Any interface capable of being described in WSDL would be appropriate for use within a BPEL process. Payloads in WSDL are generally described via XML Schema, making XML the native message markup language within BPEL and one for which support is mandated by the BPEL spec in the form of XPath as BPEL's default query and expression language.
The use of attachments makes it possible to also use any binary or text format, but the spec offers no support for processing such data, other than moving it around various interfaces (no message correlation, no data transformation, just raw in-out routing). It is possible for such an interface to implement a transformation service, which takes a non-XML payload and returns a corresponding XML document. The returned XML would then be usable in BPEL. The BPEL spec is also generic enough to allow for an implementation to support a query language other than XPath, which can make it possible to use non-XML message parts directly to control process flow and perform data manipulation (though clearly in a non-portable way) without resorting to an external transformation service. I am not aware of any such implementations. Daniel On 9/20/07, Thomas Seay <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In [email protected] <EDI-L%40yahoogroups.com>, "Daniel Feygin" > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > Thomas, > > > > BPM is concerned with internal information flows, whereas EDI -- with > > external. As such, they are complementary rather than competitive. > > > > No joke. I didn't know that. Thanks for stating the obvious. Anyway, > what format must data be in to be truly "pathed" in BPEL? > > -Thomas > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ... Please use the following Message Identifiers as your subject prefix: <SALES>, <JOBS>, <LIST>, <TECH>, <MISC>, <EVENT>, <OFF-TOPIC> Job postings are welcome, but for job postings or requests for work: <JOBS> IS REQUIRED in the subject line as a prefix. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EDI-L/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EDI-L/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
