Suite page. On XP I did not need to configure anything out of the ordinary. You can install it in the order listed above. Do a typical install of the SOA Suite in a new Oracle home, e.g. named Oracle_SOA1 (the default). Right after that install the 11.1.1.3.0 patch the same way you installed 11.1.1.2.0.
BPM Domain
Create a domain for the BPM Server, using the config.cmd in the [ORACLE_HOME]\common\bin. On the Select Domain Source tab select:
Call the domain e.g. bpmdomain. Use the Sun JDK, and configure the JDBC Component Schema according to the schemas created by the Repository Creation Utility.
On the Select Optional Configuration screen you now have the option to select a single server or managed server configuration. Due to restrictions in the way XP uses memory, choose the latter by NOT checking anything and just press Next. This will result in a separate admin and BPM server.
Once finished, locate the setSOADomainEnv.cmd file e.g. in the [ORACLE_HOME]\user_projects\domains\bpmdomain\bin\ folder. Change the memory settings as follows:
set DEFAULT_MEM_ARGS=-Xms512m -Xmx768m
I could not get it running with -Xmx1024. Do not set -Xms512m to 768, as that will result in both servers taking a minimum of 768 Mb, and also a significant longer start-up time.
JDeveloper
In JDeveloper create an application server connection to the admin server, pointing to the bpmdomain (in my case), and test the connection. All 9 tests should succeed.
To prevent a 502 error while deploying without any further information about what is going wrong, make sure you disabled the proxy settings in JDeveloper.
What to collect before you install Software used:
- Oracle 10g XE Universal
- Repository Creation Utility 11.1.1.3.0
- Weblogic 10.3.3 + Coherence - Package Installer
- SOA Suite 11.1.1.2.0
- SOA Suite 11.1.1.3.0 (patch on 11.1.1.2.0 with BPM)
- JDeveloper 11.1.1.3.0
When it is not possible to connect JDeveloper to the internet for a check for update:
- soa-jdev-extension
- bpm-jdev-extension
Install the software according to the Quick Installation Guide for Oracle SOA Suite as can be found on the Documentation for Oracle SOA Suite page. On XP I did not need to configure anything out of the ordinary. You can install it in the order listed above. Do a typical install of the SOA Suite in a new Oracle home, e.g. named Oracle_SOA1 (the default). Right after that install the 11.1.1.3.0 patch the same way you installed 11.1.1.2.0.
BPM Domain
Create a domain for the BPM Server, using the config.cmd in the [ORACLE_HOME]\common\bin. On the Select Domain Source tab select:
- Oracle BPM Suite
- Oracle SOA Suite
- Oracle Enterprise Manager
- Oracle Business Activity Monitoring
- Oracle WSM Policy Manager
- Oracle JRF - 11.1.1.0
Call the domain e.g. bpmdomain. Use the Sun JDK, and configure the JDBC Component Schema according to the schemas created by the Repository Creation Utility.
On the Select Optional Configuration screen you now have the option to select a single server or managed server configuration. Due to restrictions in the way XP uses memory, choose the latter by NOT checking anything and just press Next. This will result in a separate admin and BPM server.
Once finished, locate the setSOADomainEnv.cmd file e.g. in the [ORACLE_HOME]\user_projects\domains\bpmdomain\bin\ folder. Change the memory settings as follows:
set DEFAULT_MEM_ARGS=-Xms512m -Xmx768m
I could not get it running with -Xmx1024. Do not set -Xms512m to 768, as that will result in both servers taking a minimum of 768 Mb, and also a significant longer start-up time.
JDeveloper
In JDeveloper create an application server connection to the admin server, pointing to the bpmdomain (in my case), and test the connection. All 9 tests should succeed.
To prevent a 502 error while deploying without any further information about what is going wrong, make sure you disabled the proxy settings in JDeveloper.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
BPM 11g Generally Available
You may already have noticed that BPM 11g is generally available. As BPM 11g runs on the SOA Suite, it would not be correct to call it the "BPM Suite" anymore. As a matter of fact, BPM 11g currently is only available as a patch on the SOA 11g Suite.
To run BPM 11g on your laptop you will need the following:
The good news is that for the same money you also get all the rest of JDeveloper and also BPEL with that!
To run BPM 11g on your laptop you will need the following:
- Oracle Server (to setup a playground environment Oracle Server 10g XE is good enough)
- Weblogic Server 10.3.3 (unless you need it for something else, without OEPE)
- Repository Creation Utility 11.1.1.3.0
- SOA Suite 11.1.1.2.0 (SOA Suite 11g)
- SOA Suite 11.1.1.3.0 (which includes BPM and is a "patch" on 11.1.1.2.0)
- JDeveloper 11.1.1.3.0
- JDeveloper extensions for SOA and BPM (via the check for update feature of JDev)
The good news is that for the same money you also get all the rest of JDeveloper and also BPEL with that!
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