To help you learn all there is to know about business process execution language for Web services (BPEL4WS), the SearchSOA.com team has put together a tutorial. In this BPEL tutorial, you'll find articles, tips, expert advice, white papers and more that will explain how BPEL fits into the world of Web services.
Background
What is BPEL?
BPEL (Business Process Execution Language) for Web services is an XML-based language designed to enable task-sharing for a distributed computing or grid computing environment - even across multiple organizations - using a combination of Web services. Written by developers from BEA Systems, IBM, and Microsoft, BPEL combines and replaces IBM's WebServices Flow Language (WSFL) and Microsoft's XLANG specification. (BPEL is also sometimes identified as BPELWS or BPEL4WS.)
BPEL topics page
Find BPEL basics, best practices and tutorials for software architecture developers and IT management working on service-oriented architecture and Web services projects. This topics page is filled with the latest articles, tips, expert advice, and tutorials on SearchSOA.com.
WS-Coordination
WS-Coordination (Web Services Coordination) is a proposed IT industry standard for how individual Web services can interact in order to accomplish an application task. WS-Coordination is one of a series of specifications from an industry group that includes IBM, Microsoft, and BEA Systems. The WS-Coordination interface defines a context within which coordination is to take place and the specific items of data that are to be exchanged in order for transactions to complete successfully as part of an overall business process defined in a Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) program. WS-Transaction is a companion specification for what will constitute the completion of a transaction.
WS-Transaction
WS-Transaction is one of a series of specifications from an industry group that includes IBM, Microsoft, and BEA Systems. The WS-Transaction interface defines what constitutes a transaction and what will determine when it has completed successfully. Each transaction is part of an overall set of activities that constitute a business process that is performed by cooperating Web services. The overall business process is formally described using the Business Process Execution Language (BPEL). WS-Coordination is a companion specification that defines the context and exactly how information is exchanged during the business process.
Tips, news and expert advice
BPEL vs. workflow foundation
Sri Nagabhirava discusses the differences between BPEL and workflow foundation and which is best at building a composite Web service.
BPEL4People and WS-HumanTask get reference implementation
Although BPEL4People and WS-HT aren't fully ratified standards, Active EndPoints Inc., one of the leaders of the standards effort, is incorporating them into its new tools for BPM and SOA design and development.
Service contracts for BPEL 2.0
The BPEL orchestration standard allows for contract-first Web services design inside an SOA. This tip identifies best practices for using BPEL and WSDL for service contracts.
Beyond BPEL, business processes for SOA
While a set of BPEL tools will enable a user to construct a few Web services, the architectural requirements for orchestration SOA-enabled business processes are much more involved.
WF and WS-BPEL
Sri Nagabhirava explains the definitions and differences between Windows Workflow Foundation and WS-BPEL.
User stories
Verizon uses BPEL app to cut down on code, check for fraud, and go green
Verizon Wireless employed Oracle BPEL Manager with a rules engine to study call patterns. That led to a reduction in lines of Java code for an app that provides fraud detection teams with better information for decision making. It also used less hardware, reducing IT energy consumption.
SOA, BPEL working on the railroad
Commuter trains in the San Francisco, California area will soon be issuing tickets from a new SOA-based ticketing system, which combines BPEL, wireless handheld devices and a legacy data center.
Online real estate SOA moves into BPEL
At Move Inc., an online real estate services provider, BPEL is being used in the integration of legacy systems and new CRM and ERP products as the first step in an incremental "pragmatic SOA" implementation.
Las Vegas bets on BPEL
BPEL-based applications are being used by the City of Las Vegas to reduce the bureaucratic paper work at its water treatment facility.
SOA, Web services and BPEL converge at AT&T subsidiary
Needing to enhance audit compliance for its application management business, software engineers at AT&T's newly acquired USi subsidiary moved from traditional workflow to a combination of SOA, Web services and BPEL.
