GENERIC WAIT SERVICE: PAUSING A BPEL PROCESS

• US 20100070973A1
• Filed: 09/17/2008
• Published: 03/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Datti, Sunita, Sridharan, Sarita, Kozic, Scott, Singh, Alok, Addala, Raju
• Granted Patent: US 9,122,520 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/544 Remote
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/485 Task life-cycle, e.g. stopping, restarting, resuming execution G06F9/4881 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/52 Program synchronisation; Mutual exclusion, e.g. by means of semaphores
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications

Abstract

A generic wait service for facilitating the pausing of service-oriented applications. In one set of embodiments, the generic wait service receives, from a paused instance of an application, an initiation message comprising a set of key attributes and an exit criterion. The key attributes uniquely identify the paused instance, and the exit criterion identifies a condition that should be satisfied before the paused instance is allowed to proceed. The generic wait service then receives, from one or more event producers, notification messages comprising status information (e.g., statuses of business events) and information correlating the notification messages to particular instances. If a notification message is determined to be correlated to the paused instance, the generic wait service evaluates the exit criterion based on the status information included in the message. If the exit criterion is satisfied, the paused instance is notified of the status information and is allowed to proceed.

Claims

1. A method performed by a generic wait service for pausing an instance of a service-oriented application the method comprising:

receiving, from the instance of the service-oriented application, an initiation message including a first set of attributes and an exit criterion, the first set of attributes uniquely identifying the instance, the exit criterion identifying a condition that should be satisfied before the instance is allowed to proceed;

creating a correlation set based on the first set of attributes, the correlation set associating the first set of attributes with the instance; and

waiting for status information relevant to the instance.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the service-oriented application and the generic wait service are Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) processes.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the generic wait service is an asynchronous BPEL process.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving, from an event producer, a notification message including a second set of attributes and a status of a business event;

determining, based on the correlation set, whether the status is relevant to the instance;

if the status is relevant to the instance, determining, based on the status, whether the exit criterion is satisfied; and

if the exit criterion is satisfied;

sending the status to the instance; and

terminating any further waiting for status information relevant to the instance.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the event producer is a web service.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein determining, based on the correlation set, whether the status is relevant to the instance comprises comparing the second set of attributes to the first set of attributes.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein terminating the waiting for status information relevant to the instance comprises deleting the correlation set.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the initiation message further includes a target condition, the target condition identifying a condition that the instance would like to be notified of, and wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, from an event producer, a notification message including a second set of attributes and a status of a business event;

determining, based on the correlation set, whether the status is relevant to the instance;

if the status is relevant to the instance, determining, based on the status, whether the exit criterion or the target condition is satisfied;

if the exit criterion is satisfied;

sending the status to the instance; and

terminating any further waiting for status information relevant to the instance; and

if the target condition is satisfied;

sending the status to the instance; and

continuing to wait for status information relevant to the instance.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, from an intermediary update service, a notification message including a second set of attributes and a status of a business event, the notification message originating from an event producer in communication with the intermediary update service;

determining, based on the correlation set, whether the status is relevant to the instance;

if the status is relevant to the instance, determining, based on the status, whether the exit criterion is satisfied; and

if the exit criterion is satisfied;

sending the status to the instance; and

terminating any further waiting for status information relevant to the instance.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the intermediary update service is configured to transform data in the notification message prior to sending the notification message to the generic wait service.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the service-oriented application, generic wait service, and intermediary service are internal to an organization, and wherein the event producer is external to the organization.

12. A system for pausing an instance of a service-oriented application, the system comprising:

a first server for running the service-oriented application; and

a second server for running a generic wait service, wherein the generic wait service is configured to;

receive, from the instance of the service-oriented application, an initiation message including a first set of attributes and an exit criterion, the first set of attributes uniquely identifying the instance, the exit criterion identifying a condition that should be satisfied before the instance is allowed to proceed;

create a correlation set based on the first set of attributes, the correlation set associating the first set of attributes with the instance; and

wait for status information relevant to the instance.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the generic wait service is further configured to:

receive, from an event producer, a notification message including a second set of attributes and a status of a business event;

determine, based on the correlation set, whether the status is relevant to the instance;

if the status is relevant to the instance, determine, based on the status, whether the exit criterion is satisfied; and

if the exit criterion is satisfied;

send the status to the instance; and

terminate any further waiting for status information relevant to the instance.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the initiation message further includes a target condition, the target condition identifying a condition that the instance would like to be notified of, and wherein the generic wait service is further configured to:

receive, from an event producer, a notification message including a second set of attributes and a status of a business event;

determine, based on the correlation set, whether the status is relevant to the instance;

if the status is relevant to the instance, determine, based on the status, whether the exit criterion or the target condition is satisfied;

if the exit criterion is satisfied;

send the status to the instance; and

terminate any further waiting for status information relevant to the instance; and

if the target condition is satisfied;

send the status to the instance; and

continue to wait for status information relevant to the instance.

15. The system of claim 12 further comprising:

a third server for running an intermediary update service, wherein the intermediary update service is configured to;

receive, from an event producer, a notification message including a second set of attributes and a status of a business event;

transform the notification message by converting the second set of attributes into a third set of attributes; and

send the transformed notification message to the generic wait service;

and wherein the generic wait service is further configured to;

receive the transformed notification message;

determine, based on the correlation set, whether the status included in the transformed notification message is relevant to the instance;

if the status is relevant to the instance, determine, based on the status, whether the exit criterion is satisfied; and

if the exit criterion is satisfied;

send the status to the instance; and

terminate any further waiting for status information relevant to the instance.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein determining, based on the correlation set, whether the status is relevant to the instance comprises comparing the third set of attributes to the first set of attributes.

17. A machine-readable medium for a computer system, the machine-readable medium having stored thereon program code which, when executed by a processing component of the computer system, causes the processing component to pause an instance of a service-oriented application, the program code comprising:

code for receiving, from the instance of the service-oriented application, an initiation message including a first set of attributes and an exit criterion, the first set of attributes uniquely identifying the instance, the exit criterion identifying a condition that should be satisfied before the instance is allowed to proceed;

code for creating a correlation set based on the first set of attributes, the correlation set associating the first set of attributes with the instance; and

code for waiting for status information relevant to the instance.

18. The machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the program code further comprises:

code for receiving, from an event producer, a notification message including a second set of attributes and a status of a business event;

code for determining, based on the correlation set, whether the status is relevant to the instance;

code for, if the status is relevant to the instance, determining, based on the status, whether the exit criterion is satisfied; and

code for, if the exit criterion is satisfied, sending the status to the instance, and terminating any further waiting for status information relevant to the instance.

19. The machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the initiation message further includes a target condition, the target condition identifying a condition that the instance would like to be notified of, and wherein the program code further comprises:

code for receiving, from an event producer, a notification message including a second set of attributes and a status of a business event;

code for determining, based on the correlation set, whether the status is relevant to the instance;

code for, if the status is relevant to the instance, determining, based on the status, whether the exit criterion or the target condition is satisfied;

code for, if the exit criterion is satisfied, sending the status to the instance, and terminating any further waiting for status information relevant to the instance; and

code for, if the target condition is satisfied, sending the status to the instance, and continuing to wait for status information relevant to the instance.

20. The machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the program code further comprises:

code for receiving, from an intermediary update service, a notification message including a second set of attributes and a status of a business event, the notification message originating from an event producer in communication with the intermediary update service;

code for determining, based on the correlation set, whether the status is relevant to the instance;

code for, if the status is relevant to the instance, determining, based on the status, whether the exit criterion is satisfied; and

code for, if the exit criterion is satisfied, sending the status to the instance, and terminating any further waiting for status information relevant to the instance.

21. The machine-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the intermediary update service is configured to transform data in the notification message prior to sending the notification message to the generic wait service.