RE: Regarding ebBP resuing ebBP packages

["Dale Moberg" <dmoberg@us.axway.com>]

Sacha S. writes:

I had another look at the ebBP Steve has done ... the one listed on the
ebBP site (and attached to this email) demonstrating the use of reusing
ebBP packages.

I think we could put all ebBP signals into a separate package (separate
file) for reuse.

Dale>> I think a sample signals package file for the default signals
should be included in one of the zip files. 

Whether all signals will be used in the target package is probably no
big issue,
This would eliminate the copying Steve mentioned in the comment. I would
need to double check the scoping rules but I guess it would be OK.

Dale>> I think we recommended (possibly required) that imports import
entire packages. So place the xi:include instructions where packages can
be inserted.

 The BusinessDocuments
we could also xinlcude ... I would think with something like
<xi:include href=...
xpointer="xpointer(/ProcessSpecification/BusinessDocument) we would get
all BusinessDocuments from the included ProcessSpecification.

Dale>> Well, we were going to insert xml chunks by complete packages.
The motive for doing this was, I think, that there would be less
likelihood of garbage inserts. Also recall that tooling has been slow to
support the xpointer scheme itself. Using the "element" scheme inside
the xpointer syntax might be more widely supported. That means that you
might consider pointing at a specific Package element in your xpath...

What I realise is that in the new (custom) business collaboration we do
not reuse the business collaborations but just the business transactions
from the included packages.

Dale>> Not sure why we could not reuse business collaborations? Put them
into a package, xinclude them, and then reference them within a
CollaborationActivity. Why would that not work for your use cases? You
will need to rebind the Role values, of course. But that is part of the
CollaborationActivity functionality.



Would it make sense to reuse complete Business Collaborations and to
reference them like a business transaction activity in a business
collaboration?

Dale>> I am not sure I understand. CollaborationActivity should be a
supported way to do this. 

This would mean that the ToLink element inside the Start element as well

as the FromLink, ToLink of Transition (and other constructs using those 
Linking elements) would need to allow the reference of business
collaborations 
instead of simply business transaction activities. A business
collaboration
will always have a final state (success or failure) so we can use those
states for transitions to further Business Collaborations or BTA's. Such
a 
reference to a business collaboration would need need Performs elements.

Is this completely off? Against some common understanding of ebBP?

Dale>> Check on the CollaborationActivity. See whether it has enough
functionality to do what you are envisioning. I may not understand the
problem you are facing correctly so please follow up if there needs to
be something else done. There is a lot of support for reuse and library
design in version 2.0.

Regards

Sacha