7 Future Work
For future releases of BPEL2oWFN the following features are planned:
- Add data aspects. In the implemented patterns we abstract
from data and do not evaluate join or transition conditions. Instead all
decisions are made non-deterministically. With static analysis it is
possible to find the relevant ranges of values that allow a replacement
of non-deterministic choices with choices made evaulating data. This
technique (called abstract interpretation) might help to reduce the
modelled behavior of the process yet being more precise.
- Control flow analysis. In [Hei03] a control flow graph for
BPEL was introduced. This control flow graph (currently
implemented prototypic) is the base for more sophisticated analysis,
e.g. finding unreachable activities, uninitialized variables or
other problems that can occur during runtime.
- Detailed info-files. The generated info-files currently just
list the nodes of the generated net. To help the retranslation of Petri
net-specific properties to the input process the generated files have
to be more detailed. The integration of a symbol table is currently
in pre-beta state and should be finished in the next version of
BPEL2oWFN.
- Support for WS-BPEL. The specification of
WS-BPEL (Web Service Business Process Execution Language)
version 2.0 is in its final phase. As soon as the standardization is
completed, WS-BPEL can be supported by BPEL2oWFN
by overworking the grammar and adding appropriate patterns to the
pattern database.