Sonic Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) annotations identify which procedures or user-defined functions in ABL source code will be exported to the Sonic environment. In other words, ESB annotations allow you to expose ABL procedures and user-defined functions as Sonic services. You generate Sonic invocation (.esboe) files from ABL source files that contain ESB annotations. You can import the ESBOE files into Sonic Workbench in order to create ESB processes.

You can add ESB annotations to .p, .i, or .w files. You cannot add ESB annotations to class (.cls) files.

The ABL Editor provides a wizard that helps you add ESB annotations to ABL code files. To use this wizard:

  1. Click Edit if you want to change the ESB Annotation-Main definition.
  2. When you click Edit, a dialog appears, which allows you to set:
    • ESBOE file name - The name of the ESBOE file. By default, the file name is the name of the ABL code file with a .esboe extension. The .p, .i, or .w extension is stripped away.
    • Execution mode - Whether the .r file runs externally or persistently. The default is external, but you must change this to persistent if you intend to add ESB annotations to internal procedures or user-defined functions in the file.
    • Use return value - Whether a return string should be used for procedures. By default this option is not selected
    • Write dataset before image - Whether before-image data is written when ProDataSet parameters are serialized as XML. By default this option is not selected. This parameter has no effect on invocations that do not return a ProDataSet.
  3. Select a project and open a .p, .i, or .w file.
  4. Choose Source > Add Annotation from the Progress Developer Studio for OpenEdge main menu.
  5. If the focus is in an open file, you can choose Source > Add Annotation from the context menu. You can also right-click in the Project Explorer view and choose Progress OpenEdge > Add Annotation.
  6. In the Available Resources section, select the files where you want to add ESB Annotation-Main. For example: The Add Annotations wizard appears.


  7. To save a copy of files before annotations are added, select the backup option and specify the save location. For example:


  8. Click Finish if you do not intend to add ESB annotations to internal procedures or user-defined functions. The wizard adds the ESB Annotation-Main to the top of all selected files.
  9. Click Next if you intend to add ESB annotations to internal procedures or user-defined functions.
    Note: If you have not changed the Execution Mode in the ESB Annotation-Main definition to persistent, the annotation wizard prompts you to make the change. The execution mode must be persistent for internal procedures and user-defined functions to be accessible.
  10. Choose ESB Annotation-Detail, which is the appropriate annotation for internal procedures and user-defined functions, and which is selected by default.
  11. Click Edit if you want to change the ESB Annotation-Detail definition.
    Note: The attributes are similar to ESB Annotation-Main. However, you cannot specify the execution mode, and the default ESBOE filename contains the name of the ABL code file plus the procedure name.
  12. Choose ESB Annotation-Main, which is selected by default. For example:


    Note: The ESB Annotation-Main annotation will be added to the top of selected files in your project. You can also add ESB annotations to internal procedures and user-defined functions, but first you must add ESB Annotation-Main to the files that contain the internal procedures and user-defined functions.
  13. In the Available Resources section, select the files, internal procedures and user-defined functions where you want to add ESB Annotation-Detail annotation. For example:


  14. Click Finish.
    Note: The ESB Annotation-Detail annotation is added to the selected internal procedures and user-defined functions.
  15. Right-click on the project name in the Project Explorer view to generate ESBOE files:
    Note: If you do not want to generate ESBOE files for every file in the project, you can select individual file names in the Project Explorer view. You can also right-click in a file that is open in the ABL Editor.
  16. Choose Progress OpenEdge > Generate Sonic ESB Invocation Files.