Chapter 2. Service Composition with BPEL
In this chapter, we will get familiar with BPEL concepts, and discuss composing services with BPEL. We will look at how to develop executable business processes. In a nutshell, we will:
Discuss service composition with BPEL
Explain how business processes are defined in BPEL
Get familiar with core concepts including:
The structure of BPEL process definitions
Invoking services
Synchronous and asynchronous processes
Partner links
The role of WSDL
Important activities and other constructs
Define an example BPEL process
Developing business processes with BPEL
BPEL uses an XML-based vocabulary that allows us to specify and describe business processes. BPEL is a programming language. Most development environments that support BPEL, such as Oracle JDeveloper, IBM WebSphere Integration Developer, or Eclipse usually provide a visual editor, where we can compose BPEL processes by dragging and dropping the BPEL activities in a visual way. However, the majority of tools also...