Reply system function

Use the Reply system function to send a response to a request previously accepted through a Receive system function. The reply message will be sent to the Invoke step.

To specify a Reply system function

  1. From the Web Services Palette, drag a Reply step onto the workflow map where you want to send a reply message related to a previous Receive system function. Note that if you use a system step instead of a pre-defined Reply step, you can include the Reply system function in the same system step as the Receive.
  2. On the Reply General tab, select the Partner Link used in the related Receive system instruction.
  3. Select the operation specified in the related Receive system instruction.
  4. Specify one of the message types: Message or Fault. (If you have a Reply step in the workflow, you must specify either a message or a fault message for the reply.)

    Message

    Fault

NOTE  You can have more than one Reply step corresponding to a Receive step. For example, you might have a message indicating 'success', and one or more Reply steps indicating faults. You can have only one message, but you can have more than one fault. If you define a Reply step as a fault, there must also be a related Reply step with a message.

Correlation set

In XML mode, you can specify one or more properties that will be used to identify a runtime conversation between two processes. For example, with Web Services involving purchase orders, there might be several exchanges of messages between the buyer and the seller, so you need to ensure that each message stays with the appropriate conversation. (If you are using Parameter mode, the Correlation Set tab is available for Receive, but not for Invoke or Reply.)

  1. On the Correlation Set tab, specify a name for this correlation set.
  2. Under Properties, specify a name and the XPath Query to the appropriate element in the schema. You can specify more than one name/XPath Query pair to define the correlation expression. For example, you might use a combination of an account number and an invoice number.

When you specify a correlation set for Reply, the F_Corr<Correlation_Set_Name> field is set to the value specified by the XPath query.

See Web Services - correlation example for sample workflows showing Reply steps using both parameter mode and XML mode.