Understanding service components

Learn about the tools and components available when building services in IBM® Process Designer.

When developing a service diagram in the Designer in IBM Process Designer, the following tools and components are available from the palette. Not all components are available for each type of service.

Table 1. Tools and components available from the palette
Component icon Available with... Description
This screen capture shows the selection tool. All service types Enables you to select and move components on the diagram.
This section shows the sequence flow tool. All service types Enables you to connect service components to establish the order in which the steps in the service occur.
This screen capture shows the web service integration component. Integration service only Use to run an external web service. This component enables you to supply a WSDL URI and then use any of the available services.
The screen capture shows the Java integration component. Integration service only Use to call methods from a Java class. You can use the methods to complete tasks like reading or writing files or sending SMTP mail.
This screen capture shows the Coach component
 Human service only Use to implement the interfaces for your Human services so that end users to participate in a business process. See Building Coaches for more information.
This screen capture shows the Heritage Coach component. Human service only Use to implement the interfaces for your Human services so that users can participate in a business process. See Building Heritage Coaches for more information.
This screen capture shows the Server Script component. All service types Use when you want to write JavaScript to run on the Process Server in the service context. The Server Script component is useful for parsing through variables and executing programmatic commands.
This screen capture shows the Decision Table component. Decision service only Use to build conditions for your Decision services.
This screen capture shows the JRules Decision Service component. Decision service only Use to include decision services available on an ILOG JRules Rule Execution Server.
This screen capture shows the BAL rule component
 Decision service only Use the Business Action Language (BAL) Rule component to author business rules using natural language technology
This screen capture shows the Server Scriptlet component. All service types Use to bind blocks of formatted text (for example, HTML, XML, or XSLT) directly to a service variable. This eliminates the need to store large blocks of text in default values for variables.
This screen capture shows the Modify Task component. Human service only Use to change the priority, due date, status, or other aspects of a task.
This screen capture shows the Postpone Task component. Human service only Use to halt processing without changing the status of a task.
This screen capture shows the Decision Gateway component. All service types Use to model a point in the process execution where only one of several paths can be followed, depending on a condition.
This screen capture shows the End Event component. All service types Use to end service execution. For services that contain multiple paths, each path requires its own end event.
Note: An end event is automatically included each time you create a service.
This screen capture shows the Note component. All service types Use to add information about the overall service or each step in the service to the diagram. Adding notes helps other developers understand your design.
This screen capture shows the Error End Event component. All service types Use to purposely throw an error and end processing. You might, for example, use an Error End Event component if you return too many rows from a database (over a limit that is normal and would bog down the server).
This screen capture shows the Invoke UCA component. All service types Use to invoke an Undercover Agent (UCA) from your service.
This screen capture shows the Error Intermediate Event component. All service types Use to listen for errors from the service component to which it is attached.
This screen capture shows the Intermediate Tracking Event component. All service types Use to indicate a point in a service at which you want IBM Business Process Manager to capture the runtime data for reporting purposes. For more information on tracking data, see Designing processes for tracking and reporting.
This screen capture shows the Nested Service component. All service types Use to incorporate other services in your current service. Nested services are generally defined to perform specific, repeatable functions such as exception handling routines, integration with outside systems, or data manipulation. Nested services are often used in multiple process applications and likely reside in a toolkit.
Note: Human and Ajax services cannot be nested.
Note: You must use a nested service to invoke an Advanced Integration service.
This screen capture shows the Send Alert component. All service types Use to send task-related alerts (deprecated). In prior releases, the Send Alert component was used to send alerts to an IBM Process Portal user. Starting in IBM Business Process Manager V8, alerts can be retrieved only with the TWSearch JavaScript API by querying on tasks with the status of Alert.
This screen capture shows the IBM Case Manager Integration component
 IBM Case Manager Integration service only Use to integrate a case management case in IBM Case Manager.
This screen capture shows the Content Integration component
 Integration service only Use to integrate with an IBM Enterprise Content Management system.
Parent topic: Building services