A very nice regular expression tool

This a very useful regular expression verification tool.

Regex Coach

I haven't tried many but never needed to look further.

Changing the title of instance in BPEL Console and searching in 10.1.3.4

Using the title,Index,Custom Key search in the BPEL console for 10.1.3.4 effectively.

After installation of the SOA suite I saw new search facility available in BPEL console, but could not find any documentation regarding this. This is not even provided in the new features.

I could see some new searches in the BPEL console, and thought that it could be useful for tracking.
Login to BPELConsole
Go to instances tab
Search by Title, Index/Custom Key are the new searches that have been added. To use this feature just add a java code snippet in the bpel.

  <bpelx:exec name="setIndexAndCommit" language="java" version="1.5">  
    <![CDATA[String ele =
 ((org.w3c.dom.Text)getVariableData(
        "inputVariable","payload",
        "/client:TestingCustomKeyProcessRequest/client:input/text()"))
        .getNodeValue();      

  setTitle(ele);]]>
  </bpelx:exec>
 

This sets the title that appears in the BPEL console. This can be used to set to search using the added feature of the BPEL console and make use of the BPEL console better.

Setting the title could have been done in previous release also, but the search option integrated with the BPEL console makes it very good for the support.

The problem I faced was while using the setCustomKey(String) in the java snippet. The error recieved was that the method was not found. Still to find the solution. Will post in the Oracle forums.

SOA suite upgrade 10.1.3.4 - Duplicate instances

One of the new issues brought by the new version of SOA suite is the duplicate instances. If any asynchronous process is invoked from another process, in the tree finder sometimes even though a single call is made to the bpel process, the process can be seen multiple times.

This is a bug added :(

The cause of the bug is auto-recovery and impact can be minimised if auto recovery is turned off. This feature was introduced in SOA suite 10.1.3.4 and added a new bug, please do not enable this feature in production.

Bugs in Oracle SOA Suite 10.1.3.4

While testing our application on 10.1.3.4 MLR5, two pieces of functionality broke. Both of them undocumented and still awaiting confirmation as bugs from Oracle.

1. We have a BPEL process that insets a message into a queue using AQ adapter. This fails, with an exception stating xsi not defined in the XML. I've encountered this error message while inserting message into the queue when the XML is invalid.

Strangely enough this xml was generated from a java client proxy, and the xsi definition (mapping xsi to its corresponding namespace) exists along with the soap header. xsi is usually used to denote nulls in xml. If the definition of xsi is moved into the body the error dissapears.

Strange. Very Strange.

2. Another BPEL process contains a task being created and then the same task updating the outcome of the task. No authentication information was passed since the credentials returned while creating the task were used to complete the task. It generates some sort of a token that does this, but this piece of functionality broker in the newer version. Authentication information is required to be passed, so needed to give the bpeladmin username/password. Not very nice.

Hoping no more undocumented isses arise. Will update this post based on the response provided by Oracle support regarding the issues.

SOA suite upgrade 10.1.3.4

I just upgraded my developer system (windows XP) to SOA suite upgrade 10.1.3.4 MLR#5 running on OLite. Below are the special points from the release notes. I still need to test the stability and features of the new version.


Section 5.1.1, "Password Displays in Clear Text During Deinstallation"
Section 5.1.2, "Passwords Appear in Clear Text in /tmp Directory After Running IRCA.SH"
>>LOL

5.1.3 BPEL Process Instances Do Not Display in Oracle BPEL Control when Using Oracle Database Lite

“If you install Oracle BPEL Process Manager with the Basic Install option, Oracle Database Lite (Olite) is installed. If you then apply the 10.1.3.4 patch to this installation, BPEL process instances under the Instances tab in Oracle BPEL Control do not display.
As a workaround, use the Advanced Install option, which enables you to install a database other than Olite.”
>>WTF? Was it never tested? Or they have stopped making the tool developer friendly.

5.5.11 Removing or Changing the Passwords of Default User Accounts
>>Finally clearly stated

5.7.3 Fault Policy Changes Do Not Require a Restart of Oracle BPEL Server
>> Nice

5.9.5 BPEL Test Suite OnMessage Event Does Not Support Synchronous Operations
When reading section "Asynchronous Event Emulation" of Chapter 20, "Testing BPEL Processes" of the Oracle BPEL Process Manager Developer's Guide, note that the onMessage event does not support synchronous (that is, two way) operations.
>> never knew this !!!