# Interacting With Resources Using Controls

WebLogic Workshop controls make it easy to access enterprise resources, such as databases, Enterprise Java Beans (EJBs), and Web services, from within your application.

When you access a resource through a control, your interaction with the resource is greatly simplified; the underlying control implementation takes care of most of the details for you. You add an instance of a control to your business process project and then invoke its methods. Controls expose Java interfaces that can be invoked from your business process.

You can use controls generated from other services built with WebLogic Workshop or generate controls from WSDL files available from other services (regardless of the programming language in which those services were implemented).

## Designing Interactions Between Business Processes and Resources

Control Send nodes represent points in business processes at which processes send asynchronous messages to resources (via controls). Control Receive nodes represent points in business processes at which processes receive asynchronous messages from resources (via controls). A business process waits at a Control Receive node until it receives a message from the specified control. Control Send with Return nodes handle synchronous exchange of messages between business processes and resources (via controls). These three types of controls are mutable. In other words, you can change them into another type of control by dragging and dropping a control method of a different type.

This section describes how to add nodes to your business process that represent the interactions of your business process with resources. It includes the following topics:

- Create Control Nodes in Your Business Process
- Designing Your Control Nodes
- Adding Instances of Controls to Your Business Process Project
- Configuring Control Nodes
- Setting Control Properties

Related Topics

Using Integration Controls