In this chapter, we gained the basic understanding of BPEL. We have seen that BPEL is an important orchestration language for SOA. It uses XML syntax. Usually, it is represented graphically for easier development.

In this chapter, we learned how to install Oracle JDeveloper and SOA Suite, how to create a domain on the SOA Suite server, and how to use JDeveloper to develop BPEL.

We developed two simple BPEL processes. The first one was a very simple process returning the stock quantity of a book as a hardcoded constant. The second BPEL process was a little more sophisticated and returned the quantity depending on the ISSN number. In addition to becoming an overview understanding of the BPEL source code, we gained a deeper understanding of the <assign> and <if> activities.

We also learned how to deploy a BPEL processes to the SOA Suite server and how to use the Enterprise Manage console to test the BPEL processes. We have done so for both BPEL processes, which we developed.

In the next chapter, we will develop a more sophisticated BPEL process which will orchestrate the two simple BPEL processes developed in this chapter. We will learn how to invoke services and processes sequentially and in parallel. We will also get a deeper understanding on process WSDL interfaces and partner links.