Siebel Business Process Framework: Workflow Guide > Example Workflow Processes That Call a Business Service > Externalizing Properties When Using a Business Service >

Overview of Externalizing Properties

If you migrate a repository between the development environment, test environment, and the production environment, then you must modify any workflow process that uses a business service that interacts with an external system.The EAI HTTP Transport business service is an example of a business service that interacts with an external system. The HTTPRequestURLTemplate input argument requires the URL of the external system. A workflow process that uses the EAI HTTP Transport business service references the following items:

• The URL for an external test system in the testing environment
• The URL for an external production system in the production environment

This example does the following work:

1. Stores the input arguments of the business service that the workflow process uses. It stores these arguments in a file.
2. A script on the Service_PreInvokeMethod event of the business service step reads the values of the substitutable input arguments of the business service that the workflow process uses. It reads these values from the file described in Step 1.
3. To set the input arguments of the business service, a script uses the values it reads from the file described in Step 1.

This configuration uses values stored in files in the following ways:

• The file that resides on an instance of the development server contains the values for the external system that the development environment uses.
• The file that resides on an instance of the test server contains the values for the external system that the test environment uses.
• The file that resides on an instance of the production server contains the values for the external system that the production environment uses.

This example does not hard code values for the input arguments of the business service that the workflow process references. Instead, the script on the Service_PreInvokeMethod Event method reads the file at run time.

The file that this configuration uses must use a particular file name and must be available to each Siebel Server. If not, then the business service fails and Siebel Workflow creates an error at the business service step, which is the required behavior.

If you add a script to the Service_PreInvokeMethod event of a business service, then you must define an input argument named ExternalSystem, and the value for this argument must match the XML tag name of the child of the root element in the file. This script uses the child elements as input arguments. These child elements are children of the parent element that resides at the second level of the file.

Benefits of Externalizing Properties

You can realize the following benefits if you externalize properties:

• Simplifies the migration of repository workflow processes between development, test, and production environments. It is not necessary for you to modify workflow processes as you migrate them between environments.
• Supports current business services and future requirements.
• Supports business service in various workflow processes.
• Reduces the total cost of ownership for running the Siebel Server.