Running the BPEL Designer in a Standalone Environment

Out of the box, the 0.8 release of the Designer requires that the Oracle BPEL Process Manager is locally installed. However, a common requirement is to configure the Designer so it does not require the installation of a local server. This is supported, and the steps to accomplish it are shown below. (The standalone configuration is interesting when you have N developers modeling BPEL processes but they each deploy to a central Oracle BPEL Process Manager.)

Configuring the BPEL Designer for a Standalone Environment

1. Download the latest preview release of the Oracle BPEL Designer and unzip it somewhere - c:\bpelz is assumed for the purposes of this example.
2. Open the bpelz.core plugin manifest ( C:\bpelz\designer\plugins\bpelz.core_0.0.8\plugin.xml) into your favorite editor.
3. Change the 'home' ant property to: C:\bpelz\plugins\bpelz.core_0.0.8
   

   <extension
         point="org.eclipse.ant.core.antProperties">
      <antProperty
         name="orabpelHome"
         value="C:/bpelz/plugins/bpelz.core_0.0.8">
      </antProperty>
   </extension>
   

   This change tells the Designer to use the libraries located in the bpelz.core_0.0.8\lib directory for packaging the BPEL process into a BPEL suitcase (bpel_..._v....jar).
4. The last step is to make sure that the build file (build.xml) associated with each of your BPEL projects does not try to deploy the BPEL suitcase to a local Oracle BPEL Process Manager but instead copies it into a directory located in your BPEL Designer workspace. Below is an example of what the BPEL build.xml file could look like if your BPEL process is named "StandAlone". This example will cause the BPEL suitcase to be generated in the C:\bpelz\workspace\StandAlone\out directory. You can then use the web-based deployment capability in the BPEL Console to deploy this process to a remote Oracle BPEL Process Manager.
   

   <?xml version="1.0"?>
   <!-- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        Run obant on this file to build, package and deploy the
        StandAlone BPEL process
        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -->
   <project name="StandAlone" default="main" basedir=".">
   
   <!-- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        What version number should be used to tag the generated BPEL archive?
        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -->
       <property name="rev" value="1.0"/>
   
       <target name="main">
   
   <!-- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        the bpelc task compiles and package BPEL processes into versioned BPEL
        suitcase (bpel_...jar). See the "Programming BPEL" guide for more
        information on the options of this task.
        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -->
           <bpelc  input="${basedir}/bpel.xml"
                   home="${home}"
                   rev="${rev}"
                   out="workspace/StandAlone/out"
                   />
       </target>
   </project>