How to avoid BPEL operations corrupting namespaces

Question

Hi
I am new to BPEL and XML but I'm having a problem with the seemingly automatic behaviour of the Oracle BPEL engine.
I invoke a Web service which returns a valid XML document with namespaces declared inside the SOAP wrapper.
When I execute the BPEL outlined below the reply generated has lost the namespace declarations resulting in an invalid response to the BPEL service consumer.
I can achieve the correct namespaces by using a Transform step rather than the Copy, but should a transformation be required?
Is there an alternative approach?
Roy
The BPEL logic
<invoke name="retrievePolicy" partnerLink="AlphaCoreService"
portType="ns1:AlphaCoreService" operation="retrieveFullPolicy"
inputVariable="Invoke_1_retrieveFullPolicy_InputVariable"
outputVariable="Invoke_1_retrieveFullPolicy_OutputVariable"/>
<assign name="Assign_2">
<copy>
<from variable="Invoke_1_retrieveFullPolicy_OutputVariable"
part="parameters"
query="/ns2:retrieveFullPolicyResponseElement/ns2:result/ns2:pom"/>
<to variable="outputVariable" part="payload"
query="/client:getPolicyProcessResponse/client:pom"/>
</copy>
</assign>
<reply name="replyOutput" partnerLink="client" portType="client:getPolicy"
operation="process" variable="outputVariable"/>
The retrievePolicy response supplies this document to BPEL ....
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="windows-1252" ?>
<env:Envelope xmlns:env="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:ns0="http://service.ws.core.alpha.web.aif.cgi.com/types/"
xmlns:ns1="http://xpom.ws.core.alpha.web.aif.cgi.com">
<env:Body>
<ns0:retrieveFullPolicyResponseElement>
<ns0:result>
<ns0:errors xsi:nil="1"/>
<ns0:pom>
<ns1:contractId>7140</ns1:contractId>
<ns1:policyRef>POL7140</ns1:policyRef>
etc.
<ns1:version>
<ns1:systemStartDate>2009-06-10T15:33:48.000+01:00</ns1:systemStartDate>
<ns1:changeDescription xsi:nil="1"/>
etc.
</ns1:version>
<ns1:vehicleArray xsi:type="ns1:Vehicle">
<ns1:userModified>ROYC</ns1:userModified>
<ns1:uniqueReference>abc123A</ns1:uniqueReference>
etc.
<ns1:makeModel>17532001</ns1:makeModel>
<ns1:regNo>abc123A</ns1:regNo>
</ns1:vehicleArray>
</ns0:pom>
</ns0:result>
</ns0:retrieveFullPolicyResponseElement>
</env:Body>
</env:Envelope>
======================
The Copy activity results in an ="outputVariable" of this shape (note the namespace ns1 re-creation at the incorrect levels) ....
<outputVariable>
<part xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" name="payload">
<getPolicyProcessResponse xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/getPolicy">
<pom>
<ns1:contractId xmlns:ns1="http://xpom.ws.core.alpha.web.aif.cgi.com">7140</ns1:contractId>
<ns1:policyRef xmlns:ns1="http://xpom.ws.core.alpha.web.aif.cgi.com">POL7140</ns1:policyRef>
<ns1:version xmlns:ns1="http://xpom.ws.core.alpha.web.aif.cgi.com">
<ns1:systemStartDate>2009-06-10T15:33:48.000+01:00</ns1:systemStartDate>
<ns1:changeDescription xsi:nil="1"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"/>
</ns1:version>
<ns1:vehicleArray xsi:type="ns1:Vehicle"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:ns1="http://xpom.ws.core.alpha.web.aif.cgi.com">
<ns1:makeModel>17532001</ns1:makeModel>
<ns1:regNo>abc123A</ns1:regNo>
</ns1:vehicleArray>
</pom>
</getPolicyProcessResponse>
</part>
</outputVariable>
=================================
Finally the Reply activity generates this XML to send back as a response - note the ns1:vehicle invalid reference
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="windows-1252" ?>
<env:Envelope xmlns:env="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
<env:Header/>
<env:Body>
<getPolicyProcessResponse xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/getPolicy">
<result>success message</result>
<extra>extra tag</extra>
<pom>
<ns1:contractId xmlns:ns1="http://xpom.ws.core.alpha.web.aif.cgi.com">7140</ns1:contractId>
<ns1:policyRef xmlns:ns1="http://xpom.ws.core.alpha.web.aif.cgi.com">POL7140</ns1:policyRef>
<version>
<systemStartDate>2009-06-10T15:33:48.000+01:00</systemStartDate>
<changeDescription nil="1"/>
</version>
<vehicleArray type="ns1:Vehicle">
<makeModel>17532001</makeModel>
<regNo>abc123A</regNo>
</vehicleArray>
</pom>
</getPolicyProcessResponse>
</env:Body>
</env:Envelope>

Answer 1

Hi Marc
Having consulted with a few colleagues, you are correct, this is a valid XML message after all.
The Oracle BPEL console however has a problem with it and generates the error
"Could not initiate the BPEL process because the input xml is not well formed, the reason is : Error parsing envelope Please correct the input xml."
The BPEL script has not only been initiated, but succesfully completed, so the message can only be referring to the SOAP message it got back from the BPEL process.
Oracle BPEL has also changed the namespaces, which is surely a corruption of the document that should need correcting by someone.
The Web service message had "pom" defined in the "http://service.ws.core.alpha.web.aif.cgi.com/types/" namespace and "contractID" and "vehicleArray" defined in the "http://xpom.ws.core.alpha.web.aif.cgi.com" namespace.
The BPEL reply message has "pom" and "vehicleArray" defined in the "http://xmlns.oracle.com/getPolicy" namespace, "contractID" correctly in the "http://xpom.ws.core.alpha.web.aif.cgi.com" namespace and the "http://service.ws.core.alpha.web.aif.cgi.com/types/" namespace has completely disappeared.
I can't see what I've done to generate the corruption, so surely this must be an Oracle defect?
Roy