Tips for Working with Abstract Processes

ActiveVOS Designer User’s Guide

Tips for Working with Abstract Processes

As described in Creating an Executable vs. an Abstract Process, you can create a process not immediately intended for execution. When working with abstract processes, consider the following tips:

For an abstract process, the namespace is: http://docs.oasis-open.org/wsbpel/2.0/process/abstract
You can set an Abstract Process Profile in the process Properties view. The default profiles listed are referenced in the WS-BPEL 2.0 specification.
You can use an activity unique to abstract processes. For details, see Opaque.
You can use an opaque from-spec assignment in a copy operation. For details, see Assign.
You can make an abstract process into an executable one by changing the process’s Abstract Process property from Yes to No. If your process contains an opaque activity, you are warned to replace it with a different activity.
If desired, you can follow the guidance in the WS-BPEL 2.0 specification for hiding syntactic elements in your process. See the examples below.

WS-BPEL XML Fragment Examples

Example 1 - Variable Declaration

<variable name="commonRequestVar" element="##opaque" />

Example 2 - Use of Invoke Activity

<invoke partnerLink="homeInfoVerifier"

   operation="##opaque" inputVariable="##opaque"

   ext:uniqueUserFriendlyName="request verification" />

Example 3 - Use of Opaque Activity

<opaqueActivity template:createInstance="yes">

    <documentation>...</documentation>

</opaqueActivity>