This topic applies only to the IBM Business Automation Workflow Advanced
configuration.

Dynamic binding between BPEL processes and services

Draft comment:
This topic only applies to BAW, and is located in the BAW repository. Last updated on 2025-03-13 12:15

This scenario assumes that a business process is used as a client, and the process model allows BPEL partner links to be assigned when the process runs. Dynamic service bindings allow business processes to invoke services, the addresses of which are determined at run time. This is especially useful if the service endpoint is unknown at when the process is modeled.

The services with which a BPEL process interacts are modeled as partner links in the process model. Before operations on a partner service can be invoked using a partner link, the binding and communication data for the partner service must be available. The relevant information about a partner service is usually set as part of business process deployment.

The Service Component Architecture (SCA) reference that corresponds to the BPEL partner link can be left unwired. In this case, the binding that is used for the invocation defaults to an SCA or a web service binding, depending on the endpoint address URL. Alternatively, the SCA reference can be prewired to an SCA Import. In this case, the binding and any quality of service specifications are obtained from the SCA Import and only the service endpoint address is overwritten by the endpoint reference.

Include in your process model either an assign activity or a Java™ snippet activity to which you assign the endpoint reference value of the partner link. If the partner link is not wired, the service is invoked in one of the following ways:

For a microflow, the service is invoked synchronously
For a long-running process, the service is invoked asynchronously