Select the Invoke As Detail checkbox in the invoke activity. The BPEL file appears If this is an environment in which one master process is interacting with multiple

16 Using the Notification Service 16-1 16 Using the Notification Service This chapter describes how to send notifications from a BPEL process using a variety of channels. A BPEL process can be designed to send email, voice message, instant messaging IM, or short message service SMS notifications. A BPEL process can also be designed to consider an end users channel preference at runtime for selecting the notification channel. This chapter includes the following sections: ■ Section 16.1, Introduction to the Notification Service ■ Section 16.2, Introduction to Notification Channel Setup ■ Section 16.3, Selecting Notification Channels During BPEL Process Design ■ Section 16.4, Allowing the End User to Select Notification Channels

16.1 Introduction to the Notification Service

Various scenarios may require sending email messages or other types of notifications to users as part of the process flow. For example, certain types of exceptions that cannot be handled automatically may require manual intervention. In this case, a BPEL process can use the notification service to alert users by voice, IM, SMS, or email. The contact information email address, phone number, and so on of the recipient is either static such as adminyourcompany.com or obtained dynamically during runtime. To obtain the contact information dynamically, XPath expressions can retrieve it from the identity store LDAP or extract it from the BPEL payload. This chapter uses the following terms: ■ Notification An asynchronous message sent to a user by a specific channel. The message can be sent as an email, voice, IM, or SMS message. ■ Actionable notification A notification to which the user can respond. For example, workflow sends an email to a manager to approve or reject a purchase order. The manager approves or rejects the request by replying to the email with appropriate content. ■ Human task email notification layer Note: The fax and pager notification channels are not supported in 11g Release 1 11.1.1. 16-2 Oracle Fusion Middleware Developers Guide for Oracle SOA Suite Sends email notifications directly from a BPEL process or implicitly from the human task part of a BPEL process. Implicit notifications are modeled from the Human Task Editor. For sending email notifications directly from a BPEL process, you must explicitly specify the user information in the BPEL process and can be inside or outside of a human task scope. For sending email notifications implicitly from the human task part of a BPEL process, you only specify the recipient based on the relationship of the user with regards to the task that is, the creator, assignee, and so on. ■ Oracle User Messaging Service Oracle User Messaging Service is a new feature for release 11g. The BPEL notification service uses the underlying infrastructure provided by Oracle User Messaging Service to send notifications. Oracle User Messaging Service also provides the user preference infrastructure for getting the end users preferred channel during runtime. For more information on the Oracle User Messaging Service, see Appendix 59, Oracle User Messaging Service. Figure 16–1 shows the Oracle User Messaging Service interfaces and supported service types. Figure 16–1 Service Interfaces and Supported Service Types For more information about notifications, see the following section: ■ Section 31.2, Notifications from Human Workflow ■ Section 27.3.10, How to Specify Participant Notification Preferences for instructions on specifying email notifications in the Human Task Editor ■ Part XI, Using Oracle User Messaging Service Note: Implicit notifications are processed through more layers of code than explicit notifications. If explicit notifications are functioning correctly, it does not mean that implicit notifications also function correctly. Oracle User Messaging Service Java Interface Web Services Interface WSIF binding Java Call BPEL Process Human Workflow Task Email Server SMS Server Voice Gateway IM Server