SOA Suite 11g and 12c: Determining composite dependencies to the level of operations by Maarten Smeets

In large companies, often there are many services and dependencies between services. It is important to track service dependencies in order to for example estimate the impact of changes. Design documents or architecture views can be used for this but as everybody knows, there is often a gap between theory and practice (design and implementation).

In this blog post I provide code to determine dependencies between composites to the level of operation calls. In order to achieve this, I’ll parse the composite.xml files, JCA files (used by adapters) and also the BPEL and BPMN files in order to determine the operations. The script can be used for SOA Suite 11g and 12c composites.

The above picture shows different parts of which a composite is composed and how they are linked. The script first determines references. The references specify which external services are called. Then by using wires, the relevant components are determined. Based on the component type, specific logic is used to extract the operation. Not shown in this picture is how database dependencies can also be determined by the script by parsing the JCA files specified in the reference. If you’re in a hurry, you can go to the ‘Executing the script’ part directly and skip the explanation.

Composites

This blog will focus on composites (which can contain components like BPEL and BPM) using the shared SOA infrastructure and not on for example the Service Bus. Composites use the Software Component Architecture (http://www.oasis-opencsa.org/sca) to wire different components together in a consistent way. Oracle uses XML files to describe composites, components and references. These files can easily be parsed and correlated.

Introduction composite.xml

The main file describing a composite is the composite.xml file. Below is a small sample of a HelloWorld composite containing a single component, a BPEL process. Read the complete article here.

SOA & BPM Partner Community

For regular information on Oracle SOA Suite become a member in the SOA & BPM Partner Community for registration please visit www.oracle.com/goto/emea/soa (OPN account required) If you need support with your account please contact the Oracle Partner Business Center.

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