Zenflow Standalone User's Guide
Table of Contents
Chapter 1. Introduction to the Zenflow BPEL Editor 1
Chapter 2. Starting the BPEL Editor3
Chapter 3. Creating a New BPEL Process5
Chapter 4. Loading an Existing BPEL Process 9
Chapter 9. Inserting, Deleting, and Modifying Activities 21
Chapter 11. Tutorials and Reference 27
List of Figures
Figure 2‑1. BPEL
Designer Initial Screen
Figure 3‑1. Process
Attributes Window for Creating a New BPEL Process
Figure 3‑2. Screen
for Specifying the WSDL Files To Link To a Process
Figure 3‑3. Zenflow’s
Main Screen
Figure 4‑1. Screen
for Loading an Existing Process
Figure 4‑2. Linked
WSDL Files Dialog Box
Figure 6‑1. BPEL
Editor Window Toolbar (Top Toolbar)
Figure 6‑2. BPEL
Editor Window Toolbar (Lower Toolbar)
Figure 7‑1. File
View Display of Currently Loaded Processes
Figure 9‑1. Toolbar
Icons Before and After Inserting and Activity
Figure 9‑2. Valid
Operations for Inserting an Activity
Figure 9‑3. Definition
Dialog for Invoke Activity
List of Tables
Table 5‑2. Process
Menu Options
Preface
This document provides an overview of and essential information about using the standalone version of the Zenflow BPEL Editor. See Chapter 11 for references to information about the Eclipse plug-in version of Zenflow.
The Zenflow BPEL Editor is a tool designed to help create, update, and visualize BPEL processes.
BPEL is an XML language proposed by the Oasis Consortium. This tool helps with designing processes and generates the corresponding BPEL code.
This version of the tool allows only the generation of BPEL files. This means that WSDL files must be created manually. This feature will be added in a future version of the package.
Zenflow is a BPEL designer compliant with the Oasis BPEL4WS 1.1 standard. It also has some features that are BPEL 2.0 and BPELJ compliant.
Once the BSOA BPEL Package is installed, a Zenflow directory will be available. This directory contains the BPEL Editor.
To start Zenflow, in the Orchestra installation directory, run:
On Linux
./zenflow.sh
On Windows
zenflow.bat
It can also be started from the Windows® Start menu (Start\Programs\BSOA\BPEL Designer\Zenflow).
Two options will display in the following window: create a new process or load an existing process.
Figure 2‑1. BPEL Designer Initial Screen
|
Note: Clicking on the close button |
When a new BPEL process is created, the following screen will be displayed.
Figure 3‑1. Process Attributes Window for Creating a New BPEL Process
· Enter the required items, the name of the process and the associated targetNamespace.
· Specify the following characteristics of the process (optional): suppressJoinFailure, enableInstanceCompensation and AbstractProcess.
· Choose the BPEL version to use (2.0 allows use of new BPEL 2.0 features), and whether BPELJ is to be enabled (enabling allows use of BPELJ features like the Snippet activity).
For more information about these characteristics, refer to the Oasis BPEL4WS 1.1 standard.
The following screen is then displayed after clicking on Create.
|
Note: The close button is inactive on this dialog, and the Create button will not succeed unless the required fields have been filled in. |
Figure 3‑2. Screen for Specifying the WSDL Files To Link To a Process
· Specify the WSDL of the Web Services orchestrated by this process.
· Click on “Add file” and select the WSDL file.
The corresponding namespace is automatically added to the process definition.
· When all the WSDL files of the process have been added, click on the "OK" button.
|
Note: Clicking on Cancel will discard any information gathered by Add File actions. |
Zenflow’s main screen is then displayed.
Figure 3‑3. Zenflow’s Main Screen
This screen is divided into the following parts:
·
Menus
· Buttons
At this point, it is now possible to start specifying processes.
When loading an existing process, the following dialog box will be displayed.
Figure 4‑1. Screen for Loading an Existing Process
Browse for a BPEL file: a dialog box will appear asking for the corresponding WSDL files.
Figure 4‑2. Linked WSDL Files Dialog Box
Click on “Add file” and select the WSDL file.
The corresponding namespace is automatically added to the process definition.
When all the WSDL files of the process have been added, click on the "OK" button.
Note that Zenflow remembers the WSDL files that the user has already loaded in the system and will automatically propose them if the namespace is the same.
The main screen of the tool is now displayed. See the following sections for instructions on how to use it.
This section provides a description of the menu options available in the BPEL editor.
The File menu offers the standard choices.
The following table describes these options.
Menu Option |
Description |
New process |
Creates a new process. See Creating a New BPEL Process. |
Open BPEL file |
Loads a new process. See Loading an Existing BPEL Process. |
Close File |
Closes the current process (only if it is not the only one open). |
Save |
Saves the current process design as a BPEL file. |
Save as |
Saves the current process design as a BPEL File using the supplied name. |
Exit |
Quits Zenflow. |
This menu contains the usual edit functions: copy, cut, paste, move, delete, and the capability of editing the tool’s preferences.
This menu allows the user to change the view.
· Display or not display the file view.
· Display or not display the error view.
· Display the source and process view either tabbed, or split vertically or horizontally.
This menu allows the user to insert various types of activities into the process.
Only the items that are valid to add, based on the current graph selection, are enabled.
The Process menu is used to define the characteristics of the process.
The following table describes these options.
Table 5‑2. Process Menu Options
Menu Option |
Description |
Define process |
opens the screen to define the process name, target namespace, etc. |
Link WSDL file |
opens the screen to add WSDL files related to this process. |
Variables |
opens a screen to define the variables of the process. |
PartnerLinks |
opens a screen to define the Partner Links of the process. |
Partners |
opens a screen to define the Partners of the process. |
CorrelationSets |
opens a screen to define the Correlation Sets of the process. |
The Window menu provides the ability to switch from one open process to another.
The BPEL Editor window provides the following two rows of toolbar buttons.
The first row offers the same options as the “file” and “edit’ menus: create, open, save, saveas, copy, cut, paste, move, delete and restore positions.
Figure 6‑1. BPEL Editor Window Toolbar (Top Toolbar)
The second row offers a button for each BPEL statement. The buttons are activated depending on the location in the design of the process.
Figure 6‑2. BPEL Editor Window Toolbar (Lower Toolbar)
File view displays the processes that are currently loaded in Zenflow.
Figure 7‑1. File View Display of Currently Loaded Processes
· To switch from one process to another, click on the chosen process.
· A process can also be closed by clicking on a button.
Process view is the main part of the BPEL designer.
Two viewing modes are available to view the process: the “Process View” and the “Scheme view”.
Activities can be operated on in several ways:
§ Insert an activity by selecting an activity node and then using the main toolbar icons or the “insert” menu to add new activities or delete the current activity. To insert a new activity, click on the “parent” statement of the desired activity then insert it with the corresponding button or the right-click context menu item. For instance, to insert a “receive” statement in a sequence, click on the sequence statement block. The “receive” button will then be activated and the statement can be inserted.
Figure 9‑1. Toolbar Icons Before and After Inserting and Activity
Before Insert:
After Insert:
· An activity can also be inserted by selecting a node and using the right-click, context menu and selecting “Insert”, which will display menu items for valid operations.
Figure 9‑2. Valid Operations for Inserting an Activity
· To move an activity to the right position in the process using the “arrows” buttons. Alternatively, drag and drop can be used.
· Double clicking on a node, or right clicking and selecting the “Properties” menu, will display the properties dialog box for that node. Then its characteristics or properties can be specified: name, value, etc. The following is an example definition dialog for an Invoke activity:
Figure 9‑3. Definition Dialog for Invoke Activity
This view displays the errors of the process that is currently being designed.
· Clicking on a particular error will highlight the corresponding activity.
· Double clicking on a particular error will bring up that activities properties dialog.
Refer to the tutorials and other documents developed for the Eclipse plugin version of Zenflow for further information on how to use Zenflow. The plugin version uses an Eclipse properties window instead of dialog boxes to handle activity properties, and the Eclipse problems view is used instead of the standalone versions Error View. Other than that, most operations are similar.
Quickstart Tutorial - View an
Existing BPEL File
Quickstart Tutorial - Create a New
BPEL File