SOA / BPM on Oracle Fusion Middleware

Do more with SOA Integration: Best of Packt

2012-02-07T02:03:00.000-08:00

Just back in freezing Germany after the warmth of the Caribbean - lucky for me that the guys from Packt publishing have released the above, enough to warm the cockles of your heart!

Link 2 Book on PacktPub

This is a compendium from industry experts including Oracle's own Harish Gaur, Tom Laszewski, Antony Reynolds, Jason Williamson, Markus Zirn. There are also contributions from Oracle Aces such as Guido Schmutz and Matt Wright.

Chapter 1 covers the basic principles of integration architecture, including a section on Patterns for service-oriented integration.

Chapter 2 goes into detail on Integration Architecture, Principles, and Patterns. This includes a very interesting section on Integration Infrastructure.

The next chapter covers the base technologies - JCA, SCA, JBI, SDO. It concludes with a section covering Process Modeling - EPC, BPMN and BPEL.

Chapter 4 is a gem, covering as it does - Best Practices for Using XML for Integration. Lots of useful tips here.

The next chapter deals with leveraging BPEL to integrate with other EAI solutions. The case study covers integration with TIBCO BusinessWorks and webMethods.

Chapter 6 covers integration with the 2 leading ERP systems - Oracle Apps and PeopleSoft.

Chapter 7 introduces us to the concept of JBI service engines and the raison d'être for NMR(Normalized Message Router). It then goes on to discuss the offering that comes with the NetBeans Enterprise Pack. To quote - "The NetBeans Enterprise Pack provides a version of the Sun Java System Application Server 9.0 which includes several Service Engines from the Open ESB project." The following chapter covers the binding components within the NetBeans environment. Among those discussed are File BC, SMTP BC, SOAP BC, JDBC BC, JMS BC, FTP BC.

Chpater 9 is titled SOA and Web Services Approach for Integration. It begins by discussing how to design Service-Oriented Architectures and then moves on to the heuristics of designing Web Services. The differences between B2B and EAI Web Services are discussed which leads on nicely to the concluding section on Interoperable WSDL.

Chapter 10 discusses ESB architecture, positioning it succinctly as the middleware for middleware technologies. It also focuses heavily on the key requirements of scalability, reliability and security.

Chapter 11 is titled - Loosely Coupling Services - and explores how service virtualization through the Oracle Service Bus (OSB) can be leveraged to ensure more loosely coupled services.

Chapter 12 covers - Integrating BPEL with BPMN using BPM Suite. the focus is on Oracle SOA Suite and how one can implement an SCA composite that includes both BPEL and BPM. Human interaction via BPM, back end service integration via BPEL.

The penultimate chapter, 13, covers - SOA Integration—Functional View, Implementation, and Architecture. Here SOA is discussed in the context of modernization - Legacy SOA Integration. To quote - "SOA Integration is a combined data federation and remote method invocation approach to solve EII/EAI in a Legacy Modernization project." So for those of you concerned with this space, this chapter is a must!

The final chapter - SOA Integration—Scenario in Detail, covers an implementation of the concepts from the previous chapter. To quote "We are now going to show an example in detail for—Web Enablement. We will use JSP, JDBC, the Oracle Legacy Adapter, Oracle Application Server, Java EE Connector API, and XA transaction processing to show a two-phase commit across an Oracle database and VSAM on the mainframe." A great real-world example of SOA in action.

All in all, a great read from those who really know what they are talking about!

Take a bow guys!

Belated 2012 greetings from South Beach Miami

2012-01-17T16:44:00.000-08:00

This is the first post for 2012 and it is coming to you from my vacation domicile in South Beach, Miami.
2012 will be a great year with lots happening in the SOA/BPM space, also expect news on the Oracle Enterprise Gateway front.

I am going back to the R&R, coming back refreshed with more tech posts in early February.

Invoking BPM processes via Java

2011-12-22T06:37:00.000-08:00

Simple scenario -

Client will do a sync invoke the expressOrderProcess and get back an acknowledgement.

Steps -

1. Define conversation/interface for ProcessExpressOrder and Acknowledge
This will generate the wsdl and the required artifacts therein.

2. Create an EJB Service Interface based on the WSDL

3. Deploy and check that you can see the EJB in the JNDI tree

4. Create the Java client

Full doc at

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B7YrnfO7h717ZDhmYjk0ODMtZTg5NS00NGRjLWFiOWEtYTM5NDhhNDMwNGU0

BPM 11g Feature Pack - Collaboration Diagrams

2011-12-21T23:17:00.000-08:00

Collaboration diagrams allows us to see the flow of messages between participants.
The participants are represented by pools and swimlanes. Each pool is essentially a
standalone process.

Here is a simple example with 2 pools -

Now all you need to do is click on the Collaboration Diagram tab...

BPM 11g Feature Pack - Activity Guides

2011-12-21T00:22:00.000-08:00

A great feature available OOTB with feature pack.

Here is my sample BPM process -

Here is the activity guide UI -

Full lab doc at -

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B7YrnfO7h717NTc5NDMwZTMtOTNiZS00NjJiLTkxYTEtZDc1YjlhNTI1OGIz

JDev Project -

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B7YrnfO7h717YjJkZTc2YTYtNTg3MS00OTQ1LTllN2QtZmU1YzQ0OTMwMDJh

SOA/BPM APIs - Manipulating Composites and purging instances

2011-12-19T01:36:00.000-08:00

With the release of the BPM 11g Feature Pack, I've started revisiting the whole API space. There are many blog entries out there dealing with this area - however it is usually only one particular use case that's covered e.g. how to purge instances etc.

However, there are exceptions - Rommel Pino's series of posts on the API are well worth reading, as well as anything from Mark Nelson http://redstack.wordpress.com/author/markxnelson/

Over the next couple of posts I want to look at the different API levels -

- composite / composite instance
- component/ component instance --> BPM process
- human task

My starting point is the following simple BPM process.

My XSD-

My test input -

Notice I have created a composite sensor on the FileAdapter (Read)

Composite API

I going to go thru the composite API - querying composites and their components.
I will also show a couple of approaches to purging instances.

1. Purge all instances of a composite based on instance state e.g. STALE.
This we can do at composite level.

2. Purge all instances of a composite based on instance state e.g. STALE. but doing
individual auditing for each instance. This we can do at composite instance level.

3. Purge a composite instance based on a sensor value. e.g. purge instance for orderID = 3.

The following code - will query all composites and list their components -

****************************************************************************

public void getAllComposites() throws Exception {
System.out.println("getAllComposites()");
Locator locator = null;
int purgedInstanceCount = 0;

try {
locator = this.getLocator();
CompositeFilter compositeFilter = new CompositeFilter();
CompositeInstanceFilter instanceFilter = new CompositeInstanceFilter();

//Get all composites from the domain based on the filter given
List composites =
locator.getComposites(compositeFilter);

System.out.println("*** Found " + composites.size() + " Composites.");

//Iterate through the composites.
Iterator compositeIter = composites.iterator();
while (compositeIter.hasNext()) {
Composite composite = (Composite)compositeIter.next();
System.out.println("Composite DN = " +composite.getCompositeDN());
System.out.println("Composite State = " + composite.getState());
System.out.println("Composite Instance count = " + composite.getInstanceCount());
List components = composite.getComponents();

// List Components

Iterator componentsIter = components.iterator();
while (componentsIter.hasNext()) {
Component component = (Component)componentsIter.next();
System.out.println("*** Component DN = " +component.getDN());
System.out.println("*** Component Name = " + component.getName());
System.out.println("*** Component Type = " + component.getImplementationType());
System.out.println("*** Component Total Instances = " + component.getNumberOfInstances());
System.out.println("*** Component Active Instances = " + component.getNumberOfActiveInstances());

}
//
}

} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
********************************************************************

My test output is as follows -

The following code will query the composite instances and output their composite sensor values -

*******************************************************************

public void getInstances(String compositeName) throws Exception {
System.out.println("getInstances() for composite " + compositeName);
Locator locator = null;

try {
locator = this.getLocator();
CompositeFilter compositeFilter = new CompositeFilter();
CompositeInstanceFilter instanceFilter = new CompositeInstanceFilter();

instanceFilter.setCompositeDN(compositeName);

//Get composite from the domain based on the filter given
List compositeInstances =
locator.getCompositeInstances(instanceFilter);

System.out.println("*** Found " + compositeInstances.size() + " Composite Instances.");

//Iterate through the composites.
Iterator compositeIter = compositeInstances.iterator();
while (compositeIter.hasNext()) {
CompositeInstance compositeInstance = (CompositeInstance)compositeIter.next();
System.out.println("Composite Instance DN = " +compositeInstance.getCompositeDN());
System.out.println("Composite Instance State = " + compositeInstance.getState());
System.out.println("Looking for Composite Sensors...");

List l_sensorData = compositeInstance.getSensorData();
for (int i =0; i < l_sensorData.size(); i++){
SensorData sensorData = l_sensorData.get(i);
System.out.println("*** Sensor name " + sensorData.getSensor().getName());
System.out.println("*** Sensor value " + sensorData.getData().toString());
}
}

}
catch (Exception e){
e.printStackTrace();
}
}

************************************************************************

My test output -

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Let's now do something with the instances e.g.
purge Stale instances.

Instance state can have the following values -

Here I have a couple of stale instances -

I use the following method -

***************************************************************************+

public void deleteCompositeInstances(String compositeName, int state) throws Exception {
System.out.println("deleteCompositeInstances() for composite " + compositeName + " with state " + state );
Locator locator = null;
String orderID = null;
try {
locator = this.getLocator();
CompositeInstanceFilter instanceFilter = new CompositeInstanceFilter();

instanceFilter.setCompositeDN(compositeName);
instanceFilter.setState(state);

//Get composite from the domain based on the filter given
List compositeInstances =
locator.getCompositeInstances(instanceFilter);

System.out.println("*** Found " + compositeInstances.size() + " stale composite instances.");

//Iterate through the composites.
Iterator compositeIter = compositeInstances.iterator();
while (compositeIter.hasNext()) {
CompositeInstance compositeInstance = (CompositeInstance)compositeIter.next();

List l_sensorData = compositeInstance.getSensorData();
for (int i =0; i < l_sensorData.size(); i++){
SensorData sensorData = l_sensorData.get(i);
orderID = sensorData.getData().toString();
}
System.out.println("About to delete instance for orderID = " + orderID);
compositeInstance.delete();

}

}
catch (Exception e){
e.printStackTrace();
}
}

***************************************************************************

We can also purge at the composite, as opposed to the compositeInstance level

************************************************************************

public void deleteCompositeInstancesNoAudit(String compositeName, int state) throws Exception {
System.out.println("deleteCompositeInstancesNoAudit() for composite " + compositeName + " with state " + state );
Locator locator = null;
try {
locator = this.getLocator();
CompositeFilter compositeFilter = new CompositeFilter();
compositeFilter.setCompositeDN(compositeName);

CompositeInstanceFilter instanceFilter = new CompositeInstanceFilter();
instanceFilter.setState(state);

//Get composite from the domain based on the filter given
List l_composites =
locator.getComposites(compositeFilter);

//Iterate through the composites.
Iterator compositeIter = l_composites.iterator();
while (compositeIter.hasNext()) {
Composite composite = (Composite)compositeIter.next();
System.out.println("About to purge "+ composite.getInstances(instanceFilter).size() + " instances... ");
composite.purgeInstances(instanceFilter);

}

}
catch (Exception e){
e.printStackTrace();
}
}

******************************************************************************

The composite sensor can be used in em to find instances based on orderID.

We can also purge instances based on the composite sensor value.
My composite sensor is called compSensor_orderID -

Here is the code -

**********************************************************************
public void deleteCompositeInstance4OrderId(String compositeName, String orderID) throws Exception {
System.out.println("deleteCompositeInstance4OrderId() for composite " + compositeName + " with orderID " + orderID );
Locator locator = null;

try {
locator = this.getLocator();
CompositeInstanceFilter instanceFilter = new CompositeInstanceFilter();

instanceFilter.setCompositeDN(compositeName);

List l_sensorFilter = new ArrayList ();
SensorFilter sensorFilter = new SensorFilter("compSensor_orderID",Sensor.SensorDataType.STRING,Operator.EQUALS,orderID);
l_sensorFilter.add(sensorFilter);

instanceFilter.setSensorFilter(l_sensorFilter);

//Get composite from the domain based on the filter given
List compositeInstances =
locator.getCompositeInstances(instanceFilter);

System.out.println("*** Found " + compositeInstances.size() + " composite instance(s) for orderID " + orderID);

//Iterate through the composites.
Iterator compositeIter = compositeInstances.iterator();
while (compositeIter.hasNext()) {
CompositeInstance compositeInstance = (CompositeInstance)compositeIter.next();

System.out.println("About to delete instance for orderID = " + orderID);
compositeInstance.delete();

}

}
catch (Exception e){
e.printStackTrace();
}
}

**********************************************************************

BPM 11g Feature Pack - Update Task

2011-12-14T07:46:00.000-08:00

Nice feature -

In this scenario I have an order process that includes an event sub-process that listens for order modifications. Once a modification is received, the payload is updated and the original User Task is withdrawn/resubmitted.

Full lab doc at
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B7YrnfO7h717ZjdlY2Q1YzctYjhiYi00ZTQ2LWIxZmEtODY5YTI3ZTdmZmE3

JDev app at

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B7YrnfO7h717MzhjNzcyYjQtOWM1OS00MDA5LTk5N2MtYjhhOGRlY2VjNTEz

BPM 11g Feature Pack - Parametric Roles

2011-12-14T01:40:00.001-08:00

In this simple example, I create a parametric role for Sales based on area and custStatus.

Here is the XSD -

My sales force is jcooper, mtwain, cdickens and wfaulk.
Responsibilities are as follows -

The broad steps are as follows -

1. Create 2 org units in BPM workspace - EMEA SALES and APAC SALES
2. Add users appropriately
3. Create Extended user properties for area and status
4. Map the properties to the users e.g. jcooper property area will be set to EMEA.
5. Create a parametric role that leverages the properties.

6. Create your BPM app
7. Add a User Task - Set participant list to parametric roles and configure
8. Deploy and test

Full description at -

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B7YrnfO7h717M2U1MTlmMmEtZjI3Mi00ZTNhLWFhNTQtYzkyZjc5OGI5Y2I4

Oracle Enterprise Gateway (OEG) - changing the default Alert subject

2011-12-05T00:35:00.000-08:00

Merci beaucoup Isabelle for the pointer!

Here is an example email output from a lab I created.

Now you notice that the subject defaults to Alert from Vordel. You will probably want to change this. To do this we need to add a new Subject to the default Alert configuration.

Start esexplorer.

Point to your OEG configuration file

Select the Default Alert Configuration – then the SysAlert you already created.
Right-click --> Create a Subject

Set to a value of your choice

Start your email server e.g. James
Start the gateway
Test

BPM 11g feature pack - Notification Task

2011-11-24T00:31:00.000-08:00

Nice feature -

In this simple scenario I receive an order containing, among other data, the customer's email address.
First thing I do is send an email confirming receipt of the order.

As usual I'm using JAMES as my email server -

Step 1 - Create some users on JAMES

Step 2- Configure the EMAIL properties on the SOA Server

Set Workflow Notification Properties:

Set usermessaging-email-driver properties

Step 3 Create a simple BPM App

I use the File Adapter to read in the orders.

My XSD / input XML is as follows -

Step 4. Deploy and Test

Oracle Weblogic 12c launch

2011-11-20T23:48:00.000-08:00

December 1st -

Hear, with your fellow IT managers, architects, and developers, how the new release of Oracle WebLogic Server is:

Designed to help you seamlessly move into the public or private cloud with an open, standards-based platform
Built to drive higher value for your current infrastructure and significantly reduce development time and cost
Optimized to run your solutions for Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE); Oracle Fusion Middleware; and Oracle Fusion Applications
Enhanced with transformational platforms and technologies such as Java EE 6, Oracle’s Active GridLink for RAC, Oracle Traffic Director, and Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder

Simply register at -
https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=registration.jsp&eventid=375727&sessionid=1&key=108E7A597FD93F05D40355E5A6A5F60C&partnerref=Oracle_Internal_Email_Lists&sourcepage=register

Oracle SOA Suite HealthCare Integration

2011-11-18T04:25:00.000-08:00

Officially released last month and well worth looking into for integration projects in the health care space. So if your customer is looking at HL7 over MLLP - then look no further.

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/healthcare/overview/index.html

BPM 11g Feature Pack - Correlation

2011-10-29T03:59:00.000-07:00

Simple example to show feature pack correlation at work -

Scenario: we have 2 BPM processes one for processing orders and one for cancelling orders

1.MyOrderProcess - does the order approvals etc. Orders arrive via the FileAdapter
(ReadOrder – / inOrders directory).

2. MyCancelOrderProcess – processes order cancellations and informs the OrderProcess. Order cancellations arrive via the FileAdapter (CancelOrder - /inCancellations directory).

When a cancellation message arrives, OrderProcess is informed – order processing is terminated and an audit message is written to a file (AuditOrder/audit directory)

So we need correlation between the 2 - we do this essentially the same way as we do in BPEL.

We create the same correlation keys/properties in both processes - based on the orderID.

Full lab doc at

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B7YrnfO7h717YWIxYjFlMDEtMDQzZi00ZTJiLThmYmEtMDg2NjE2Mjc3NzI4

App at -

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B7YrnfO7h717MTJiMWZhM2QtYzFlOS00MjRmLTkyZGUtNTYzODM2MzYxMzIy

running 64bit virtual box image on WinXP

2011-10-25T07:11:00.000-07:00

I had an issue with this last week during a BPM 11g workshop in the Netherlands.
We provided a 64 bit linux image running BPM11g but we couldn't get this to start on WinXP. We got the follow error -

We ensured that the BIOS virtualisation settings were ok.
Then we read the documentation -
http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch03.html#intro-64bitguests

always a good thing to do...

As a result we made the following changes -

1. Checked the boxes on the System --> acceleration tab
2. Changed the OS Type from Oracle to Oracle 64 bit.

re-started...

Cheers Cosmin!

BPM Workspace --> issue loading ADF task flows

2011-10-24T00:26:00.000-07:00

My colleague Flavius Sana takes the kudos for the following "guest" post.
This issue can occur when working with BPM VM images. -

Probably you encountered this problem before. In BPM Workspace when you try to open a task form you get something like this:

The application is trying to load the task form from a different address (like localhost). You can solve the problem by creating an alias in the local hosts file and …
Go to sqlplus and login into soainfra
$ sqlplus dev_soainfra/
And at the SQL prompt:
SQL>update WFTASKDISPLAY set hostname='soabpm_vm.local';
SQL>commit;
Your problems have been solved:

OEG - Oracle Enterprise Gateway - McAfee Anti-Virus

2011-10-14T08:11:00.000-07:00

OEG can work in concert with various anti-virus tools such as CLAM AV, McAfee and Sophos.

This post details the setup for McAfee.

In my example OEG and McAfee are installed on the same machine.

Copy the following .dat files from McAfee to OEG_Home/conf/plugin/mcafee/datv2
- avvclean.dat
- avvnames.dat
- avvscan.dat

You will have to create /mcafee/datv2 beforehand

Copy config.dat to OEG_Home/win32/lib

Copy mcscan32.dll to /win32/lib

Restart OEG
Create a Policy for VirusChecking –

Add the McAfee filter – configuring as follows

We are using the custom setting as we want to test with the EICAR test data -
checking the Scan for Test Files option.
For more on EICAR please refer to http://eicar.org/86-0-Intended-use.html

Add a Reflect filter
Add a relative path /VirusCheck

Deploy and Test
We will use the EICAR test file to test the ant-virus filter.
http://eicar.org/86-0-Intended-use.html
Create a new .txt file (e.g. virusTester.txt) and copy and paste in the EICAR data
You may get the following message from McAfee

So just disable the McAfee on-access scan for the duration of this test.

In Service Explorer, add this file as an attachment to your message

1

Notice the test seems to have been successful, however, our attachment has been deleted.

Look at the trace file –

You will see -

ERROR 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.968 [168c] message is infected with EICAR test file

ERROR 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.968 [168c] cannot repair object, mark it for removing.

INFO 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.968 [168c] remove infected message part 'virusTester.txt'

Full trace -
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:04.875 [168c] run filter [McAfee Anti-Virus] {
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:04.890 [168c] getting class com.vordel.security.antivirus.McAfeeScanner with classLoader.loadClass()
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:04.890 [168c] loaded class com.vordel.security.antivirus.McAfeeScanner
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:04.890 [168c] registered scanner class
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:04.890 [168c] data files in D:\Work\envs\OEG\Gateway\enterprisegateway\conf\plugin\mcafee\datv2
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:04.890 [168c] using McAfee V2 interface
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:04.890 [168c] data file: D:\Work\envs\OEG\Gateway\enterprisegateway\conf\plugin\mcafee\datv2\avvclean.dat
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:04.906 [168c] data file: D:\Work\envs\OEG\Gateway\enterprisegateway\conf\plugin\mcafee\datv2\avvnames.dat
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:04.906 [168c] data file: D:\Work\envs\OEG\Gateway\enterprisegateway\conf\plugin\mcafee\datv2\avvscan.dat
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:04.906 [168c] engine location: D:\Work\envs\OEG\Gateway\enterprisegateway\win32\lib
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:08.281 [1a34] opdb commit loop: sleep for max 5000ms
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:08.671 [1368] DataSource after getConnection {numActive = 1, numIdle = 0}
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:13.281 [1a34] opdb commit loop: sleep for max 5000ms
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:13.687 [1368] DataSource after getConnection {numActive = 1, numIdle = 0}
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.796 [168c] AV initialised, support level: AVU_FULLYSUPPORTED
INFO 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.796 [168c] McAfee scanner initialised.
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.812 [168c] begin processing compound body 'anonymous' (0 parts)
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.812 [168c] snd 0025:
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.812 [168c] rcv 746 from max of 1658: <000002d9 --VORDEL-SOAPBOX-MULTIPART-BOUNDARY-0.17758321916921194 Content-Type: text/xml

AMEX

12345678

--VORDEL-SOAPBOX-MULTIPART-BOUNDARY-0.17758321916921194 Content-ID: virusTester.txt Content-Type: text/plain X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H* --VORDEL-SOAPBOX-MULTIPART-BOUNDARY-0.17758321916921194-- 0 >
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.828 [168c] new buffered content factory 06C029F8
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.828 [168c] buffered content 06C029F8, size=0/4
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.828 [168c] getting class com.vordel.dwe.ContentBuffer with classLoader.loadClass()
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.828 [168c] loaded class com.vordel.dwe.ContentBuffer
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.828 [168c] [06C029F8] new chunk 06E87408 from 06E016D8 to 06E01865 (397)
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.828 [168c] new content stack 00BB6B98
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.828 [168c] push source buffered onto 00BB6B98
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.828 [168c] handle type text/xml with factory class com.vordel.mime.XMLBody$Factory
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.843 [168c] new buffered content factory 0AB508B8
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.843 [168c] buffered content 0AB508B8, size=0/4
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.843 [168c] [0AB508B8] new chunk 07070EF8 from 00BFA7A8 to 00BFA7EE (70)
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.843 [168c] new content stack 00BB6BB0
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.843 [168c] push source buffered onto 00BB6BB0
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.843 [168c] handle type text/plain with factory class com.vordel.mime.Body$1
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.843 [168c] begin processing body part 'anonymous'
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.843 [168c] start: buffer() null
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.843 [168c] start: use new buffer for null
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.843 [168c] new buffered content factory 06E84B58
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.843 [168c] buffered content 06E84B58, size=0/4
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.843 [168c] start: copy to the new buffer for null
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.859 [168c] new buffered content stream 0AD771D0
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.859 [168c] [06E84B58] new chunk 06E44118 from 07060B70 to 07060CFD (397)
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.859 [168c] delete buffered content stream 0AD771D0
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.859 [168c] new content stack 00BB6B80
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.859 [168c] push source buffered onto 00BB6B80
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.859 [168c] getting class com.vordel.security.antivirus.McAfeeScanner with classLoader.loadClass()
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.859 [168c] loaded class com.vordel.security.antivirus.McAfeeScanner
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.859 [168c] getting class com.vordel.dwe.NativeContentSource with classLoader.loadClass()
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.859 [168c] loaded class com.vordel.dwe.NativeContentSource
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.859 [168c] getting class com.vordel.security.antivirus.McAfeeScannerConfig with classLoader.loadClass()
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.859 [168c] loaded class com.vordel.security.antivirus.McAfeeScannerConfig
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.859 [168c] scanner will remove any infected objects.
INFO 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.859 [168c] Custom scan
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.859 [168c] AVP_REPAIR
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.859 [168c] AVP_SERVER
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.859 [168c] AVP_SCANALLFILES
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.859 [168c] scan level 3
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.875 [168c] decompress archives
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.875 [168c] decompress exes
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.875 [168c] heuristic program analysis
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.875 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_IOREQUEST(0x0,0D0CA12C)
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.875 [168c] deferred IO request AVIORQ_PATHNAME
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.875 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_IOREQUEST(0x0,0DEF6FE8)
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.875 [168c] deferred IO request AVIORQ_SIZE
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.875 [168c] body size: 397
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.875 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_IOREQUEST(0x0,0DEF6FE8)
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.875 [168c] deferred IO request AVIORQ_ALTERNATENAME
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.875 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_IOREQUEST(0x0,0DEF6FE8)
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.875 [168c] deferred IO request AVIORQ_OPENREAD
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.875 [168c] new buffered content stream 0AD771D0
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.875 [168c] open stream for reading, size 397
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.875 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_OBJECTSTART(0x5,00000000)
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.875 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_OBJECTSIZE(0x5,0000018D)
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.875 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_OBJECTNAME(0x5,10C7B05C)
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.890 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_QUERYDENYSCAN(0x5,00000000)
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.890 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_IOREQUEST(0x0,0DEF6FE8)
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.890 [168c] deferred IO request AVIORQ_SEEKSTART
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.890 [168c] set stream position to 0 (forward).
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.890 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_IOREQUEST(0x0,0DEF6FE8)
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.890 [168c] deferred IO request AVIORQ_READ
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.890 [168c] read 397 bytes
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.890 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_QUERYQUITSCANNING(0x5,00000000)
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.890 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_QUERYQUITSCANNING(0x5,00000000)
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.890 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_OBJECTSUMMARY(0x5,00000000)
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.890 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_OBJECTCLOSED(0x5,00000000)
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.890 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_IOREQUEST(0x0,0DEF6FE8)
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.890 [168c] deferred IO request AVIORQ_CLOSE
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.890 [168c] delete buffered content stream 0AD771D0
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.906 [168c] close stream, size 397
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.906 [168c] scanner status is [NOVIRUS]
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.906 [168c] pop source of type buffered off 00BB6B80
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.906 [168c] delete buffered content factory 06E84B58
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.906 [168c] [06E84B58] delete chunk 06E44118 from 07060B70 to 07060CFD (397)
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.906 [168c] deleted stack 00BB6B80
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.906 [168c] finish processing body part 'anonymous'
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.906 [168c] begin processing body part 'virusTester.txt'
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.906 [168c] start: buffer() virusTester.txt
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.906 [168c] start: use new buffer for virusTester.txt
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.906 [168c] new buffered content factory 06E84B58
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.906 [168c] buffered content 06E84B58, size=0/4
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.906 [168c] start: copy to the new buffer for virusTester.txt
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.921 [168c] new buffered content stream 0AD771D0
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.921 [168c] [06E84B58] new chunk 06E43AB0 from 00BCCE80 to 00BCCEC6 (70)
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.921 [168c] delete buffered content stream 0AD771D0
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.921 [168c] new content stack 00BB6B80
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.921 [168c] push source buffered onto 00BB6B80
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.921 [168c] scanner will remove any infected objects.
INFO 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.921 [168c] Custom scan
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.921 [168c] AVP_REPAIR
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.921 [168c] AVP_SERVER
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.921 [168c] AVP_SCANALLFILES
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.921 [168c] scan level 3
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.921 [168c] decompress archives
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.921 [168c] decompress exes
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.921 [168c] heuristic program analysis
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.921 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_IOREQUEST(0x0,0D0CA12C)
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.937 [168c] deferred IO request AVIORQ_PATHNAME
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.937 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_IOREQUEST(0x0,0DEF6FE8)
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.937 [168c] deferred IO request AVIORQ_SIZE
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.937 [168c] body size: 70
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.937 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_IOREQUEST(0x0,0DEF6FE8)
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.937 [168c] deferred IO request AVIORQ_ALTERNATENAME
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.937 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_IOREQUEST(0x0,0DEF6FE8)
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.937 [168c] deferred IO request AVIORQ_OPENREAD
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.937 [168c] new buffered content stream 0AD771D0
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.937 [168c] open stream for reading, size 70
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.937 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_OBJECTSTART(0x5,00000000)
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.937 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_OBJECTSIZE(0x5,00000046)
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.937 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_OBJECTNAME(0x5,10C7B048)
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.953 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_QUERYDENYSCAN(0x5,00000000)
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.953 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_IOREQUEST(0x0,0DEF6FE8)
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.953 [168c] deferred IO request AVIORQ_SEEKSTART
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.953 [168c] set stream position to 0 (forward).
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.953 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_IOREQUEST(0x0,0DEF6FE8)
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.953 [168c] deferred IO request AVIORQ_READ
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.953 [168c] read 70 bytes
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.953 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_QUERYQUITSCANNING(0x5,00000000)
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.953 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_QUERYQUITSCANNING(0x5,00000000)
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.953 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_OBJECTINFECTED(0x5,0DEF04F0)
ERROR 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.968 [168c] message is infected with EICAR test fileDEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.968 [168c] callback: scanner status 1
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.968 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_QUERYDENYREPAIR(0x5,00000000)
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.968 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_OBJECTNOTREPAIRED(0x5,0000000C)
ERROR 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.968 [168c] cannot repair object, mark it for removing.
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.968 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_OBJECTSUMMARY(0x5,00000003)
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.968 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_OBJECTCLOSED(0x5,00000000)
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.968 [168c] 0D0CB958/AVM_IOREQUEST(0x0,0DEF6FE8)
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.968 [168c] deferred IO request AVIORQ_CLOSE
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.968 [168c] delete buffered content stream 0AD771D0
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.968 [168c] close stream, size 70
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.968 [168c] native: set scanner status to 3
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.968 [168c] scanner status is [REMOVED]
INFO 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.968 [168c] remove infected message part 'virusTester.txt'
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.984 [168c] pop source of type buffered off 00BB6B80
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.984 [168c] delete buffered content factory 06E84B58
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.984 [168c] [06E84B58] delete chunk 06E43AB0 from 00BCCE80 to 00BCCEC6 (70)
DATA 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.984 [168c] deleted stack 00BB6B80
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.984 [168c] finish processing body part 'virusTester.txt'
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.984 [168c] attempt to remove part virusTester.txt
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.984 [168c] removed part com.vordel.mime.RawBody@13ad88b/virusTester.txt from partsById
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.984 [168c] removed part com.vordel.mime.RawBody@13ad88b from allParts
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.984 [168c] finish processing compound body 'anonymous' (1 parts)
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.984 [168c] } = 1, in 13109 milliseconds
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:17.984 [168c] run filter [Reflect message & attributes] {
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:18.000 [168c] qa reflecting request
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:18.000 [168c] } = 1, in 0 milliseconds
DEBUG 13/Oct/2011:15:32:18.000 [168c] ..."VirusChecker" complete.

Installing BPM11g feature pack on Windows

2011-10-11T03:36:00.000-07:00

The patchset consists essentially of 4 patches that one applies to the
Common Oracle Home and the SOA Home.

One then updates the DB repository.

Upgrade JDeveloper

Do a couple of post install steps and then that's it.

please refer to my install doc at
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B7YrnfO7h717YzE5YzY4ZmUtYWRmZi00YWUyLWE5MzQtOTMyZTZiMTRiYzU4&hl=en_US

Then check out otn for the new features doc
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/bpm/learnmore/whatsnewbpmfeaturepack-487968.html

OEG - Oracle Enterprise Gateway Throttling - Part2

2011-10-10T04:51:00.000-07:00

In this scenario have requests from Gold and Silver customers.
• Gold customers may execute 10 requests per minute
• Silver customers may execute 5 requests per minute

The customer status is stored in the http header – custStatus.

I created the following policies in OEG Policy Studio –

To begin with I create a policy for Silver customers -

I then create one for gold customers -

I create a 3rd policy - StatusBasedThrottling which essentially does the following -

1

- Extract the custStatus
- Switch on the custStatus value calling either the gold or silver policy
- Success Path - just reflect the message back to the caller
- Failure Path - trigger an email alert
- save the request to a message queue for later processing.

Let's see how each has been defined -

Now we need to configure the External Connection for JMS -

Create a JMS Q and Connection Factory on WLS -

jms/myThrottlingQueue
jms/myCF

In a previous step we have configured the Messaging System filter to write to
jms/myThrottlingQueue

Now I create a relative path -

Now we can deploy the policy, but first we need to add wls client to the oeg classpath -

Restart OEG and you will see the JMS lookup -

Test using Service Explorer -

The 6th request returns an error

Check email

Check Queue

OEG - Oracle Enterprise Gateway - Throttling

2011-10-10T04:15:00.000-07:00

Simple example - throttle to only 5 requests per minute.

This builds on the example detailed in the previous OEG blog posting.

http://niallcblogs.blogspot.com/2011/09/registering-web-service-with-oracle.html

We will now amend the generated circuit (or shall we say, policy pipeline) to throttle requests to 5 per minute and email the Sys admin in case of violation.

We do this using the Throttling filter -

It is configured as follows -

Now we need to set up the connection to the EMAIL server (I'm using James for this)

We need to add an Alert destination -

Configured as follows -

Naturally, I have already created a user oegadmin on James - adduser oegadmin welcome

Now I configure an Alert filter in the policy (Failure Path) -

Deploy and test -

We can use Service Explorer and simple click run 6 times to see throttling in action.

I then check my email -

However, there is an easier way of doing this. We can use the OEG sr cmdLine tool to send the requests for us -

sr -h localhost -u/NiallsCreditCardService -s 8082 -p 10 -d10

The parameter definitions -

Now you be asking what is this /NiallsCreditCardService ?
this is simply a relative path I created on OEG -

essentially virtualising the backend service for us.

Cobol on the Bus Part 3

2011-09-30T00:07:00.000-07:00

This time I have a somewhat more complex payload -

01 XXX.
05 XXX-STRUCT.
10 XXX-USER PIC X(04).
10 XXX-CODE PIC 9(08).

05 YYY-TAB.
07 YYY-DETAIL OCCURS 2 TIMES.
10 YYY-A PIC X(01).
10 YYY-B PIC S9(16)v9(2).
10 YYY-C PIC S9(16)v9(2).
10 YYY-D PIC S9(16)v9(2).
10 YYY-E PIC S9(3)v99.
05 YYY-END PIC 9(04).

I create a new OSB project in OEPE and import this copybook via MFL.

Test

Normally one would generate the non-XML data first -

and lo and behold - we get the following error.

The error - Too many digits - is understandable once we do the following -

Generate XML data

yyy-e has been defined as PIC S9(3)v99 e.g. 433.30
The generated XML value is 4333

Change this to 433.3 (the 2 occurances) and transform xml to non-xml

I change the non-xml value of user and click transform
Now I get the error -

yyy-b is defined as follows -
YYY-B PIC S9(16)v9(2).

MFL wise - It is defined as follows -

Change it (and the other signed fields) as follows -

Re-test - Generate XML

Change yyy-e values to include decimal point.

Transform XML to non-XML

Change the xxx-user value and Transform non-XML to XML

Naturally all these settings are contingent on the Mainframe sending the Cobol on to the bus. This could be over TCP-IP so you could use the Socket adapter, or maybe MQ is being used. Also one needs test data from the mainframe to see how the sign is being handled etc.

However, in the context of a POC...

Registering a Web Service with Oracle Enterprise Gateway (OEG)

2011-09-21T22:44:00.000-07:00

Simple sanity test for OEG install.

I have created and deployed a simple creditCardValidation service to

http://localhost:7001/ValidateCC/ValidateCCPort?WSDL

The impl is as follows -

package validatecc;

public class ValidateCC {
public ValidateCC() {
super();
}
public CreditCardValidation validateCard(String cardType, String cardNr){
CreditCardValidation ccv = new CreditCardValidation();
ccv.setStatus("INVALID");

if (cardType.equalsIgnoreCase("AMEX")){
ccv.setValidFrom("20110101");
ccv.setValidUntil("20150101");
ccv.setCustName("NiallC");
ccv.setLimit(10000);
ccv.setStatus("VALID");

}
if (cardType.equalsIgnoreCase("VISA")){
ccv.setValidFrom("20070101");
ccv.setValidUntil("20110101");
ccv.setCustName("NiallC");
ccv.setLimit(7000);
ccv.setStatus("VALID");

}
return ccv;
}
}

package validatecc;

public class CreditCardValidation {
String validFrom;
String validUntil;
String custName;
String status;
int limit;

public CreditCardValidation() {
super();
}

public void setValidFrom(String validFrom) {
this.validFrom = validFrom;
}

public String getValidFrom() {
return validFrom;
}

public void setValidUntil(String validUntil) {
this.validUntil = validUntil;
}

public String getValidUntil() {
return validUntil;
}

public void setCustName(String custName) {
this.custName = custName;
}

public String getCustName() {
return custName;
}

public void setLimit(int limit) {
this.limit = limit;
}

public int getLimit() {
return limit;
}

public void setStatus(String status) {
this.status = status;
}

public String getStatus() {
return status;
}
}

Simple enough!

Steps

Start up the Gateway & Policy Studio

Gateway startup --> \OEG\Gateway\enterprisegateway\Win32\bin\enterprisegateway.bat
Policy Studio Startup --> \OEG\PolicyStudio\oegpolicystudio\policystudio.exe

Click on the Edit Active Configuration link
This loads the current Gateway configuration into Policy Studio.

Click on Policies
Click on Register Web Service

This is just a simple pass through example so de-select teh "secure" checkbox.

Check the routing settings

As you can see, this is simple pass-thru processing.

Now deploy the changes from Policy Studio to the Gateway.

Review what has been generated -

Right Click on the Service Handler --> Edit

Click on the Validation tab

Test using Service Explorer

I didn't cover the install of Service Explorer in my "OEG Install" blog post.
It is just a case of unzipping the file - Oracle_Enterprise_Gateway_11_1_1_5_0_Win32_Service_Explorer.zip to a directory of your choice.

Start -

You are presented with an empty page - ready for exploring!

Menu --> File --> Load WSDL

Here we load our original WSDL.

Change the Request, adding valid cardType etc.

Click on the drop down list beside the green icon

Change to point to OEG
http://8082/ValidateCC/ValidateCCPort
The default port for OEG is 8080, however I changed this to 8082, as I had a DB service running on 8080.

Validate the response

Monitor the Gateway

admin/changeme
Click on View Reports

Installing/Configuring Oracle Enterprise Gateway on Windows

2011-09-16T09:01:00.000-07:00

The software is available on OTN, just click on the download link at -
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/id-mgmt/oeg-300773.html

Then simply follow my doc -

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=1D0Z0KfgFdvqGHIcpG_7B32mWImGGCRkWhO882KyRVJFYAx94QK9yf6vVTjQP&hl=en

OEG - Oracle Enterprise Gateway

2011-09-14T16:03:00.001-07:00

I'm currently in Santa Clara skilling up on OEG, which can secure access to your services etc. from the outside world. It works in conjunction with WSM. Think of it as taking care of security in the DMZ, working in concert with WSM which takes care of the last mile security.

To quote from OTN -

Oracle Enterprise Gateway provides DMZ-class security and a comprehensive threat defense system at the service perimeter to SOA and Cloud environments, thus providing critical protection needed between un-trusted and trusted zones.

A very compelling addition to our stack -

So I strongly suggest you check out the many resources available on OTN -
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/id-mgmt/oeg-300773.html

BPM11g looping Subprocess

2011-08-31T01:40:00.000-07:00

Scenario:
the ubiquitous example of an order and its order lines -

XSD

Test XML input

In the BPM process I need to loop thru the order lines.

The basic process looks as follows -

I created a fileAdapter(Read) which triggers the process.

I created the following process variables -

To begin with, I copy the incoming order to the v_order variable.

Then I get the count of incoming order lines -

Now to the looping subprocess -

The loop condition is defined as follows -

Note we have this sub-process variable loopCounter generated for us.

Now to the actual processing - I just copy the orderLine[n] to a variable.

Deploy and test

Adding ADF BC components to a BPM Human Task Form

2011-08-10T01:48:00.000-07:00

Here is what we need to do...
The BPM process only contains the orderID in the payload. We will need to retrieve the order details from the database via ADF BC and display them on the task form page. My table is called am_order and is defined as follows -

Thanks to Mireille D. and Angelo S. for their input!

The high level steps are as follows –

Auto-generate the Human Task form from the BPM task definition.
- This creates a new project in your JDeveloper application.

In the new project, expose the am_order table as an ADF BC
- Tailor it to add a View Criteria
- e.g. Am_order.order_id = orderID

Add a new bounded ADF task flow to the project
- Here we will display the order details
- The task flow will include a parameter (#pageFlowScope.in_orderID)
-- The view used will be a page fragment

Add the new bounded ADF task flow to the auto-generated taskDetails.jspx
- It will be dropped as a Region
-- Specify the bindings to orderID

Auto-generating the task form is a piece of cake - the real "baking" (pardon the pun) is in the creation of the extra ADF Task form to display the order details.

Amend the ADF BC View as follows -

1. Add a bind variable e.g. (bpm_orderID)
2. Add a new View Criteria that will leverage it.

3. Specify use at app module level

So to execute a query on the view we need to pass in a value for
bpm_orderID

Create the new task flow

This bounded task flow will have the following parameter-

So the task flow expects to be passed in a String (orderID). We call this in_orderID and it is stored in the variable pageFlowScope.in_orderID

Drop the ExecuteWithParams operation from the ViewObject on to the task flow diagram.

Here we specify the value for the view bind variable (bpm_orderID). Naturally this is set to pageFlowScope.in_orderID

We then add a view to the task flow to display the order details

That's it for the task flow.

Now open the auto-generated task form and drop in the new task flow as a region.

I position it after after the orderID.

When dropping we will need to bind the input parameter (in_orderID) we defined earlier. So we bind it to the the existing orderID on the page -

Using timers in BPM 11g Part 2

2011-08-08T01:03:00.000-07:00

Scenario:

A typical batch style process -
The process starts at 10 am and writes out a report every hour.
It ends 6 hours later at 4 pm.

Now for testing purposes I will start at 2:40 pm, write a report every 1 minute and then end 5 minutes later - but you can extrapolate as required.

The process is as follows -

Start is set to 14:40

The variable v_endTimeString will be set to startTime (i.e. 14:40) + 5 minutes.
I use this later for comparison purposes. I'm not the XPath guru so I essentially
store the end date as a String in the format YYYYMMDDHHMM and then exit the reporting loop when currentDateTime > v_endTimeString.

Wait 1 minute configured as follows -

The COB? (Close Of Business) condition for "Still within business hours" is set as follows -

xp20:format-dateTime(string(xp20:current-dateTime()), '[Y0001][M01][D01][H01][m01]') < bpmn:getDataObject('v_endTimeString')

Deploy and test

The output report should contain 5 entries for the time period 14:40 - 14:45.

Using Timers in BPM11g

2011-08-03T01:17:00.000-07:00

Here is the only occasion where I must admit the official docs left me somewhat puzzled.

It shows examples such as 'now' + 20 which one could take as an indication on how to set a timer for current date time + 20 (hours, seconds ??)

My scenario is very simple - accept a file, wait a certain amount of time and then write the file.

So now I want to set this wait to 15 seconds -

This may seem pretty cryptic -

xp20:add-dayTimeDuration-to-dateTime(xp20:current-dateTime(), string('PT15S'))

PT15S - PT are just constants -

P1Y1DT1H1S

so 3 days are P3D
3 hours PT3H

Check out Antony's blog posting for the why's etc.

http://blogs.oracle.com/reynolds/entry/whats_the_time_mr_bpel

Leveraging SDOs in BPM11g

2011-07-18T11:19:00.000-07:00

In this simple scenario we will process orders that adhere to the following XSD

btw. a great resource that I often refer to is Antony Reynolds/Matt Wright --> Oracle SOA Suite 11g Developers Guide. If you don't already have it - then get it!

Ok back to business...

The underlying DB tables are as follows (I've created them in SCOTT's schema)–

DDL is available at Appendx A

Scenario
We are used to having payloads that contain all of the order attributes. We can imagine an Order Entry UI where the Order & customer details are entered. We could pass all of this on to BPM via the payload. However a more efficient way may be to leverage SDOs and just pass the keys e.g. OrderId, CustID on to BPM. BPM can then load the data in just in time mode from the DB using the SDO.

Setup
You need to have your DB schema installed. I create 1 customer so that I’ve something to test.

Create an ADF App in JDeveloper
This app will contain ADF-BC artifacts that we will expose via a Service Interface.

Set App name in project properties to something more readable as the default.

Create a BC App Module based on the tables we created.

Open the AppModule and click on Service Interface, then the +

Do the same for the other views.

FYI: Here is an extract from the official docs, detailing the operations.

The following files are generated

Test

We can test the SDO using OrdersAMServiceImpl

Running this app will deploy it to the integrated WLS and open the test page in your browser.
Select the getAmCustomerView1 operation
- Enter 1 as the cust id

Deploy to SOA Admin Server
Change the wsdl url to point to the target port
- Per default it is generated for 7101 (the JDev integrated WLS).

Add the following to the weblogic-application.xml

This enables us to register the SDO as an RMI Service.

The Datasource used by ADF-BC (jdbc/scottDS) needs to be XA aware.
The default generated/deployed by ADF-BC is not what we require, so we have to do 2 things - de-activate auto-generation of the weblogic-jdbc.xml and create the necessary datasource on our target WLS.

Using the WLS console, create a datasource jdbc/scottDS.
Per default it will be XA aware.

Create a new deployment profile of type Business Components Service Interface

Give the application a more meaningful name

Deploy from the Application Menu

Test

Leverage SDO in a BPM Composite

Create a BPM app

In Composite.xml --> add an ADF-BC Service (Reference).

Note: Registry name set to ADF app name + _JBOServiceRegistry.

Now we add a FileAdapter(ReadOrders) which will pass in the custID.
In the BPM designer, set Start implementation to ReadOrders.

Add a Service activity to retrieve the customer from the DB.

Deploy & test

Appendix A

ALTER TABLE AM_PRODUCT
DROP CONSTRAINT AM_PRODUCT_AM_ORDER_LINE_FK;

ALTER TABLE AM_ORDER_LINE
DROP CONSTRAINT AM_ORDER_LINE_AM_ORDER_FK;

ALTER TABLE AM_ORDER
DROP CONSTRAINT AM_ORDER_AM_CUSTOMER_FK;

DROP TABLE AM_PRODUCT CASCADE CONSTRAINTS;

DROP TABLE AM_ORDER_LINE CASCADE CONSTRAINTS;

DROP TABLE AM_ORDER CASCADE CONSTRAINTS;

DROP TABLE AM_CUSTOMER CASCADE CONSTRAINTS;

CREATE TABLE AM_PRODUCT
(
PRODUCT_ID VARCHAR2(20) NOT NULL
, PRODUCT_NAME VARCHAR2(20) NOT NULL
, PRODUCT_PRICE DECIMAL NOT NULL
, PRODUCT_DESCRIPTION VARCHAR2(255)
, ORDER_LINE_ID VARCHAR2(20)
, CONSTRAINT AM_PRODUCT_PK PRIMARY KEY
(
PRODUCT_ID
)
ENABLE
);

CREATE TABLE AM_ORDER_LINE
(
ORDER_LINE_ID VARCHAR2(20) NOT NULL
, ORDER_LINE_ITEM_DISCOUNT DECIMAL NOT NULL
, ORDER_LINE_ITEM_QUANTITY NUMBER NOT NULL
, ORDER_ID VARCHAR2(20)
, CONSTRAINT AM_ORDER_LINE_PK PRIMARY KEY
(
ORDER_LINE_ID
)
ENABLE
);

CREATE TABLE AM_ORDER
(
ORDER_ID VARCHAR2(20) NOT NULL
, ORDER_STATUS VARCHAR2(20) NOT NULL
, ORDER_DISCOUNT DECIMAL
, ORDER_COMMENTS VARCHAR2(255)
, CUST_ID VARCHAR2(20)
, CONSTRAINT AM_ORDER_PK PRIMARY KEY
(
ORDER_ID
)
ENABLE
);

CREATE TABLE AM_CUSTOMER
(
CUST_ID VARCHAR2(20) NOT NULL
, CUST_NAME VARCHAR2(20) NOT NULL
, CUST_EMAIL VARCHAR2(20) NOT NULL
, CUST_CREDITCARD_TYPE VARCHAR2(20) NOT NULL
, CUST_CREDITCARD_NR VARCHAR2(20) NOT NULL
, CONSTRAINT AM_CUSTOMER_PK PRIMARY KEY
(
CUST_ID
)
ENABLE
);

ALTER TABLE AM_PRODUCT
ADD CONSTRAINT AM_PRODUCT_AM_ORDER_LINE_FK FOREIGN KEY
(
ORDER_LINE_ID
)
REFERENCES AM_ORDER_LINE
(
ORDER_LINE_ID
)
ENABLE;

ALTER TABLE AM_ORDER_LINE
ADD CONSTRAINT AM_ORDER_LINE_AM_ORDER_FK FOREIGN KEY
(
ORDER_ID
)
REFERENCES AM_ORDER
(
ORDER_ID
)
ENABLE;

ALTER TABLE AM_ORDER
ADD CONSTRAINT AM_ORDER_AM_CUSTOMER_FK FOREIGN KEY
(
CUST_ID
)
REFERENCES AM_CUSTOMER
(
CUST_ID
)
ENABLE;

Celebrate the 50th Oracle book from Packt Publishing

2011-07-11T02:36:00.000-07:00

Great books on special offer to celebrate the event

Please see

http://www.packtpub.com/article/50th-oracle-book-offer

SOA Suite 11g: Test 2 Production via Config Plan

2011-07-06T03:09:00.000-07:00

Scenario:
I have a simple SOA composite that calls a validation service.
I develop this in my test environment using the validation web service running on the test server. Now I'm deploying to production and need to leverage the web service running on the production server.

Create a new Application in JDev that will contain 2 web service projects -

Expose as web services

Deploy the web services to WLS.

Check the 2 URLS:

http://localhost:7001/Test-ValidatePerson/ValidationServicePort?WSDL
http://localhost:7001/Prod-ValidatePerson/ValidationServicePort?WSDL

Create a SOA composite with a sync BPEL process.
Invoke the test service from BPEL

Deploy & Test

back in JDev, right click on composite.xml and select Generate Config Plan

Here I can replace the Test with the Prod WSDL

Re-deploy, selecting the config plan

Re-test

SOA Suite 11g - FTP Adapter

2011-07-05T06:31:00.001-07:00

Here is a simple lab demonstrating use of the FTP adapter.

I'm using FileZilla as my FTP Server.

I created the following directories

FTP Server Configuration

I create a user NiallC/NiallC
and configure the shared folders as follows -

Create FTP Adapter artifacts using WLS Console

Deployments --> FtpAdapter --> Configuration --> Outbound Connection Pools --> New

Edit the properties as follows -

host=localhost
password=NiallC
port=21
username=NiallC
serverType=win

Create a new SOA app

In this example I read in an(GET) order and then write it out (PUT).

Configure the read adapter as follows -

Configure the write adapter as follows -

Add the Mediator and specify the transformation.

That's it.

App at
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B7YrnfO7h717ODc1ZTY2MTgtMTMzNS00ZTM4LWFkM2UtYjcyNjExMWMzOWIy&hl=en_US

Reusing task UIs in BPM11g

2011-06-24T01:45:00.000-07:00

Scenario: Both sales and finance need to approve the incoming order. The payload is the same for both human tasks.

In this lab we generate the ADF UI project for ApprovePart1 and then configure it to be used for ApprovePart2.

1. Create a simple BPM app with 2 human tasks(same payload) in JDev.
2. Auto-generate the task form for the 1st task.
3. Check out the hwtaskflow.xml file in the UI project.

4. Add a second entry -

4.1. We just need to change WorkflowName and TaskDefinitionNamespace

5. Define users for the roles -
5.1. Sales- jcooper, Finance - jstein

6. Deploy and test. I'm using a FileAdapter to Read in orders.

6.1. login to Workspace as jcooper, make some changes to the payload, then Approve

6.2. login as jstein

full doc at
http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E17904_01/integration.1111/e10224/bp_designtf.htm#CHDBHHBI

JDev workspace at -

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B7YrnfO7h717ODdjOTczMjItYmRiYi00Yjk2LWE4NTUtNGQ2MDAyNGVjNzE1&hl=en_US&authkey=CNP1-twC

Pinning tasks to a user in BPM 11g

2011-06-16T23:53:00.000-07:00

Scenario:
A BPM process with 1 swimlane - Supervisors(e.g. mtwain, jcooper, rsteven)
An order enters the system and is then processed via 2 human tasks.

Task 2 should be assigned to the supervisor that processed task 1.

Ergo, if jcooper logs in to workspace and claims/approves ApprovePart1, then ApprovePart2 should be assigned to her.

Assign ApprovePart1 to the Supervisor group

Assign ApprovePart2 to whoever approved the previous task i.e. ApprovePart1

The Human Workflow service provides us with the following function -

hwf:getPreviousTaskApprover()

According to the Description –

Get the previous task approver. The signature of this function is hwf:getPreviousTaskApprover(taskId). The arguments are: 1) taskId - The task id of the task Returns an XML element user, in the namespace http://xmlns.oracle.com/bpel/services/IdentityService, that contains the previous approver user id.

So we need to pass it the taskID of ApprovePart1.

We need to get this from the execData structure so return to the data mapping for ApprovePart1 -

You see I have also created a process variable v_taskid of type String.

Now I need to specify this v_taskid value as the parameter to hwf:getPreviousTaskApprover(). My basic solution here is to copy it to one of
the flexfields in my payload. I'm sure there are more elegant ways of doing this.

Now we can return to the definition of the 2nd Task and add in the parameter.

Auto-generate the ADF task forms and deploy.

Test

Login to BPM workspaces as jcooper

Task has been assigned to the group.

Approve

Task2 has been assigned to jcooper

Sharing comments between BPM processes

2011-06-15T23:53:00.000-07:00

I have a simple scenario -
A BPM process that accepts in an order and then processes it via 2 human tasks - validateCustomer / validateProduct.
I would like to share comments entered in human task 1 with human task 2.

When we define a Human Task in BPEL we can, via the Advanced tab, activate a checkbox to include the task history, comments etc from a previous task.

This functionality is available as follows in BPM 11g.
(Merci JorgeW.)

Deploy and test

Amend the payload, add a comment etc, Approve.

Comment is visible in the next human task.

Invoking SOA Composite as part of a global transaction

2011-06-07T06:04:00.000-07:00

Scenario: Java client calls SOA Suite composite to process an order as part of a global transaction. The SOA composite is expose as an EJB service. The composite contains 1 BPEL process that itself calls an EJB service to update our Orders DB.

I'm using SCOTT's schema and have already created a datasource on WLS for it.

name: scottDS
jndi: jdbc/scottDS

Step 1. Create DB Table - test
Create table test (id number(2), quantity number(2));

Step 2. Create a stateless session EJB to update this table
create a new application/project in JDev and include a statelsss session EJB 2.1

Step 2.1 - Add the following business method

public String callDB(int id, int quantity) {
Connection connection = null;
DataSource dataSource = null;

try
{
/*
* 1. Create an InitialContext.
* 2. From the initial context, lookup the logical datasource reference
that is in the deployment descriptor.
*/
InitialContext initialcontext = new InitialContext();
dataSource = (DataSource)initialcontext.lookup("jdbc.scottDS");

System.out.println("***** Got Datasource...");
// Check to see if the datasource is valid
if(dataSource==null)
{
System.err.println("*** DataSource retrieved is null, did you add the code?");
throw new ServletException("DataSource retrieved is null");
}

connection = dataSource.getConnection();
Statement stmt = connection.createStatement();
String insert = "insert into test values(" + id + "," + quantity + ")";
System.out.println("INSERT = " + insert);
stmt.executeUpdate(insert);

ResultSet rset = stmt.executeQuery("Select to_char(sysdate) from dual");
while (rset.next())
{
System.out.println("*** Date = " + rset.getString(1));

}
}

catch (Exception e)
{
System.err.println("*** init() Exception, " + e.getMessage());
System.err.println(e);
}
return "Ok";

}

Step 3 - Deploy and view the JNDI tree

specify jndi name before deploying -

Step 4 - Create a new SOA App in Jdeveloper

Create a SOA Composite app
Add the ejb jar from the previous project to the apps classpath.
(We really only need the interface!)

Create the following input xsd

Create a synchronous BPEL process

Create an EJB reference

Wire up

Add the Invoke to the BPEL process

Add the required Assigns, before and after

Step 5 - Expose the composite as an EJB Service

Make InputOrder and OrderType serializable

Deploy and view in JNDI tree

Step 6 Create the EJB client in the SOA project

package demoejbtxsoa;

import java.lang.reflect.InvocationHandler;
import java.lang.reflect.Method;
import java.lang.reflect.Proxy;

import java.util.Hashtable;

import javax.naming.Context;
import javax.naming.InitialContext;
import javax.naming.NamingException;

import processorder.demo_ejb_tx_soa.demo_ejb_tx_soa_app.com.oracle.xmlns.InputOrder;
import processorder.demo_ejb_tx_soa.demo_ejb_tx_soa_app.com.oracle.xmlns.OrderType;
import processorder.demo_ejb_tx_soa.demo_ejb_tx_soa_app.com.oracle.xmlns.ProcessOrder;
import processorder.demo_ejb_tx_soa.demo_ejb_tx_soa_app.com.oracle.xmlns.ProcessResponse;

public class MyEJBClient {
public static void main(String [] args) throws Throwable {
try {
final Context context = getInitialContext();

Proxy proxy = (Proxy)context.lookup("ejb/SOAEJBService");

// preparing the method to be called on the remote EJB
Method method =
ProcessOrder.class.getDeclaredMethod("process", new Class[] {InputOrder.class});
InputOrder id = new InputOrder();
id.setId(23);
id.setCustName("NiallC");
id.setQuantity(7);
OrderType ot = new OrderType();
ot.setComments("Good Customer");
ot.setProduct("Oracle SOA Suite 11g");
ot.setProductGroup("FMW");
ot.setProductKey(new Long(12345));

id.setOrder(ot);

InvocationHandler handler = Proxy.getInvocationHandler(proxy);

ProcessResponse response = (ProcessResponse)handler.invoke(proxy, method, new Object[] { id });

} catch (Exception ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
}
}

private static Context getInitialContext() throws NamingException {
Hashtable env = new Hashtable();
// WebLogic Server 10.x connection details
env.put( Context.INITIAL_CONTEXT_FACTORY, "weblogic.jndi.WLInitialContextFactory" );
env.put(Context.PROVIDER_URL, "t3://127.0.0.1:7001");
env.put(Context.SECURITY_PRINCIPAL, "weblogic");
env.put(Context.SECURITY_CREDENTIALS, "welcome1");

return new InitialContext( env );
}
}

Run the client -

Check the DB

Step 7 JTA enable...

Add the following code to the EJB Client -

import javax.transaction.UserTransaction;

public final static String JTA_USER_XACT = "javax.transaction.UserTransaction";

UserTransaction ut = (UserTransaction)context.lookup(JTA_USER_XACT);
ut.begin();

//ut.rollback();
ut.commit();

Define BPEL to participate in the global TX.

Add this property to BPEL specification in composite.xml

Test

commit()

rollback()

Weblogic 11g - MDB accessing secure JMS Queue

2011-05-19T01:12:00.000-07:00

Now that we have a secure queue (from the prevous post), let's leverage that from an MDB.

The MDB will simply consume the messages - the only logic our onMessage() requires is -

public void onMessage(Message message) {

try{

if (message instanceof TextMessage) {
TextMessage txtMsg = (TextMessage) message;
System.out.println("**** Message: " + txtMsg.getText());
}
}

catch(Exception e){
e.printStackTrace();
}

Step 1. - Create a new project in JDeveloper

Step 2. - Create a new MDB in the project
-- File --> New --> EJB --> Message Driven Bean --> 2.1

Step 3 - Set up security
-- run-as identity is specified in the ejb-jar.xml
-- security-role is specified in the ejb-jar.xml

-- Map run-as identity to principal-name in weblogic-ejb-jar.xml

Step 3.1 - ejb-jar.xml

-- These properties can be set via the properties palette (Right mouse click on the bean and select Properties)

Step 3.2. weblogic-ejb-jar.xml

-- These properties can also be set via the palette

Step 4. Deploy

Step 5. Test

-- Check WLS log for the output message

-- Change principal-name in weblogic-ejb-jar.xml to weblogic

-- Re-test

Weblogic 11g - securing JMS artifacts

2011-05-18T08:02:00.000-07:00

Scenario -

I need to secure a JMS Queue.
Only the members of the JMSUSERGROUP (e.g.JMSUSER) -
should be able to access it.

Create JMS Server/JMS Module/Connection Factory/ Queue

Add Security Role/Policy -

Test with JMS Client
---------------------------------------------------------

public class JMSClient {
public static void main(String [] args) throws JMSException,
NamingException {
final Context ic = getInitialContext();
System.out.println("*** CONTEXT =");
final QueueConnectionFactory qcf = (QueueConnectionFactory)ic.lookup("jms/MyCF2");
// Lookup should specify the queue name that is mentioned as "mappedName" in MessageDriven Bean.

final Queue destQueue = (Queue)ic.lookup("jms/MyQueue3");

final QueueConnection connection = qcf.createQueueConnection("JMSUSER", "welcome1");
try {
final QueueSession session = connection.createQueueSession(false, 0);

final QueueSender sender = session.createSender(destQueue);
final TextMessage msg = session.createTextMessage("Hello from Galway - fans of FCN");
sender.send(msg);

} catch (Exception ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
} finally {
connection.close();
ic.close();
}
}

---------------------------------------------------------

Test with JMSUSER -->

Test with weblogic -->

Basic JMS Clustering with Weblogic 11g - standalone Queue/Service Migration

2011-05-17T04:36:00.000-07:00

In this scenario we need to make a standalone Queue highly available.

The Queue will be targeted to JMSServer2 running on MgdServer2.
If MgdServer2 goes down then the JMSServer will be migrated to MgdServer1.

Here I strongly suggest you consult the weblogic docs to understand fully
the concepts. Here is a short extract from the aforementioned -
------------------------------------------------------------------------
In a WebLogic Server cluster, most subsystem services are hosted homogeneously on all server instances in the cluster, enabling transparent failover from one server to another. In contrast, pinned services, such as JMS-related services, the JTA Transaction Recovery Service, and user-defined singleton services are hosted on individual server instances within a cluster—for these services, the WebLogic Server migration framework supports failure recovery with service migration, as opposed to failover.

Service-level migration in WebLogic Server is the process of moving the pinned services from one server instance to a different available server instance within the cluster. Service migration is controlled by logical migratable target, which serves as a grouping of services that is hosted on only one physical server in a cluster. You can select a migratable target in place of a server or cluster when targeting certain pinned services. High availability is achieved by migrating a migratable target from one clustered server to another when a problem occurs on the original server. You can also manually migrate a migratable target for scheduled maintenance or you can configure the migratable target for automatic migration.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leading on from the previous post...

Create a second JMS Server - JMSServer2 and target to MgdServer2(Migratable)

Step 1 - Create a new JMS module /Connection Factory and Queue

Subdeployment targeted as follows -

Create the connection Factory and target as follows -

Create the Queue, target to JMSServer2

Test -

------------------------------------------

public static void main(String [] args) throws JMSException,
NamingException {
final Context ic = getInitialContext();
System.out.println("*** CONTEXT =");
final QueueConnectionFactory qcf = (QueueConnectionFactory)ic.lookup("jms/MyCF2");
// Lookup should specify the queue name that is mentioned as "mappedName" in MessageDriven Bean.
final Queue destQueue = (Queue)ic.lookup("jms/MyQueue2");
ic.close();
final QueueConnection connection = qcf.createQueueConnection();
try {
final QueueSession session = connection.createQueueSession(false, 0);
final QueueSender sender = session.createSender(destQueue);
final TextMessage msg = session.createTextMessage("Hello from Dublin - fans of FCN");
sender.send(msg);
-------------------------------------------

View message in the WLS console

We can also enable logging on the Queue

Re-test and view logs

Now stop MgdServer2 and re-test

View logs under MgdServer1

Basic JMS Clustering with Weblogic 11g - Uniform distributed destination

2011-05-17T01:49:00.000-07:00

JMS is an integral part of many SOA/Integration projects.
Like any other resource, we want scalability and reliability for our JMS artifacts.

So here is a simple example based on the following simple WLS cluster I've set up

Example 1: Using a UDD(Uniform distributed destination)

Thanks to my colleague Santosh for his support here.

UDDs make sense for both reliability and scalability. Essentially the UDD Queue
will be deployed to my cluster and thus available on both of my managed servers.

Step 1 -Create a JMS Server (JMSServer1)
-- FileStore= JMSFileStore1
-- Target= MgdServer1(Migratable)

Step 2 - Create a JMS System Module for the ConnectionFactory & UDD Queue (JMSModuleCluster)

Step 4 - Test with a JMS Client

--------------------------------------------------
package jmsclient;

import java.util.Hashtable;

import javax.jms.JMSException;
import javax.jms.Queue;
import javax.jms.QueueConnection;
import javax.jms.QueueConnectionFactory;
import javax.jms.QueueSender;
import javax.jms.QueueSession;
import javax.jms.TextMessage;

import javax.naming.Context;
import javax.naming.InitialContext;
import javax.naming.NamingException;

public class JMSClient {
public static void main(String [] args) throws JMSException,
NamingException {
final Context ic = getInitialContext();
System.out.println("*** CONTEXT =");
final QueueConnectionFactory qcf = (QueueConnectionFactory)ic.lookup("jms/MyCF");
// Lookup should specify the queue name that is mentioned as "mappedName" in MessageDriven Bean.
final Queue destQueue = (Queue)ic.lookup("jms/MyDistQueue");
ic.close();
final QueueConnection connection = qcf.createQueueConnection();
try {
final QueueSession session = connection.createQueueSession(false, 0);
final QueueSender sender = session.createSender(destQueue);
final TextMessage msg = session.createTextMessage("Hello from Lichtenau - fans of FCN");
sender.send(msg);
} catch (Exception ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
} finally {
connection.close();
}
}

private static Context getInitialContext() throws NamingException {
Hashtable env = new Hashtable();
// Add InitialContext property assignments here.
env.put( Context.INITIAL_CONTEXT_FACTORY, "weblogic.jndi.WLInitialContextFactory" );
// Note that by default WebLogic server is not created with security, so credentials are not needed.
// TODO: Verify the server address and port number
env.put(Context.PROVIDER_URL, "t3://localhost:7003,localhost:7004");
env.put(Context.SECURITY_PRINCIPAL, "weblogic");
env.put(Context.SECURITY_CREDENTIALS, "welcome1");
return new InitialContext( env );
}
}

------------------------------------------------------------

You can stop any of the 2 managed servers and re-test.
The Queue is alway available.

SOA Suite 11.1.1.5.0 now available

2011-05-10T23:16:00.000-07:00

software
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/soasuite/downloads/index.html

docs
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/soasuite/documentation/index.html#111150

EDN via PL/SQL

2011-05-09T02:28:00.001-07:00

Scenario:

Raise an event on an insert to a DB table. Event is then consumed by a SOA composite.
In this case, this is a viable alternative to using a DB adapter(polling) as our table, in this scenario, only gets a couple of inserts per day.

XSD used

Create a sample ORDERS table in SCOTT's schema

Create a SOA app/project in JDev

Create an Event Definition in the project

Import the XSD

Here is the edl file

Create a PLSQL stored procedure that will call the following –

Our parameters, taken in part from the edl above, are as follows –
NAMESPACE – http://www.example.org
LOCAL_NAME - anything you like e.g. Our Event Name - NewOrder
PAYLOAD – This is our order

PRIORITY – DEFAULT is 5 so we don’t need to enter this.
However there is some “wrapper” overhead.

eb:business-event xmlns:eb=http://oracle.com/fabric/businessEvent
This is the default, so no need to change.

xmlns:ob="http://schemas.oracle.com/events/edl/NewOrder">
Set to the namespace from our edl.

eb:name ob:NewOrder
This is set to the EventName e.g. NewOrder

eb:content
Contains the actual payload i.e. our Order

Test the PLSQL
There should be an entry in the dev_soainfra.EDN_EVENT_QUEUE_TABLE

Now back to the SOA app...

Create a Mediator that subscribes to the event

Then create a File Adapter(Write) using the same xsd

Deploy and test
- You can execute the procedure directly in JDev
- View the result in em

View the output file

Now we need to include the PLSQL code in the POST-INSERT trigger logic.
Create a POST-Insert trigger on the nc_orders table

Insert a row

BPM ADF Form--> streamlining Save/Approve actions

2011-05-04T05:13:00.000-07:00

Scenario: I have a simple BPM app that accepts in an order which is approved in parallel by our 2 erstwhile users jcooper and jausten. The users can also update the payload and normally they would have to complete 2 actions --> Save (the changes made) and Approve(the order). Our job is to combine this into 1 button click.

I created the following composite -

Essentially I drop an order into the /in directory. It's picked up by the File Adapter and passed on to the BPM process.

The Human workflow is defined as follows -

I then autogenerate the task form.

Now I want to combine the Save and Approve functionality.

Save is available via the update() operation.

Approve, naturally via the APPROVE() operation.

Now I need to create a new button called ApproveSave with the combined functionality.

1. Drag and Drop the update() and APPROVE operations onto the page.

2. Double-click on one of the buttons to create backing bean and binding code.

3. Double-click on the other button to create the binding code.

4. Drag and drop a Button onto the page, then double-click to create backing bean code.

5. Add the following code ...

6. Delete the other 2 buttons as we no longer need them.

7. Deploy and test. Login as jcooper

8. Edit the Order Status

9. Click the Save/Approve button

10. login as jausten

11. update the Order Status and click the Save/Approve button

12. Validate in em - check outgoing payload from the process.

13. Clean up by deleting the default APPROVE button

You have to be careful here - we want to delete the button but not the bindings.
You can delete it from the Source Code view to preserve the bindings.

However, if you did as I did - deleted it from the structure or design view - then you can simply add the binding again. Go to the taskDetails.jspx and click on the Bindings tab.

Re-deploy and test

SOA Suite 11g --> Performance Tuning Part1

2011-04-14T23:56:00.000-07:00

Scenario- we have a SOA composite that includes a synchronous BPEL process that calls a stateless session EJB (transferFundsBean) to transfer funds from account A to account B. So essentially a synchronous/transient process. The composite itself is exposed via an EJB Service interface.

We can tune on different levels -

EJB - transferFundsBean

BPEL

SOA Suite

EJB tuning

Avoid, if possible, using the RequiresNew transaction parameter - ours is set to Required.

We can pre-load the bean pool by amending the weblogic-ejb-jar.xml

max-beans-in-free-pool
should be set equal to the number of threads expected to invoke the EJB concurrently

initial-beans-in-free-pool
the cost of creating EJB instances is not incurred at run time

You can then monitor the Bean activity using WLS console.

I customized the table and added the Miss Total Count. This will show if my pool settings are adequate to cope with the loads I expect.

BPEL App Tuning
I added the following to the composite.xml -

SOA Server Tuning

Turning these off increases performance, but it does mean one doesn't see any instance results in the em console.

We assume that the only interesting one for us, as this is a SYNCHRONOUS process, is Dispatcher Invoker Threads.

However we also assume that, in our scenario, the EJB client thread executes the instance, thus bypassing these thread settings.

WLS Tuning

A possible issue here for us is JTA timeouts when running large performance tests.
So we increased the timeout setting appropriately.

JVM Tuning

For this exercise we are using JRockit.

Heap Size

According to the doc -
"A large heap decreases the garbage collection frequency but may take slightly longer to garbage collect. Typically a heap should be at least twice the size of the live objects in the heap, meaning that at least half of the heap should be freed at each garbage collection. For server applications you can usually set the heap as large as the available memory in your system will allow, as long as this doesn’t cause paging."

We began by setting the min/max heap size to 4GB.

Garbage collection
We stayed with the default here -

We have 3 alternatives -

throughput - optimizes garbage collection for application throughput (default)
pauseTime - optimizes garbage collection for short garbage collection pauses
deterministic - optimizes garbage collection for very short and predetermined garbage collection pauses(requires JRockit realtime)

Nursery Size
We didn't adjust this but it may be interesting for some applications.
Again to quote the official docc -

"The nursery is an area of the heap where new objects are allocated. When the nursery becomes full it is garbage collected separately in a young collection. The frequency and duration of young collections is determined by the nursery size. A large nursery decreases the frequency but the duration of each young collection might increase.

The nursery size is adjusted automatically to optimize for application throughput if you use the -Xgc:throughput or -Xgc:genpar option. Typically, the nursery size should be as large as possible while maintaining short young collection pauses. Depending on the application, a nursery size can be anything from a few megabytes up to half of the heap size."

I strongly suggest you use JRockit Mission Control to check on what's happening during your tests.

Also, if you think you are having thread contention issues, you can do a thread dump directly from the WLS console.

New Oracle Java Magazine on the way...

2011-04-12T00:22:00.001-07:00

see http://blogs.oracle.com/java/2011/04/java_magazine_is_coming.html

Valuable Oracle Partner Resource

2011-04-07T01:07:00.000-07:00

excellent resource for Oracle partners and those wanting to be one...

http://blogs.oracle.com/imc/

BPM 11g and Notifications

2011-03-21T04:00:00.000-07:00

Simple scenario I want to send an email Notification from my BPM process informing a customer that her order has been approved.

I am using JAMES for this simple scenario –

I created the users –

• bpelsender/welcome1
• jcooper/welcome1

Email Setting as follows –

I created a new BPM app in JDev and included the following myOrders.xsd

-------------------

-------------------

• Add Order definition to the Business Catalog

Create a Process Data Object v_order, based on the Order type.

• Start Activity --> Implementation --> Define Interface

• Add a User task to approve large orders (Large order >= 10000)

• Add a BPEL process to the composite

Add an EMAIL activity

All we are really interested in is – NotificationService.wsdl & NotificationService.xsd.

• So we can delete the BPEL process

• Implement NotifyCustomer

• Deploy & test

• Check email inbox

Correlation with BPM 11g - cancelling a running instance

2011-03-09T22:44:00.000-08:00

Scenario:

My esteemed colleague Angelo and I got this example together...

So what did we do?

We thought up the following simple scenario -
An order is passed on to a Salesperson for approval.
However, the customer can cancel the order while it is in flight.

So essentially we need to cancel a running BPM process based on an event -
So while our BPM process is doing it's thing, we also want to "listen" for any relevant "cancel" messages.

Steps

So what did we do?

We created a simple BPM app that included a User task to approve the order.
The BPM app will also start an instance of the listening BPEL process.

The BPM app will also contain an event handler that listens for a cancellation message from BPEL.

The simple BPEL process that will listen for cancellations -

We amended the BPEL wsdl to define the "cancelMsg" type and also included 2 new operations for the cancel - 1. to "receive the cancel", the other to do the cancel callback.

We created a correlation set on the Receive activity.
This is also leveraged by the OnMessage, which captures the cancellation and does the required callback.

Full doc and JDev project at -

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tIYeEZM1kBmf2piGaeE5U0-59nGyQKaBand5kET-wUg/edit?hl=en&authkey=CJrT2pYK

and

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B7YrnfO7h717ZDNjYTZmYWUtMDAxMy00MDIxLWExOGYtMWY0YzI5MWQxMzVi&hl=en&authkey=CIaZwMQL

Invoking SOA Composite via EJB Service

2011-02-23T07:45:00.000-08:00

Scenario - Invoke a composite via EJB passing a complex payload.

My payload is as follows -

I create a synchronous BPEL process that accepts inputOrder as input/output.

all the BPEL process does is Assign In 2 Out.

I then create an EJB Service (Generate Java interface from WSDL)

Wire together

Review the classes that have been created.

Make InputOrder and OrderType serializable

public class InputOrder implements Serializable{
public class OrderType implements Serializable{

Change the interface (BPELOrderProcess) to get rid of Holder dependency (I had
serialization issues with javax.xml.ws.Holder)

public void process(@WebParam(targetNamespace="http://www.example.org",
partName="payload", name="inputOrder", mode=Mode.INOUT)
bpelorderprocess.complexpayloadejbservice.complexpayloadejbservice_app.com.oracle.xmlns.InputOrder payload);
}

Deploy to SOA Server

Check the JNDI tree using the WLS console to see if our EJB is visible.

Create the EJB Client - I did this in the same project to save time -

Actual Code -

public class MyEJBClient {
public static void main(String [] args) throws Throwable {
try {
final Context context = getInitialContext();

Proxy proxy = (Proxy)context.lookup("ejb/BPELOrderProcessService");

// preparing the method to be called on the remote EJB
Method method =
BPELOrderProcess.class.getDeclaredMethod("process", new Class[] {InputOrder.class});
InputOrder id = new InputOrder();
id.setKey(12345);
id.setCustName("NiallC");

OrderType ot = new OrderType();
ot.setComments("Good Customer");
ot.setProduct("Oracle SOA Suite 11g");
ot.setProductGroup("FMW");
ot.setProductKey(new Long(12345));

id.setOrder(ot);

InvocationHandler handler = Proxy.getInvocationHandler(proxy);
InputOrder response = (InputOrder)handler.invoke(proxy, method, new Object[] { id });
} catch (Exception ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
}
}

private static Context getInitialContext() throws NamingException {
Hashtable env = new Hashtable();
// WebLogic Server 10.x connection details
env.put( Context.INITIAL_CONTEXT_FACTORY, "weblogic.jndi.WLInitialContextFactory" );
env.put(Context.PROVIDER_URL, "t3://localhost:7001");
return new InitialContext( env );
}
}

Add the Weblgic Thin Client Library to the project

Run the client

Check the instance in em

Part 2: Getting Component instance state...

2011-02-10T00:19:00.000-08:00

Leading on from the previous post - I've kicked off the process, now I want to check on the instance state.

Again, a big thanks to Edwin -

http://biemond.blogspot.com/2009/11/invoking-soa-suite-11g-service-from.html

I added the following to my client Java class -

public String checkInstanceState(String uuid){

//
// connect to soa and find composite
//
Hashtable jndiProps = new Hashtable();
jndiProps.put(Context.PROVIDER_URL, "t3://localhost:7001/soa-infra");
jndiProps.put(Context.INITIAL_CONTEXT_FACTORY,"weblogic.jndi.WLInitialContextFactory");
jndiProps.put(Context.SECURITY_PRINCIPAL, "weblogic");
jndiProps.put(Context.SECURITY_CREDENTIALS, "welcome1");
jndiProps.put("dedicated.connection", "true");

Locator locator = null;

try{
locator = LocatorFactory.createLocator(jndiProps);
Composite composite = locator.lookupComposite("default/InvokeDirectBinding!1.0");
CompositeInstanceFilter filter = new CompositeInstanceFilter();
filter.setConversationId(uuid);

List cis = composite.getInstances(filter);
// for each of the returned composite instances..
for (CompositeInstance instance : cis) {
System.out.println(" DN: " + instance.getCompositeDN() +"\n" +
" Instance: " + instance.getId() +"\n" +
" creation-date: " + instance.getCreationDate() +"\n" +
" state (" + instance.getState() + "): " + getStateAsString(instance.getState()) );
}

}
catch (Exception e){
e.printStackTrace();
}
return "done";
}

private String getStateAsString(int state)
{
// note that this is dependent on wheter the composite state is captured or not
if (state == CompositeInstance.STATE_COMPLETED_SUCCESSFULLY)
return ("STATE_COMPLETED_SUCCESSFULLY");
else if (state == CompositeInstance.STATE_FAULTED)
return ("STATE_FAULTED");
else if (state == CompositeInstance.STATE_RECOVERY_REQUIRED)
return ("STATE_RECOVERY_REQUIRED");
else if (state == CompositeInstance.STATE_RUNNING)
return ("STATE_RUNNING");
else if (state == CompositeInstance.STATE_STALE)
return ("STATE_STALE");
else
return ("STATE_UNKNOWN");

}

I also had to add the JRF Runtime library -

I then invoked a new instance -

tested the new code ...

Invoking SOA Suite 11g Composite via Direct Binding

2011-02-09T08:49:00.000-08:00

Scenario: I want to invoke a SOA Composite (essentially an Async BPEL process) via Direct Binding.

My starting point for this was Edwin's blog (which I can highly recommend!!!)-
http://biemond.blogspot.com/2009/11/calling-soa-suite-direct-binding.html

However, I had issues with namespaces in my complex payload, requiring me to switch to the Oracle XML parser --> thus this post!

I'm using the following xsd for my payload.

Step 1 - Create a SOA Composite that includes an async BPEL process with input/output types set to the order defined above. Do not expose as a SOAP Service.

Step 2 - Add a Direct Binding to the Exposed Services lane and point to the WSDL of the BPEL process.

Step 3 - Add an Assign (Input 2 Output) to the BPEL process.

Step 4 - Wire the Direct Binding to the BPEL Process.
In the BPEL designer, delete the processorders_client partner link and use the Direct Binding instead.

Step 5 - Deploy and go to http://localhost:7001/soa-infra

Step 6 - Create a new project in your JDev app e.g.
InvokeDirectBinding-Client and add the following libraries to it.

Step 7 - Add a Java class to the project and cut and paste in the following code. Then test. Note the use of the Oracle XML parser here, I had some issues with the default one... Thanks Silviu / Santosh for the tip.

package invokedirectbin;

import java.io.StringReader;

import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Hashtable;
import java.util.Map;
import java.util.UUID;

import javax.naming.Context;

import oracle.soa.api.JNDIDirectConnectionFactory;
import oracle.soa.api.PayloadFactory;
import oracle.soa.api.XMLMessageFactory;
import oracle.soa.api.invocation.DirectConnection;
import oracle.soa.api.invocation.DirectConnectionFactory;
import oracle.soa.api.message.Message;
import oracle.soa.api.message.Payload;
import oracle.soa.management.facade.Locator;

import oracle.xml.parser.v2.DOMParser;
import oracle.xml.parser.v2.XMLPrintDriver;

import org.w3c.dom.Element;

import org.xml.sax.InputSource;

public class InvokeComposite {
public InvokeComposite() {
super();
}

public void StartAsyncViaDirectBinding(){
//
// create a direct connection to the composite
//
Hashtable jndiProps = new Hashtable();
jndiProps.put(Context.PROVIDER_URL, "t3://localhost:7001/soa-infra");
jndiProps.put(Context.INITIAL_CONTEXT_FACTORY,"weblogic.jndi.WLInitialContextFactory");
jndiProps.put(Context.SECURITY_PRINCIPAL, "weblogic");
jndiProps.put(Context.SECURITY_CREDENTIALS, "welcome1");
jndiProps.put("dedicated.connection", "true");

Locator locator = null;
try {
DirectConnectionFactory factory = JNDIDirectConnectionFactory.newInstance();
String serviceAddress = "soadirect:/default/InvokeDirectBinding!1.0/DirectBinding2ProcessOrders";
DirectConnection dc = factory.createConnection(serviceAddress,jndiProps);

// Sample payload from em is as follows -

//
//
//
//
//
//
//
//
//
//
//
//
//
//
//
//

String inputPayload =
"\n" +
"RenateC\n" +
"rc@localhost\n" +
"123456\n" +
"iPad\n" +
"100\n" +
"500\n" +
"none\n" +
"50000\n" +
"pending\n" +
"none\n" +
"\n";
System.out.println("Input = " +"\n" + inputPayload);
//
// parse using the Oracle XML parser.
// Thanks Silviu!
oracle.xml.parser.v2.DOMParser op = new DOMParser();
op.parse(new InputSource(new StringReader(inputPayload)));

// just a print to check it
XMLPrintDriver pd = new XMLPrintDriver(System.out);
pd.setFormatPrettyPrint(true);
pd.printDocument(op.getDocument());

Map partData = new HashMap();
partData.put("payload", op.getDocument().getDocumentElement());

// Create the Message and pass in the payload
Payload payload = PayloadFactory.createXMLPayload(partData);

Message request = XMLMessageFactory.getInstance().createMessage();
request.setPayload(payload);

// Define conversation ID
String uuid = "uuid:" + UUID.randomUUID();
System.out.println("uuid = "+ uuid);
request.setProperty(request.CONVERSATION_ID, uuid);

// Invoke...
dc.post("process", request);

} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}

}

}

Payload displayed incorrectly above so here it is again -

Anyway the source code is available at
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B7YrnfO7h717ODIyNDU2MWQtOTJlOC00NTBkLWE5OTItOWRiMGM0ZGI4OTc1&hl=en&authkey=CIWLqqwL

Weblogic classloader analysis tool

2011-02-01T03:00:00.000-08:00

Nice feature of the latest wls release.

Pick any app (e.g. em) and look at it's classloader details -

RCU issue on SOA 11.1.1.4 on XE

2011-01-31T04:45:00.000-08:00

just to let you know I hit the following issue when running rcu as sys/sysdba on XE.

after running rcu, I logged into sqlplus as sys/sysdba and checked the object status with

select object_name, object_type from dba_objects where status='INVALID';

The following objects were listed -
------------------------------------------
package body mds_internal_common
package body mds_internal_shredded
package body mds_internal_utils

procedure purge_runtime_with_timeout
procedure purge_b2b_instances_down
--------------------------------------
I ran utlrp.sql to recompile and re-checked.

the 3 mds packages were still listed as INVALID.

I then logged on as DEV_MDS and re-compiled the 3 packages successfully.

The main problem was that, according to the RCU utility, everything had completed successfully. The errors were only highlighted when I attempted to start wls.

However, after fixing the DB issues, I could re-start wls successfully.

Naturally I didn't read the note on the otn download page -

If you want to use XE you can set the RCU_JDBC_TRIM_BLOCKS environment variable to TRUE *prior* to running RCU. As a reminder as to support level, when running RCU against XE you will receive a warning stating that the database version is not supported by Oracle.

SOA Suite 11.1.1.4 - soa composer not active by default

2011-01-26T04:02:00.000-08:00

I did a developer install of SOA Suite 11.1.1.4.
Everything is up and running on the AdminServer.

I then test /soa/composer and see that it doesn't work ootb.

I check in the wls console and see that the composer app has been installed but is
not active.

So just, target it to the AdminServer and start it.

Setting up shared folders on Oracle SOA Virtual Box

2011-01-25T22:26:00.000-08:00

Greetings from South Africa!

Scenario:

I'm using VirtualBox 4.x with the SOA image created with a 3.x version.
Shared folders don't work ootb.
Essentially you have to re-install the "new" version of VirtualBox Additions -

Thanks to the colleagues here in my workshop for the support!

Steps
I set up a shared folder as follows –

I install Guest Additions

You might get a pop-up prompting you to do a Force Unmount - so do it!

Open a Terminal window in /media

You should see a directory VBoxAdditions...

do an su root (password -oracle)

Now we need to add the user oracle to the group vboxsf

System --> Administration --> Users and Groups

Re-start the image

Open a Terminal window in /media

Yet another way - from my colleague Lawrence -

From the Oracle VM VirtualBox select the VM and go to Settings>Shared Folders
Add a share folder with a logical name like Share -> C:\VM\Share
Boot up the VM
As root
mkdir /mnt/share (share can be anything you want)
mount -t vboxsf Share /mnt/share

Note that the "Share" is from the is the logical name, and "share" is the directory that you are mounting. After this you can access everything in the /mnt/share directory. The mount command must be repeated when you want to use it.

Localhost --> Virtualbox SOA image communication

2011-01-24T04:01:00.000-08:00

Scenario:

I have installed the SOA Virtual Box image and now want to be able to access it from my host (winxp) machine, as follows -

- using IE
- from JDeveloper

Step 1: Localhost setup
- VirtualBox 4.x installed
- MSFT Loopback Adapter installed and running on 1.1.1.1
- \etc\hosts entries
1.1.1.1 yourHostName
1.1.1.2 soabpm-vm

Step 2: VirtualBox configuration
- Start VirtualBox
- Delete the host-only network entry

- Start the image

Step 3: Image Network configuration

- Click on Devices --> Network Adapters...

- Check for eth0 connection
- If not found, create one.
- System --> Administration --> Network (password –oracle)
- Set ip address to 1.1.1.2

- Re-start the image
- Once restarted, check that eth0 is active.
-- System --> Administration --> network
--- If not, activate
--- Start & Test SOA WLS
---- Once running, test from browser on localhost –

Step 4: Create a new app server connection in JDev

- Test

SOA Suite 11g 11.1.1.4.0 (PS3) ready for download

2011-01-17T08:56:00.000-08:00

Check out http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/soasuite/downloads/index.html

New features detailed at http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/soasuite/documentation/soa-11gr1-ps3-new-features-258135.html

SOA Composite instances --> When to purge?

2011-01-12T23:41:00.000-08:00

Leading on from the last couple of posts -

In my simple scenario a customer ordered some goods, a composite instance was initiated to do the work. In the meantime the customer cancels the order, we react by purging the instance.

Bad business of course, usually we would want to capture the business condition - order cancelled. A simple solution, in my scenario, would be to have 3 outcomes from the human workflow --> Approve, Reject, Cancel. The order could then be cancelled via the worklist app or via th api. Control is returned to the BPEL process which could then do what has to be done - e.g. compensation, update customer profile etc.

Creating a generic BPEL process to purge instances

2011-01-11T06:29:00.001-08:00

The final piece of the puzzle...

I create a composite -

I created the following process variables

and added the following connection properties to composite.xml

I added the following embedded Java to the BPEL process.

----------------------------------------------------------

Hashtable jndiProps = new Hashtable();

String PROVIDER_URL = (String)getVariableData("v_PROVIDER_URL");
String INITIAL_CONTEXT_FACTORY = (String)getVariableData("v_INITIAL_CONTEXT_FACTORY");
String SECURITY_PRINCIPAL = (String)getVariableData("v_SECURITY_PRINCIPAL");
String SECURITY_CREDENTIALS = (String)getVariableData("v_SECURITY_CREDENTIALS");

jndiProps.put(javax.naming.Context.PROVIDER_URL,PROVIDER_URL);
jndiProps.put(javax.naming.Context.INITIAL_CONTEXT_FACTORY,INITIAL_CONTEXT_FACTORY);
jndiProps.put(javax.naming.Context.SECURITY_PRINCIPAL, SECURITY_PRINCIPAL);
jndiProps.put(javax.naming.Context.SECURITY_CREDENTIALS, SECURITY_CREDENTIALS);

jndiProps.put("dedicated.connection", "true");
System.out.println("*** Purge composite instance... ");
Locator locator = null;
System.out.println("*** Purge composite instance - about to get id ");

String compositeID = (String)getVariableData("v_compositeID");
System.out.println("*** Purge composite instance - got id " + compositeID);
try {
LocatorFactory.createLocator(jndiProps);
locator = LocatorFactory.createLocator(jndiProps);
CompositeInstanceFilter coif = new CompositeInstanceFilter();
coif.setId(compositeID);
List list = locator.getCompositeInstances(coif);
System.out.println("*** Composite Instance " + compositeID + " about to be deleted...");

for(int i = 0 ; i < list.size() ; i ++){
CompositeInstance coi = (CompositeInstance)list.get(i);
System.out.println("*** Composite Instance State = " +coi.getState());
System.out.println("*** Composite Instance " + compositeID + " about to be deleted...");
// locator.purgeInstance(coif);
}
}
catch (Exception e) {

e.printStackTrace();
}
locator.close();

----------------------------------------------------------

Now kick off the cancel process –

Canceling a running composite instance - example

2011-01-10T22:59:00.001-08:00

Firstly I wish all of you - Health, Wealth and Happiness for 2011 and beyond!

Now it's back to work...

Scenario
File Adapter(read) --> Mediator --> BPEL --> human workflow --> DB
Adapter(write).

Step 1 - create the composite
- I started with a simple Mediator, to begin with.

- Here is the XSD I used

- As you can see, I created a composite sensor on the OrderNr.

Ok, let’s add the BPEL & Human Workflow components to the composite

- Define the Human Workflow ( I simply assign the approval task to jcooper)
- Autogenerate task form etc.

Deploy and Test
- Here is my test input XML.

- Login to sqlplus as dev_soainfra
- execute the following
-- select substr(composite_instance_id,1,15),
substr( component_instance_id,1,20),
substr( component_name, 1,20),
substr(sensor_name,1,20),
substr( string_value,1,20)
from composite_sensor_value
/

- So the composite instance id = 180001

- I can now use this value to execute the following query
-- select substr(composite_dn,1,25), state, live_instances from composite_instance where id = 180001
/

- The STATE = 0 which indicates that the instances is open and running.
- Other state values are -->

- We can now access the cube_instance table to get the details of the running bpel instance –

-- Select cikey, state from cube_instance where cmpst_id = 180001;

- State = 1 means bpel instance is open and running –
- Other state values are -->

- Now I check the Human Workflow tables
-- select
substr( title, 1,20),
tasknumber,
taskid,
substr(state,1,10),
substr(assignees,1,20)
from wftask
where compositeinstanceid = 180001;

-- The taskid = 44b2adae-c347-48c4-b5d9-0b76ba722c1d
-- The task number = 200180

Step 2 - Leveraging the Java API to find a particular human task

- To begin with, let's get all the tasks for jcooper -
-- Method getAllTasks()

The task 200180 is the last one in the list.

- Then I look for a specific task - getSpecificTask()

-------------------------------------------------------------------

package processmyorderapi;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Hashtable;
import java.util.List;

import java.util.Map;

import oracle.bpel.services.workflow.client.IWorkflowServiceClient;
import oracle.bpel.services.workflow.client.IWorkflowServiceClientConstants;
import oracle.bpel.services.workflow.client.WorkflowServiceClientFactory;
import oracle.bpel.services.workflow.query.ITaskQueryService;

import oracle.bpel.services.workflow.repos.TableConstants;
import oracle.bpel.services.workflow.task.ITaskService;
import oracle.bpel.services.workflow.task.model.Task;
import oracle.bpel.services.workflow.verification.IWorkflowContext;

import oracle.bpel.services.workflow.repos.Predicate;

public class HwTask {

public HwTask() {
super();
}

public String getAllTasks(String user){

Map properties = new HashMap();
properties.put(IWorkflowServiceClientConstants.CONNECTION_PROPERTY.EJB_PROVIDER_URL, "t3://localhost:8001");
properties.put(IWorkflowServiceClientConstants.CONNECTION_PROPERTY.EJB_SECURITY_CREDENTIALS, "welcome1");
properties.put(IWorkflowServiceClientConstants.CONNECTION_PROPERTY.EJB_SECURITY_PRINCIPAL, "weblogic");

try
{
//Create JAVA WorkflowServiceClient
IWorkflowServiceClient wfSvcClient =
WorkflowServiceClientFactory.getWorkflowServiceClient(WorkflowServiceClientFactory.REMOTE_CLIENT, properties, null);

//Get the task query service
ITaskQueryService querySvc = wfSvcClient.getTaskQueryService();
//Login as jcooper
IWorkflowContext ctx = querySvc.authenticate("jcooper","welcome1".toCharArray(),null);
//Set up list of columns to query
List queryColumns = new ArrayList();
queryColumns.add("TASKID");
queryColumns.add("TASKNUMBER");
queryColumns.add("TITLE");
queryColumns.add("OUTCOME");
//Query a list of tasks assigned to jcooper
List tasks = querySvc.queryTasks(ctx,
queryColumns,
null, //Do not query additional info
ITaskQueryService.AssignmentFilter.MY,
null, //No keywords
null, //No custom predicate
null, //No special ordering
0, //Do not page the query result
0);

//Get the task service
ITaskService taskSvc = wfSvcClient.getTaskService();
//Loop over the tasks, outputting task information,

for(int i = 0 ; i < tasks.size() ; i ++)
{

Task task = (Task)tasks.get(i);
int taskNumber = task.getSystemAttributes().getTaskNumber();
String title = task.getTitle();
String taskId = task.getSystemAttributes().getTaskId();
String outcome = task.getSystemAttributes().getOutcome();
/* now we could auto-approve tasks, if required!
/* if(outcome == null)
{
outcome = "APPROVED";
taskSvc.updateTaskOutcome(ctx,taskId,outcome);
}*/

System.out.println("Task ID#"+ taskId + "Task Nr#" + taskNumber+" ("+title+") is "+outcome);
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
//Handle any exceptions raised here...
System.out.println("Caught workflow exception: "+e.getMessage());
}

return "done";
}

public String getSpecificTask(String taskid){
System.out.println("*** getSpecificTask() looking for taskId " + taskid);
Map properties = new HashMap();
properties.put(IWorkflowServiceClientConstants.CONNECTION_PROPERTY.EJB_PROVIDER_URL, "t3://localhost:8001");
properties.put(IWorkflowServiceClientConstants.CONNECTION_PROPERTY.EJB_SECURITY_CREDENTIALS, "welcome1");
properties.put(IWorkflowServiceClientConstants.CONNECTION_PROPERTY.EJB_SECURITY_PRINCIPAL, "weblogic");

try
{
//Create JAVA WorflowServiceClient
IWorkflowServiceClient wfSvcClient =
WorkflowServiceClientFactory.getWorkflowServiceClient(WorkflowServiceClientFactory.REMOTE_CLIENT, properties, null);

//Get the task query service
ITaskQueryService querySvc = wfSvcClient.getTaskQueryService();
//Login as jcooper
IWorkflowContext ctx = querySvc.authenticate("jcooper","welcome1".toCharArray(),null);
//Set up list of columns to query
List queryColumns = new ArrayList();
queryColumns.add("TASKID");
queryColumns.add("TASKNUMBER");
queryColumns.add("TITLE");
queryColumns.add("OUTCOME");

// add predicate for particular taskid

Predicate predicate = new Predicate(TableConstants.WFTASK_TASKID_COLUMN,
Predicate.OP_EQ,
taskid);
System.out.println("*** getSpecificTask() Predicate added for taskId " + taskid);

//Query a list of tasks assigned to jcooper
List tasklist = querySvc.queryTasks(ctx,
queryColumns,
null, //Do not query additional info
ITaskQueryService.AssignmentFilter.MY,
null, //No keywords
predicate, //add custom predicate
null, //No special ordering
0, //Do not page the query result
0);

if (tasklist != null) { // There are tasks
System.out.println("Total number of tasks: " + tasklist.size());
System.out.println("Tasks List: ");
Task task = null;
for (int i = 0; i < tasklist.size(); i++) {
task = (Task) tasklist.get(i);
System.out.println("Task Number: " + task.getSystemAttributes().getTaskNumber());
System.out.println("Task Id: " + task.getSystemAttributes().getTaskId());
System.out.println("Title: " + task.getTitle());
System.out.println("Priority: " + task.getPriority());
System.out.println("State: " + task.getSystemAttributes().getState());
System.out.println();
// Retrive any Optional Info specified
// Use task service, to perform operations on the task
}
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
//Handle any exceptions raised here...
System.out.println("Caught workflow exception: "+e.getMessage());
}

return "done";
}

}

------------------

Step 2 - Leveraging the Java API to find and purge composite instances

- see method - findComposite()
-- here we call locator.purgeInstance() to purge the instance
--------------------------------------------

package compositeapi;

import java.util.Hashtable;
import java.util.List;
import javax.naming.Context;

import oracle.soa.management.facade.ComponentInstance;
import oracle.soa.management.facade.Composite;
import oracle.soa.management.facade.CompositeInstance;
import oracle.soa.management.facade.Locator;
import oracle.soa.management.facade.LocatorFactory;
import oracle.soa.management.facade.ServiceEngine;
import oracle.soa.management.facade.bpel.BPELServiceEngine;
import oracle.soa.management.util.ComponentInstanceFilter;
import oracle.soa.management.util.CompositeInstanceFilter;

public class CompositeAPI {

private Locator locator = null;

public CompositeAPI() {
super();
}

public void findComposite(){

java.util.Hashtable props = new java.util.Hashtable();
props.put(javax.naming.Context.PROVIDER_URL, "t3://localhost:8001/soa-infra");
props.put(javax.naming.Context.INITIAL_CONTEXT_FACTORY, "weblogic.jndi.WLInitialContextFactory");
props.put(javax.naming.Context.SECURITY_PRINCIPAL, "weblogic");
props.put(javax.naming.Context.SECURITY_CREDENTIALS, "welcome1");
props.put("dedicated.connection", "true");

try{
locator = LocatorFactory.createLocator(props);
CompositeInstanceFilter coif = new CompositeInstanceFilter();
coif.setId("180001");
List list = locator.getCompositeInstances(coif);
System.out.println("Nr. of Composites found = " + list.size());

for(int i = 0 ; i < list.size() ; i ++){
CompositeInstance coi = (CompositeInstance)list.get(i);
System.out.println("Composite Instance Domain Name = " +coi.getCompositeDN());
System.out.println("Composite Instance State = " +coi.getState());
System.out.println("Composite Instance Status = " +coi.getStatus());

locator.purgeInstance(coif);

}

// Component Instance Filter usage

ComponentInstanceFilter cif = new ComponentInstanceFilter();
cif.setCompositeInstanceId("180001");
List l = locator.getComponentInstances(cif);

System.out.println("Instance found = " + l.size());

for(int i = 0 ; i < l.size() ; i ++){
ComponentInstance ci = (ComponentInstance)l.get(i);
System.out.println("Component Instance ID = " +ci.getCompositeInstanceId());
ServiceEngine se = ci.getServiceEngine();
System.out.println("*** Engine Type " + se.getEngineType());
System.out.println("DN = " + ci.getCompositeDN());
}

String compositeDN = "default/ProcessMyOrder!1.0";
Composite composite = locator.lookupComposite(compositeDN);
System.out.println("*** got composite "+ composite.toString());

// Purge

}
catch(Exception e){
e.printStackTrace();
}

}
}

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Step 3 - Check the DB

I run the selects again -

Canceling a running composite in SOA Suite 11g

2010-12-18T00:02:00.000-08:00

Simple scenario -

An order XYZ is being processed in a composite that includes the following
components-
File Adapter(read) --> Mediator --> BPEL --> human workflow --> DB
Adapter(write).

In the meantime the customer cancels the order XYZ by calling the call center.
The order db is updated accordingly via the call center app, but now we
need to kill the soa composite instance that's still running.

I could create a composite sensor based on the unique Order ID.
The info is then written to the SOA_INFRA table composite_sensor_value

From this table I can then get the COMPOSITE_INSTANCE_ID value.
I can save this pair - Order ID and COMPOSITE_INSTANCE_ID to the DB.

Now we know which composite is processing Order ID XYZ.

Regarding cancelling the running process -

We can use the COMPOSITE_INSTANCE_ID to query
the cube_instance table.

e.g. select * from cube_instance where cmpst_id = xxx;

I can then do the usual purge.

But how should we model this from an architectural perspective?
My OCS colleague, Markus, suggested a generic composite that takes care of
the "cancellation" of all running SOA composite instances.

So we could have the user cancellation call to the call center triggering an event that our generic composite processes.

So essentially we have the following -

1. Create an event via the EDN-Framework.
1.1. The payload contains the info required (orderID, CompositeID etc.) to
find the appropriate running instance.

2. Event is picked up by a Mediator which routes on to a BPEL process that does
the actual purging.

Example to follow after the holidays.

Human Workflow API Part 3 - ITaskQueryService.AssignmentFilter

2010-12-08T01:11:00.000-08:00

leading on from the previous post...

We have a couple of roles in HW.
For example, the user that actually does the "approving" e.g. jverne.

Also we have the process owner e.g. cdickens.

We can leverage the Java API to process the HW tasks from both perspectives.

We just need to set the ITaskQueryService.AssignmentFilter appropriately.

//Query a list of tasks assigned to jcooper
List tasks = querySvc.queryTasks(ctx,
queryColumns,
optionalInfo, // Payload
ITaskQueryService.AssignmentFilter.OWNER,
null, //No keywords
null, //No custom predicate
null, //No special ordering
0, //Do not page the query result
0);

Human Workflow Java API Part 2

2010-11-26T05:06:00.000-08:00

Continuing on from the previous post...

The payload I tested with is as follows -

Now I want to access the custName value in the payload.

Here's the code snippet(thanks to my colleaue Mireille) -

Element el= task.getPayloadAsElement();
String custName = null;
custName = getElementValue(el, "custName");
if(el != null){
System.out.println("Payload customer name = " + custName);

}
else{
System.out.println("Payload is null");
}

public static String getElementValue(Element pElement, String pElementName){
String value=null;
NodeList myNodeList = pElement.getElementsByTagName(pElementName);
Element myElement = (Element)myNodeList.item(0);
NodeList myChildNodeList = myElement.getChildNodes();
for (int i=0; i {
value = ((Node)myChildNodeList.item( i )).getNodeValue().trim();
if( value.equals("") value.equals("\r") ){
continue;
}
else{
break;
}
}
return value;
}

Testing...

The complete Java class is as follows -

package com.niall.hwclient;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.List;

import java.util.Map;

import oracle.bpel.services.workflow.client.IWorkflowServiceClient;
import oracle.bpel.services.workflow.client.IWorkflowServiceClientConstants;
import oracle.bpel.services.workflow.client.WorkflowServiceClientFactory;
import oracle.bpel.services.workflow.query.ITaskQueryService;
import oracle.bpel.services.workflow.task.ITaskService;
import oracle.bpel.services.workflow.task.model.Task;
import oracle.bpel.services.workflow.verification.IWorkflowContext;

import org.w3c.dom.Element;
import org.w3c.dom.Node;
import org.w3c.dom.NodeList;

public class HwTask {
public HwTask() {
super();
}

public String getTaskdetails(String user){

Map properties = new HashMap();
properties.put(IWorkflowServiceClientConstants.CONNECTION_PROPERTY.EJB_PROVIDER_URL, "t3://localhost:8001");
properties.put(IWorkflowServiceClientConstants.CONNECTION_PROPERTY.EJB_SECURITY_CREDENTIALS, "welcome1");
properties.put(IWorkflowServiceClientConstants.CONNECTION_PROPERTY.EJB_SECURITY_PRINCIPAL, "weblogic");

try
{
//Create JAVA WorflowServiceClient
IWorkflowServiceClient wfSvcClient =
WorkflowServiceClientFactory.getWorkflowServiceClient(WorkflowServiceClientFactory.REMOTE_CLIENT, properties, null);

//Get the task query service
ITaskQueryService querySvc = wfSvcClient.getTaskQueryService();
//Login as jcooper
IWorkflowContext ctx = querySvc.authenticate("cdoyle","welcome1".toCharArray(),null);
//Set up list of columns to query
List queryColumns = new ArrayList();
queryColumns.add("TASKID");
queryColumns.add("TASKNUMBER");
queryColumns.add("TITLE");
queryColumns.add("OUTCOME");

// also get the payload
List optionalInfo = new ArrayList();
optionalInfo.add(ITaskQueryService.OptionalInfo.PAYLOAD);
//
//Query a list of tasks assigned to jcooper
List tasks = querySvc.queryTasks(ctx,
queryColumns,
optionalInfo, // Payload
ITaskQueryService.AssignmentFilter.MY,
null, //No keywords
null, //No custom predicate
null, //No special ordering
0, //Do not page the query result
0);
//Get the task service
ITaskService taskSvc = wfSvcClient.getTaskService();
//Loop over the tasks, outputting task information, and approving any
//tasks whose outcome has not been set...

for(int i = 0 ; i < tasks.size() ; i ++)
{
System.out.println("In task loop...");
Task task = (Task)tasks.get(i);
int taskNumber = task.getSystemAttributes().getTaskNumber();
String title = task.getTitle();
String taskId = task.getSystemAttributes().getTaskId();
String outcome = task.getSystemAttributes().getOutcome();

// Get the payload
Element el= task.getPayloadAsElement();
String custName = null;
custName = getElementValue(el, "custName");
if(el != null){
System.out.println("Payload customer name = " + custName);

}
else{
System.out.println("Payload is null");
}

/* if(outcome == null)
{
outcome = "APPROVED";
taskSvc.updateTaskOutcome(ctx,taskId,outcome);
}*/

System.out.println("Task #"+taskNumber+" ("+title+") is "+outcome);
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
//Handle any exceptions raised here...
System.out.println("Caught workflow exception: "+e.getMessage());
}

return "done";
}
public static String getElementValue(Element pElement, String pElementName){
String value=null;
NodeList myNodeList = pElement.getElementsByTagName(pElementName);
Element myElement = (Element)myNodeList.item(0);
NodeList myChildNodeList = myElement.getChildNodes();
for (int i=0; i {
value = ((Node)myChildNodeList.item( i )).getNodeValue().trim();
if( value.equals("") value.equals("\r") ){
continue;
}
else{
break;
}
}
return value;
}
}

Oracle Human Workflow Service Java API

2010-11-25T06:08:00.000-08:00

Simple scenario -

I want to query the open tasks for demo user jcooper -

The core of the code below is taken from the SOA Developers Guide available at
http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E14571_01/integration.1111/e10224.pdf

I've just added in the jndi stuff and the libraries required.

package com.niall.hwclient;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.List;

import java.util.Map;

import oracle.bpel.services.workflow.client.IWorkflowServiceClient;
import oracle.bpel.services.workflow.client.IWorkflowServiceClientConstants;
import oracle.bpel.services.workflow.client.WorkflowServiceClientFactory;
import oracle.bpel.services.workflow.query.ITaskQueryService;
import oracle.bpel.services.workflow.task.ITaskService;
import oracle.bpel.services.workflow.task.model.Task;
import oracle.bpel.services.workflow.verification.IWorkflowContext;

public class HwTask {
public HwTask() {
super();
}

public String getTaskdetails(String user){

Map properties = new HashMap();
properties.put(IWorkflowServiceClientConstants.CONNECTION_PROPERTY.EJB_PROVIDER_URL, "t3://localhost:8001");
properties.put(IWorkflowServiceClientConstants.CONNECTION_PROPERTY.EJB_SECURITY_CREDENTIALS, "welcome1");
properties.put(IWorkflowServiceClientConstants.CONNECTION_PROPERTY.EJB_SECURITY_PRINCIPAL, "weblogic");

try
{
//Create JAVA WorflowServiceClient
IWorkflowServiceClient wfSvcClient =
WorkflowServiceClientFactory.getWorkflowServiceClient(WorkflowServiceClientFactory.REMOTE_CLIENT, properties, null);

//Get the task query service
ITaskQueryService querySvc = wfSvcClient.getTaskQueryService();
//Login as jcooper
IWorkflowContext ctx = querySvc.authenticate("jcooper","welcome1".toCharArray(),null);
//Set up list of columns to query
List queryColumns = new ArrayList();
queryColumns.add("TASKID");
queryColumns.add("TASKNUMBER");
queryColumns.add("TITLE");
queryColumns.add("OUTCOME");
//Query a list of tasks assigned to jcooper
List tasks = querySvc.queryTasks(ctx,
queryColumns,
null, //Do not query additional info
ITaskQueryService.AssignmentFilter.MY,
null, //No keywords
null, //No custom predicate
null, //No special ordering
0, //Do not page the query result
0);
//Get the task service
ITaskService taskSvc = wfSvcClient.getTaskService();
//Loop over the tasks, outputting task information, and approving any
//tasks whose outcome has not been set...

for(int i = 0 ; i < tasks.size() ; i ++)
{
System.out.println("In task loop...");
Task task = (Task)tasks.get(i);
int taskNumber = task.getSystemAttributes().getTaskNumber();
String title = task.getTitle();
String taskId = task.getSystemAttributes().getTaskId();
String outcome = task.getSystemAttributes().getOutcome();
/* if(outcome == null)
{
outcome = "APPROVED";
taskSvc.updateTaskOutcome(ctx,taskId,outcome);
}*/

System.out.println("Task #"+taskNumber+" ("+title+") is "+outcome);
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
//Handle any exceptions raised here...
System.out.println("Caught workflow exception: "+e.getMessage());
}

return "done";
}
}

JDev project library settings -

Test -

BPM Signal Events and EDN Part 2

2010-11-22T10:08:00.000-08:00

Now we will create another Business Event at the composite level – OrderProcessedEvent

The new event surfaces in the Business Catalogue.

Return to the BPM Design editor and set the implementation type of the End Event to Signal.

Now we have no errors in our process.

Create the required process variables so that it is runnable.

Add a new Business Object of type Order.

Add a Process Data Object variable of this type

Set the Data Associations for Start and End

Ok, so now as soon as the order has been processed, a Mediator component will pick this up and write the order to a file. Here we will leverage the File Adapter(Write) we created earlier.

We then wire this to the File Adapter(Write)
Don't forget to create the required transformation in the Mediator.

Deploy and Test

Sample input file to be dropped into the /in directory

Result

BPM Signal Events and Oracle EDN

2010-11-22T06:33:00.001-08:00

Simple scenario –

A new order arrives via file and kicks off the BPM Order process.
This can be easily modelled in Oracle SOA Suite 11g.
Our order has the following xsd –

Steps

Create a couple of directories on the file system

Create a BPM Application in JDeveloper

Go to the Composite view

Create a file adapter – (Read) based on the XSD – pointing to /in directory
Create a file adapter – (Write) based on the XSD – pointing to /out directory

Add a Mediator to pick up the read order

Add a routing rule to publish an event

Create the event definition

Switch to the BPM Project view

The event has been automatically added to the Business catalogue.

Right-mouse click on the Start icon and change the type to Signal

No we have EDN kicking off the BPM process via a Signal event.
I'll flesh this process out in the next post!

JCAPS - SOA Suite 11g Interoperability/Migration

2010-11-19T12:13:00.000-08:00

Greetings from South Africa!

Just spent a couple of days around Capetown and am now up in Hermanus whale watching.
Certainly beats the November cold of southern Germany!

Regarding the above, apart from standard integration via web services and JMS, tighter integration can be achieved using the SOA Suite 11g Spring component described in the last post. Essentially we can wrap the JCAPS JCD as a Spring component and leverage it's functionality directly in our composite. Please ping me if you're interested in more details.

Spring & BPEL extension functions in SOA Suite 11g PS2

2010-10-25T02:16:00.001-07:00

Last December I uploaded a doc detailing a simple Spring lab - here now is an example based on Patchset 2.

To begin with you may need to download the JDev Spring extension (Menu --> Help --> Check for Updates).

An excellent intro to Spring is the official doc at http://static.springsource.org/spring/docs/3.0.x/spring-framework-reference/pdf/spring-framework-reference.pdf

Ok, so now back to our simple example -

In this example we will have a Java class that does some simple SOA Composite logging for us. We will leverage the BPEL XPath extension functions as detailed in Appendix B of the SOA Suite Developers Guide - available at http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E14571_01/integration.1111/e10224/bp_appx_functs.htm#CHDECDHG

This is based on an excellent example from Clemens Utschig - so vielen Dank!

I'm going to use the following -

ora:getDomainId()
ora:getECID()

ora:getCompositeName()
ora:getCompositeInstanceId()

ora:getComponentName()
ora:getComponentInstanceId()

ora:getElement()

Steps -

1. Create the Java Interface for the logger
2. Create the Java class that implements the interface
3. Spring-enable
4. Expose the Spring component as an SCA Service
5. Create a SOA Composite with a BPEL process
6. Invoke the Spring component from BPEL
7. Deploy and Test
1. Create the Java Interface for the logger
1.1. Create a new generic application in JDev - LoggingWithSpringApp
1.2. Name the project - LoggingWithSpring
1.3. Create the Java interface - ILogger - package name my.company.com

1.4. Add a log() method.

public void log(String domainID, String ecid, String compositeName,
String compositeInstanceID,String componentName,
String componentInstanceID, String elem );
}

2. Create the Java class that implements the interface

2.1. Implement the log() method.

public void log(String domainID, String ecid, String compositeName,
String compositeInstanceID, String componentName,
String componentInstanceID, String elem) {

StringBuffer msg = new StringBuffer();
msg.append("[Domain ID] ").append(domainID).append("[ECID]").append(ecid).
append("[Composite Name]").append(compositeName).append("[Composite Instance ID]").
append(componentInstanceID).append("[Component Name]").append(componentName).
append("[Component Instance ID]").append(componentInstanceID).append("[Input Element]").
append(elem);
System.out.println(msg.toString());
}

3. Spring-enable

3.1. Create a new Spring Bean configuration in the project

3.2. call it logger-context.xml

3.3. Select Spring 2.5 Core in the component palette

3.4. Drag a bean from the Spring 2.5 Core component palette

3.5. set name and class as below

4. Expose the Spring component as an SCA Service

4.1. Change the palette to Weblogic SCA and drag & drop a Service

4.2. Set as follows -

5. Create a SOA Composite with a BPEL process

5.1. File --> New --> SOA Composite --> Composite with BPEL process
5.2. call the composite - LoggingWithSpringComposite
5.3. Create the BPEL process

5.4. Go to the Composite Editor view and drop a Spring Context component.

5.5. Make the Java class and interface.

5.6. Wire together.

6. Invoke the Spring component from BPEL

6.1. add an Invoke activity to the BPEL process to call the logger

6.2. Add an Assign activity to set the call arguments
6.3. See below for the 7 assigns

6.4. add an Assign after the Invoke to set input to output

7. Deploy and Test

7.1. Deploy ot SOA Suite and test via EM.

View results in server log

Bruce Silver on Oracle BPM 11g

2010-10-12T12:39:00.000-07:00

Makes for very interesting reading -

http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/analystreports/infrastructure/bruce-silver-bpm-suite-11g-083869.pdf

To quote from the report -
"Oracle not only is first out of the gate with BPMN 2.0 support, but sets the competitive bar extremely high for a long time to come."

Cheers Bruce!

Leveraging BPM Project templates

2010-10-12T10:36:00.000-07:00

BPM project templates are stored in MDS. You already have a database based MDS
installed with SOA Suite (DEV_MDS).

In the following simple scenario we will leverage this to work with project templates. We will create a template in JDev and consume it in Process Composer.

Step 1. - Create a Project template in JDev

One thing all BPM projects need are Services.
So this is what our template could contain. So lets begin by creating a new project in JDeveloper of type BPM Template.

Add content to the Business Catalog - currently Business Objects, Human Tasks, Services and Rules etc. are visible in the context of Process Composer.

Create a DB based MDS connection (DEV_MDS schema)

Right click on the project and select --> Publish to BPM MDS

View the MDS repository after publishing.

Now open the web-based Process composer e.g. http://localhost:8001/bpm/composer
and create a new project based on a template.

SF at the weekend & Development Frameworks - your thoughts on them...

2010-10-06T22:58:00.000-07:00

I've just returned from a pleasant sojourn in SF. I'm there quite often and this time I decided to make proper use of my weekend. So for those of you looking for some suggestions above and beyond the usually tourist stuff here's my 2 cents -

1. Farmers Market - Saturday morning: Embarcadero (Ferry Building) - great organic fruit and veg from the California valley. Also plenty of food and drink stalls - great place for healthy indulgence.

2. Botanic Gardens - just off Martin Luther King drive - well worth the visit even in Autumn.

3. Commonwealth restaurant Mission St: http://commonwealthsf.com/
If crispy pig ears, carrot, radish, chili are your thing then this is the place to be. If not, it's still the place to be with plenty of alternatives.

4. Sunday Morning: Flea markets. I always like to visit the one in Bernal Heights - Alemany Flea Market - 100 Alemany (at Putnam) San Francisco, CA 94110. Also there is a monthly one at Candlestick Park (Candlestick Park Antiques & Collectibles Faire.) Check the web for dates.

5. Later: Drive up to Bolinas - pass Stinson beach and a few kms later you're there.
Stop by my friend David who sells his art there - http://davidjaap.com/about.html

Now back to work...

Thinking about developmment tools & frameworks - which to use and when.
I'm getting some ideas together comparing some offerings. Currently I'm looking at

- ADF
- Java FX
- Ruby on Rails

and would greatly appreciate your input - any heuristics you may have on these or others that you currently use.

for example -

ADF:
- MVC / JSF
- supports 4GL style development (ADF BC)
- etc.

Looking fwd to your input!

Oracle Service Registry and OSB 11g Part 2

2010-09-22T02:14:00.000-07:00

So now we have OSR and OSB installed. It is now time to get them talking to each other!

Startup OSB/OSR
Login to the OSB console, click on System Administration to create a new UDDI
registry entry.

Create a simple OSB service

Create a simple web service using JDeveloper

Test the Proxy Service

Publish to OSR

Re-publish

Login to OSR –

Pre-built Virtual Machine for SOA Suite and BPM Suite 11g

2010-09-22T00:45:00.000-07:00

If you don't want to go thru the whole install routine, but would like to get up and running immediately with Oracle SOA Suite 11g PS2 incl. BAM, B2B and BPM. then I suggest you try out the following -

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/soasuite/learnmore/vmsoa-172279.html

The feedback I've had so far is excellent!

Enjoy!

Getting Started With Oracle BPM Suite 11g

2010-09-20T23:28:00.000-07:00

Excellent title from Heidi Buelow et al. now available from Packt Press

https://www.packtpub.com/getting-started-with-oracle-bpm-suite-11gr1-hands-on-tutorial/book