When to Use

The BPEL language provides the capability to catch and manage exceptions using fault handlers. For example, exceptions occur when web services return different data than was expected. If faults are not handled, the entire BPEL process can be thrown into a faulted state. Therefore, to prevent the entire process from fault, you can add fault handlers to catch and manage exceptions within particular Scopes.

Each fault handler contains an activity that runs in case of an error. For example, a partner service is notified if an error has occurred. Fault handlers can be added to the entire process or to individual Scope elements.

You can attach one Fault Handler container to either the Process or the Scope elements. Inside the Fault Handlers container, you can create several Catch activities configured to catch specific kinds of faults, or one Catch All handler element to catch all the exceptions not caught by specific handlers.