1Z0-451:Oracle Business Rules Concepts

This is part of 1Z0-451: Oracle SOA Foundation Practitioner Exam

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* See Overview of Oracle Business Rules

* BRs are statements that describe
– business policies
– key business decisions
* BRs allow continuous changes without code recompiling (vs Coding)

Rules can be expressed with two types:
* IF THEN structure (condition and actions)
* Decision table (spreadsheet like)

* IF part of IF THEN structure
* Refers to facts, e.g.

IF Rental_application.driver age < 21

* THEN part of IF THEN structure
* Actions can
– CRUD facts
* Actions are fired sequentially, not in parallel

* Facts are objects that rules reason on
* Each fact is an instance of fact type
* Fact types can be imported using Rules Designer from
– Java classes
– XML schema
– ADF-BC view objects
– Oracle RL definitions

* Properties have:
– Name
– Data type
– Value

* A bucketset defines a list of values or a range of values of specific type
* Can be associated with fact properties in rules or decision tables

* Are containers for rules and decision tables, acting like namespaces or Java packages
* Ruleset = Rules + decision tables

* Provide contracts or interfaces for invoking rules from Java or SOA
* Consist of
– Input fact types
– Rulesets to run
– Output fact types

* Rules SDK provides decision point API to access and run rules or decision tables from Java applications

* Dictionaries are containers for
– facts
– functions
– globals
– bucketsets
– links
– decision functions
– rulesets
* Dictionary = Facts + Bucketsets + Rulesets
* A dictionary is an XML file (with .rules extension) that stores applications
– rulesets
– data model
* A dictionary can link to other dictionaries
* Dictionary example:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<RuleDictionary id="G}7dc19c2e:1381608dc2e:-7c2d" 
    xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/rules/dictionary">
    <Name>ManualApproval</Name>
    ...
    <Package>poprocessing2</Package>
    <Version>11.1.1.0.0</Version>
    <DataModel id="L}2">
        <JaxbFactType id="J}com.globalcompany.ns.orderbooking.rules.Price">
            <Name>com.globalcompany.ns.orderbooking.rules.Price</Name>
            <Property id="J}com.globalcompany.ns.orderbooking.rules.Price.{price}">
                <Name>price</Name>
                ...
            </Property>
            <Method id="J}public double com.globalcompany.ns.orderbooking.rules.Price.getPrice()">
                <Name>getPrice</Name>
                ...
            </Method>
            ...
            <EnumBucketSetID>B}nil</EnumBucketSetID>
        </JaxbFactType>
        ...
        <DecisionFunction id="G}7dc19c2e:1381608dc2e:-7c26">
            <Name>ManualApproval_DecisionService_1</Name>
            <DecisionFunctionInput id="L}45">
                <Name>price</Name>
                ...
            </DecisionFunctionInput>
            <DecisionFunctionRuleSet id="L}44">
            ...
            </DecisionFunctionRuleSet>
            <DecisionFunctionOutput id="L}46">
                <Name>discountandshipping</Name>
                ...
            </DecisionFunctionOutput>
        </DecisionFunction>
    </DataModel>
    <RuleSet id="G}7dc19c2e:1381608dc2e:-7c27">
        <Name>Ruleset1</Name>
        <Rule id="G}7dc19c2e:1381608dc2e:-7c24">
            <Name>Rule1</Name>
            <Pattern id="L}47">
            ...
            </Pattern>
            ...
            <Action id="L}53">
                <Form>Assert New</Form>
                <Target>discountandshipping</Target>
                <ResolvedTarget>`J}public com.globalcompany.ns.orderbooking.rules.Discountandshipping()`</ResolvedTarget>
                <Expression id="L}54">
                    <Value>true</Value>
                </Expression>
                <Expression id="L}55">
                ...
                </Expression>
            </Action>
        </Rule>
        <Rule id="G}7dc19c2e:1381608dc2e:-7c23">
            <Name>Rule2</Name>
            ...
        </Rule>
    </RuleSet>
</RuleDictionary>

* Design time:
– BR Service Component: used in SOA
– Rules SDK: used in Java
* Run time:
– SOA Composer Application: used to edit deployed rules dictionaries.

* aka Decision Component
* Supports the use of Oracle Business Rules in a SOA composite application.
* Can be used within SOA composite to
– Run business rules
– Wire a BPEL component to BRs
– Dynamic routing in Mediator
– Advanced routing rules in Human Workflow
* Initiated by a BPEL process service component
* Rules are store in MDS

* Contains
– Rule-base
– Working memory
– Inference engine (RETE)
* Is a forward-chaining rules-based system:
– Facts cause rules to fire and firing rules can create more facts, which in turn can fire more rules.
– This process is called an inference cycle.
* Rules session:

* See this hands on tutorial
* See official documentation here

* See this hands on tutorial
* See official documentation here

Next >> Secure services and Composite Applications

* User’s Guide for Oracle Business Rules11g Release 1 (11.1.1.4.0)
*Using the Business Rules Service Component
* SOA 11g Tutorial: Business Rules