chainedexecution 09/06/2008,03:44 23.67 Kb

This example illustrates how Intalio|BPMS supports what BPEL4People calls 'chained execution', ie the ability for users to go from one form directly to another according to a process flow. This version has been updated for Intalio|BPMS 5.0.

Scenario:

Michael Smith logs in Intalio|BPMS Workflow UI to request a product from the online store. After he selects a product, a new form shows up asking for the shipping address. After submitting an address, a last form shows up asking for credit card information. Submitting credit card information completes the Store scenario.

Process Design:

1. Please download the provided zip file.
2. In Intalio|BPMS Designer, go to File > Import...
3. In the wizard, select 'Existing Projects into Workspace' and click Next >
4. Select the 'select archive file:' radio button and provide the location to the ChainedExecution.zip file you have just downloaded.
5. Click Finish

This should create a new project called 'ChainedExecution' in your Process Explorer. In the Process Explorer, expand the new ChainedExecution project. This project essentially contains the following files:

• Address.xform: form used to request the user to provide the shipping address. This form was created with the Form Editor and you may double click on this file to open it.
• Payment.xform: form used to request the user to provide the credit card information.
• SelectItem.xform: form used to allow the user to select a product and start the process.
• Store.bpm: the Store process model.

All forms have been created with the Form Editor and you may double click on any of the *.xform files to edit them in the Form Editor.

At this point, double-click on the Store.bpm file to open the process model that should show up as in the following screenshot:

TODO: ADD SCREENSHOT HERE

This process fully implements the scenario.

The pool at the bottom is the process pool, which generates code. The other pool represents a user who interacts with the Store process.

The shapes have been colored in 3 colors to distinguish which people activity they support:

• the yellow shapes are for the first People Initiating Process Activity, when the user submits a product request and starts the process.
• The green shapes are for the first People Activity that is chained to the previous one, where we request the user to provide the shipping address.
• The blue shapes are for the second People Activity that is chained to the previous one, where we request the user to provide the credit card information.

It is interesting to notice that the People Initiating Process Activity is split in two tasks 'Receive Product Request' and 'Acknowledge Product Request'. The reason is that before we return the response for acknowledging this activity, we actually need to create the next task, so that we get the task ID for the next task and pass it in our response. Indeed, for the 'Select Item' form to be chained to the next form, we must provide the task ID of the next task in the response. This task ID is provided to us in the createTaskResponse message when creating the task in 'Request Address'.

If you select the 'Acknowledge Product Request' task and look at the Mapper, you will indeed see that the taskId element from the createTaskResponse is mapped to an element called nextTaskId in the initProcessResponse message as in the following screenshot. This is where we provide the chained execution information that Intalio|BPMS Workflow needs in order to automatically show the Address form after the user submits a selected product.

TODO: ADD SCREENSHOT HERE

To chain one people activity to another, two things must be done:

1. We must inform Intalio|BPMS Workflow that the first people activity is chained to a next one, which is expressed in the mapping when returning a response back to the user in the 'Receive Address' task.
2. We must inform Intalio|BPMS Workflow that the second people activity is chained to a previous one, which is expressed in the mapping when creating the activity in the 'Request Payment Info' task.

Intalio|BPMS Workflow uses such information to chain the two people activities.

Deployment

To deploy this example, simply click the 'Deploy the Diagram to the Server' tool in the toolbar. Make sure both check boxes "" and "" are selected and click Finish.

Execution

To run the Store process:

1. Go to http://localhost:8080/ui-fw/login.htm
2. Log in with the username 'examples\ewilliams' (without quotes) and password 'password' (without quotes)
3. Click on the 'Processes' tab
4. Click on 'Examples - Store' in the table. If you don't see this, then it means you did not manage to successfully register the People Initiating Process Activity task as explained in the previous section. The form to select a product should appear as in the screenshot below:TODO: ADD SCREENSHOT HERE
5. Select a product in the list and click Submit. This submits the request and starts the Store process.
6. Within a few seconds (depending on your computer and settings), the form should automatically be replaced with a new form where you are requested to provide a shipping address, as in the screenshot below. Note that the Reference field shows a reference number that matches the product you selected in the first form.
7. Provide address information and click 'Complete'.
8. Again, after a few seconds, the form is replaced with a third one that shows the shipping address you just entered and requests your credit card information as in the screenshot below:TODO: ADD SCREENSHOT HERE
   
9. Provide credit card information and click 'Complete'. This is the last form. It leads the Store process to completion. The user task list is refreshed.

You may now check in the console that indeed a Store process was completed. In fact, you may monitor the Store process execution at anytime in the console. The following screenshot shows a Store process instance when the user is asked to provide his/her shipping address information (the running task is highlighted in dark green).

TODO: ADD SCREENSHOT HERE