Try this. bpws:getVariableData('parent')/tns:child You should avoid the query parameter (even if the variable is a message) and use the above alternative instead. Besides providing a way to query non-message variables, it has an added benefit. The query is syntactically analyzed during deployment. In the function call, the query parameter is analyzed till runtime. View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4134447#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...