3.5.1 Content of a CPP

The CPP has two layers: the Process Specification layer and the delivery layer. The Process Specification layer references one or more Business Collaborations (Binary or Multiparty Collaborations). The delivery layer is composed of the document exchange layer and the transport layer.

The main CPP structure (defined in XML) has four elements: These are the PartyInfo (information about the organisation), Packaging (), ds:Signature (the digital signature which signs the CPP) and a Comment (general comment) element.

<CollaborationProtocolProfile
        ...         <!-- namespace information -->
        >
        <PartyInfo> <!-- one or more -->
        ...
        </PartyInfo>
        <Packaging id=''ID''> <!-- one or more -->
        ...
        </Packaging>
        <ds:Signature> <!-- one or more -->
        ...
        </ds:Signature>
        <Comment>comment</Comment> <!-- one or more -->
</CollaborationProtocolProfile>

PartyInfo and Packaging are the more interesting elements and are shown here:

• The PartyInfo element
  A sample code fragment illustrates this element. A short overview of the child elements is added after the example code.

  <PartyInfo>
          <PartyID type=''...''>
          ...
          </PartyID>
          <PartyRef xlink:type=''...'', xlink:href=''...''/>
          <CollaborationRole> <!-- one or more -->
          ...
          </CollaborationRole>
          <Certificate> <!-- one or more -->
          ...
          </Certificate>
          <DeliveryChannel> <!-- one or more -->
          ...
          </DeliveryChannel>
          <Transport> <!-- one or more -->
          ...
          </Transport>
          <DocExchange> <!-- one or more -->
          ...
          </DocExchange>
  </PartyInfo>
  

  • PartyID
    This is a unique id for each company. This can be a D-U-N-S number or a UCC/EAN company code or any other industry related identification mechanism.
  • PartyRef
    This is a pointer to more information about the company. This can be the company's web site, a UDDI reference or another ebXML registry entity.
  • CollaborationRole
    This is a very important element and needs further information. Here the content of this element:

    <CollaborationRole id=''N11''>
            <ProcessSpecification name=''BuySell'' version=''1.0''>
            </ProcessSpecification>
            <Role name=''buyer'' xlink:href=''...''/>
            <CertificateRef certId=''N03''/>
            <ServiceBinding name=''some process'' chanelId=''N02'' packageId=''N06''>
                    <Override action=''OrderAck'' channelId=''N05'' packageId=''N09''
                    xlink:type=''simple''
                    xlink:href=''...''/>
            </ServiceBinding>
            <!-- first alternate binding >
            <ServiceBinding chanelId=''N04'' packageId=''N06''>
                    <Override action=''OrderAck'' channelId=''N05'' packageId=''N09''
                    xlink:type=''simple''
                    xlink:href=''...''/>
            </ServiceBinding>
    </CollaborationRole>
    

  • Certificate
    This identifies the certificates used by this party for security functions.
  • DeliveryChannel
    This defines the transport and message protocol used for message exchange.
  • Transport
    This defines details of the supported transport protocols (mentioned in the DeliveryChannel element) used for the message passing.
  • DocExchange
    This element describes properties of the messaging service.

  For further details the specifications are useful or the source code of the open source project open ebXML, at www.openebxml.org

• The Packaging element
  The most important parts of the CPP are shown here. There are further XML elements and attributes not listed here.

  <Packaging id=''id''>
          <ProcessingCapabilities parse=''...'' generate=''...''/>
          <SimplePart id=''id'' mimetype=''type''/>
          <CompositeList>
                  <Composite mimetype=''type'' id=''name'' 
                          mimeparameters=''parameter''>
                          <Constituent idref=''name''/>
                  </Composite>
                  <Encapsulation mimetype=''type'' id=''name''
                          <Constituent idref=''name''/>
                  </Encapsulation>
          </CompositeList>
  </Packaging>
  

The ebXML specifications explain each element in more detail.