jpdl and bpel together

[jbosskbohn]

I'm a java developer who is new to this whole BPM thing.

I understand that BPEL lets you orchestrate web services.
I understand that JPDL lets you orchestrate POJO's.
However, don't people typically operate in both worlds?

My high level question is:
Using JBPM can you create a process that combines both JPDL and BPEL?
In other words, I might have a "process" which calls a java service, then needs to call a couple of web services, then needs to call a few more java services. Is that possible using JBPM? Can anyone point me to some tutorials or examples that step through such a process?

Is it just a matter of writing the handlers for the java services, then wrapping the BPEL service in a java service handler?
The only bummer about this would be that the process language graph would not show the entire "process" in one graph.


Thanks for the help.

Keith

[kukeltje]

http://jboss.org/jbossBlog/blog/tbaeyens/2006/03/17/To_BPEL_or_not_to_BPEL_that_is_the_question.txt

[kukeltje]

hmmm... just a link was not what I intended.

jBPM can call anything. pojo's, but if you write a good actionhandler, it can call webservices, legacy systems etc..etc...etc...

If you read the blog, you'll see that they, jpdl and bpel, serve a different purpose. In the company I work for, we call the processes we develop with jPBM (jpdl) business processes and the orchestration we do (will do in the near future) microflows. That makes it most clear to the business that they should not be interested in how we connect services (they seem to be allergic to things called micro or technical ;-) )

We never had a problem everything was not in one picture. The abstraction level of jBPM jpdl is good at the business process level (I only wish I can show the actions and timers graphically as well, but configurable)

Regarding the 'wrapping'. that is exactely what oracle does when they use the WSIF to get some performance in their bpel system, and what you could do in jpdl byt writing a kind of generic action handler.

[aguizar]

Keep in mind that BPEL exposes service compositions as new services. When your jPDL process invokes a service, it might as well be invoking a BPEL process. The BPEL engine is already "wrapped" in service interfaces.

Calling back the jPDL process from the BPEL process does require the former to be wrapped in a service. As Ronald says, not being able to put it all in the same picture should not pose a problem. You *want* things to be modular and have different levels of abstraction.

jPDL is a workflow/BPM language at the programming level. You use it to implement a business function. BPEL is a composition language at the service level. You use it to wire together business functions exposed as services.