WSDL for bpel web services

[ncapito]

Is there any tools out there that will generate a WSDL for use with bpel script? I.E. i can use wscompile/xdoclet to get my wsdl but they aren't designed for use with the bpel script so i have to hand edit the WSDLs and add in the parnter links and gut the service/mappings....



Any way to automate this?

[ncapito]

Just following up on this? Anyone out there found a way to automate wsdl parter links?

[aguizar]

Nick,

Auto-generation is not an option for abstract WSDL elements (xml types, messages and port types). They define your interface contract with the participants of the process. Visual editors such as the <a href="http://eclipse.org/bpel>Eclipse BPEL designer are a valuable aid for creating them.

Concrete WSDL elements (bindings and services) are amenable for generation given a set of assumptions (SOAP over HTTP, WS-I BP compliance). jBPM BPEL ships with a tool for generating them from your BPEL process and abstract WSDL definitions. You can read about this tool, how to invoke it and a description of its output in the tutorial chapter of the jBPM BPEL user guide.

Once you have concrete WSDL elements you can use the toolset your JAX-RPC/WSEE provider offers for generating the Java mapping artifacts. Leveraging standard tools was an explicit goal of the jBPM BPEL design. Up to beta 1, we have used wscompile from the Sun JWSDP. Future versions will use wstools from the JBossWS project. In fact you can use any third party tool as long as it adheres to the aforementioned standards.

At this point the only artifacts you have to write manually are web.xml (where you specify the endpoint 'servlets' and the JMS references) and webservices.xml (where you bind your servlets to your Java mapping artifacts).

jBPM BPEL comes with complete examples that show you how to fill in the required information. I am working on a template that you can use for new projects (see BPEL-193) and, further up the roadmap, a generation tool (refer to BPEL-190).

[sgao]

Hi Alex

Any idea when JBoss JBPM-BPEL beta2 come out?

Thanks
XG

[kukeltje]

first, do not threadjack, second there is a wiki pages with the roadmap which point (unfortunately just to the jbpm jpdl version in the jira, but with a little deduction you could fairly easy have found http://jira.jboss.com/jira/browse/BPEL in this case posted for convenience since I was curious myself.

[ncapito]

Thanks for the quick reply Alex.



I was able to generate an entire bpel system using a combo of xdoclet/wscompile. But the problem i was having was that i had to write another script to actually gut the wsdl's(even know i could have left the mappings and service tags in them) and then insert the parter links. I then remember hand writing bpel-application, web, application-client, webservice, jboss-client, jboss-web.


Maybe the way i did it was not the best way. But i was not aware of services that could create the before mentioned. I recently started to look into the JBossWS package and what king of fuctionality it provided. I fully plan on getting involved and trying to help out as much as i can. I think your technology is great, it just seems that it is a little new.. so some of the tools aren't yet there that would greatly increase useability.

And a side note.. i was also thinking about the concept of reading a process definition and generating the interface/wsdl for the process.


As for the bpel designer... I developed my applications in your Eclipse JBOSS Ide. However i did not use the bpel designer because i found it hard to use. It seemed easy to create the actual process (controls, receiver, etc) but harder to link in any type of invokes. Just food for thought.


Keep up the good work. The App Serv is great, support for WS and EJB's excellent, JPDL is great, as well as the Bpel Extension seems very powerful. I look foward to new versions of the extension so i can do more with my processes.



Once again thank you for your knowledge.


Nick