This topic applies only to the IBM Business Process Manager Advanced configuration.

Defining transactional behavior

BPEL processes run as part of transactions. The navigation of a BPEL process can span multiple transactions in the case of long-running processes, or happen as part of one transaction in the case of microflows.

About this task

For information on setting up transactions see the related topic on Transactions.

A simple tools is provided so that you can review the transaction propagation in your process. right-click in the Assembly editor and select Show Transaction Highlighting. The transactional highlighting is displayed for the whole process.

You can highlight the transaction properties of a subset of the entire process by selecting a specific activity, right-clicking and selecting Show Transaction From Here. The transaction propagation associated with the selected activity and all downstream components are highlighted.

When you have highlighting enabled, you will find hover help available for the highlighted activities and wires. This hover help will explain the highlighting of the interface, reference, wire, component, import or export over which you are hovering.

Note: The highlighting shows transaction propagation, not transaction boundaries. If you select a component downstream of another component in the same transaction and turn on the highlighting, the upstream component, despite being part of the same transaction, will not be highlighted.

Table 1. Explanation of transaction highlighting
Component	Highlighting	Explanation
Interface	Solid green circle	The component is configured so that the implementation always joins a propagated transaction.
	Dotted green circle	The component is configured so that the implementation sometimes joins a propagated transaction.
	No highlighting	The component is configured so that the implementation never joins a propagated transaction.
Reference	Solid green box	Synchronous calls over this reference propagate a transaction.
	Dotted green box	Synchronous calls over this reference may propagate a transaction.
	No highlighting	Synchronous calls over this reference do not propagate a transaction.
Wire	Solid green line	Propagates and joins a transaction
	Dashed green line	Some situations propagate and join a transaction, some will not.
	No highlighting	Does not propagate a transaction.
Node or activity	Solid green perimeter	Implementation is invoked synchronously and runs in a global transaction. Equivalently, the transaction qualifier is configured as Global.
	Dotted green perimeter	Certain components can call one service in one transaction and call another service in a different transaction. This highlighting is applied when a component runs in a global transaction but calls services in this manner. Only long-running BPEL processes and business state machines can carry this special highlighting.
	Dashed green perimeter	Implementation is invoked synchronously and does not specify that it runs a global transaction. Equivalently, the transaction qualifier is configured as Any.
	No highlighting	Implementation is invoked asynchronously, or runes with local transactions.
Import	Solid green perimeter	A global transaction, if propagated to the import node, is propagated to the service being imported.
	No highlighting	A global transaction is never propagated to the service being imported.
Export	Solid green perimeter	A global transaction can be propagated from the client to the Export, and is further propagated to the export target.
	No highlighting	A global transaction is never propagated from the client to the Export.