Using the Reply Element (BPEL Designer and Service Engine User's Guide)

BPEL Designer and Service Engine User's Guide

Using the Reply Element

Use this activity to return a message from the process to the same partner that initiated the operation. The combination of Receive and Reply activities creates a request-response operation.

This activity is used in a synchronous (request/response) operation, and specifies the same partner, port type and operation as the Receive activity that invoked the process.

Usage

In the Design view, drag the Reply element from the Palette to the diagram.
Right-click the Reply element and select properties. The Properties window appears. Click the Properties Editor button to open the Properties Editor. You can also open the Properties Editor by double-clicking the Reply element.

Reply Properties

The Reply Properties Editor includes two tabs, Main and Correlation. The properties on the Main tab are:

Name: Specifies the name of the Invoke element.
Partner Link: Specifies the partner link.
Operation: Specifies the operation associated with the Receive element.
Normal Response: Select Normal Response if the Reply element is to be used for the normal response message type. Optionally, specify the output variable: either create a new output variable or browse for an existing variable.
Fault Response: Select Fault Response if the Reply element is to be used to send a fault message. Choose a fault name and, optionally, specify the fault variable: either create a new fault variable or browse for an existing variable.
Port Type: Accessed on the Properties window. Specifies the type of port.
Documentation: Accessed on the Properties window. Specifies documentation to attach to the element. This documentation is included in the source code of the BPEL process and can be extracted and included in a report.

Correlations

The Correlations tab in the Reply Property Editor allows you to examine or specify a correlation set.

Correlation Set: Specifies the correlation sets.
Initiate: Specifies the initiation of a correlator.

For more information see Understanding Correlation. Using the Correlation Wizard.