BPEL variables initialisation

Question

Is it possible to initialize BPEL variables at the declaration ? if so how ?

declaration example :

<variables>
    <variable name="offer" type="xsd:float"/>
    <variable name="response" type="xsd:string"/>
</variables> 

Answer 1

After some googling, reading spec and examples ... I think it's not possible to initialize BPEL variables at the declaration ... If we want we need to do it in the process sequence :

...
    <variables>
        <variable name="response" type="xsd:string"/>
        <variable name="offer" type="xsd:float"/>
    </variables>
...
    <sequence>
        <receive createInstance="yes" .../>
...
        <assign name="init">
            <copy>
                <from>100</from>
                <to variable="offer"/>
            </copy>
            <copy>
                <from>'TocToc'</from>
                <to variable="response"/>
            </copy>
        </assign>
...

Answer 2

We use Oracle BPEL and it allows properties to be set in the bpel.xml file like such:

 <preferences>
    <property name="output_file" encryption="plaintext">logging.txt</property>
    <property name="expire_hours" encryption="plaintext">10</property>
    <property name="retry_count" encryption="plaintext">4</property>
 </preferences>

The can be accessed in the code using ora:getPreference("varname")

These also show up on the BPEL console and can be changed by an admin if necessary.