The Manual Task in Context

Modeling Business Processes with Oracle BPM 6-17

6.4.2.2 Behavior of the Call Activity When Calling a Reusable Process

The following figure shows how control flow is passed to a child process and back to the parent process.

1. A token reaches the call activity in the parent process

2. A new instance of the child process is created.

3. The child process continues running until an end event is reached or an error

occurs.

4. The process flow returns back to the call activity in the parent process.

5. Flow of the main process continues.

6.4.3 Introduction to the Send Task

The send task sends a message to a system or process outside the current process. Once this message is sent, the task is complete and running of the process continues to the next task in the process flow. The send task is frequently paired with the receive task to invoke a process or service and receive a response in return. The send and receive tasks are used to invoke processes and services asynchronously. If you are invoking a process or service synchronously, use the service task. Figure 6–20 shows the default notation for the send task. Figure 6–20 The Send Task The send task is represented by blue rectangle with a yellow envelope in the middle. The envelope has an outgoing arrow to represent the send action. For information on implementing the send task to invoke a process or service, see Using Send and Receive Tasks to Define a Synchronous Operation in a BPMN Process in the Oracle Fusion Middleware Modeling and Implementation Guide for Oracle Business Process Management.

6.4.3.1 The Send Task in Context

See Chapter 6.4.5, Using the Send and Receive Tasks to Communicate Between Processes for information on using the send and received tasks to communicate between processes. Note: The send and receive tasks perform similar functionality to the throw and catch message events. However, you cannot use the send task to invoke a process that is initiated with a message start event. 6-18 Modeling and Implementation Guide for Oracle Business Process Management

6.4.4 Introduction to the Receive Task

In contrast to the send task, the receive task waits for a message from a system or process outside the current process. Once this message is received, the task is complete and running of the process continues to the next task in the process flow. Figure 6–21 shows the default notation for the receive task. Figure 6–21 The Receive Task The receive task is represented by blue rectangle with a yellow envelope in the middle. The envelope has an incoming arrow to represent the receive action. For information on implementing the send task to invoke a process or service, see Using Send and Receive Tasks to Define a Synchronous Operation in a BPMN Process in the Oracle Fusion Middleware Modeling and Implementation Guide for Oracle Business Process Management.

6.4.4.1 The Receive Task in Context

See Section 6.4.5, Using the Send and Receive Tasks to Communicate Between Processes for information on using the send and received tasks to communicate between processes.

6.4.4.2 Starting a Process with the Receive Task

You can use the receive task to trigger the start of a process. This is useful when you want to invoke a process from another process using a send task. To start a process using the receive task, the following conditions must be met: ■ The receive task is preceded by an none start event. ■ Your process does not contain any other start events. ■ The Create Instance property is enabled. The following section describes how to use the send and receive tasks to communicate between processes.

6.4.5 Using the Send and Receive Tasks to Communicate Between Processes

You can use the send and receive tasks to invoke another BPMN process and receive messages back from it. Processes that begin with a receive task and contain a send task are exposed as services that can be used by other process and services within an Oracle BPM application. Figure 6–22 outlines the basic behavior when using send and receive tasks to invoke a process and receive a response.