SOA and WS-BPEL is a new book from Packt that helps users to compose Service-Oriented Architecture Solutions with PHP and Open-Source ActiveBPEL. Written by experience author Yuli Vasiliev this practical book explains in extensive detail how to build Web Services with PHP and then utilize them within WS-BPEL orchestrations deployed to the ActiveBPEL engine.

When Utilized within a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), Web Services are part of a business process determining the logical order of service activities – logical units of work performed by one or more services.

Today, the most popular tool for organizing service activities into business processes is Web Services Business Process Execution Language (WS-BPEL), a language defining an execution format for business processes operating on Web Services. While it is not a trivial task to define a business process definition with WS-BPEL from scratch, using a graphical WS-BPEL tool can significantly simplify this process.

Examples and practice are much more valuable than theory when it comes to building applications using specific development tools. Unlike many other books on SOA in the market, this book is not focused on architecture. Instead, through numerous examples, it discusses practical aspects of SOA and WS-BPEL development, showing you how to apply architecture in practice with the help of PHP, ActiveBPEL open-source engine, and ActiveBPEL Designer – powerful development tools available for free.

With the help of many examples, the book explains how to build Web Services with PHP, combine them into SOAs with WS-BPEL, and then deploy composite WS-BPEL-based solutions to the ActiveBPEL engine. The examples in this book are presented in a way that anyone can understand and apply.

This book is suitable for anyone who wants to start building SOA applications using powerful tools available free of charge. It will also be useful for PHP developers willing to move towards Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA). Readers need only a basic knowledge of SOA, BPEL, and Web Services; even a total beginner will be able to follow the examples, provided the required software components are installed on his or her computer. More experienced readers might use this book as a reference, focusing only on the chapters of interest. For more information please visit SOA and WS-BPEL