Abhishek Saurabh @ SOA-Treasure Unleashed

Connecting to SQL Server using SQL Developer

2011-01-28T19:08:00.003+05:30

Problem:
Need to connect to SQL Server Database using SQL Developer

Solution:
This is an option available under SQL Developer which will allow us to connect to Third-Party Database systems. If we configure our SQL Developer, we can connect to SQL Server database.

Below mentioned are the steps which will ensure SQL server connectivity:
1) You need to have a Jar file in place for SQL server.
2) Download jTDS SQL Server driver - an open source JDBC driver from:-'http://sourceforge.net/projects/jtds/' to your local drive.
3) Unzip the folder
4) Open SQL Developer
5) Goto Tools -> Preferences -> Database -> Third Party JDBC Drivers
6) Click 'Add Entry', navigate to the unzipped folder
7) Select jtds-1.2.5.jar and click OK
8) Now goto the connections window and create a new connection
9) Give some connection name, enter proper username and password
10)Select 'SQLServer' Tab
11)Enter proper Hostname and leave Port as 1433 (Default). Change the port number only if it is running on running on some different port.
12)Click on Retrive Database button to fetch the Database name you want to connect
13) Test the connection
14) SUCCESS, Save the connection and press the connect button

It works!!!

Handling Large Payload Files

2011-01-16T15:30:00.009+05:30

Problem:
Want to create a BPEL process to read, transform and translate a large payload file (e.g. size 1GB)?

Thoughts:
Reading and traversing large payload file was always a problem in SOA 10g. Supposedly Maximum limit for such operations are for less than 7MB files in 10g.
Solution to such problems are answered in 11g where you can read and transform huge payload files.

Solution:
Suppose you have a CSV file incoming from source directory which you want to transform to a Fixed length file. Keep the source and the destination schema (XSD) ready. Also prepare the Transformation file (XSL) and keep it handy.
For accomplishing this, you will only be using one File Adapter which will take care of your read, transform and write - so all the three operations takes place under single I/O interaction.

Follow the steps below for making it possible:
1) Drag and drop a file adapter in the external references swim lane. (For e.g. Give name as FileMove.)
2) Select Synchronous File Read
3) Give any dummy value for File physical path and File Name. It will be changed manually later.
4) Select Native format translation is not required (Opaque Schema)
5) Outbound File Adapter is now configured, click on Finish
6) Open the relevant .jca file (in this case FileMove_file.jca)
7) Ensure that className should be
"oracle.tip.adapter.file.outbound.FileIoInteractionSpec"
8) Add extra parameters as shown in below file:
<adapter-config name="FileMove" adapter="File Adapter"
xmlns="http://platform.integration.oracle/blocks/adapter/fw/metadata">
<connection-factory location="eis/FileAdapter" adapterRef=""/>
<endpoint-interaction portType="FileMove_ptt" operation="FileMove">
<interaction-spec
className="oracle.tip.adapter.file.outbound.FileIoInteractionSpec">
<property name="SourcePhysicalDirectory" value="testDir1"/>
<property name="SourceFileName" value="test1"/>
<property name="SourceSchema" value="xsd/source-csv.xsd"/>
<property name="SourceSchemaRoot value="Root-Element"/>
<property name="SourceType" value="native"/>
<property name="TargetPhysicalDirectory" value="testDir2"/>
<property name="TargetFileName" value="test2"/>
<property name="TargetSchema" value="xsd/destination-fixedLength.xsd"/>
<property name="TargetSchemaRoot value="Root-Element"/>
<property name="TargetType" value="native"/>
<property name="Xsl value="xsl/SourceToDestination.xsl"/>
<property name="Type" value="MOVE"/>
</interaction-spec>
</endpoint-interaction>
</adapter-config>
9) Save the file and deploy the process.

Note:
This will works only if all the records in the data file are of the same type.

Exporting ESB Metadata

2011-01-16T15:01:00.003+05:30

Requirement:
Exporting entire ESB metadata

Solution:
Follow the steps below to achieve the result:
1) Login to SOA Server (10g) from backend viz. using Putty, and set your environment.
2) Navigate to <SOA_HOME>/integration/esb/bin
3) Run the export.sh command to export entire ESB metadata like:
./export.sh ESBmetadata.zip
4) You will see a output message as:

Setting Protocol = http
Dec 29, 2010 11:14:16 AM oracle.tip.esb.lifecycle.HttpHandler logInfo
INFO: Exporting metadata from the server [host=oradev,port=7777,user=oc4jadmin] to
file "/u01/app/oracle/product/10g/OracleAS_3/integration/esb/bin/ESBmetadata.zip"
Dec 29, 2010 11:14:16 AM oracle.tip.esb.lifecycle.HttpHandler main
INFO: Export completed successfully!!!

Note:
Steps shown above are done on SOA Server 10g running on Linux environment.

ORABPEL Spying-Part2

2011-01-03T17:21:00.006+05:30

Requirement:
To get all BPEL instances and their duration that run longer than 'n' seconds

Solution:
SELECT
process_id, creation_date,
SUBSTR(modify_date-creation_date,12) Duration,
SUBSTR(REGEXP_SUBSTR(title, '[^ ]+', 1, 2), 2) InstanceId
FROM
cube_instance
WHERE
TO_CHAR(creation_date, 'YYYY-MM-DD HH24') >= '<Date_value>'
AND
TO_CHAR(creation_date, 'YYYY-MM-DD HH24') <= '<Date_value>'
AND
(modify_date-creation_date) > '0 0:0:n.0'
AND
process_id IN ('<Name of Process>')
ORDER BY
modify_date DESC

Example:
Here n=45 seconds

SELECT
process_id, creation_date,
SUBSTR(modify_date-creation_date,12) Duration,
SUBSTR(REGEXP_SUBSTR(title, '[^ ]+', 1, 2), 2) InstanceId
FROM
cube_instance
WHERE
TO_CHAR(creation_date, 'YYYY-MM-DD HH24') >= '2010-10-12 15'
AND
TO_CHAR(creation_date, 'YYYY-MM-DD HH24') <= '2011-01-01 21'
AND
(modify_date-creation_date) > '0 0:0:45.0'
AND
process_id IN ('TestProjectBPEL')
ORDER BY
modify_date DESC

ORABPEL Spying-Part1

2011-01-03T17:00:00.007+05:30

Requirement:
Want to get the information on currently running processes - Shortest and Longest running instances on server?

Solution:
Below query will give you the desired result:

SELECT * FROM (
SELECT
bpel_process_name AS "ProcessName",
TO_CHAR(MIN(creation_date),'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MI') AS "EarliestDate",
COUNT(*) AS "TotalRunningProcesses",
TO_NUMBER(SUBSTR(MIN(sysdate-creation_date), 1,
INSTR(MIN(sysdate-creation_date), ' '))) AS "ShortestRunning (Days)",
SUBSTR(MIN(sysdate-creation_date),
INSTR(min(sysdate-creation_date),' ')+1,8) AS "ShortestRunning (Hours)",
TO_NUMBER(SUBSTR(MAX(sysdate-creation_date), 1,
INSTR(MAX(sysdate-creation_date), ' '))) AS "LongestRunning (Days)",
SUBSTR(max(sysdate-creation_date),
INSTR(MAX(sysdate-creation_date),' ')+1,8) AS "LongestRunning (Hours)"
FROM ORABPEL.bpel_process_instances
WHERE state = 1
GROUP BY bpel_process_name
ORDER BY "EarliestDate" DESC
)

NOTE: Query for Oracle BPEL Process Manager 10g (10.1.3.x)

HAPPY NEW YEAR

2011-01-03T16:54:00.002+05:30

I wish all the readers a very and prosperous Happy New Year 2011.

Hope to see new things coming this year from Oracle.

JDeveloper: TODO

2010-08-06T15:21:00.008+05:30

Problem:
Adding Tasks to JDeveloper to keep track of development code

Thoughts:
We always need some kind of Task handler/reminder for our tasks during development so that if that is present in the source code, we can refer that in future (just like Reminder) viz. Need to add a Variable, Delete this variable, Temporary variable, Handle the error etc.

Solution:
Jdeveloper comes with a very good utility - "TODO".
You can write simply TODO as comment (Note: this should be in Caps always) in the source code.
Below picture depicts the same:

Just you need to write //TODO followed by your comments in the source code.

Later through View -> Tasks, you can view all the TODO's in your project. Below picture depicts the same.

So at later point if you want to revisit the code, just double click on the Task line of your interest, it will navigate you to the desired line of code.

Happy Learning.

Timeout for Partnerlink

2010-06-16T14:49:00.007+05:30

Problem:
How to set timeout for Partnerlink or web service in BPEL?

Solution:
Timeout property is set in bpel.xml file under PartnerLinkBinding tag. Just you need to add a property as timeout.

It is shown below as follows:(Suppose name of the web service you are using is abc)

<PartnerLinkBinding name="abc">
<property name="timeout">30</property>

</PartnerLinkBinding>

Wait wait...is it that evrything you need to do for having Timeout for Partnerlink? The answer to this is NO. This property cannot work alone. You need something more to be added to it. In order to achieve this you have to add another property called "optSoapShortcut to false" in the bpel.xml for that partner link.

Now it will look like:

<PartnerLinkBinding name="abc">
<property name="timeout">30</property>
<property name="optSoapShortcut">false</property>

</PartnerLinkBinding>

optSoapShortcut : This property instructs bpel to make the webservice calls via saop stack or not. When BPEL invokes any partner links if the services its calling is running on the same server/domain then it avoid soap overhead and calls natively. There may be situations that you want to invoke the services via Soap Stack, then this property helps you do just that.
Timeout property works on soap stack. Suppose a BPEL proces is calling another BPEL process then the call will change from Soap stack to local binding call.

Deployment with Verbose

2010-06-16T14:29:00.002+05:30

Problem:
What is the importance of using verbose in your project?

Solution:
Verbose entry appears inside your BPEL project under build.properties file. When you add verbose=true to build.properties file then it gives us much more information regarding the compile/deploy process of SOA projects.

Just add "verbose=true" to your build.properties and deploy your process. While Deploying goto "Apache Ant" Log Window and see more information being written to the log. To accomplish this, follow below mentioned steps:

1) Goto any BPEL Project
2) Open build.properties available under Resources in your application navigator
3) Goto the bottom and add verbose=true
4) Save and Re-deploy
5) Check the Apache-Ant Log Window in your Jdeveloper.

Resetting Console login Password

2010-06-16T14:10:00.002+05:30

Problem:
How do you change the password for BPEL Console user 'oc4jadmin'?

Solution:
Follow the below mentioned steps to accomplish this:

1) Connect to SOA Suite EM Console (Application Server Control)
2) Click on appropriate container name. (Home or oc4j_soa, depending upon where your BPEL is available)
3) Click on Administration tab
4) Then click and Goto Task icon for Security Providers task
5) Click Instance Level Security
6) Click Realms
7) Click number under Users
8) Now search for 'oc4jadmin' in list
9) Now click it to change the password for BPEL Console and you are done

ORABPEL-02182

2010-06-16T12:19:00.004+05:30

Problem:
ORABPEL-02182

JTA transaction is not present or the transaction is not in active state.
The current JTA transaction is not present or it is not in active state when processing activity or instance "4260005-BpInv5-BpTry7.13-1". Please consult your administrator regarding this error.

Some Thoughts:
You can encounter this error if response time of adapter is greater than the predefined waiting time for a BPEL instance.As a result process does not get dehydrated on time and fails by throwing this error.

Solution:
A better solution for above problem should be to increase the transaction-timeout values in order to make the BPEL instance to wait more time until a response returns from the adapter.

Following are the steps you should follow to acheive the result:

1) Stop SOA Server

1) Goto SOA_Home\j2ee\config\transaction-manager.xml, serach for transaction-timeout and set transaction-timeout for e.g. to 7200 or more (default value is 30).

2) Goto SOA_Home\j2ee\application-deployments\orabpel\ejb_ob_engine\orion-ejb-jar.xml and set all transaction-timeout to 3600 or more. The value passed here should be always less than the value which is mentioned in step 2.

3) Goto SOA_Home\bpel\domains\config\domain.xml and set syncMaxWaitTime to 240 or more. The value passed here should be always less than the value which is mentioned in step 3. (Default value is 45)

4) Start SOA server and run the process again. Process should work fine.

Importing libraries for using Java Exec

2010-06-16T11:50:00.002+05:30

Problem:
Want to use Java Exec, is it resulting in error?

Solution:
Add following libraries to your .bpel code:
<bpelx:exec import="java.util.*"/>
<bpelx:exec import="java.lang.*"/>
<bpelx:exec import="java.math.*"/>
<bpelx:exec import="java.io.*"/>
<bpelx:exec import="com.collaxa.common.util.Base64Decoder"/>
<bpelx:exec import="com.collaxa.common.util.Base64Encoder"/>

MCF Property in WSDL

2010-03-29T15:00:00.000+05:30

MCF stands for "Managed Connection Factories". When configuring a Database Adapter using Adapter Configuration Wizard, a Database Connection is required to configure the adapter. This connection you create inside connection Navigator->Database.

Once the adapter is created, a WSDL file is automatically created that includes the adapter definition. This includes the Managed Connection Factory (MCF) properties as well as the Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) name (which you create on Enterprise Manager side), as shown below:

<service name="UpdateEmpTable">
<port name="UpdateEmpTable_pt" binding="tns:UpdateEmpTable_binding">
<jca:address location="eis/DB/MyDBHR" UIConnectionName="MyDB" ManagedConnectionFactory="oracle.tip.adapter.db.DBManagedConnectionFactory" mcf.DriverClassName="oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver" mcf.PlatformClassName="oracle.toplink.platform.database.oracle.Oracle10Platform" mcf.ConnectionString="jdbc:oracle:thin:@//159.67.4.3:1521/orcl" mcf.UserName="hr" mcf.Password="8498F4AC99532042CRECC296529B23E6" />
</port>
</service>

If you are using JNDI then manually remove MCF properties from your code once development is complete.

Email to multiple Recipients

2010-03-29T11:14:00.001+05:30

Problem:
Sending Email from BPEL to multiple recipients

Solution
It might just be the smallest topic I have ever blogged about, just thought to share it with you all.
EmailPayload of the Notification Service takes a String. If that String contains a comma separated list of email-addresses, it will send emails to each of the adresses in that list.
For example:
To: abhi@xyz.com,abhishek@abc.com

BPEL:Cannot find partnerLinkType 2

2010-01-08T15:49:00.003+05:30

Problem:
Cannot find partnerLinkType 2.
PartnerLinkType "{http://xmlns.oracle.com/pcbpel/adapter/ftp/pl_get/}Get_plt" is not found in WSDL.
Please make sure the partnerLinkType is defined in the WSDL.

Solution:
If you get such kind of error while deploying project, the simple solution is to clear the WSDL Cache in the BPEL console.
Step to reach there:
1) Login to Oracle BPEL Console (for 10.1.3.4)
2) Goto Administration Tab -> Click on Actions tab
3) Click on Clear WSDL Cache.
4) Try deploying project.

OPMNCTL command

2010-01-05T15:08:00.004+05:30

Problem:
Running OPMNCTL commands on Windows and Linux servers.

Solution:
For running OPMNCTL command on Windows:

Ensure that before running you be at opmn\bin folder
To Start:
>opmnctl startall

To Stop:
>opmnctl stopall

To check the status:
>opmnctl status

To know opmnctl command:
>opmnctl

For running OPMNCTL command on Unix/Linux:

Connect to server using Telnet. Ensure that before running you be at opmn/bin folder
To Start:
>\.opmnctl startall

To Stop:
>\.opmnctl stopall

To check the status:
>\.opmnctl status

To know opmnctl command:
>\.opmnctl

HAPPY NEW YEAR

2009-12-31T16:41:00.005+05:30

Keep learning and stay connected to Oracle SOA.
May each day brings happiness, prosperity and continued success...

WISHING ALL BLOG READERS...
A

VERY

HAPPY

AND

PROPSPEROUS

NEW

YEAR 2010.

Logging System.out statements

2009-12-31T16:13:00.003+05:30

Problem:
Need to log System.out statements under Oracle Application Server 10g.

Thoughts:
For this requirement, I was searching on Internet and I got a solution which worked. Just thought of publishing this on this blog for readers.

This entry which give you an insight view about how to log system.out outputs on our SOA Servers. By default, this is not logged anywhere. For example, a Java code might include the following line:-
System.out.println("Test_123");

Solution:
You can configure this in two ways, either manually updating SOA Server files or via Enterprise Manager Console.

Configure System.out logging manually on SOA Server:
1) Stop the SOA Server
2) Navigate to <SOA_HOME>\opmn\conf
3) Open and edit opmn.xml file
4) Add the following entry to the start-parameters section of the container.
For example:
<data id="oc4j-options" value="-out d:\oracle\product\SOA\j2ee\<container_name>\log\Custom_log\systemout.log"/>
5) Restart SOA Server

Configure System.out logging via EM Console:
1) Log in to the EM Console
2) Click on proper container name
3) Click on Administration tab
4) Click on Server Properties link
5) Add the following under Start-parameters:- OC4J Options;
For example:
-out d:\oracle\product\SOA\j2ee\<container_name>\log\Custom_log\systemout.log
6. Restart the SOA Server

The output should now appear in the log file you configured:
<SOA_HOME>\j2ee\<container_name>\log\Custom_log\systemout.log

ORABPEL-05250

2009-12-30T10:30:00.004+05:30

Problem:
BUILD FAILED
D:\Abhi\RatingCheck\build.xml:79: A problem occured while connecting to server "localhost" using port "80": bpel_RatingCheck_v2009_12_12__74238.jar failed to deploy. Exception message is: Error deploying BPEL suitcase.
An error occurred while attempting to deploy the BPEL suitcase file "D:\oracle\product\soa\bpel\domains\default\tmp\bpel_12757142.tmp"; the exception reported is: archive cannot rename D:\oracle\product\soa\bpel\domains\default\tmp\.bpel_RatingCheck_v2009_12_12__74238_a4ef0434bf12f22a3374aab6a0a942a1

If you check the server log file - domain.log, you will see ORABPEL-05250 error.

Thoughts:
This error is encountered with SOA 10.1.3.5. You will see this error once you try to redeploy your project on the server i.e. whenever a BPEL process is already deployed on the server and you are trying to replace it with newer version or trying to deploy over it. Even in Jdeveloper you will not see the small version window poping up when you try to deploy the project.

But why this problem is there?
Possibly there is a bug with this SOA version. I think whenever we try to redeploy the project it tries to rename the existing project before replacing it with the new one. Some unknown Java process within the BPEL server locks the bpelclasses.jar file and one of your project WSDLs preventing the renaming of the parent directory.

Solution:
Possible solution (as we are doing for our projects)for this error is:
1) Undeploy the process from the console
2) Shutdown SOA Suite Server
3) Bring the Server up. (This will release the process lock).
4) Try to deploy the project.

I know this is quite painful during development. One more pain is that you cannot have multiple versions of your project on console. That means if you want to refer any instance after redeploying, forget it.

So according to me, avoid applying Patch Set 10.1.3.5 on Windows (I have not tried this on other OS). I hope Oracle will look into this matter soon.

ORABPEL-04077

2009-12-23T10:52:00.005+05:30

Problem:
ORABPEL-04077
Cannot fetch a datasource connection.
The process domain was unable to establish a connection with the datasource with the connection URL "jdbc/BPELServerDataSource". The exception reported is: javax.resource.ResourceException: RollbackException: Transaction has been marked for rollback: Timed out

Thoughts:
Sometimes deploying a bpel project of bigger size using JDeveloper throws exception: javax.resource.ResourceException: RollbackException: Transaction has been marked for rollback: Timed out. This is due to the fact that JDeveloper takes too much time and fails to deploy the project.

Solution:
To solve the issue we need to change values of some configuration files of SOA Server. Follow the below mentioned steps:

1) Stop the SOA Server

2) Open the transaction-manager.xml file present under location:-
<SOA_HOME>\j2ee\oc4j_soa\config\transaction-manager.xml

3) Change the transaction-timeout attribute value to some higher value, viz. transaction-timeout="7200"

4) Now open the orion-ejb-jar.xml file present under location:-
<SOA_HOME>\j2ee\oc4j_soa\application-deployments\orabpel\ejb_ob_engine\orion-ejb-jar.xml

5) Change the transaction-timeout attribute to some higher value, viz. transaction-timeout="3600"

6)There will be 6 entries of transaction-timeout attributes in the file. You have to change all the 6 attributes.

7) Save the files.

8) Restart the SOA Server.

9) Now try to deploy the BPEL project using JDeveloper. It should work.

Application Server HTTP 404 problem - Part 2

2009-12-22T17:23:00.005+05:30

Follow this post if the solution published on my blog dated 16th April 2009 is not working.

If making changes to default-web-site.xml file does not work, then try to change an entry in the server.xml file. The file is located under:
<SOA_HOME>\j2ee\home\config\server.xml

Note: Stop the server before making any changes to the server files.

In the file, change the below property to true:
application name="ascontrol" path="../../home/applications/ascontrol.ear" parent="system" start="true" /

Now start the SOA Server and try launching the enterprise manager. You should be able to see the AS control page now.

com.oracle.bpel.client.delivery.ReceiveTimeOutException

2009-11-09T14:56:00.007+05:30

Problem:
nested exception is:
com.oracle.bpel.client.delivery.ReceiveTimeOutException: Waiting for response has timed out. The conversation id is bpel://localhost/default/HelloWorld~1.0. Please check the process instance for detail.

Thoughts:
Above mentioned error come if the "syncMaxWaitTime" setting is set too low. So the processes which exceeds this limit get this error.

"syncMaxWaitTime" is the delivery result receiver maximum wait time. It is the maximum time the process result receiver will wait for a result before returning. The default is 45 seconds.

Solution:
"syncMaxWaitTime" can be updated via BPEL Control:
1) Log on to the BPEL console.
2) Click on Manage BPEL Domain.
3) Click on Configuration.
4) Edit the syncMaxWaitTime setting. For long running processes, this can be increased to 1800.

You can also modify this by navigating on SOA Server for this location:
<SOA_HOME>/bpel/domains/default/config/domain.xml.

First stop the SOA Server. Now goto the above mentioned location and search for . Edit the attribute by increasing the time. Now restart the SOA Server.

Cheers...

File Adapter: File Age parameter usage

2009-11-09T14:13:00.004+05:30

Problem:
What is the function of using File Age parameter in File Adapter?

Solution:
When user sets ‘File Age’ parameter in File Adapter wizard, then the BPEL will wait for ‘File Age’ time, before it first polls for a file.
This option is especially useful, when the source file is large and takes some time for an external application to completely write finishing the source file. If this is not done then there is a chance that incomplete source file may be picked up for processing by BPEL.
The actual value to be set for ‘File Age’ is decided upon the file size and the time it roughly takes to completely copy in to source folder for BPEL to pick up.

APPS Adapter fails to open Object Module Browser

2009-11-09T13:44:00.002+05:30

Problem:
In JDeveloper 10.1.3.3, if APPS Adapter fails to open Object Module Browser to show all available APIs/ XML Gatewys/ PL/SQLs etc.?

Solution:
To make this work, please follow the below mentioned steps:
1) Close your Jdeveloper if its open.
2) Navigate to <JDEV_HOME>/jdev/bin
3) Open jdev.conf and go till end
4) Add this line to the file:
AddVMOption -Duser.language=en
AddVMOption -Duser.region=us
5) Save and start your Jdeveloper

Now when the Apps Wizard prompt you to create the irep file, choose Yes, and let it finish to create the irep file. This going to take some time. At the end a successful message will be shown along with the directory in which the irep file was created. After this window, choose Next and try to open the Apps Module Browser. This will show all the available APIs/ XML Gatewys/ PL/SQLs etc.

Cheers....

ORABPEL-10903

2009-07-23T01:38:00.000+05:30

Problem:
ORABPEL-10903: "failed to read wsdl" when deploying BPEL process

Solution:
Check your schema file which you are using. There might be a possibility that the schema file name contains spaces. Rename the schema file(with no spaces).

Note that if you are importing that schema in your wsdl file then dont forget to change the name there too.

Redeploy the project and the error will be gone.

ORABPEL-05244

2009-07-23T01:31:00.003+05:30

Problem:
ORABPEL-05244 error sometimes occurs in the opmn log shortly after deploying the BPEL process. Furthermore, it may cause the BPEL domain to hang.
The error looks like:
<2009-06-27 11:14:27,752> <ERROR> <default.collaxa.cube> <BaseCubeSessionBean::logError>
Error while invoking bean "process manager": Timed out waiting for process load lock.
Failed to obtain load lock for process "HelloWorld-1.0"; timed out after 120,000 seconds.

Timed out waiting for process load lock.
Failed to obtain load lock for process "HelloWorld-1.0"; timed out after 120,000 seconds.

Solution:
There is no direct solution to solve this problem.
To overcome this there are some suggestion by which you can get rid of such errors. The following suggestions are:
1) Undeploy the existing project.
2) Bounce the SOA Server.

ESB:rejectedMessageHandlers

2009-07-23T00:58:00.004+05:30

Problem:
Files which do not adhere to input file schemas should be rejected or moved to specified folder other than archive folder in ESB.

Solution:
For this, first create an ESB project. Add a Read file Adapter to it. Now to set the rejectedMessageHandlers property, we need to open the <Read adapter name>.esbsvc file. This file should be present under ESB project folder.

Add the following code just after the closing tag of invocation i.e. </invocation> and just before the </service> tag.

<endpointProperties>
<property name="rejectedMessageHandlers" value="file://C:\SOADir\reject"/>
</endpointProperties>

Here,
C:\SOADir\reject is my directory where I want my rejected files to come.

Note: If at anytime you try to refresh anything in the project, this property gets omitted automatically. So be sure to add it again in .esbsvc file if you are refreshing anything in the project.

BPEL:rejectedMessageHandlers

2009-07-23T00:28:00.006+05:30

Problem:
Files which do not adhere to the input file schemas should be rejected or moved to specified folder other than archive folder.

Solution:
For this we need to make an empty project which will be initiated by a file. We need to use a Read File Adapter. After the Adapter is configured and connected to a Receive activity, a bpel.xml file will be generated.
A property called ‘rejectedMessageHandlers’ is used and set in the bpel.xml file under <activationAgent> element.

Sample code for this should look like:
<activationAgents>
<activationAgent className="oracle.tip.adapter.fw.agent.jca.JCAActivationAgent" partnerLink="Read_File">
<property name="portType">Read_ptt
<property name="rejectedMessageHandlers">file://C:\SOADir\reject
</activationAgent>
</activationAgents>

Here,
C:\SOADir\reject is my directory where I want my rejected files to come.

Note: If at anytime you try to refresh anything in the BPEL project, this property gets omitted automatically. So be sure to add it again in bpel.xml file if you are refreshing any compomnent in the project.

OWSM: File-based authentication

2009-07-23T00:06:00.002+05:30

Problem:
Incorporate File based authentication in OWSM

Thoughts:
A good article is already there from Oracle on this topic. I just want to highlight that there is a change in syntax for encoding the file in SOA 10.1.3.1 and SOA 10.1.3.3. We will be using a md5encode utility for doing text file based authentication in OWSM.

Solution:
After creating Gateway and its related service in OWSM, we need to add a policy i.e. file based authentication.
Create a text file and add a user name and password in the following format:- User_name:Password

Now save the file with extension as .htpassword. Now we have to use the md5encode operation to encode the password associated with a user_name.

Syntax: SOA 10.1.3.1
>wsmadmin md5encode username password htpasswdfile

Here,
username – User name in the text file;
password – Password assigned to the user;
htpasswdfile – Name of the file containing the user name and password

Syntax: SOA 10.1.3.3
>wsmadmin md5encode htpasswdfile username

Here,
htpasswdfile – Name of the file containing the user name and password;
username – User name in the text file

Header Information in ESB

2009-07-02T23:34:00.003+05:30

Problem:
To retrieve Header Information in ESB

Solution:

For FTP Adapter:
1) Create a variable in XSL mapper
2) Use the code in XPath:
ehdr:getRequestHeader("/fhdr:InboundFTPHeaderType/fhdr:fileName","fhdr=http://xmlns.oracle.com/pcbpel/adapter/ftp/;")

For File Adapter:
1) Create a variable in XSL mapper
2) Use the code in XPath:
ehdr:getRequestHeader("/fhdr:InboundFileHeaderType/fhdr:fileName","fhdr=http://xmlns.oracle.com/pcbpel/adapter/file/;")

Passing Dynamic value to IN clause

2009-07-02T23:30:00.001+05:30

I came across a wonderful solution for passing values dynamically to IN clause in SQL query and would like to share with all.

Problem:
To pass the list of values in IN clause in SQL Query dynamically. We need to just keep in mind that giving ? after IN clause will not work.

Solution:
1) Use DB Adapter, select Execute Custom SQL as Operation Type and click on Next
2)You need to write a SQL query like the one given below if you want to use IN clause in SQL query and pass the value list dynamically:

SELECT ID,FNAME,MNAME,LNAME,LOC,DEPT
FROM EMP
WHERE LOC
IN (WITH VALUE_LIST AS
(SELECT ? val FROM dual)
SELECT SUBSTR(val, (decode(LEVEL, 1, 0, instr(val, ':', 1, LEVEL -1)) + 1), (decode(instr(val, ':', 1, LEVEL) -1, -1, LENGTH(val), instr(val, ':', 1, LEVEL) -1)) -(decode(LEVEL, 1, 0, instr(val, ':', 1, LEVEL -1)) + 1) + 1) a
FROM VALUE_LIST CONNECT BY LEVEL <=
(SELECT(LENGTH(val) -LENGTH(REPLACE(val, ':', NULL)))
FROM VALUE_LIST) + 1)

NOTE1:
a) Here you need to change the portion showed in Bold as per your query requirement.
b) In this SQL, value list for IN clause should be delimited with a : symbol, If you want to use any other symbol as a delimiter you need to replace : with the symbol you want to use.

3) You need to create IN value list dynamically. Use XSL transformation to generate the dynamic value list and pass it to the DB adapter.

4) To query all the employees from US,INDIA,UK locations you need to create an IN clause value list as US:INDIA:UK

NOTE2:
While generating value list you don’t need to wrap character data with apostrophe.

Limitations:
1) If you create a very big value list for IN query (greater than 4000 characters) than you need to break value list and invoke this query multiple times, otherwise you will get ORA-01704: string literal too long error.

2) If you use SELECT * rather than giving the field list with SELECT, DB adapter won't be able to generate a correct XSD for request.

BPEL: Insert huge data in DB

2009-05-19T00:53:00.005+05:30

Problem:
To store large objects in database tables. If data is more than 32766 bytes, the DB Adapter doesnot insert the data. The Oracle BPEL PM throws following exception:
"
java.sql.SQLException: setString can only process strings of less than 32766 chararacters
Internal Exception: java.sql.SQLException: setString can only process strings of less than 32766 chararacters
Error Code: 17157 when trying to insert record in clob type of size more then 32766 characters
"
Note:- To store large data, the column in the oracle database should be of CLOB datatype which can store data.

Solution:
1) Goto location <SOA_Home>\j2ee\<ContainerName>\connectors\DbAdapter\META-INF
2) Open file ra.xml file
3) Copy and paste the below mentioned content:

<config-property>
<config-property-name>usesStreamsForBinding</config-property-name>
<config-property-type>java.lang.Boolean</config-property-type>
<config-property-value>true</config-property-value>
</config-property>
<config-property>
<config-property-name>usesStringBinding</config-property-name>
<config-property-type>java.lang.Boolean</config-property-type>
<config-property-value>true</config-property-value>
</config-property>

4) Now Goto <SOA_Home>\j2ee\<ContainerName>\application-deployments\default\DbAdapter\oc4j-ra.xml
5) Open oc4j-ra.xml file
6) Copy and paste the above mentioned properties in the connector-factory of the DB Adapter.

<connector-factory location="eis/DB/TestDB" name="TestDatabase Adapter">
<config-property value="jdbc/DBConnection" name="xADataSourceName">
<config-property value="" name="dataSourceName">
<config-property value="oracle.toplink.platform.database.Oracle9Platform" name="platformClassName">
<config-property value="true" name="usesNativeSequencing">
<config-property value="50" name="sequencePreallocationSize">
<config-property value="false" name="defaultNChar">
<config-property value="true" name="usesBatchWriting">
<config-property value="true" name="usesStreamsForBinding">
<config-property value="true" name="usesStringBinding">
<connection-pooling use="none"></connection-pooling>
<security-config use="none"></security-config>
</connector-factory>

7) Restart Oracle SOA Suite and you are done.

Jdeveloper log window disappears

2009-05-11T20:10:00.004+05:30

Problem:
Log window from Jdeveloper disappears. If we goto view->log, it does not reappear.

Solution:
For JDeveloper 10.1.3.4:-
Search for the windowinglayout.xml file.
Its present in the directory: <Jdev_Home>/jdev/system/oracle.ide.10.1.3.42.70

Rename or delete windowinglayout.xml file. After renaming/deleting it, we get our log window back on Jdeveloper again.

For JDeveloper 10.1.3.3:-
Search for the windowinglayout.xml file.
Its present in the directory: <Jdev_Home>/jdev/system/oracle.ide.10.1.3.41.57

Rename or delete windowinglayout.xml file. After renaming/deleting it, we get our log window back on Jdeveloper again.

Note:
JDeveloper saves the file after closure. So first close JDeveloper and then rename or delete the file.

Playing with ESB Schema-2

2009-05-01T01:06:00.004+05:30

Problem:
Need to have all ESB Services and their respective parent System

Solution:
I have already mentioned in my previous blog with subject - Playing with ESB Schema-1, about what all details are required and the details on how to connect to ESB schema.

Query:
SELECT systems.name SYSTEMNAME, event.name ESBSERVICENAME, event.guid GUID,
DECODE(event.type, 'GROUP', 'Service', 'SERVICEGROUP', 'Service Group') TYPE, event.status STATUS
FROM wf_events event, wf_systems systems
WHERE event.type != 'EVENT'
AND event.system_guid = systems.guid
AND event.type IN ('GROUP')
AND systems.name != 'BPELSystem'
ORDER BY systems.name

Description:
1) event.type != 'EVENT' :- Condition to exclude esb activities
2) systems.name != 'BPELSystem' :- Condition to exclude BPEL processes
3) 'GROUP' :- Here GROUP means ESB service
4) 'SERVICEGROUP' :- Here SERVICEGROUP is the actual Service Group

Playing with ESB Schema-1

2009-05-01T00:06:00.002+05:30

Problem:
Need to get the list of Systems and its respective GUID's.

Solution:
The ESB schema name to connect is ORAESB. You need to have the following information to connect to this schema:
1) Password
2) Hostname
3) Port

You can get the Hostname and Port details from the datasources.xml file.

Query:
SELECT name,guid,status FROM wf_systems WHERE name != 'BPELSystem'

Error: XPATH returns zero node

2009-04-30T20:23:00.001+05:30

Problem:
Sometimes you get following runtime error message in your BPEL Console for the transform activity;

XPath query string returns zero node.
According to BPEL4WS spec 1.1 section 14.3, The assign activity part query should not return zero node.
Please check the BPEL source at line number "211" and verify the part xpath query.
Possible reasons behind this problems are: some xml elements/attributes are optional or the xml data is invalid according to XML Schema.
To verify whether XML data received by a process is valid, user can turn on validateXML switch at the domain
administration page.

Solution:
The probable reason for getting this error is due to assigning value to an element using Assign activity just after the Transform activity, for which the same element is not mapped in transformation. Assign activity attempts to update an element not being transformed in Transform (the element without any value).

Following steps should be done to overcome this problem:

1) Goto the transfomation mapper file
2) Right-click on the element that the Assign activity in going to use for assigning value in the next step
3) Select Set Text
4) Set any temporary value there. This will be overwritten by the Assign activity in the next step anyways.

Error in getting File from FTP

2009-04-29T23:01:00.002+05:30

Problem:
Sometimes when you try to GET(Read) a pdf file from the FTP folder(using FTP adapter) in the bpel process, you get following error:

FTP Command: RETR, reply:
550 RETR Error: IFS-32615: "/TestFolder/Read/demo.pdf": Path is invalid.
Unable to get Binary file '/TestFolder/Read/demo.pdf' ; FTP command RETR returned unexpected reply code : 550

Solution:
1) Goto the following SOA Server location:
<SOA_HOME>\j2ee\oc4j_soa\application-deployments\default\FtpAdapter
2) Open oc4j-ra.xml file in Notepad.
3) Navigate to
4) Change value="" to value="UTF-8"
5) Save the file
6) Bounce the SOA Server.

Pure SQL Exception

2009-04-29T22:41:00.002+05:30

Problem:
Pure SQL Exception encountered.

Reason:
This problem is related to the database connections used in the BPEL/ESB projects. Usually sometimes we encounter this problem when the database on which we are doing some operations or the database(dehydration store) on which BPEL and ESB schemas are created is refreshed/restarted, and SOA Server doesn't come to know about the refresh/restart.

** This problem is seen when we use direct database connection instead of JNDI. It is always recommended to use JNDI instead of direct database connections.

Solution:
Bounce the SOA server so that the SOA Server updates itself.

Creating Database JNDI w/o EM

2009-04-29T02:35:00.005+05:30

Problem:
Create JNDI without using Oracle Application Enterprise Manager

Solution:
While you create Database JNDI using Oracle Application Enterprise Manager, it modifies two files in the SOA installed location.

1) data-sources.xml
2) oc4j-ra.xml

We can manually create JNDIs by adding contents to these files. This try was made just to make sure that JNDIs can be created without the help of Enterprise manager.
So here you go,

1) First you need to modify the data-sources.xml file located at <SOA_Home>\j2ee\<Active container name>\config. Open the file in notepad. Add your new pool information as:

<connection-pool name="TestPOOL">
<connection-factory factory-class="oracle.jdbc.pool.OracleDataSource" user="database username" password="database password" url="jdbc:oracle:thin:@//host name:port/service name" commit-record-table-name=""/>
</connection-pool>

Give a pool name. You need to provide the database connection details such as username, password, host name, port, service name. Save the changes.

2) As the second step, you need to modify the oc4j-ra.xml file located at <SOA_Home>\j2ee\<Active container name>\application-deployments\default\DbAdapter. Open the file in notepad. Add your new JNDI information as:

<connector-factory location="eis/DB/Test" connector-name="Test DB Adapter JNDI">
<config-property name="xADataSourceName" value="jdbc/Test"/>
<config-property name="dataSourceName" value=""/>
<config-property name="platformClassName" value="oracle.toplink.platform.database.Oracle9Platform"/>
<config-property name="usesNativeSequencing" value="true"/>
<config-property name="sequencePreallocationSize" value="50"/>
<config-property name="defaultNChar" value="false"/>
<config-property name="usesBatchWriting" value="true"/>
<connection-pooling use="none">
</connection-pooling>
<security-config use="none">
</security-config>
</connector-factory>

Provide the JNDI location and also the datasource name. Save the changes.

After the changes bounce the SOA Server. Now your database JNDI is ready to use.

BPEL: Default Input to initiate

2009-04-29T01:57:00.003+05:30

Problem:
Need to pass same value everytime to initiate BPEL process(Synchronous or Asynchronous).

Solution:
If you want to pass a default input in your BPEL process while initiating process then you need to modify/add some code in your projects bpel.xml file.

Add the following code after the <partnerLinkBindings> tag in bpel.xml file:

<configurations>
<property name="defaultInput">Hi to SOA World</property>
</configurations>

Oracle Aquired Sun

2009-04-29T01:10:00.000+05:30

Oracle announced the acquisition of Sun a week back. I think this is the hottest news in the tech-market now. This aquisition came after IBM cancelled the acquisition talks with Sun just 3 weeks back.

On the acquisition, just a small thought:

1) MySQL becomes the latest addition to Oracle's database family, MySQL was acquired by Sun last year.
2) With the aquisition it looks like Oracle wants to broaden its services into hardware as well.

Application Server HTTP 404 problem

2009-04-16T00:14:00.004+05:30

Hi SOA lovers

Writing blog after a long gap, this time with new flavors.

INTRODUCTION:
Sometimes when you navigate to the Enterprise Manager’s Application Server Control you will hit a 404 "Page not found exception".

REASON:
The most probable reason is that Application Server Control has no routing relationship defined with the Oracle HTTP Server by default.

SOLUTION:
To establish this relationship you have to set the ohs-routing attribute to true (default value in the file will be false) in the default-web-site.xml file at SOA server location: <SOA home>/j2ee/home/config. Make sure to make the changes always in the home container.

Make the changes as follws in the file:
<web-app application="ascontrol" name="ascontrol" load-on-startup="true" root="/em" ohs-routing="true" />

Now restart the SOA Server and try it. It should work.

If this solution doesn't work, follow my latest finding, posted on 22nd December 2009.

oc4j_soa in 10.1.3.4

2009-01-28T20:03:00.006+05:30

Problem:
The OC4J_SOA container never stops gracefully and the stop log from the default_group~<oc4j_container_name>~default_group~1.log file shows that it always stops on deactivation of the endpoint for ESB adapters.

Solution:
This is due to the fact that the default stop timeout for OC4J, as specified in the
opmn.xml file, is 120, out of which most of the time is consumed by the initial process, that is, BPEL shutdown.
So, ESB does not have much time for the shutdown, so the Oracle Process Management Notification (OPMN) shuts it down forcibly. You can solve this problem by increasing the stop timeout for OC4J in the opmn.xml file.

More options in Native Format Builder

2008-12-30T15:17:00.007+05:30

INTRODUCTION:
This wizard helps you in creating XSDs for your sample files. This is used to create a native schema file from formats such as:- comma-separated value (CSV), fixed-length file, data type description (DTD), and Cobol Copybook.

SCENARIO:
Suppose you need to create a schema file for a pipe-delimeter or $ delimeter sample file. If you closely look into the options provided under Step 5 of 7 (If you select Delimited Radio button in Step1 of 7) in Native Format Builder, you will see only 5 options available i.e. Single Space, Comma, Semicolon, White space (any number of tab, space) and Tab.
Then how to create a pipe-delimeter or $ delimeter schema file??

SOLUTION:
Goto options provided under Step 5 of 7 (If you select Delimited Radio button in Step1 of 7) in Native Format Builder.
In the Fields ->Delimited by drop down option, double click. A pointer will appear. Now instead of using drop down option manually type the |(pipe).

Then finish off the wizard. Your work is done..So simple.
The pipe delimited file schema file is ready to use.

Keep learning and stay connected to SOA.

WISHING ALL THE BLOG READERS A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009.

Magikkk of 'Translate'

2008-12-26T17:15:00.005+05:30

Ahhh...Writing blog after a longtime. During this time, got an oppurtunity to diagonise BPEL...so now thinking of sharing some of my knowledge and experiences with all.

INTRODUCTION:
Here I am going to discuss a very small function of XSLT:- TRANSLATE.
Translate function returns inputString with occurrences of characters in fromString replaced by the character at the corresponding position in toString. This function takes 3 parameters.

SYNTAX: translate(inputString as string,fromString as string,toString as string)

SCENARIO:
If we deal in currency values, often we see that the value is separated by commas. For example, Value1=2,000,000/Value2=3,000/Value3=30,000

Now suppose you need to store this value in the database. To acheive this you need to remove all the commas from the incoming value. For this purpose we have to use the TRANSLATE function.

SOLUTION:
For the above scenario, use Translate as:
translate(inputString as string,fromString as string,toString as string)

Here,
inputString as string= Your input XPath, for instance, /ns0:Order/ns0:Lines/ns0:UnitPrice/ns0:Money
fromString as string=","
toString as string=""

Now use a conversion function 'Number' to convert the string in number. Thats it and you are done.
Hope I have cleared my point.

Keep learning with me and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all the readers.

What, if you forget the Password?

2008-11-18T23:24:00.007+05:30

PROBLEM:
What, if you forgot the password for logging into BPEL, ESB or EM? Is there any way to reset it?

SOLUTION:
Step-wise solution to the above problem is mentioned below:

1) Look for the file system-jazn-data.xml under location:
SOA_HOME/j2ee/<home_container>/config
2) Open the file system-jazn-data.xml in your editor.
3) Edit credentials tag for the corresponding name tag as shown below:
<name>oc4jadmin</name>
.
.
<credentials>!<your_new_password></credentials>

Note:Do remember to add ! sign before your password.
4) Restart the SOA Server.
5) You are all set to use new paasword.

Note2: If you encounter any errors after doing this, follow the steps provided in my blog dated 21st June 2008.

Keep learning with me.

Timed out problem of OPMN

2008-11-15T03:27:00.006+05:30

PROBLEM:
Why OPMN (SOA Server) sometime gives timed out message/error during shutdown?

SOLUTION:
Here is the solution. To resolve this issue:
1) Shutdown OPMN completely
2) Goto the location where resides opmn.xml and edit it.
3) Add the -Djava.net.preferIPv4Stack=true option to all the start/stop-args command sections.

EXAMPLE:
<ias-component id="default_group">
<process-type id="home" module-id="OC4J" status="enabled">
<module-data>
<category id="start-parameters">
<data id="java-options" value="-Xrs -server -XX:MaxPermSize=128M -ms512M -mx1024M -XX:AppendRatio=3 -Djava.net.preferIPv4Stack=true -Djava.security.policy=$ORACLE_HOME/j2ee/home/config/java2.policy -Djava.awt.headless=true -Dhttp.webdir.enable=false -Doraesb.home=C:\product\10.1.3.1\OracleAS_1\integration\esb -Dhttp.proxySet=false -Doc4j.userThreads=true -Doracle.mdb.fastUndeploy=60 -Dorabpel.home=C:\product\10.1.3.1\OracleAS_1\bpel -Xbootclasspath^/p:C:\product\10.1.3.1\OracleAS_1\bpel/lib/orabpel-boot.jar -Dhttp.proxySet=false"/>
</category>
<category id="stop-parameters">
<data id="java-options" value="-Djava.net.preferIPv4Stack=true -Djava.security.policy=$ORACLE_HOME/j2ee/home/config/java2.policy -Djava.awt.headless=true -Dhttp.webdir.enable=false"/>
</category>
</module-data>
<start timeout="600" retry="2"/>
<stop timeout="300"/>
<restart timeout="720" retry="2"/>
<port id="default-web-site" range="8888" protocol="http"/>
<port id="rmi" range="12401-12500"/>
<port id="rmis" range="12701-12800"/>
<port id="jms" range="12601-12700"/>
<process-set id="default_group" numprocs="1"/>
</process-type>
</ias-component>

Keep learning with me...

Oracle JDeveloper 11g Released

2008-10-15T16:36:00.006+05:30

Introduction:
Oracle JDeveloper 11g showcases new features to provide a full development environment for Java EE 5 – including EJB 3.0 and JSF 1.2 – and rounded out with new features for AJAX developers, including an impressive new ADF Faces rich client set of components as well as Javascript editing and debugging.

JDeveloper 11g marks a significant milestone in the progress of application development.Web services development is greatly improved with updated support for JAX-WS, a complete Web services test framework, and a comprehensive WSDL editor. There are also many developer productivity enhancements to the IDE and Java development features to explore. And, building applications with Oracle ADF has been dramatically improved with the addition of ADF Faces rich client, a new JSF-based ADF controller framework, and countless productivity-boosting enhancements.

JDeveloper now makes use of an installer to prevent errors during installation.

Features of the installer include:
a. Platform-specific(native) installers for Windows & Linux,including a bundled JDK.
b. Generic installer (without a JDK) for all other platforms.
c. Install into a new or existing Middleware home.
d. Perform a complete installation, or install just the components you need.
e. Create shortcuts in the Start menu on Windows.
f. QuickStart page after installation provides easy access to common tasks.
g. Installer supports 3 modes: GUI/graphical, console, and silent.

For more information, you can visit:
http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/jdev/collateral/papers/11/newfeatures/index.html

BPEL : ORABPEL-11622

2008-10-15T16:18:00.005+05:30

Problem:
A "javax.transaction.RollbackException" is thrown when BPEL PM is under heavy load.

Error:
Caused by: ORABPEL-11622
Could not create/access the TopLink Session.
This session is used to connect to the datastore. [Caused by: Transaction has been marked for rollback: Timed out]
See root exception for the specific exception. You may need to configure the connection settings in the deployment descriptor
(i.e. $J2EE_HOME/application-deployments/default/DbAdapter/oc4j-ra.xml) and restart the server. Caused by Exception [TOPLINK-23005]
(Oracle TopLink - 10g Release 3 (10.1.3.1.0) (Build 061004)):
oracle.toplink.exceptions.TransactionException
Exception Description: Error binding to externally managed transaction
Internal Exception: javax.transaction.RollbackException: Transaction has been marked for rollback

Solution:
A step by step solution for this error is shown as under:
a. Goto SOA_HOME/bpel/domains//config

b. Open domain.xml and change syncMaxWaitTime to 1800.
(If the existing value is more than this don't make any changes here)

c. Goto SOA_HOME/j2ee/OC4J_SOA/application-deployments/orabpel/ejb_ob_engine

d. Open orion-ejb-jar.xml and change all the transaction-timeout values to 3600. (If the existing value is more than this don't make any changes here).

e. Goto SOA_HOME/j2ee/OC4J_SOA/config

f. Open transaction-manager.xml and change transaction-timeout value to 7200. (This value you could use as high as 60000, if needed).

Setting Log level

2008-10-09T12:59:00.003+05:30

Setting Log Level for BPEL

Steps:
1) Log in BPEL Console
2) Click on Manage BPEL Domain
3) Goto auditLevel and set the property to production, then click Apply.
4) Goto Logging, on the same page, and set all loggers to error and click on Apply.

Keep Learning...

Setting for oc4j-ra.xml

2008-10-07T12:47:00.007+05:30

Oracle recommends to modify the container settings in oc4j-ra.xml. By doing so, it increases the performance of the SOA server.

Steps:
1) Goto the location SOA_HOME/j2ee/oc4j_soa/application-deployments/default/DbAdapter

2) Open the file oc4j-ra.xml

Default Value:
<connection-pooling use="none">
</connection-pooling>

New Value:
<connection-pooling use="private">
<property name="waitTimeout" value="300"/>
<property name="scheme" value="fixed_wait"/>
<property name="maxConnections" value="100"/>
<property name="minConnections" value="0"/>
</connection-pooling>

3) Similarly, open the file oc4j-ra.xml present under location:
SOA_HOME/j2ee/oc4j_soa/application-deployments/default/AqAdapter

4) Change the default value to the New value as shown above for DB Adapter.

5) Bounce the SOA Server.

Keep Learning with me...

Using 'DirectSQL'

2008-09-29T14:27:00.005+05:30

Introduction:
This is a feature of the Database Adapter. Oracle claims that by using it, it will improves the performance. This option is available from 10.1.3 version onwards.
It will let you bypass the TopLink framework, and instead use direct JDBC SQL calls to the database. Well, it will not totally bypass TopLink, it will still be used for generating the SQL, obtaining connections, and table introspection. However, other functions of TopLink, for e.g. the cache option, will not be used under DirectSQL.

Restrictions:
The restrictions that needs to be taken into account are listed below:

1) Only works for flat table structures.
2) For an Inbound Adapter you must have DeletePollingStrategy.
3) For an Outbound Adapter you can only use it with Insert.
4) Limited to work with String, Number, Date, Time, Clob and Blob DataTypes only.
5) Does not work with the DetectOmissions feature.

Configuration:
It is configured in the adapter WSDL file:

<jca:operation
InteractionSpec="oracle.tip.adapter.db.DBWriteInteractionSpec"
DescriptorName="myService.PerfOut"
DmlType="insert"
DetectOmissions="false"
UseDirectSql="true"
OptimizeMerge="true"
MappingsMetaDataURL="myService_toplink_mappings.xml" />

Addition setting:
You must also set DetectOmissions="false", this because DetectOmissions defaults to "true".

ORABPEL-02118

2008-09-29T12:15:00.005+05:30

Problem:
This ORABPEL error will drive you crazy. This error occurs when you try to invoke an asynchronous BPEL process that is deployed to Oracle BPEL Process Manager 10.1.3.3 or later.

Solution:
I got the solution for this error over Internet & thought of sharing this with my blog readers.
In pre 10.1.3.3 release the default behaviour were to keep global variable information along with the instance information for completed BPEL processes.
In 10.1.3.3 or later, this behaviour changed for performance reasons so that the default behaviour is now, not to keep any global variables for a BPEL process once the BPEL process has completed.

You can configure this behaviour on a process level basis by using the parameter keepGlobalVariables in the bpel.xml file for the specific process:

<BPELSuitcase>
<BPELProcess src=".........." id="...........">
<configurations>
<property name="keepGlobalVariables">true</property>
</configurations>
</BPELProcess>
</BPELSuitcase>

XSLT: Remove NameSpaces

2008-09-12T12:05:00.004+05:30

This post will guide how to strip the namespaces from qualified XML document. This is most common requirement which comes during working.

Problem: Stripping all 'xmlns' attributes from qualified XML document

Solution:
Here is an XSLT that you can use to strip all namespaces from XML document:

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
exclude-result-prefixes="xsl">
<xsl:template match="*">
<xsl:element name="{local-name()}">
<xsl:apply-templates select="@* | node()"/>
</xsl:element>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="@* | text()">
<xsl:copy/>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Learn with me...Way to go...

Human Task Patterns

2008-09-12T11:11:00.007+05:30

Here I am going to give a overview of different patterns related to Human Workflow.

Simple Workflow:
In simple workflow some user activity is required for the business process to carry on. The business process may still continue, if human task expires, along some other flow.

Simple Workflow with Auto Escalation:
When a human task expires, the task can then be escalated to assignee’s manager (default rule) or to some other person, as specified by the Escalation Function.

Simple Workflow with Auto Renewal:
Renewal differs from Escalation, in terms, when the task is escalated; it goes to some other person, when renewed, the task is reassigned to the same user.

Sequential Workflow:
This pattern routes the human task to business users in a sequential manner.

Sequential Workflow with Escalation:
In case some user is not performing an action for desired time, his task could be escalated to his supervisors.

Parallel Workflow:
When multiple users work on a single task at a given point of time, for example, Public suggesions.

Adhoc Workflow:
The task is assigned to a user, where he decides where the task should go next, and completes when one of the assignees finally work on the task.

FYI Tasks:
FYI tasks are those which just allow the assignees to add comments/attachments, but their action does not affect the execution of business process.

External Routing Service:
When a third party routing algorithm determines the assignment and routing policy.

Task Continuation:
Task continuation where in the history, attachments and comments are accessible from the previous task. An example could be if you wish to implement Parallel workflow with final reviewer. The first task would be a group vote, and in second task, you can check task continuation, for the reviewer to understand basis of vote, if need be.

ESB Debugging

2008-09-10T10:59:00.004+05:30

This blog of mine will focus on how to enable debugging for ESB. Here I am providing a step-by-step procedure to enable debugging. By doing this you can diagonose and troubleshoot your ESB related issue in much better way.

STEPS:

1. Login to SOA Enterprise Manager.
2. Click on the appropriate container name(HOME/OC4J_SOA).
3. Click on Administration link.
4. Click on Logger Configuration icon.
5. In the Search field type ESB and press 'enter' or 'Go' button.
6. The search result will give you the list of services related to ESB.
7. Go through the list, choose and set the appropriate service to FINEST.
8. Restart the container.

Thats it. You are done with the configuring ESB debugging.

I am also providing the list of log files which you need to see/refer at the time of any issues, for troubleshooting ESB.

LIST OF LOG LOCATIONS:

1. SOA_HOME/opmn/logs/opmn.log
2. SOA_HOME/j2ee/OC4J_SOA/log/OC4J_SOA_SOA_GROUP/oc4j/log.xml
3. SOA_HOME/opmn/logs/SOA_GROUP~OC4J_SOA~SOA_GROUP~1.log
4. SOA_HOME/j2ee/OC4J_SOA/application-deployments/esb-rt/OC4J_SOA_SOA_GROUP/application.log
5. SOA_HOME/j2ee/OC4J_SOA/application-deployments/esb-dt/OC4J_SOA_SOA_GROUP/application.log

Keep Learning with me....Happy Learnings...

ESB Error: I Hate Spaces

2008-08-21T00:35:00.007+05:30

In this blog entry I am going to deal with a very common problem related to ESB which people experience.
Problem:
The error which I am discussing it here occurs when you click on the services already registred on ESB Console.

Create a simple ESB project, deploy it to the Integration Server. Login to the ESB Control. When you click on any of the services in ESB Control, you receive the following pop-up error:

"The metadata XML that was processed does not comply with the ESB Metadata XML Schema.
Cause: Invalid text 'esb:///ESB_Projects/ESB_TEST/PollDB.wsdl' in element: 'wsdlURL'.

If you are manually editing the Import Files, ensure that the metadata is valid and well formed. Otherwise, this is an Internal Error. Contact Oracle Support."

Solution:
The solution is pretty simple. This error occurs when the Application name contains spaces. The application name in JDeveloper must not contain spaces.

EXAMPLE1: ESB Test Appl (Wrong Application Name)
EXAMPLE2: ESB_Test_Appl (Right Application Name)

Bingo......

Keep Learning with me...

ORABPEL-13080

2008-08-15T02:39:00.005+05:30

During working on MQ Adapter for one of the clients project, I faced this problem so thought of posting it in my blog.

Error Summary:
org.collaxa.thirdparty.apache.wsif.WSIFException: esb:///ESB_Projects/Jdev-Abhishek_ESP200011/ESP_PLF_JLE_JLN_IncomingMQAdapter.wsdl [
Enqueue_ptt::Enqueue(schedule) ] - WSIF JCA Execute of operation 'Enqueue' failed due to: Error.
"[MessageProducer] Error while putting message in PORTAL.PUBLISHER.ERRORS "
; nested exception is:
ORABPEL-13080
Error.
"[MessageProducer] Error while putting message in PORTAL.PUBLISHER.ERRORS "
Contact oracle support if error is not fixable.

Solution:
ORABPEL-13080 error is associated with the MQ Adapter. I have identified two possible cause for this error:

1) Queue is full.
2) Queue not accessible.

So to get rid of this error, either check your MQ Adapter connection details and priviledge or Clear the unwanted messages from the Queue.

Thats it...Keep Learning...

Using orcl:sequence-next-val

2008-08-13T21:53:00.002+05:30

Recently this question was asked to me as a comment to one of my post. I have replied to the comment. I also felt to post this as a blog so that it can prove beneficial to others. Here it goes...

INTRODUCTION:
The function orcl:sequence-next-val takes 2 parameters. It return the next value of an Oracle sequence. It is similar to sequence generation what we see in Oracle SQL.

How to proceed:
First of all you need to drag that function to the tranformation swimlane.
Create a database sequence in Database, say,TEST. This will be the first parameter for the orcl:sequence-next-val function.

The second parameter will be your database connection details, i.e. the database in which your source table is defined.
Suppose your database is having details as:
Username: abhi
Password: abhishek
Host: 172.128.5.13
Port: 1521
SID: Oracle

so the second parameter will look like this:
'jdbc:oracle:thin:abhi/abhishek@172.128.5.13:1521:Oracle'

or for the second parameter you can add a datasource entry in data-sources.xml file under soa_home\j2ee\oc4j_soa\config.

Say the datasource name is BPEL_DBS. so the function will look like,
orcl:sequence-next-val('TEST','jdbc/BPEL_DBS')

After doing this, map it to the destination field.

Your are done...Happy Learnings...

File Adapter : Hidden Treasure-2

2008-08-08T22:02:00.012+05:30

Getting File Size

I am assuming that people reading this blog know how to get the File name and the input directory of the file. In this blog entry I will demonstrate an another aspect of File Adapter i.e. getting the input file size.
Note:- If you don't know about getting file name & input directory, refer to my blog entry dated 14th June 2008.

Introduction:
If you see the fileAdapterInboundHeader.wsdl file in Jdeveloper, you will notice that this wsdl is containing only two elements i.e. fileName and directory. Now If you goto the BPEL Console and look closely at the variable part (which contains file name and directory information), you will notice that at runtime Assign activity is displaying 5 elements. So I felt that somehow I can get the file size too. Its pretty simple.

Solution:
To acheive it, just you have to modify the fileAdapterInboundHeader.wsdl file. Note that the fileAdapterInboundHeader.wsdl is a read-only file so to modify it, you have to remove the read-only permission. After removing the permission you can edit the code.

After change, the code will look like this:

Note the highlighted element "size" below the directory element. After doing the changes, apply the read-only permission back to the file(not necessary).

Now you will be able use the size attribute in your assign activity.

Pretty cool stuff...right..

Have a Happy Happy learning...

BPEL : PURGING INSTANCES

2008-08-08T02:56:00.004+05:30

Here I am providing various flavors of Purging BPEL instances.

Following options will be covered:

1) Purges instance for a particular domain, for particular state
and for particular specified period from the BPEL dehydration store.
SUBJECT:PURGE INSTANCE-1

2) purges instance for a particular domain,version and between specified period for any state other than state 0 and 1 from the BPEL dehydration store.
SUBJECT:PURGE INSTANCE-2

3) Purges all the instance in one go from the dehydration store. (Handle with care)
SUBJECT:PURGE INSTANCE-3

All you need to do is, run the code under ORABPEL Schema. So scroll down and enjoy the show.

Happy Learnings.....

BPEL: Purging Instances-3

2008-08-08T02:29:00.001+05:30

INTRODUCTION:

This script purges all the instance in one go from the dehydration store. This script is useful in a developement environement. It is the faster way by which you can clear the dehydration store.

Guideline for using this code:
1. Don't run this script until you are very much sure of deleting all the instances from the dehydration store.
2. First stop the BPEL instance via Enterprise manager then run this script.

truncate table cube_instance;
truncate table cube_scope;
truncate table work_item;
truncate table wi_exception;
truncate table document_ci_ref;
truncate table document_dlv_msg_ref;
truncate table scope_activation;
truncate table dlv_subscription;
truncate table audit_trail;
truncate table audit_details;
truncate table sync_trail;
truncate table sync_store;
truncate table dlv_message;
truncate table invoke_message;
truncate table ci_indexes;
alter table cube_instance deallocate unused;
alter table cube_scope deallocate unused;
alter table work_item deallocate unused;
alter table wi_exception deallocate unused;
alter table document_ci_ref deallocate unused;
alter table document_dlv_msg_ref deallocate unused;
alter table scope_activation deallocate unused;
alter table dlv_subscription deallocate unused;
alter table audit_trail deallocate unused;
alter table audit_details deallocate unused;
alter table sync_trail deallocate unused;
alter table sync_store deallocate unused;
alter table dlv_message deallocate unused;
alter table invoke_message deallocate unused;
alter table ci_indexes deallocate unused;
alter table cube_scope enable row movement;
alter table cube_scope shrink space compact;
alter table cube_scope shrink space;
alter table cube_scope disable row movement;
alter table cube_instance enable row movement;
alter table cube_instance shrink space compact;
alter table cube_instance shrink space;
alter table cube_instance disable row movement;
exec dbms_utility.analyze_schema('ORABPEL', 'Compute');

Happy Learnings....

BPEL: Purging Instances-2

2008-08-08T02:19:00.004+05:30

INTRODUCTION:

This procedure purges instance for a particular domain,version and between specified period for any state other than state 0 and 1 from the dehydration store.
Note:This procedure is calling another procedure 'delete_ci'.Procedure 'delete_ci' deletes a cube instance and all rows in other Collaxa tables that reference the cube instance.

-- ** It is possible to purge the instances all at once, but by doing that it will remove all the instances. This is nice during development. But in a production environment you want to have a controlled way. This procedure will do the work.

Guidlines for using this code:
1. Don't call this procedure until you are too sure of deleting the instances.
2. First stop the BPEL instance via Enterprise manager then run this procedure.
3. For running the code, pass the date fields in oracle standard format i.e DD-MON-RR format.

CODE:
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE sp_purge_instances_per_process (
p_domain_name IN VARCHAR2,
p_process_name IN VARCHAR2,
p_version IN VARCHAR2,
p_from_date IN VARCHAR2,
p_to_date IN VARCHAR2
)
/*

CODING BY: ABHISHEK SAURABH
CREATION DATE: 15-OCTOBER-2007
LAST MODIFIED: 15-OCTOBER-2007

*/
IS
CURSOR c (
v_domain_name IN VARCHAR2,
v_process_name IN VARCHAR2,
v_version IN VARCHAR2,
v_from_date IN VARCHAR2,
v_to_date IN VARCHAR2
)
IS
SELECT cie.cikey cikey, dmn.domain_id domain_id,
cie.process_id process_id, cie.revision_tag revision_tag,
cie.creation_date creation_date, cie.domain_ref domain_ref
FROM cube_instance cie, domain dmn
WHERE cie.domain_ref = dmn.domain_ref
---- the name of the domain
AND upper(dmn.domain_id)=upper(v_domain_name)
AND cie.creation_date between v_from_date and v_to_date
AND upper(cie.process_id)=upper(v_process_name)
AND cie.revision_tag LIKE v_version;
BEGIN
FOR r IN c (p_domain_name, p_process_name, p_version, p_from_date,p_to_date)
LOOP
DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line ( 'Purge '
|| r.process_id
|| '('
|| r.revision_tag
|| ')'
|| ' created on '
|| TO_CHAR (r.creation_date,
'YYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS')
);
collaxa.delete_ci (r.cikey);

-- -- also workflow tasks --
DELETE FROM wftask wfn
WHERE wfn.instanceid = r.cikey;
END LOOP;
-- invoked messages

DELETE FROM invoke_message ime
WHERE ime.domain_ref IN (SELECT dmn.domain_ref
FROM domain dmn
WHERE upper(dmn.domain_id)=upper(p_domain_name))
AND ime.state > 1
AND upper(ime.process_id)=upper(p_process_name)
AND ime.revision_tag LIKE p_version
AND ime.receive_date between p_from_date and p_to_date;

DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line ('-> #invoke msg ' || SQL%ROWCOUNT);

-- callback messages
DELETE FROM dlv_message dme
WHERE dme.domain_ref IN (SELECT dmn.domain_ref
FROM domain dmn
WHERE upper(dmn.domain_id)=upper(p_domain_name))
AND dme.state > 1
AND upper(dme.process_id)=upper(p_process_name)
AND dme.revision_tag LIKE p_version
AND dme.receive_date between p_from_date and p_to_date;

DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line ('-> #callback msg ' || SQL%ROWCOUNT);
END sp_purge_instances_per_process;

It seems...coding has become my habit. :))

BPEL: Purging Instances-1

2008-08-08T01:31:00.007+05:30

INTRODUCTION:
This procedure purges instance for a particular domain,for a particular state and for particular specified period from the BPEL dehydration store.

Note: This procedure is calling another procedure 'delete_ci'.
Procedure 'delete_ci' deletes a cube instance and all rows
in other Collaxa tables that reference the cube instance.
***********************************************************************
Guideline for running the code:
1. Pass the date fields in oracle standard format i.e DD-MON-RR format
2. Pass the state code depending upon the requirement.

STATE CODE----------STATE NAME
0----------------------Initiated state
1----------------------Open,Running state
2----------------------Open, Suspended state
3----------------------Open,Faulted state
4----------------------Closed,Pending-Cancel state
5----------------------Closed,Completed state
6----------------------Closed,faulted state
7----------------------Closed,Cancelled state
8----------------------Closed,aborted state
9----------------------Closed,Stale state
***********************************************************************
CODE FOR PURGING:
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE sp_purge_instances_per_state (
p_domain_name IN VARCHAR2,
p_state IN NUMBER,
p_from_date IN VARCHAR2,
p_to_date IN VARCHAR2
)
/*
CODING DONE BY: ABHISHEK SAURABH
CREATION DATE: 12-OCTOBER-2007
LAST MODIFIED: 18-OCTOBER-2007

Note:
1. Don't call this procedure until you are too sure of deleting the instances.
2. First stop the BPEL instance via Enterprise manager then run this procedure.
*/

IS
CURSOR c (
v_domain_name IN VARCHAR2,
v_state IN NUMBER,
v_from_date IN VARCHAR2,
v_to_date IN VARCHAR2
)
IS
SELECT cie.cikey cikey, dmn.domain_id domain_id,
cie.state state,cie.creation_date creation_date, cie.domain_ref domain_ref
FROM cube_instance cie, domain dmn
WHERE cie.domain_ref = dmn.domain_ref
---- the name of the domain
AND upper(dmn.domain_id)=upper(v_domain_name)
AND cie.creation_date between v_from_date and v_to_date
AND cie.state=v_state;
BEGIN
FOR r IN c (p_domain_name, p_state, p_from_date,p_to_date)
LOOP
DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line ( 'State code '
|| r.state
|| ' created on '
|| TO_CHAR (r.creation_date,
'YYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS')
|| ' is purged.'
);
collaxa.delete_ci (r.cikey);
-- also workflow tasks --
DELETE FROM wftask wfn
WHERE wfn.instanceid = r.cikey;
END LOOP;
-- invoked messages
DELETE FROM invoke_message ime
WHERE ime.domain_ref IN (SELECT dmn.domain_ref
FROM domain dmn
WHERE upper(dmn.domain_id)=upper(p_domain_name))
AND ime.state > 1
AND ime.receive_date between p_from_date and p_to_date;
DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line ('-> #invoke msg ' || SQL%ROWCOUNT);
-- callback messages
DELETE FROM dlv_message dme
WHERE dme.domain_ref IN (SELECT dmn.domain_ref
FROM domain dmn
WHERE upper(dmn.domain_id)=upper(p_domain_name))
AND dme.state > 1
AND dme.receive_date between p_from_date and p_to_date;
DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line ('-> #callback msg ' || SQL%ROWCOUNT);
commit;
END sp_purge_instances_per_state;

Happy Learnings....

Using "orcl:query-database" in transformation

2008-08-06T01:17:00.005+05:30

In this blog, I am going to show the way to tackle dynamic 'where' condition in the function orcl:query-database. It returns a node-set by executing the SQL query against the specified database.

Just a brief introduction about how this function works:-
Signature:
orcl:query-database(sqlquery as string, rowset as boolean, row as boolean, datasource as string)

Arguments:
sqlquery – The SQL query to perform.
rowset – Indicates if the rows should be enclosed in a <rowset> element.
row – Indicates if each row should be enclosed in a <row> element.
datasource – Either a JDBC connect string (jdbc:oracle:thin:username/password@host:port:sid) or a JNDI name for the database.

Example1:
orcl:query-database("select empno from emp
where empno='50'",false(),false(),"jdbc/DbConnection")

Now coming back to the main agenda about giving dynamic value to the where clause. Its pretty simple. Just a little bit trick.

Use the function with the concat function, as:
Example2:
orcl:query-database(concat("select empno from emp where empno=",/tns:Root-Element/tns:Data/:tns:Empno),false(),false(),"jdbc/DbConnection")

Bingooooooooo....

Happppy Learning....

BPEL : ORABPEL-09903

2008-08-01T02:44:00.007+05:30

I am back with ORABPEL error topic again. This time I will show you how to get rid of the error ORABPEL-09903.

Problem:
Error shown below is reported sometimes when you deploy a BPEL project:

C:\jdevstudio10133\jdev\test\testApps\build.xml:79: A problem occured while connecting to server using port "7777":
bpel_testApps_1.0.jar failed to deploy.
Exception message is: ORABPEL-09903
Could not initialize activation agent.

Solution:
This type of error happens when the JNDI entry is not proper or you have insufficient priviledges.
Check for the following things to get rid of this error:

1) Check the JNDI names, as they may be pointing to a different location. Test it.

2) Test that the user connecting to the queue has enough priviledges.

In my case, I was not having proper priviledges for accessing the queue.

Now compile and try to deploy your process.

Happy Learning...

Database Adapter: Handling Twins

2008-08-01T00:54:00.005+05:30

Problem: I had faced this problem in past so thought of sharing this to all. You will encounter a peculiar problem while handling Database schema with the same name containing same table name, for the different systems.

Lets say,
System1:
System name: sys1
Schema name: schema1
Table name: Table1

System2:
System name: sys2
Schema name: schema1
Table name: Table1

Everything will work fine. But problem starts after making the project, i.e. if you want to see the wizard for Database adapter by opening the .esbsvc file, you will become mad to see that the table information is not visible in the window. Actually Jdeveloper automatically deletes descriptor file and some contents from Toplink mappings.

Solutions: After doing some research over this I found out some solutions for handling such types of problem.

Solution1:
1) Create one project against system1 and do the necessary adapter configuration for that database.

2) Now Create again a second project against System2 and do the necessary adapter configuration for that database. (Because the
databases are on different hosts, you use different database connections.)

3) Then create a third project, but do not use the Adapter Configuration Wizard. Instead, copy the BPEL or ESB artifacts (WDSL, XSD, and toplink_mapings.xml) from projects one and two.

4) Only Deploy the third project.

Bingo...It works fine.

Solution2:
This is very lengthy solution. You have to goto the project folder and you have to manually update the .mwp files present under Toplink folder. Also, you need to create descriptor folder containing class descriptor.xml file, under Toplink folder. To do this job, it involves lot of time and manual coding headache.

Actually to crack the problem, solution2 was my first approach. Later on, I found out much easier and better approach i.e. solution1. :)
So, I will personally recommend everybody to use the solution1 technique to get rid of such problem.

Happy learning...

Database Adapter: Hidden Treasure-1

2008-07-29T00:18:00.007+05:30

Dealing with special characters

Problem: On working over one of my clients project I faced a peculiar issue. The issue was, I was trying to map my source column database(My case the database was AS/400) table to the destination column database(Oracle). My source table column name was containing $ signs like P$id,P$name.
This blog is maining written to deal with such problem.

Solution:I raised this issue on oracle forum and parallely I also did some research on this. What I came to know is not all special characters are allowed in XSD element/attribute names e.g. $, #, etc..
But finally I solved the problem.Let me show this with an example:

1) Create a dummy table with column name containing $ sign.

create table test(
p$id int,
p$name varchar2(20)
);

2) Create a BPEL or ESB project. Use database adapter in your project. You should be sure, what your project is going to do.

3) When the database adapter configuration is done. Goto the project folder and look for corresponding toplink and XSD files. We can find two files corresponding to it in our project folder.It will be basically <Service name>_table.xsd file and <Service name>_toplink_mappings.xml file.

4)Open the <Service name>_table.xsd file and change the element name for p$id and p$name to p_id and p_name. Save it.

5) Open the <Service name>_toplink_mappings.xml. Look for the tag <opm:attribute-mappings>. Only replace the "$" sign with an "_" for column name. I have made that text bold for better visibility.
Here I am pasting my piece of code.

<opm:attribute-mappings>
<opm:attribute-mapping xsi:type="toplink:direct-mapping">
<opm:attribute-name>p_id</opm:attribute-name>
<opm:field table="TEST" name="P$ID" xsi:type="opm:column"/>
<opm:attribute-classification>java.math.BigDecimal</opm:attribute-classification>
</opm:attribute-mapping>
<opm:attribute-mapping xsi:type="toplink:direct-mapping">
<opm:attribute-name>p_name</opm:attribute-name>
<opm:field table="TEST" name="P$NAME" xsi:type="opm:column"/>
<opm:attribute-classification>java.lang.String</opm:attribute-classification>
</opm:attribute-mapping>
</opm:attribute-mappings>

6) Save it. Thats it.

Note:
No toplink mapping is used in case you are dealing with custom SQL. Conversion from $ value to _ is done automatically. So when DB adapter creates XSD file, it creates attributes with p_id and p_name.

Happy Learning...

File Adapter : Hidden Treasure-1

2008-07-26T00:30:00.012+05:30

Working on Logical Name Option of File adapter

This blog entry is for those who have worked with File Adapter a bit. In this blog I will mainly focus on showing you all the working of Logical Name option under Read operation for ESB.
We all are aware that while dealing with File Adapter Read operation, we can provide the input directory path in the form of either Physical Path or Logical Name.

ESB: The main problem in case of ESB is that we dont have files like bpel.xml to give details for the working of Logical Name.
Below I will show you how to deal with Logical Name with ESB.

1) Create an ESB project. Create a read file adapter and give Logical Name detail as shown below (Note: You can give Logical Name for Archive files also. Give different logical Names for incoming files and Archive. You cannot use same name)

Complete the read Adapter wizard.

2) Now automatically one routing service will be created by the wizard. Double click to open it.

3)The inbound file adapter window similar to the one shown below will be displayed with name like <SystemName_ServiceName>.esbsvc

4)When you click the plus sign (+) in Endpoint Properties section, the Endpoint Property Chooser dialog box will be displayed.

5) Select the InputDirectory property and click OK. Now you can specify the physical directory name in the Value field as shown below

6) Save it and proceed with your project.

Note: If you want to use Logical Name for Write operation of File Adapter same steps should be followed. Try it...

BPEL: If you are working on File Adapter Read operation and choosing the Logical Name option for Input Directory, you need to manipulate the bpel.xml file and provide the directory path there.

Thats it...You have learnt to use Logical Name option under File Adapter Read and write operation of ESB..

Happy Learning...

High Availability for Files

2008-07-22T21:06:00.003+05:30

We can use the file adapter's high availability feature provided under SOA Suite 10.1.3.3. The following steps shown below will guide you to configure the file adapter for this feature:

1. Create a share folder on highly available file system.
Note:- This folder should have the write permission and should be accessible from all the systems that are running the file adapter.

2. Goto the following location:
SOA_HOME\bpel\system\service\config directory.

3. Open the file pc.properties.

4. Set oracle.tip.adapter.file.controldirpath to the shared folder name.
For example:
oracle.tip.adapter.file.controldirpath := Z:\\mysharedrive
or
oracle.tip.adapter.file.controldirpath := \\Myshare\Mydir

4. Restart the SOA Suite or Oracle BPEL Process Manager server.

Happy learning...

Future of Oracle SOA after BEA aquisition

2008-07-19T02:58:00.006+05:30

Oracle's aquisition of BEA is making everybody curious. The obvious questions coming to our mind are: what about the future of SOA suite, whats new in SOA from Oracle etc.etc.
Seeing Oracle’s vision towards SOA, it has been clear for the last few years that Oracle is not going to leave it like that. According to me, Oracle SOA is gonna rock. For Oracle's aquisition of BEA, I must say: "Its a match made in Heaven"!

Highlights:

1) Oracle has integrated WebLogic into both JDeveloper and the Application Server, replacing OC4J. This will be good for performance and stability.

2) Oracle has announced convergence of Oracle ESB and AquaLogic Service Bus towards Oracle Service Bus (will contain strong points of both ESB and AquaLogic-SB).

3) Now JRockit, the world’s leading VM, will be the standard VM for Oracle.

4) Coherence will be the central component for dehydration. So we get zero latency in the VM and unparallelled performance for the dehydration store.

5) Integration of BPM Studio into the BPA Suite is the another good news. I must say that the Oracle BPA Suite, in conjunction with the Oracle SOA Suite (BPEL PM in particular) is the world’s best-of-breed for process management, design and execution. The added functionality from BPM Studio will create a comprehensive set of tools to support both process architecture, design and execution in a fully supported roundtrip engineering environment.

Playing with XSLT- Part 2

2008-07-16T22:06:00.003+05:30

Hmmm..Again I am back with some more XSLT stuff.

Problem:
Importing some data from a .csv file(containing date as one field) and inserting it into the database.
If the date field (from csv file) is passed in the format 'YYYY-MM-DD', it works fine. But the problem comes when you try to pass the date value in format 'DD-MM-YYYY' or in any other formats.

Solution:
To explain the above case I have taken the format 'DD-MM-YYYY' as subject.
Weel well..so to acheive it you need to do is to create some embedded java code or use the following in the assign or transformation activity:(subsitute the tns:date with your variable)

concat(substring(tns:Date,orcl:last-index-within-string(tns:Date,"-") + 2.0,4.0),"-",substring(tns:Date,orcl:index-within-string(tns:Date,"-")+2,2.0),"-",substring-before(tns:Date,"-"))

Bingo.....

ORACLE AIA

2008-07-16T21:07:00.003+05:30

Today instead of posting something on technical side, I thought of sharing something on Oracle AIA (again), which is the current buzz in the market.

FIRST LOOK:
Oracle AIA (Application Integration Architecture) is developed to widely-accepted open standards. Like everything new from Oracle, AIA revolves around the service-oriented architecture (SOA) concept. It thus represents a first step toward Fusion Applications – one that can be taken without the need for massive conversions or retraining. Hundreds of specific cases where sophisticated application integration is needed have already been identified.
Most IT environments, especially within larger organizations, consist of a variety of applications from a mix of vendors, not to mention custom–made software. It is increasingly necessary to automate business processes that cross the boundaries between these applications. However, creating solutions that obtain data and use the logic of multiple divergent applications tends to be time consuming and complex. Application Integration Architecture (AIA) is Oracle’s proposed approach to reducing the cost and complexity of doing so.

WHAT IS IT?
Let’s define AIA: AIA is a set of standards and rules by which Oracle and its partners can create elegant bridges between applications. Oracle will use AIA to insure that all of them are built the same way using a common approach and set of standards .This is a framework which contains the functionality of various ERP applications owned by Oracle like - Oracle E-Business, Siebel, JD Edwards and PeopleSoft which can be recombined and tailored to enterprise needs.

Technical products inside Application Integration Architecture (Till date*)
1. BPEL Process Manager
2. BPEL Repository
3. E-Business Suite
4. Siebel
5. Adapters
6. Oracle Warehouse Builder
**More in AIA framework regarding JDE and PeopleSoft will be added soon.

COMPONENTS OF AIA:
• Best practices Processes
• Foundation Pack
• PIP (Process Integration Packs)

DISCOVER THE TREASURE:
To make your AIA treasure hunt much easier, here I am providing you with some of the useful links:
• Oracle AIA:
http://www.oracle.com/applications/oracle-application-integration-architecture.html
• AIA Documentation:
http://www.oracle.com/technology/documentation/intarch.html
• PIPs:
http://www.oracle.com/applications/process-integration-packs.htm
• Oracle AIA Foundation Pack:
http://www.oracle.com/applications/oracle-foundation-pack.html
• List of validated integrations:
http://www.oracle.com/partnerships/isv/integration/search.html

Happy learning...

Playing with XSLT: Convert string to dateTime

2008-07-11T00:18:00.007+05:30

Seems that most of us feel difficulty in dealing with date & time in XSLT.
PART-1
Problem: This post tells you about how to map a string source column to a date destination column.
Assumptions:
To acheive it I created dummy table in Database,
Table name: Test
SourceColumn name: a_str
SourceColumn Value: 20080514
Destination column name: a_dt

Solution:
Lets say,
XPath Expression: /top:testCollection/top:test/top:a_str=$d

To make the database understand about the date, we need to transform the source value. For that we need to use chain of functions.
Analyse the solution given below:

<ns2:a_dt>
<xsl:value-of select='concat(substring($d,1.0,4.0),"-",substring($d,5.0,2.0),"-",substring($d,7.0,2.0))'/>
</ns2:a_dt>

Bingo...It works.

PART-2
Problem: To map a string source column (containing date and time) to a date destination column.
Assumptions:
To acheive it I created dummy table in Database,
Table name: TestSource
Column name: a_strSource
Column Value: 20080514111213
Destination column name: a_dt

Solution:
Lets say,
XPath Expression: /top:testCollection/top:test/top:a_str=$d

To make the database understand about the date and Time, we need to transform the source value. For that we need to use chain of functions. Notice that a "T" is concatinated in the code. This one is for adding the Timezone.
Analyse the solution given below:

<ns2:a_dt>
<xsl:value-of select="concat(substring($d,1.0,4.0),"-",substring($d,5.0,2.0),"-",substring($d,7.0,2.0),'T',substring($d,9.0,2.0),":",substring($d,11.0,2.0),":",substring($d,13.0,2.0))"/>
</ns2:a_dt>

Bingo...It works.

XSLT:Examples of Date and Time Formatting-Part-2

2008-07-10T23:50:00.003+05:30

Example: Non-Gregorian Calendars

The above example image is for calendars other than the Gregorian calendar.These examples use non-Latin characters which might not display correctly in all browsers, depending on the system configuration.(Source: w3c xslt doc)

XSLT:Examples of Date and Time Formatting

2008-07-10T22:29:00.004+05:30

Example: Gregorian Calendar

The following image above shows a selection of dates and times and the way they might be formatted (Source: w3c transformation doc)

Installing the 10.1.3.3 or 10.1.3.3.1 patch

2008-06-21T02:31:00.004+05:30

Problem: I came across this good article over forum and thought of sharing it. When installing the 10.1.3.3 or 10.1.3.3.1 patch, some people are getting an error when they go to the BPEL Console. The error is:

[java.lang.NoSuchMethodException]com.collaxa.cube.ejb.impl.FinderBean.tryLookupInstanceByReferenceId(java.lang.String, com.oracle.bpel.client.auth.DomainAuth)Exception Trace:java.lang.NoSuchMethodException: com.collaxa.cube.ejb.impl.FinderBean.tryLookupInstanceByReferenceId(java.lang.String, com.oracle.bpel.client.auth.DomainAuth) at java.lang.Class.getMethod(Class.jav[a:1581)

Solution:

Let me first clear this, I don't know what's causing the problem, except that sometimes the installer misses a step. A certain server-side JAR file was not updated during the installation of the patch. You can copy it from the client-side. Obviously you start these steps after you installed the patch.

1. Delete SOA_HOME\j2ee\home\applications\orabpel\ejb_ob_engine.jar (or move it if you want to keep a copy of it)

2. Copy SOA_HOME\bpel\system\j2ee\ejb\ejb_ob_engine_oc4j.jar to SOA_HOME\j2ee\home\applications\orabpel

3. Rename SOA_HOME\j2ee\home\applications\orabpel\ejb_ob_engine_oc4j.jar to ejb_ob_engine.jar

4. Restart your server

Hope it works fine...

BPEL: Getting File Name and directory name from File Adapter

2008-06-14T01:44:00.005+05:30

Problem:
How to know the file name and the directory name at run time that we selected during configuring File adapter in our BPEL Process?

Solution:
I will give the answer for this in step wise manner.
1) Create an empty BPEL process.
2) Create a Read File Adapters. This will create fileAdapterInboundHeader.wsdl and .wsdl file.
3) Drag receive activity to the swim lane and link it to the read operation and create variable(choose in receive activity). Check the create instance check box.
4) Create a variable of type InboundHeader_msg, say Varaiable_1 ( this message is chosen from the fileAdapterInboundHeader.wsdl).
5) Create two more variables of simple type (String), say Test1 and Test2.
5) Drag the assign activity. In the assign activity create a copy operation you can see the Variable_1 having two elements i.e. FileName and DirectoryName. You can point these two elements to the variable Test1 and Test2 respectively.
6) Now double click on receive activity go to the "Adapter" tab and choose the above Variable_1 as the Input Header Variable.

Similarly you can do it for File Write Adapter. In this case the fileAdapterOutboundHeader.wsdl contains only one element i.e. file name.

And you are done....Now you can use that value for further operations, depending upon your needs.

Have a happy learning.....

AIA : Oracle Application Integration Architecture

2008-05-05T11:12:00.001+05:30

AIA (Application Integration Architecture) is an integration architecture framework proposed by Oracle. It strongly recommends industry to start following this framework to build future integration packs for various business use cases. Oracle AIA is a set of products that enables companies to create greater alignment between IT and business strategy, so when business needs to react, IT can react with it.

Fusion middleware SOA products are the underlying products used in implementing AIA framework. AIA Framework is delivered as AIA Foundation Pack by Oracle. AIA Foundation Pack comprises of the following components

1. Enterprise Business Objects (EBO)
2. Enterprise Business Service (EBS)
3. SOA Governance Tools (BSR, CAVS and Error logging and resolution framework)
4. Reference Architecture

Process Integration Packs (PIPs) which are available with Application Integration Architecture are as under:

1.Siebel CRM On Demand Integration Pack for Oracle E-Business Suite.
2.Siebel CRM Integration Pack for Oracle E-Business Suite Order Management.
3.Oracle Application Integration Architecture for Communications.
4.Siebel Life Sciences Integration Pack for Oracle Adverse Event Reporting System.
5.Siebel CRM Integration Pack for Oracle Trade Promotion Management.
6.Siebel CRM Integration Pack for i-flex's FLEXCUBE Account Origination - Liability Products.

To know more on Oracle AIA, refer to the link mentioned below:

http://www.oracle.com/applications/oracle-application-integration-architecture.html

OAF vs ADF : Part - 2

2008-05-05T09:44:00.000+05:30

OAF:- OAF is a MVC technology stack, fully oriented towards Oracle EBS application development. The OAF stack is comprised of underlying technologies like UIX and BC4J. It includes AOL that provides common EBS artifacts such as menus, functions, messages, profiles, flexfields and attachments, and common services like function and data security. MDS is used for metadata management.

ADF:- ADF is a comprehensive, model-view-controller technology stack that is oriented towards general-purpose application development. The ADF stack is primarily comprised of ADF Faces, ADFm and ADFbc. The ADF stack allows users to select among several choices of UI and business services technologies.

BPEL: File Adapter - Write Opeartion

2008-04-30T14:04:00.002+05:30

Problem:Can we use File Adapter to write in a file in append mode. i.e. a BPEL process opening a file appending some text and closing the file each time it called.

Solution:
To write a file in append mode, you need to add one line in wsdl file.

Make an entry with Append="true"
inside tag found in wsdl file, created after Write file adapter.

PhysicalDirectory="C:\TMP"
InteractionSpec="oracle.tip.adapter.file.outbound.FileInteractionSpec"
FileNamingConvention="write.txt"
OpaqueSchema="true"
Append="true">

OAF vs ADF

2008-04-28T17:50:00.001+05:30

I have gone through the below metioned links, which clearly states the difference between OAF and ADF. After reading these link you will get to know when to use OAF and when to use ADF.

The links are as under:

1) http://blogs.oracle.com/schan/2007/06/28#a1721

2) http://shiv-saroj.blogspot.com/2008/03/oaf-vs-adf-with-respect-to-oracle.html

JDeveloper: Tips and Tricks- Shortcuts

2008-04-25T10:22:00.001+05:30

Today I was going through few blogs on JDeveloper. I found some of the links which says about shortcut keys, tips and tricks of using JDeveloper (Shay Shmeltzer's weblog)

1) http://blogs.oracle.com/shay/2007/05/31#a382

2) http://blogs.oracle.com/shay/2006/10/30

3) http://static7.userland.com/oracle/gems/shay/JDeveloperTreasureHunt.pdf

Fusion Applications

2008-04-24T15:28:00.001+05:30

Oracle Fusion Application is the next-generation enterprise applications suite, bringing together the best functionality and technology from of all Oracle applications. Oracle Fusion Applications will be released after Release 12. This is being designed to unify best-of-business capabilities from all Oracle Applications in a complete suite delivered on Oracle's open technology.

We have to keep in our mind that Fusion Applications is not the same as Release 12. Release 12 is expected to have its own stream of updates, such as 12.1 and 12.x.

For more on Fusion applications, visit the link:

http://www.oracle.com/applications/fusion.html

Distinguishing Fusion Middleware from Fusion Applications

2008-04-23T11:03:00.002+05:30

I was searching for some good articles on Fusion, and I got some useful information on the diffrence between Oracle Fusion Middleware and Fusion Applications.

We have heard many times that Oracle is working on Fusion and they are going to release it soon..To clear the confusion between Fusion Middleware and Fusion Applications,I am going to explain the difference between the two.

Oracle Fusion Middleware:
As we are aware of the three tier architecture,that comprises of Client/UI,Application and database. Fusion Middleware is collection of products provided by Oracle that run on application servers. In other words, Fusion Middleware encompasses everything that doesn't run on a database server.

Fusion Middleware is an umbrella term that includes product suites such as:

- Oracle Application Server
- Oracle Identity Management
- Oracle Development Tools
- SOA Suite
- Business Intelligence Suite
- Business Integration
and many more...

Fusion Applications:
Fusion Applications is the next-generation enterprise application suite. Fusion Applications will be built using the next generation of Fusion Middleware. In other words, the next generation of Fusion Middleware will be the technology stack for Fusion Applications.

ESB : Sending Email notification

2008-04-17T14:11:00.001+05:30

Information regarding this can be found under these URLs:

1) Oracle Forum: http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jspa?messageID=1531686

2) http://www.oracle.com/technology/obe/obe_as_10g/wireless/wirelessmessaging/mesg.htm

ESB : ESB Support an Inbound Email Adapter??

2008-04-17T14:00:00.001+05:30

Not in the version 10.1.3. Oracle ESB does not currently support the activation agent framework required for this.

Workaround:
A somewhat simple workaround is to write a J2EE servlet that uses JavaMail to poll a mail server and generate a JMS message that Oracle ESB receives using the JMS adapter.

BPEL : Exception ORA-01691

2008-04-17T13:48:00.001+05:30

Exception looks like:

<2008-04-15 16:05:59,168>

Error while invoking bean "delivery": Cannot update lob column.
The process domain was unable to update the lob column "7" in the datastore.
The exception reported is: ORA-01691: unable to extend lob segment ORABPEL.SYS_
LOB0000069158C00007$$ by 128 in tablespace ORABPEL

Solution:

For overcoming this exception, you can do either of the things mentioned below:

** Clean up the dehydration store

or

** Increase orabpel tablespace size by running a script similar to the following mentioned below:

alter tablespace orabpel add datafile
'/oracle/product/oradata/orcl/orabpel02.dbf'
size 1024M
autoextend on
next 512M
maxsize 12040M;

Note:- This script is already included in the default IRCA tool of Oracle
BPEL Process Manager for 10.1.3.

Oracle SOA Suite 10.1.3.3: Best Practice guide

2008-04-17T12:38:00.001+05:30

Link for Best practice guide on Oracle SOA 10.1.3.3

http://www.oracle.com/technology/tech/soa/index.html

Hope it helps everyone.

BPEL: Exception ORABPEL-05002

2008-04-17T12:23:00.003+05:30

This post is in continuation to my post dated 27th september 07 on exception ORABPEL-05002. I have found some real good points to deal with such exceptions.

The exception looks like this,
Failed to handle dispatch message ... exception ORABPEL-05002
Message handle error.
An exception occurred while attempting to process the message "com.collaxa.cube.engine.dispatch.message.instance.PerformMessage"; the exception is: An exception occurred during transaction completion: ; nested exception is: javax.transaction.RollbackException: Timed out.

Solution:
You need to follow the steps mentioned below:

1.) Goto $Oracle_Home\j2ee\home\config\transaction-manager.xml:
change the transaction-timeout parameter, say 'x'

2.) Goto $Oracle_Home\j2ee\home\application-deployments\orabpel\ ejb_ob_engine\orion-ejb-jar.xml:
change the transaction-timeout parameter, say 'y' (i.e. y < x)

3.) Goto BPELConsole:
Change the syncMaxWaitTime in all domains, where you need a bigger timeout

4.) Restart the application server (SOA Server)

While setting the parameter values, be careful because by doing so you will block threads by using long-running synchronous invokes. So as a result, it can affect the performance of BPEL engine.

BPEL:Invoking Partner Web Service through a Proxy Server

2008-01-31T15:22:00.001+05:30

For invoking a partner Web Service through a proxy server, we need to configure our BPEL Process Manager. Following are the assumptions made before configuring it:-
1) Assume that BPEL PM is installed on host -> host123.company.com
2) Assume that one of your deployed BPEL processes must invoke a synchronous Web service hosted outside the fire wall at ->http://partner123.services.com
3) All the outbound HTTP traffic must be routed thro' an HTTP proxy server located at -> proxy123.company.com on port 8090.

Now perform the following steps to configure ant task and BPEL PM to invoke the partner Web service thro' an HTTP proxy server:

1) Open obsetenv.bat(for Windows)/obsetenv.sh(For Linux) file located under:
SOA_Oracle_Home\bpel\bin -> For Windows
SOA_Oracle_Home/bpel/bin -> For Linux

2) Modify the line set OB_JAVA_PROPERTIES as under:

set OB_JAVA_PROPERTIES="-Dhttp.proxySet=true"
"-Dhttp.proxyHost=proxy123.company.com"
"-Dhttp.proxyPort=8090" "-Dhttp.nonProxyHosts=host123.company.com"

We are setting the http.proxySet =true, to activate the client proxy and redirect all the outbound trafiic thro' the http.proxyHost and http.proxyPort.
By setting the http.nonProxyHosts to the server that hosts Oracle BPEL Server,
you prevent the local request from going through the proxy.

BPEL : Changing port number

2007-10-07T18:43:00.001+05:30

Question: Need to change default HTTP port assigned during installation( say 8888) to a different port (say 80) ?

Answer: This process involves two steps:
1. Changing the port number of the web server.
2. Changing any references to that port number elsewhere in the install.

1. Changing the port number of the web server - Changing the HTTP Listening Port

First we need to change the listener to listen on port 80 instead of the default port 8888. The OC4J web listening port is set dynamically at run time by OPMN from an available port in a given range. Follow the following steps:

a. Stop the SOA Suite running
b. Edit the file $ORACLE_HOME/opmn/conf/opmn.xml
-- Find the entry ''
-- Change the range to port 80
-- Save the file
c. Start the SOA Suite running
d. Verify that SOA Suite is now running on port 80.

Note: IE has a nasty habit of caching a page even if you do a Control Refresh, and so it may appear that your SOA Suite is running on two ports. In Firefox hitting Control Refresh causes the old port address to come back with a server not found error.

2a. Changing any references to that port number - Modify BPEL

BPEL needs to know the port number it is listening in order to construct SOAP endpoint addresses for use in WSDL and callbacks. We need to tell BPEL that the port number has changed. Follow the following steps:

i. Go to BPEL Admin,Log in as 'oc4jadmin'
ii. Change the following entries to have port 80
-- soapServerUrl
-- soapCallbackUrl
-- clusterName
-- Click 'apply'
iii. Bounce SOA Suite again to make sure the change get picked up.

Note: I don't think you really need to change clusterName but it will confuse the heck out of you if you don't!

2b. Changing any references to that port number - Reload BPEL Processes

At this point I would reload any deployed processes, making sure that I revalidated them before deploying because any partner links referring to existing processes on this server will now be pointing to the wrong port!

Note: Check your connections in connection navigator before deploying. Also check your bpel.xml file.

Note: If you plan on using ant to deploy applications then update it to the new port number. Follow the steps:
-- Edit $ORACLE_HOME/bpel/utilities/ant-orabpel.properties
-- Change the http.port property to the correct value

Now ant will deploy to the correct port on the server.

BPEL: Returning an Immediate Response from an Asynch Process

2007-10-04T14:05:00.001+05:30

Today I found a good material on Reynolds blog. This says about how to return an immediate response from a BPEL process created using "Asynchronous BPEL Process". Often we want to return some data to the caller of a process to indicate that the request has been received and is being processed. To do this we need to add an immediate response to the caller in addition to calling them back later when the process is completed. For example consider a process to make a booking for some resource. The process might be lengthy and the caller may need some mechanism for canceling the process before it completes. In this case returning an immediate response could give the caller a handle allowing him to call back into the specific process instance to cancel it. The process is attached at the bottom of this post.
So lets look at how we alter the template.

Creating Project: First we create our process using File->New Project in JDeveloper and choose a BPEL Process Project and select the "Asynchronous BPEL Process" template. Name the process as "ImmediateResponseBPELProcess".

Adding a Response Element: Once we have created our project we then need to add an immediate response element to the XSD.
<element name="ImmediateResponseBPELProcessProcessImmediateResponse">
<complexType>
<sequence>
<element name="result" type="string"/>
</sequence>
</complexType>
</element>

Adding a New Message Type: Having created a new immediate response element to the XSD we then need to use that element within a new message type in the WSDL.
<message name="ImmediateResponseBPELProcessImmediateResponseMessage">
<part name="payload" element="client:ImmediateResponseBPELProcessProcessImmediateResponse"/>
</message>

Adding an Output to the Initiate Operation: Within the port type for the process we need to modify the "initiate" operation to return an immediate response of the message type we just created.
<operation name="initiate"><input message="client:ImmediateResponseBPELProcessRequestMessage"/><output message="client:ImmediateResponseBPELProcessImmediateResponseMessage"/></operation>

Adding a New Variable to the Process: We need to add a new variable to the process to hold the immediate return value.

Adding a Reply to the Process: We can add the reply operation to the process and wire it up the client partner link.

Full Process: Finally we need to complete the process. I will often return the process instance ID as a return value. This can then be used a correlation token if the client needs to call into the process again before it completes.

Once the process is finished being written, it can be deployed and executed.

At the End: So adding an immediate responsetells the caller that we have received their request and also gives them a token to call back into the process later. A complete example is uploaded here. As you can see it is very easy to do and personally I feel all "asynchronous" processes should give some immediate response.

Using BPEL or ESB or Both :Confused???

2007-10-01T18:34:00.001+05:30

Many people asked me this question..Can I use Oracle ESB instead of BPEL to do integration work and If there is BPEL then why we go for ESB?

Well..well..The answer is simple & it lies in the description of both.

BPEL: Business Process Execution Language
ESB : Enterprise Service Bus

Why BPEL???
BPEL is optimized for coding and managing Business processes. You can go for BPEL if you are dealing with complex Business logic which involves complex transformations, database operations and workflow. Many people have done integration projects successfully using BPEL.

Then why ESB???
You go for ESB if you need connectivity with simple transformation, routing and a low cost. Its principle objective is to join two different services bi-directionally, quickly and efficiently. One of many advantages is the possibility of virtualizing a service transparently to its consumer, providing transformation from its native format into a canonical one, as well as reliable routing. It also provides the facility of Domain Value mapping lookups.

Its also worth noting that doing integration work with Oracle ESB is not only quicker to "build" but its also quicker in its execution.

So,

ESB: Need connectivity, simple transformations routing and low cost solution.

BPEL/BPEL+ESB: Complex business logic, Integration with Workflow, Complex transforms, Complex database operations, Have Long running processes which may or may not be stateful.

JDeveloper 11g available

2007-10-01T16:41:00.001+05:30

New JDeveloper 11g preview version is available for download.

Follow the link to download:-

http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/jdev/htdocs/soft11tp.html

New to SOA?? : Useful Links

2007-09-27T20:23:00.004+05:30

Some of the interesting links on SOA which is taken from Marc Kelderman blog are mentioned below. These links will be helpful for those who are planning to start and for those also who are still learning.
To start with Oracle SOA here are some of useful links:

Webservice standards :-
BPEL
WS-Addressing
WSDL
SOAP
XPath
XQuery
XSLT
XPath
WSIF

Oracle SOA Suite software :-
The Oracle SOA Suite
Oracle JDeveloper

Oracle SOA Suite general :-
Oracle Fusion Middleware (functional)
Oracle Fusion Middleware (technical)
Oracle SOA Suite
BPEL
ESB
Business Rules
Business Activity Monitor
Business Process Analysis

Installation :-
Installation Guide
ESB Performance patch
SOA/BPEL patches
General (Metalink -> Patches -> Advanced -> Product (SOA)BPEL)

Documentation :-
The Administration Guide
The BPEL Developers Guide
The ESB Developers Guide
The Adapters Guide
The Workflow Guide
Business Rules User Guide
Business Rules Reference
General oracle documentation
BPEL Correlation

Tutorials :-
SOA Quick start guide
SOA Tutorial (ESB/BPEL/Rules/Workflow)

Performance :-
BPEL Tuning
Tuning in a nutshell
SOA Monitor performance

API :-
BPEL Process Manager
Worflow API
Business Rules

Oracle Forum :-
Oracle SOA
Oracle BPEL

Oracle Blogs :-
My Own blog
Matt Wright'Blog
Antony Reynolds Blog
http://clemensblog.blogspot.com/
AMIS SOA blog
IT-Eye SOA

Oracle General :-
Oracle Technical Network (OTN)
Oracle Metalink (Support)

BPEL : ORABPEL-05002

2007-09-27T17:11:00.001+05:30

Question: Error ORABPEL-05002 in domain log??

Failed to handle dispatch message ... exception ORABPEL-05002Message handle error.An exception occurred while attempting to process the message "com.collaxa.cube.engine.dispatch.message.invoke.InvokeInstanceMessage";the exception is: Transaction was rolled back: timed out;nested exception is: java.rmi.RemoteException:No Exception - originate from:java.lang.Exception: No Exception - originate from:; nested exception is: java.lang.Exception: No Exception - originate from:

Answer: The root cause of this problem is poor performance of the dehydration store database. If you are using Oracle Lite as dehydration store, switch to use Oracle 9i or 10g.( Better use 10g above version 10.2.0.1)

Following set ups you need to perform for overcoming such problem:

1. Increase the maxConnection number of the BPELServerDataSource. OC4J has too few available connections to the dehydration database.
Location: /j2ee/home/config/data-sources.xml

2. Size of message is too big. Two ways to deal with this problem:

a. Increase the transaction timeout
Location :/j2ee/home/config/server.xml

b. Decrease the auditLevel from BPELConsole. It will reduce the amount of data saved to the dehydration store.
Location: BPEL Console -> Manage BPEL Domain -> Configurations tab.

BPEL : How to read a file in middle of a process?

2007-09-27T14:19:00.001+05:30

Question: How to read a file in middle of a BPEL process?

Answer: Following are the ways to read a file in mid of a BPEL process:

1. Using File Adapter: Avoid using the file adapter to read a file. The read file adapter is used to trigger the BPEL process in most cases. So in this scenario, the file adapter is not a good choice. Also it needs to use correlation sets to read files in the middle of a process.

2. Using Embedded Java code: It can solve the problem but it is not recommended and also it is hard to maintain.

3. Using built-in XPath function: The good way to read a file in the middle of a BPEL process is to use the built-in XPath function --> ora:readfile.

Example:

1. Drag an Assign activity in the swim lane at proper place

2. Create an Assign rule using the ora:readfile("file location", "xml schema path") XPath function

3. Assign the result to a variable.