[ebxml-cppa-negot] BPSS for Negotiation, the Start element,and clean semantics for process traversal.

[Dale Moberg <dmoberg@cyclonecommerce.com>]

Hi Marty,

I have now read, I think, all the messages from BPSSers and us
(really, you and Hima) on the question of the entry 
point into the negotiation BP.

I gathered that:

1. While a precondition might be useful to nail down where
to start in nested binary collaborations (each with a Start element),
the boolean valued expression language for 
those preconditions is not yet defined, nor scheduled to be defined
so that we could make use of it by December.

2. The minOccurs=0 on Start means that we could omit one of
the Start elements. This solution would leave it to 
BPSS to decide how to reconcile reusability (which apparently
favors having a Start element within
each BinaryCollaboration) with clear processing semantics
("stepping through the flow"). We would adopt our less
"reusable" approach until they arrive at their solution.

Is there anything besides reusability lost
by omitting the second Start element (in the counter-offer
phase (the nested BinaryCollaboration) of the negotiation
process? If not, it seems the best solution for us until BPSS
works out some of their more elaborate features.

Dale