The wait activity stops the process for a period of time
that you specify. You configure this activity either by telling it
how long it should pause the process, or by specifying a date and
time when the process should restart.
About this task
Your BPEL process might reach a point where it is necessary
to pause before continuing. An example would be a process which needs
a part to be delivered by a third-party before any further action
can be taken. In such a scenario you can use a wait activity to pause
the process for a set period of time, or until a certain date and
time.
To create and configure a wait activity, proceed as follows:
Procedure
- Drop a wait activity from the palette on to the canvas.
- In the Properties area, click the Details tab.
- To create an expiration condition using the process' default
expression language, click Create a New Condition.
Otherwise, choose an appropriate language from the drop down menu.
You will have the following choices:
| Option |
Description |
|---|
| Java™ |
If you choose this, then you will be able to compose the expiration
expression in the Java programming
language using either the visual snippet editor, or a text editor.
With this option, you will be able to configure either a date or a
duration expression. |
| No Expression |
This is the default, empty setting. |
| Same as Process |
This is automatically set to be the same as the programming
language that is being used by the BPEL process. |
| Timeout |
If you choose this, then you will be able to simply enter
a duration value, and expiration will occur the moment this period
has passed. |
| XPath 1.0 |
Choose this to compose the expressions in the XPath 1.0 programming
language, using either the XPath Expression Builder, or a text editor.
With this option, you will be able to configure either a date or a
duration expression. |
- If you choose Timeout, you will
have the following options to configure the period of time that the
activity should hold.
| Option |
Description |
|---|
| Simple |
This is, as the name suggests, a simple arithmetic calendar.
Use the Timeout Duration fields to select the
amount of time that this activity should wait for an action to occur
before it expires. |
| WebSphere® CRON |
This is a built-in calendar that uses a list of term expressions
representing elements of time to calculate the interval. Examples
of this type of calendar can be found in the Related Information section
below. |
| User-defined |
Use this option to select a calendar other than those provided.
You can use the fields to name the calendar, and point to a valid Java Naming and Directory Interface
(JNDI) location. |
| New Business Calendar |
There will be more than three options in the Calendar
Type field if a business calendar is available.
A business calendar can be used to model duration values for time-sensitive
aspects of your BPEL process in order to account for such variables
as regular working hours, weekends, and holidays. See Using business calendars within a BPEL process for more information. |
- For all other expression language choices, you will be
presented with the following two options:
| Option |
Description |
|---|
| Date |
Choose this when you want the expiration to occur when a specific
time and date has been reached. |
| Duration |
Choose this when you want expiration to occur after a certain
period of time has elapsed. |
- Depending on the expression language that you are using,
you can choose from any of the following expression types:
| Option |
Description |
|---|
| Visual |
Choose this to use the visual snippet editor to graphically
compose Java code. |
| Java |
Choose this to write a Java expression
yourself. |
| Literal |
Choose this to enter the required values directly into customized
fields. Calendar values are represented in Coordinated Universal Time
(UTC). |
| Text |
Choose this to compose an XPath expression. |
This topic only applies to BAW, and is located in the BAW repository. Last updated on 2025-03-13 12:15