Services that an orchestration process invokes are represented by partners. Partners are defined by a name and a WSDL portType that describes the operations that can be invoked. The
Invoke activity is used within an orchestration process to invoke an operation on a partner service.
Services, in turn, can also be called by other services. Therefore orchestration processes declare input partners that describe the various portTypes that are implemented within the orchestration process.
In this example, loan requests are received and processed, and applicants can also request the status of the loan while it is still being processed. This process implements the ApplyForLoan and GetLoanApplicationStatus operations of the Loan portType in the following incomplete abstract WSDL:
This orchestration process also invokes a partner service for validating the applicant’s address and social security number. The following partial WSDL file describes the Validate portType of the partner service.
The Input Partners tab of an orchestration service allows you to specify the various portTypes that are implemented within the orchestration process. Each portType can contain one or more operation, and the orchestration process can then include activities that receive messages for operations.
Consider the online loan application orchestration process example in Figure 32. The orchestration process implements both the ApplyForLoan and GetLoanApplicationStatus operations of the Loan portType. Therefore, the orchestration process has one input partner (the Loan portType).
Figure 33 illustrates the configuration of the Input Partners tab of this orchestration process.
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Use the + and X buttons to add or delete partners in the table in the Input Partners field. Move the input partners up or down the list using the arrow buttons.
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Orchestration processes can invoke partner services. Partner services can be located either inside the same project as the orchestration process that invokes the service, or the partner can be an external partner service invoked over the internet by way of the SOAP protocol.
Partner Link Configuration resources associate partner services with their actual endpoints. Partner Link Configuration resources can contain one or more local or external partner services. You use the named partner links within a Partner Link Configuration either within an orchestration process or in the Partner Binding tab of a Service resource.
Partner Link Configuration resources bind a partner service to its specific port. Bindings can be changed without affecting the underlying orchestration process or service so that you can switch to new partners services with the same portType.
Figure 34 illustrates the Partner Link Configuration resource.
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Click the + button to add a new partner. If necessary, use the X button to delete partners or the arrow buttons to move partners up or down the list.
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You can associate a security policy with a service endpoint operation defined for a Partner Link in the Partner Link Configuration resource. The association between the security policy and the service endpoint operation is unique.
Using the service endpoint operation as the security subject ensures consistency with security policy associations based on the service resource. Service resource also exposes the service endpoint operation as the security subject. Exposing partner links as security policy subjects ensures WS-Security support for all the TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks and TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks BPEL Extension constructs that use partner links for outbound invocations. The TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks BPEL Extension Invoke activity and TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks Invoke Partner activity have full WS-Security functionality if they are bound using SOAP protocol.
When a security policy is associated with a particular partner link service endpoint operation, the WS-Security processing is enabled and performed according to the WS-Security guidelines for the outbound, inbound, and inbound fault message exchange specified in the Security Policy Association resource.
Security policies in TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks BPEL Extension are associated in exactly the same way as in TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks. For more information on how to associate a security policy, refer to the TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks documentation.
Orchestration processes must define the partner services that are invoked within the process. The Partners tab of the Orchestration Process resource is used to define partners for the orchestration process.
Figure 35 illustrates the Partner tab of an orchestration process.
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Use the + and X buttons to add or delete partners in the table in the Partners field. Move the partners up or down the list using the arrow buttons.
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You can bind partners invoked by all operations in a service on the Partner Binding tab of the Service. Only partners that require binding appear on this tab. For example, if you specified a partner link for the partner on the Partners tab of the orchestration process, the partner does not appear on this tab.
Figure 36 illustrates the Partner Binding tab of a service.