BPEL Project

Last Modified: August 24th, 2007

Installation

So, you wanna try it out ...
The update-site build (M3) requires version 3.3 of Eclipse [EMF 2.3.x, WTP 2.x]

If you don't want to install everything and compile but are a curious soul, then the simplest way is the BPEL Editor Update Site. In order to use the Update Site, you will have to have Eclipse 3.3.x running and make sure that you can install from within Eclipse. Then follow the directions on the update site.

The update site contains dependencies that the BPEL plugins need (WTP, EMF, GEF, JEM). These will get installed if you don't have them.

The instructions below are for building the current tip of the BPEL editor.
Otherwise

. Make sure your Target Platform includes the dependencies listed below. [ Window->Preferences->Plug-in Development->Target Platform ]

If you have the dependencies described below you can skip to step 3.

. You need to download the following dependencies.

Generally speaking, the .x extension represents the last maintanence release so get the latest one possible.

. Check out the following plug-ins from :pserver:anonymous@dev.eclipse.org:/cvsroot/technology

In folder org.eclipse.bpel/plugins

  • org.eclipse.bpel.common.extension.model
  • org.eclipse.bpel.common.ui - Common UI classes are here.
  • org.eclipse.bpel.model - The BPEL model classes generated from the EMF model, resource sets, etc.
  • org.eclipse.bpel.wsil.model - The WSIL model we use in the WSIL browser.
  • org.eclipse.bpel.ui - The main editor code.
  • org.eclipse.bpel.runtimes - This is what runtimes need to extend in order to plug in.
  • org.eclipse.bpel.validator - A BPEL validator that will check the BPEL source for errors.
  • org.eclipse.bpel.examples.extensionPoints - Some examples of extension points provided by other plugins in the BPEL editor.

Note that as of M3 and Europa releae of Eclipse, the EMF models in the BPEL editor are generated against WTP 2.0 EMF models (WSDL, XSD) and use Java 5 compliance to generate the code. This means for the most part that generics are used in generated source. All the source in the BPEL editor requires at least Java 1.5
If you don't know really what the above means, just be thankfull.

. Launch a runtime workbench (a.k.a. Eclipse Application). The new workbench will have the just installed plugins with it and it just ought to run them.

. In the running workbench with the BPEL plugins create a new BPEL project and then create a BPEL process using the new BPEL file wizard. You should get a skeleton of a BPEL source file to work with.

If you have other BPEL sources you can open them as well, however, they first need to be imported into an eclipse project which by defalut must live in an eclipse workspace. As long as the BPEL source file has 2.0 code, the editor ought to be able to open it.

. Double-click on the .bpel file to open the BPEL editor.

What does it do ?

  • Wizard to create new BPEL files
  • Opens, views, edits and saves a .bpel file
  • Create new activities, modify their properties (in the Properties view)
  • Supports all of BPEL 2.0 structures - some UI to modify those is not implemented yet
  • File browsing dialogs, so you can browse for WSDL or XSD files
  • Has a XPath editor for building expressions and queries
  • Has some extension points you can try implementing
  • Has BPEL validation
  • It can talk to a runtime through an add on run-time plugin
  • It can copy/cut/paste most things pretty well (to and from source as well)
  • Import WSDL definitions from the WSIL browser
More details on that are available on the Users page. Check the Milestones entries (M1, M2, M3).

What doesn't it do yet

  • Full BPEL 2.0 UI support
  • Debug
  • Edit BPEL "source" (XML editing)

I found a bug

We now have Bugzilla components (in the Technology Project). Or you can enter a bug directly into one of our components.

Patches are most welcome.

The BPEL Team.