copy complexType to message in BPEL

Question

I am using Apache ODE to write some simple BPEL's to connect 2 web services. One of the WSDL files of my two services contains this complex type:

<types>
<t:schema targetNamespace="http://ws.panos.com/" version="1.0" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
 <t:complexType name="myObject">
   <t:sequence>
     <t:element minOccurs="0" name="str" type="t:string" />
   </t:sequence>
 </t:complexType>
</t:schema>

How do I make a copy from a service return message (which is just a xsd:string) to the input of a message (inside "str" of type "myObject"?

I have tried to do this, but doesnt seem to work:

<assign name="assign_2">
<copy> 
    <from variable="wsA_output" part="return"/>
    <to variable="wsC_input" part="arg0" query="/arg0/str"/> 
</copy> 

I always get a null string transfered. Help much appreciated.

Answer 1

The to-spec <to variable="..." part="..." query="..."/> is not valid in BPEL 1.1 nor BPEL 2.0. The correct equivalent expression is: <to>$wsC_input.arg0/arg0/str</to> or <to variable="wsC_input" part="arg0"><query>/arg0/str</query></to>. Please make also sure that you initialize the variable before assigning values to nested structures.

Answer 2

Just found the mistake. You are right, we need to query in order to find the field like this:

 <assign name="assign_2">
<copy> 
    <from variable="wsA_output" part="return"/>
            <to>$wsC_input.message/arg0/str</to>
</copy> 
</assign>

Also, we need to initialize the variable like this:

 <assign name="assign_init">
<copy> 
    <from>
        <literal><arg0><str xmlns="">nothing</str></arg0></literal>
    </from>
    <to variable="wsC_input" part="arg0"></to>
</copy> 
 </assign>

The xmlns="" is needed when the default namespace in your bpel is different that the namespace in the receiving web service.

I am just writing these down for future reference :)

Again, thanks for you your answer.

Some links that could also help other people:

http://ode.apache.org/faq.html

http://jee-bpel-soa.blogspot.com/2009/08/manipulating-ws-bpel-variables-and.html