With repeat, you can repeat the process (loop process) in the business process under specified conditions.

Deploy one or more activities in the repeat process.

The following are the two methods of the repeat process:

• Repeat condition setting method
  Set the repeat conditions. Repeat the process till the repeat conditions are satisfied.
  
• Specified list repetition method
  Extract the list of elements. Repeat the process till there are elements in the list.
  

In the repeat condition setting method, the judgment to repeat is done beforehand. If the judgment result is true, repetition continues, and in case of false, repetition stops and you transit to the next process.

The following figure shows the flow of repetition in the business process for the repeat condition setting method:

Figure 3-6 Repeat in business process (for the repeat condition setting method)

In the specified list repetition method, a list for repetition is generated based on the variables that define the repeating element. The process is repeatedly executed only for the number of nodes in the repeat list.

For details on the flow of repeat in case of the specified list repetition method, see "5.6.13 While activity" in "BPM/ESB Service Platform Basic Development Guide".

Use the while activity.

Specify the condition formula to be used for judging repetition and the path of the variable element that defines the repeating element, in XPath for variables such as XML message.

Specify the method to be used in the while activity dialog from among the repeat condition setting method or the specified list repetition method.

In order to avoid falling into an infinite loop with the repetition process, you can specify maximum number of repetitions. However, when you reach the maximum value for the number of repetitions, an error occurs in the business process.