Using a System Participant to Define the Endpoint Provided by the Web Service

A system participant is a logical identifier for a connection to an external system - in this case, a web service endpoint. An endpoint defines the URL that will be used to contact the web service.

A task or event that exposes a web service operation must use a system participant that defines the endpoint of the web service that is to be provided. This information is used at runtime to map the call from the client application to the web service operation provided by the process.

When you select or import a concrete WSDL operation binding () or an abstract WSDL operation (), or if you use the default generated web service operation, a system participant is automatically created and assigned to the exposing task or event’s Endpoint Name. (The system participant’s name is taken from the portType of the chosen operation.)

Note: When you configure a task or event to expose the response part of a request-response web service operation, it will automatically use the system participant configured for the request activity. You cannot select a different system participant.

If you want to view the properties of the system participant:

Procedure

  1. In Project Explorer, select the system participant.
  2. On the General tab of the Properties view, expand Shared Resource and select Web Service Provider.
  3. A column is displayed showing the binding types that will be used to expose the service:
    • Virtualization. There are no further properties for this binding type.
    • SOAP over HTTP. Select this binding type to view the binding details - see SOAP over HTTP Binding Details (Provider) for more information
    • SOAP over JMS. Select this binding type to view the binding details - see SOAP over JMS Binding Details (Provider) for more information
      Note: The binding types used to expose the service are fixed.