red hat jboss bpm suite-6.1-user guide-en-us

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Doug Hoffman Eva Kopalova B LongGemma Sheldon Joshua Wulf

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite 6.1

User Guide

The User Guide for Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite


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Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite 6.1 User Guide

The User Guide for Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite

Doug Hoffman

Eva Kopalo va

B LongRed Hat Engineering Content [email protected]

Gemma SheldonRed Hat Engineering Content [email protected]

Joshua [email protected]


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Legal Notice

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Abstract

A guide to defining and managing business processes with Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


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Table of Contents

Chapt er 1. Int roduction

1.1. Use Case: Proc ess -based so lutio ns in the loan industry

1.2. Co mponents

1.3. Red Hat JBos s BPM Suite and BRMS

1.4. Business Central

Chapt er 2. Basic concept s

Part I. Modeling

Chapter 3. Project

3.1. Creating a pro ject

3.2. Add ing d ependencies

3.3. Defining Kie Base

3.4. Defining Sessio ns

3.5. Creating a reso urce

3.6. Asset Metadata and Versio ning

3.7. Process definitio n

3.8. System Prop erties

Chapt er 4. Process Designer

4.1. Co nfiguring automaticsaving

4.2. Defining Process pro perties

4.3. Designing a Process

4.4. Exporting a Process

4.5. Process elements

4.6. Fo rms

4.7. Fo rm Mod eler4.8. Variables

4.9. Action sc ripts

4.10 . Intercep tor ac tions

4.11. Assignment

4.12. Constraints

4.13. Data models

4.14. Domain-specific Tasks

4.15. Exception Management

Chapt er 5. Advanced Process modeling

5.1. Process mod eling o ptions5.2. Workflow patterns

Chapt er 6. Social Event s

Follow Us er

Activity Timeli ne

Part II. Simulation and t esting

Chapt er 7. Process simulation

7.1. PathFinder

7.2. Simulating a Process

Chapt er 8. Testing

8.1. Unit testing

8.2. Sessio n creatio n

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Part III. Plug- in

Chapt er 9. Plug- in

9 .1. Creating BPM pro ject

9.2. Creating Process

9.3. Using the Debug Persp ective

9.4. Checking sessio n log s

Part IV. Deployment and runt ime management

Chapt er 10 . Deploying projects

10 .1. Process instances

10 .2. User tasks

Chapt er 11 . Logging

Chapt er 12 . Examples

Part V. BAM

Chapt er 13. Red Hat JBoss Dashboard Builder

What is Business Ac tivity Monitori ng?

13.1. Accessing Dashboard Builder

13.2. Basic c oncep ts

13.3. Enviro nment

13.4. Data so urces

Chapt er 14 . Management console

Chapt er 15. G raphic resources

Graphic reso urces definitions15.1. Working with g raphic reso urces

Append ix A. Process Element s

A.1. Process

A.2. Events mec hanism

A.3. Collab oration mechanisms

A.4. Transaction mechanisms

A.5. Timing

A.6. Process Elements

A.7. Start Event

A.8. Intermed iate EventsA.9. End Events

A.10 . Gateways

A.11. Activities, Tasks and Sub-Processes

A.12. Co nnecting ob jects

A.13. Swimlanes

A.14. Artifac ts

Append ix B. Service T asks

B.1. Log Task

B.2. Email Task

B.3. REST Tas k

B.4. WS Tas k

Append ix C. Simulation dat a

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C.2. Start Event

C.3. Catching Intermediate Events

C.4. Sequence Flo w

C.5. Throwing Intermediate Events

C.6. Human Tasks

C.7. Service Tasks

C.8 . End Events

C.9. Distribution types

Append ix D. Revision Hist ory

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Chapter 1. Introduction

Red Hat JBoss BPM Sui te is an open source business process mana gement suite that combines

Business Process Management and Business Rules Management and enables business and IT

users to create, manage, valida te, and deploy Business Processes and Rules.

To acco mmodate Bus iness Rules component, JBoss BPM Suite includ es integrated Red Hat JBoss

BRMS.

Red Hat JBoss BRMS and Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite use a centralized reposi tory where all resou rces

are stored. This ensu res consistency, transp arency, and the ab ility to aud it across the business.

Business users can modify business logic an d b usiness processes without requiring assistance

from IT personnel.

Bus iness Resource Planner is also inclu ded with this release.

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1.1. Use Case: Process

-based solut ions in the loan industry

This section describes a use case of deploying JBo ss BPM Suite to au tomate business processes

(such as loan app roval process) at a retail ba nk. This use case is a typical process-based specific

deployment that might be the first step in a wider adop tion o f JBoss BPM Sui te throug hout an

enterprise. It leverages features of both business rules an d p rocesses of JBoss BPM Suite.

A retail b ank offers several types of loan prod ucts each with varying terms and eligib ility

requirements. Customers requi ring a loan must file a loan applica tion with the bank. The bank then

processes the appl ication in several steps, such as verifying eligib ility, determining terms, checking

for fraudulent activity, and determining the most appropriate loan product. Once approved, the bank

creates and funds a loan accoun t for the applicant, who can then access funds. The bank must besure to comply with all relevant banking regulations at each step of the process, and has to manage

its loan portfolio to maximize profitability. Policies are in place to aid in decision making at each

step, and those policies are actively managed to optimize outcomes for the bank.

Business ana lysts at the bank model the loan application p rocesses using the BPMN2 authoring

tools (Process Design er) in JBoss BPM Suite. Here is the process flow:

Figure 1.1. High-level loan application process flow

Business rules are developed with the rule au thoring tools in JBoss BPM Suite to enforce po liciesand make decisions. Rules are linked with the process models to enforce the correct policies at each

process step.

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The bank's IT organiza tion deploys the JBoss BPM Suite so that the entire loan app lication p rocess

can be automated.

Figure 1.2. Loan Applicat ion Process Automation

The entire loan process and ru les can be modified at any time by the bank's business analysts. The

bank is able to maintain constant compliance with changing regulations, and is able to qu ickly

introduce new loan products and improve loan policies in order to compete effectively and drive

profitability.

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1.2. Components

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite has the following compon ents:

Business Central, which is a web-based application (business-central.warand

dashbuilder.war) and provides tools for creating, editing, building, managing, an d

monitoring of business assets as well as a Task client

Artifact repository(Knowledge Store), which is the set of da ta the app lication operates over

and is accessed by the Execution Server

Execution Server, which provides the runtime environment for business assets

A more detailed description o f components is available in the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Administration

and Configuration Guide.

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1.3. Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite and BRMS

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite comes with in tegrated Red Hat JBoss BRMS, a rule engine an d ru le

tooling, so you can define rules governing P rocesses or Tasks. Based on a Bu siness Rule Task call,


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the Process Eng ine calls the Rule Engine to evalua te the rule based on specific data from the

Process instance. If the defined ru le cond ition is met, the action d efined by the rule is taken (refer to

Section A.11.3.7, Bus iness Rule Task and the Red Hat JBo ss BRMS documentation for further

information).

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1.4. Business Central

Business Central is a web console that allows you to operate over individua l components in a

un ified web-based environment: to create, manag e, and edit you r Processes, to run, manage, and

monitor Process instances, generate reports, and manage the Tasks p rodu ced, as well as create new

Tasks and notifications.

Process management capab ilities allow you to start new process instances, acquire the list of

runn ing process instances, inspect the state of a specific process instances, etc.

User Task management capab ilities allow you to work with User Tasks; claim User Tasks,

complete Tasks throug h Task forms, etc.

Bus iness Central in tegrates multiple too ls:

Process Designer and ot her editors for modeling Processes and their resources (form item

editor, work item editor, da ta model editor, etc.), as well as process model simulation tools (refer to

Chapter 4, Process Designer)

Rules Modelerfor design ing Bus iness Rules models and their resou rces (refer to Red Hat

JBoss BRMS documentation)

Task client for manag ing and creating User Tasks (refer to Section 10.2, User tasks )

Process Managerfor manag ing process instances (refer to Section 10.1, Process instances)

Dashboard Builder, the BAM component, for monitoring and reporting (refer to Chapter 13, Red

Hat JBoss Dashboard Builder)

Busin ess Asset Manager for accessing the Knowledge Repository resources, bu ildin g an d

deploy ing business assets (refer to Chapter 3, Project)

Artifact reposi tory (Knowledge Store) is the set of da ta over which Business Central operates. It

provides a centralized store for your business knowledge, which can consist of multiple

repositories with bus iness assets and resources (for further information, refer to the Red Hat JBoss

BPM Suite Administration and Configuration Guide).

Bus iness Central can be accessed from your web browser on https://HOSTNAME/business-central

(for instances runn ing on localho st https://localhost:8080/business-central ).

The tools a re accessible from the Viewsand BPM menus on the main menu:

Process Definitionsdispla ys the Process Definition Listwith the Process

definitions available in the connected repository.

Process Instancesdispla ys the Process Instance Listwith the Process instances

currently runnin g on the Process Engine.

Tasksdisp lays a v iew of the Tasks list for the currently logged-in user. You ca n cal l a Task List

in the grid view or in the calenda r view from the BPM menu.

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User Gu ide

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1.4 .1. Business Central Environment

The main menu contains the links to the Homepa ge and all available perspectives.

The perspective menu contains menus for the selected perspective (here it is empty; note that

the content differs for individ ua l perspectives) Section 1.4.2, Perspectives .

The perspective area con tains the perspective tools (here the home page with links to

individual perspectives and their views), such as views and editors.

Figure 1.3. Home page

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1.4.2. Perspectives

Business Central p rovides the following grou ps o f perspectives accessib le from the main menu:

Authoringgroup:

Project Authoring perspective contains the Project Explorerview (by default on the

left) with the overview of ava ilab le repository structure, and information o n ava ilab le

resources, such as, business process definition s, form definitions, etc.; the editor area on the

righ t, where the respective editor a ppears when a resou rce is opened; an d the Messagesviewwith va lidation messages.

Artifact Repositoryperspective contains a list of jars which ca n be added as

dependencies. The available operations in this perspective are upload/download artifact and

open (view) the pom.xml file.

Administrationperspective (ava ilab le only for users with the ADMINrole) contains the

File Explorerview (by defau lt on the left) with ava ilab le asset repositories; the editor area

on the right, where the respective editor a ppears when a resou rce is opened. The perspective

allo ws an administrator to con nect Knowledge Store to a repository with assets and to create a

new repository (refer toAdministration and Configuration Guide).

Deploygroup:

Deploymentsperspective contains a list of the deployed resources and allows you to build

and d eploy an undeploy new units.


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Process Management group:

Process Definitionsperspective contains a list of the deployed Process definitions. It

allows you to instantiate and manage the deployed Processes.

Process Instancesperspective contains a list of the instantiated Processes. It allo ws you

to view their execution worklow and its history.

Tasksgroup:

Task Listperspective contains a list of Tasks produced by Human Task o f the Process

instances or produ ced manua lly. Only Tasks assigned to the logged-in user are visible. It

allows you to claim Tasks assigned to a g roup you are a member of.

Dashboardsgrou p (the BAM component):

Process & Task Dashboard perspective contains a prepared dashboard with statistics

on runtime data o f the Execution Server

Business Dashboardsperspective contains the full BAM component, the Dashbuilder,including administration features available for users with the ADMINrole.

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1.4 .3. Embedding Business Cent ral

Business Central p rovides a set of editors to a uthor assets in di fferent formats. A specialized editor is

used according to the asset format.

Business Central provides the ability to embed it in your own (Web) Applications using standalone

mode. This a llows you to edit rules, processes, decision tab les, et cetera, in your own a pp licationswithout switch ing to Bu siness Central.

In order to embed Bus iness Central in yo ur applica tion, you will need the Business Central

app lication deployed and running in a web/app lication server and, from within your own web

applica tions, an iframe with proper HTTP query parameters as described in the follo wing tab le.

Table 1.1. HT TP Query Parameters for Stand alon e Mode

Parameter Name Explanat ion Allow Mult iple

Values

Example

standalone This parameterswitches Bus iness

Central to standa lone

mode.

no (none)

path Path to the asset to be

edited. Note tha t asset

should already exists.

no git://master@uf-

playground/todo.md

perspective Reference to an

existing perspective

name.

no org.guvnor.m2repo.clie

nt.perspectives.Guvnor

M2RepoPerspective

header Defines the name of

the header that shou ldbe displayed (useful

for context menu

headers).

yes ComplementNavArea

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The following example demonstrates ho w to set up an embedded Author Perspective for Bu siness

Central.

===test.html===

Test

X-frame options can be set in web.xml of business-central. The default value forx-frame-

optionsis as follows:

x-frame-options SAMEORIGIN

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Chapter 2. Basic concepts

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite prov ides tools for creating, editing , runnin g, and runtime manag ement of

BPMN process models. The models are defined using the BPMN2 la nguage, either directly in its XML

form or using visual BPMN Elements that represent the Process workflow (refer to Chapter 4, Process

Designer). Alternatively, you can create Processes from your Java application u sing the JBoss BPM

Sui te API. Some of these capa bilities can be used a lso via REST API (See Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite

Developer Guide).

Process models serve as templa tes for Process ins tances. To separa te the static Process models

from their dyn amic run time versions (Process instances), they live in two d ifferent entities: Process

models live in a Kie Base (or Knowledge Base) and their data can not be changed by the Process

Engine; Process instances live in a Kie Session(or Knowledge Session) which exists in the Process

Engine and contains the runtime data, which are changed during runtime by the Process Engine.

You can define a Kie Base and its Kie Session in the Project Editor of the GUI applica tion o r using

the provided API (refer to Section 3.3, D efinin g Kie Baseand Section 3.4, Defining Sessions).

Note that a single Kie Base can be shared across multiple Kie Session s. When ins tantiating a Kie

Base using the respective API call it is usua l to create one Kie Base at the start of your app lication as

creating a Kie Base can be rather heavy-weight as it involves parsing and compiling the process

definitions. From the Kie Base, you can then start multiple Kie Sessions. The underlying Kie Bases

can b e changed at runtime so you can ad d, remove, or migrate process definitions.

To have multiple independent processing units, it migh t be convenient to create multiple Kie Sessions

on the particula r Kie Base (for example, if you want all process instances from one customer to be

independent from process ins tances for another customer; multiple Sessions might be useful for

scalability reasons a s well).

A Kie Session can be either stateful o r stateless. Stateful sessions are long-living sessions with

explicit call to dispose them; if the dispose()call is not issued, the session remains alive andcauses memory leaks. Also no te that the FireAllRules command is no t automatically called a t the end

of a stateful session .

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Figure 2.1. Kie Base and Kie Session relationship

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Chapter 2. Basic concepts

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Part I. Modeling

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Chapter 3. Project

A project is a container for asset packages (busin ess processes, rules, work definitions, decision

tables, fact models, data models, and D SLs) that lives in the Knowledge Repository. It is this

container that defines the properties of the KIE Base and KIE Session that are applied to its con tent.

In the GUI, you ca n edit these entities in the Project Editor.

As a pro ject is a Maven project, it contains the Project Object Model file (pom.xml ) with informationon h ow to build the output artifact. It also con tains the Modu le Descriptor file, kmodule.xml , tha t

contains the KIE Base and KIE Session con figura tion for the assets in the project.

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3.1. Creating a project

To create a project, do the following:

1. Open the Project Authoring perspective: on the main menu, cl ick Authoring Project

Authoring.

2. In the Project Explorer, select the orga niza tiona l uni t and the repository where you want

to create the project.

3. In the perspective menu , go to New Item Project .

4. In the Create new Projectdia log window, define the project details :

a. In the Projecttext box, enter the pro ject name.

5. The explo rer refreshes to show a New Project Wizard pop -up window.

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6. Define the Project General Settingsand Group artifact versiondetails for this

new project. These parameters are stored inside the pom.xml Maven configuration file.

Project Name: The name for the pro ject; for example MortgageProject

Project Description: The description o f the project which may b e useful for theproject documentation purpose.

Group ID : group ID of the project; for example org.mycompany.commons

Artifact ID : artifact ID un ique in the grou p; for example myframework. Avoid using a

space or an y special cha racter that might lead to a n invalid name.

Versio n ID : version of the project; for example 2.1.1

The Project Screenview is updated with the new project details as d efined in the

pom.xml file. Note, tha t you can switch between p roject descriptor files in the drop d own-bo x

with Project Settingsand Knowledge Base Setting , and edit their contents.

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3.2. Adding dependencies

To add dependencies to your project, do the following:

1. Open the Project Editor for the given project:

a. In the Project Explorerview of the Project Authoring perspective, open the

project directory.

b. Click on the button to open the project view.

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2. In the Project Screenview, select in the Project Settingsdrop-down box the

Dependenciesitem.

3. On the upd ated Project Screen, click the Add bu tton to add a maven dependency or click

the Add from repositorybu tton to add a dependency from the Knowledge Store (Artifact

repository):

A. When adding a maven dependency, a user has to define the Group ID , Artifact ID

and the Versio n ID in the new row which is created in the dependency table.

B. When ad ding a dependency from the Knowledge Store, select the dependency in the

displayed dialog box: the dependency will be added to the dependency table.

4. To apply the various chang es, the dependencies must be saved.

Warning

If working with modified artifacts, do n ot re-upload modified non -snapshot artifacts as Maven

wil l not know these artifacts have been updated, and i t wil l not work if i t is deployed in thismanner.

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3.3. Defining Kie Base

You can create a Kie Base either using the API or in the kmodule.xml project descriptor file of your

project via the Project Editor.

Defining Kie Base in the Project Editor

To define a Kie Base in the web environment, which is stored in the kmodule.xml file, do the

following:

1. To open Project Explorer, click Autho ring > Project Authoring and select or

navigate to your project.

2. Open you r project properties in Project Editor: in the perspective menu, click Tools

Project Edito r.

3. In the drop-do wn menu on the Project Screenview, click Knowledge bases andsessions.

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Figure 3.1. Project p roperties selection

4. In the Knowledge Bases area on the updated Project Screen, define and select the

Knowledge (Kie) Base d efinition .

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Figure 3.2. New Knowledg e Base created

Defining Kie Base using API

To define Kie Base using API, use the following code:

import org.kie.api.KieServices;

import org.kie.api.builder.KieRepository;import org.kie.api.builder.KieFileSystem;

import org.kie.api.builder.KieBuilder;

import org.kie.api.runtime.KieContainer;

import org.kie.api.KieBase;

...

KieServices kServices = KieServices.Factory.get();

KieRepository kRepository = kServices.getRepository();

KieFileSystem kFileSystem = kServices.newKieFileSystem();

kFileSystem.write(ResourceFactory.newClassPathResource("MyProcess.bpmn"))

;

KieBuilder kBuilder = kServices.newKieBuilder(kFileSystem);

kBuilder.buildAll();

KieContainer kContainer =

kServices.newKieContainer(kRepository.getDefaultReleaseId());

KieBase kBase = kContainer.getKieBase();

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3.4. Defining Sessions

You can create a Kie Session either using the API or in the kmodule.xml pro ject descriptor file of

your project via the Pro ject Editor.

Defining Kie Session using API

Once you have loaded your Kie Base, you need to create a Kie Session to interact with the Process

Engine to run and manage its Process instances.

Example 3.1. Creatin g a Kie Session and start ing a MyProcessinstance

import org.kie.api.runtime.KieSession;

import org.kie.api.runtime.process.ProcessInstance;

...

KieSession ksession = kBase.newKieSession();

ProcessInstance processInstance =

ksession.startProcess("com.sample.MyProcess");

You can interact with Process instances throug h the ProcessRuntimein terface that the Kie

Sesssions implement.

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ProcessRuntime methods

ProcessInstance startProcess(String processId);

The method starts a n ew Process instance of the process with the specified ID and returns

the ProcessInstance reference

ProcessInstance st artProcess(String processId, Map p arameters);

The method starts a n ew process instance of the process with the specified ID and returns

the ProcessInstance reference. Add itiona l pa rameters provided as a Map (as name-value

pa irs) are set as variables of the process instance.

void signalEvent(String type, O bject event);

The method signa ls the Process Enginethat an event of the defined type has occu rred. The

event parameter can con tain add itiona l in formation related to the event. All p rocess

instances that are listening to this type of external event are no tified. For performance

reasons, it is recommended to use this type of event signaling only if exactly one process

instance is able to notify other process instances. For internal event within one process

instance, use the sign alEvent method that also includes the processInstanceId of therespective process instance.

void signalEvent(String type, O bject event, long processInstanceId);

The method signa ls to a Process instance that an event has occu rred. The type parameter

defines which type of event and the event parameter can contain add itiona l information

related to the event. All no de instances inside the given Pro cess instance tha t are listening

to this type of (in ternal ) event are no tified. Note tha t the event is on ly p rocessed insid e the

given Process instance. No other Process instances waiting for this type of event are

notified.

Collection getProcessInstances();

The method returns a collection of the currently active Process instaces. Only Process

instances that are currently loaded and active in the Process Engine are returned. When

using persistence, the persisted Process instances are no t returned. It is recommended to

use the history lo g to co llect the information about the state of your Process ins tances

instead.

ProcessInstance getProcessInstance(long processInstanceId);

The method returns the Process instan ce with the given id . Only active Process instances

are returned: if a Process instance has been completed, the method returns null .

void abortProcessInstance(long processInstanceId);

The method aborts the Process instance with the given ID. If the Process instance has been

completed or aborted, or it cann ot be found , the method throws an

IllegalArgumentException.

WorkItemManager get WorkItemManager() ;

The method returns the WorkItemManager related to the Kie Session. The returned object

reference can be used to register new WorkItemHandlers or to complete or abort WorkItems.

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Note

In case where the JBoss BPM Suite engine is managed within a Container Managed

Transa ction (CMT) environment and the transactions are out of con trol of the engine,

concurrent access to the same session instance may lead to errors. To hand le this situa tion,

an interceptor is provided tha t locks the KieSession for a sing le thread un til the transaction

completes. This enab les you to safely use KieSession in a CMT environment. To enab le thisinterceptor, set the system property org.kie.tx.lock.enabledand the environment entry

TRANSACTION_LOCK_ENABLED to true. The default value of these properties is false.

Defining Kie Session in the Project Edito r

To define a Kie Session in the web environment in the kmodule.xml file, do the follo wing:

1. Open your project properties with the Project Editor: in the Project Explorer, loca te you r

project root. In the perspective menu, go to Tools Project Edito r.

2. In the drop -down box of the Project Screenview, click Knowledge bases and

sessions.

3. On the left side, select kbase.

4. You can now add a n ew ksession and set default, state, and clock.

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3.5. Creat ing a resource

A Project may contain an a rbitrary number of packages, which contain files with resources, such as

Process d efinition , Work Item definition, Form definition , Business Rule definition , etc.

To create a resource, select the Project and the package in the Project Explorerand click New

Itemon the perspective menu and select the resou rce you wan t to create.

Note

It is recommended to create your resources, such as Process definition s, Work Item definitions,

Da ta Models, etc., insid e a package of a Project to al low importing o f resources andreferencing their content.

To create a packag e, do the following :

In the Repositoryview of the Project Explo rer, nav iga te to the

REPOSITORY/PROJECT/src/main/resources/directory.

Go to New Item Package.

In the New resourcedialog , define the packa ge name and check the location o f the

package in the repository.

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3.6. Asset Met adata and Versioning

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Most assets within Bus iness Central have some metadata and versionin g in formation a ssociated

with them. In this section, we wil l go through th e metadata screens and version management for one

such asset (a DRL asset). Similar steps can be used to view and edit metadata an d versions for other

assets.

Metadata Management

To open up the metadata screen for a DRL asset, click on the Overviewtab. If an asset doesn't have

an Overviewtab, it means that there is no metadata asso ciated with that asset.

The Overviewsection o pens up in the Version historytab, and you can switch to the actual

metada ta by clicking on the Metadatatab.

The metadata section a llows you to view or edit the Categories, Subject, Type, External Link

and Source metadatafor that asset. However, the most interesting metadata is the description of

the asset that you can view/edit in the description field an d the comments tha t you and other people

with access to th is asset can en ter and view.

Comments can be entered in the text box provided in the comments section. Once you have finished

entering a comment, press enter for it to appear in the comments section.

Important

You must hit the Savebutton for all metadata changes to be persisted, including the

comments.

Version Management

Every time you make a change in an asset and sa ve it, a new version o f the asset is created. You can

switch between d ifferent versions of an asset in one of two ways:

Click the Latest Versionbutton in the asset too lba r and select the version tha t you are

interested in . Busin ess Central will lo ad this version o f the asset.

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Alternatively, open u p the Overviewsection. The Version historysection shows you all the

availab le versions. Selectthe version that you want to restore.

In bo th cases, the Savebu tton will change to Restore. Click this bu tton to persist changes.

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3.7. Process definition

A Process definition is a BPMN 2.0-complian t file tha t serves as container for a Process and its

BPMN Diagram. A Process definition i tself defines the import entry, imported Processes, which can be

used by the Process in the Process definition, and relationship entries. We refer to a Process

definition as a business process. .

Example 3.2. BPMN2 source of a Process defini tio n

PROCESS

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BPMN DIAGRAM DEFINITION

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3.7.1. Creat ing a Process definition

Make sure you ha ve logged in to JBoss BPM Suite or you are in JBoss Developer Studio with the

repository connected.

To create a Process, do the follo wing:

1. Open the Project Authoring p erspective (Authoring Project Autho ring).

2. In Project Explorer(Project Authoring Project Explorer), navig ate to the project

where you want to create the Process defin ition (in the Projectview, select the respective

repository and project in the drop-down lists; in the Repositoryview, naviga te toREPOSITORY/PROJECT/src/main/resources/di rectory).

Note

It is recommended to create your resources, includ ing your Process definitions, in a

package of a Project to a llow importing of resources and their referencing. To create a

package, do the following:

In the Repositoryview of the Project Explo rer, nav iga te to the

REPOSITORY/PROJECT/src/main/resources/directory.Go to New Item Package.

In the New resourcedia log, define the package name and check the location o f

the package in the repos itory.

3. From the perspective menu , go to New Item Busin ess Process .

4. In the New Processesdia log b ox, enter the Process name and click OK. Wait un til the

Process Editor with the Process diagram appears.

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3.7.2. Import ing a Process definition

To import an existing BPMN2 or JSON definition, do the following :

1. In the Project Explorer, select a Project and the respective packag e to which you wan t to

import the Process definition.

2. Create a new Business Process to work in by going to New Item Busin ess Process.

3. In the Process Designer toolbar, click the Import icon in the editor toolbar and pick

the format of the imported p rocess definition. Note that you have to choose to overwrite the

existing process definition in order to import.

4. From the Importwindow, loca te the Process file and click Import.

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Figure 3.3. Import Wind ow

Whenever a process definition is imported, the existing imported d efinition is overwritten. Make sure

you are not overwriting a p rocess definition you have edited so as no t to lo se any cha nges.

A process can also be imported to the git repository in the filesystem by clon ing the repos itory,

add ing the process files, and push ing the changes back to git. In addition to alternative import

methods, you can copy a nd p aste a p rocess or just open a file in the import dialog .

When importing processes, the Process Design er prov ides visua l support for Process elements and

therefore requ ires information on element positions on the canvas. If the information is no t provided

in the imported Process, you n eed to add it manu ally .

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3.7.3. Impor t ing jPDL 3.2 to BPMN2

To migrate and import a jPDL definition to BPMN2, in the Process Designer, click on the import

button then scroll down and select Migrate jPDL 3.2 to BPMN2.

Figure 3.4 . Migrate jPDL 3.2 to BPMN2

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In the Migrate to BPMN2dia log box, select the process definition file and the name of the gpd file.

Confirm by clicking the Migratebutton.

Figure 3.5. Migrate to BPMN2 dialog bo x

Important

The migra tion too l for jPD L 3.2 to BPMN2 is a techn ical preview feature, and therefore not

currently supported in Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite.

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3.7.4. Deleting a Process definition

To delete a Process definition, op en it in the Process Designer, click the Savemenu ( ) and then

Delete( ).

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3.8. Syst em Propert ies

The following is a list of all system properties:

Table 3. 1. System Propert ies

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Property Descript ion

org.uberfire.nio.git.dir Location of the directory .niogit. Default:

working directory

o rg .u berfire.n io .g it.d aemo n.en abled En ab les/d isa bles git d aemo n. D efa ult: true

org.uberfire.nio.git.daemon.host If git daemon enabled, uses this property as

loca l ho st identifier. Defau lt: localhost

org.uberfire.nio.git.daemon.port If git daemon enabled, uses this property as port

number. Defau lt: 9418

org.uberfire.nio.git.ssh.enabled Enables/disables ssh daemon. Default: true

org.uberfire.nio.git.ssh.host If ssh daemon enabled, uses this property as

loca l ho st identifier. Defau lt: localhost

org.uberfire.nio.git.ssh.port If ssh daemon enabled, uses this property as

port number. Defau lt: 8001

org.uberfire.nio.git.ssh.cert.dir Location of the directory .securitywhere

loca l certtificates will be stored. Default: working

directory

org.uberfire.metadata.index.dir Place where Lucene .indexfolder will be

stored. Defau lt: working d irectoryorg.uberfire.cluster.id Name of the helix cluster, for example: kie-

cluster

org.uberfire.cluster.zk Connection string to zookeeper. This is of the

form

host1:port1,host2:port2,host3:port3, for

example: localhost:2188

org.uberfire.cluster.vfs.lock Name of the resource defined on helix cluster,

for example: kie-vfs

org.uberfire.cluster.autostart Delays VFS clustering until the application is

fully initialized to avoid conflicts when all cluster

members create local clones. Default: false

org .uberfi re.sys.repo.moni to r.d isab led Disab le configura tion monito r (do not d isab le

unless you know what you' re doing). Default:

false

org.uberfire.secure.key Secret password used by password encryption.

Default: org.uberfire.admin

org.uberfire.secure.alg Crypto algorithm used by password encryption.

Default: PBEWithMD5AndDES

org.uberfire.domain Security-domain name used by uberfire. Default:

ApplicationRealm

org.guvnor.m2repo.dir Place where Maven repository folder will bestored. Defau lt: working-

directory/repositories/kie

org.kie.example.repositories Folder from where demo repositories will be

cloned. The demo repositories need to have

been obtained and placed in this folder. Demo

repositories can be obtained from the kie-wb-

6.2.0-SNAPSHOT-example-repositories.zip

artifact. This System Property takes p recedence

over org .kie.demo and org.kie.example. Default:

Not used.

org.kie.demo Enables external clone of a demo application

from GitHub. This System Property takes

precedence over org.kie.example. Default: true

Chapt er 3. Project

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org.kie.example Enables example structure composed by

Repository, Organization Unit and Project.

Default: false

Property Descript ion

To change one of these system prop erties in a WildFly or JBoss EAP cluster:

Edit the file $ JBOSS_HOME/domain/configuration/host.xml.

Locate the XML elements server tha t belon g to themain-server-groupand a dd a system

property, for example:

...

Report a bu g

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Chapter 4. Process Designer

The Process Designeris the Red Hat JBoss BPM Su ite process modeler. The output of the modeler is

a BPMN 2.0 process definition file, which is saved in the Knowledge Repository, under normal

circumstances with a package of a project. The definition then serves as inpu t for JBoss BPM Suite

Process Engine, which creates a Process instance based on the definition.

The editor is delivered in two varian ts:

JBoss Develop er Stu dio Process Designer

Thick-client version o f the Process Designer integrated in the JBoss Developer Studio

plug-in

Web Process Desi gner

Thin-cl ient version of the Process Designer integrated in BPM Central

The graphica l user interface of the Process Designer is the same for both the

JBoss Developer Studio Process Designer and the Web Process Designer.

The canvas represents the process diagram. Here you can place the elements from the pa lette

which wil l consti tute the Process. Note tha t one Process defin ition may contain exactly oneprocess diagram; therefore a Process definition equals to a Process diagram (this may d iffer

in o ther products).

The Object Library (palette) contains g roup s of BPMN2 elements. Details on execution

semantics and p roperties of ind ividua l BPMN2 shapes are availab le in Appendix A, Process

Elements.

The Properties panel displays the properties of the selected element. If no element is selected,

the panel contains Process properties.

The editor toolbar a llows you to select an o peration to be applied to the Elements on the

canvas.

Figure 4. 1. Process Designer environment


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Note

To enlarge the Process Designer screen (or any screen while working in Business Central),

click on the button shown here: . This will make you r currenteditor fill the entire Business Central screen. To go back, simply click the button aga in.

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4.1. Configuring aut omat ic saving

To configure automatic saving, click the Savebutton in Process Designer and then Enable

autosave.

Figure 4.2. Enable aut osave

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4.2. Defining Process propert ies

To define Process properties, do the follo wing:

1. Open the Process file in the Process Design er.

2. Click anywhere on the canvas: make sure, no Process element is selected.

Important

Do not use Unico de characters when defining the Process name or the Process ID:

usage of such characters is no t suppo rted and results in u nexpected behavior of theProcess designer when saving and retrieving Process assets.

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3. Expand the Prop erties pan el on the left if applica ble and define the Process properties on the

tab by clicking ind ividu al entries. For entries tha t requ ire other inpu t tha t just string input, the

respective editors ca n be user by clicking the arrow icon. Note that the editors for complex

fields mostly provide validation and auto-completion features.

Figure 4 .3. Opening the variable editor

4. To save you r changes, click Fileand Save changes

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4.3. Designing a Process

To model a Process, do the follo wing:

1. In the Pro ject view of the Pro ject Explorer, select your Project and click the respective Process

under Business Processes. Alternatively, loca te the process definition in the Repository

view of the Project Explo rer and d ouble-click the file to open it in the Process Designer.

2. Add the requ ired shapes to the process diagram on the canvas:

A. Drag and d rop the shapes from the Object Librarypa lette to the requi red posi tion on

the canvas.


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Figure 4 .4 . Object Library

B. Select a shape already placed on the canvas: the qu ick linker menu appears. The qu ick

linker feature disp lays on ly the elements tha t can b e connected to the selected shape and

connects them with a valid Association element.

Note

To change the type of an a lready p laced element to an element that extends this

element, click i t and select the Morph shape( ) icon.

3. Doub le-click an element to provide its Name. Consider defining the element properties in the

Properties view.

4. Repeat the previous step until the Process D iag ram defines the requ ired workflow.

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4 .3.1. Aligning Elements

To a lign diagram Elements, select the elements and click the respective button in the align ment

toolbar :

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Bottom: the selected elements will be aligned with the element located at the lowest position

Middle: the selected elements will be aligned to the middle relative to the highest and lowest

element

Top: the selected elements will be aligned with the element located at the highest position

Left: the selected elements will be al igned with the leftmost element

Center: the selected elements will be aligned to the center relative to the leftmost and rightmost

element

Right: the selected elements will be al igned with the righ tmost element

Note that dockers of Connection elements are not in fluenced by align ing and you might need to

remove them.

Report a bu g

4 .3.2. Changing Element layering

To change the Element layering, select the element or a group of element and click the respective

button in the toolbar:

Bring To Front: b ring the selected element to foreground to the uppermost layer

Bring To Back: send the selected element to background to the lowest layer

Bring Forward : bring the selected element to foreground by o ne layer

Bring Backward : send the selected element to background by one layer

Center: the selected elements will be aligned to the center relative to the leftmost and rightmostelement

Right: the selected elements will be al ign ed with the rightmost element

Note that Connection Elements are not influenced by layering and remain always v isible.

Report a bu g

4 .3.3. Bending Connection Elements

When moving an Element with inco ming or outgo ing Connection elements, dockers are automaticallyadded to accommodate the appropriate Connection shape. To create a docker manually, click and

pu ll the respective point of the Connection ob ject. To delete a do cker, click the Delete a Docker

bu tton in the toolba r and then click the respective Docker. Once you delete dockers of a

Connection ob ject, no more dockers will be created automatically .

Report a bu g

4.3.4. Resizing Elements

To resize Elements on the canvas, select the element, and cl ick an d pull the blue arrow displayed inthe upper left or lower right corner of the element.

To make the size of multip le elements identica l, select the Elements and then click the icon in


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the toolbar and then click on Align ment Same Size : all Elements will be resized to the size of the

largest selected Element.

Note that only Activity Elements can be resized.

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4 .3.5. Grouping Elements

Group Elements behave on the canvas a s on e item.

To create an element g roup , select the respective items on the canvas and click the Groups all

selected shapes bu tton in the toolbar. To ungrou p such elements, select the grou p and

click the Delete the group of all selected elements button.

Report a bu g

4 .3.6. Locking Elements

Locking Elements of a Process model p revents their editing: locked Elements are visualized as locked

and canno t be moved or edited u nless unlocked.

To lo ck Elements, select the elements and click the Lock Elements bu tton in the toolbar. To

un lock such Element, select them and c lick the Unlock Elements button in the toolbar.

Report a bu g

4 .3.7. Changing t he color scheme

Color schemes define the colo r used for ind ividu al Process Elements in its diag ram.

Color schemes are stored in the themes.jsonfile, which is located in the global directory of each

repository.

Procedure 4 .1. Creating a new color schema

1. Locate your project in the Project Explo rer and switch to the Repositoryview.

2. Open the global directory and lo cate and op en the themes.jsonfile.

3. In the displayed Default Editor, add your theme definition a t the end of the file and click the

Savebutton.

To apply a new color sch eme or any other defined sch eme, in the Process Designer, click the Color

Scheme bu tton in the toolbar and select the respective colo r scheme from the drop -down

menu.

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4.3.8. Recording local history

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Local history keeps track of any chang es, you app ly to your Process model so a s to allow you to

restore any previous status o f the Process model. By default, this feature is turned o ff.

To turn on local history recording, click the Local History bu tton and select Enable

Local Historyentry. From this menu, you can a lso disp lay the local history records an d ap ply

the respective status to the Process as well as disab le the feature or clear the current local history

log.

Report a bu g

4 .3.9. Enlarging and shrinking canvas

To cha nge the size of the canva s, click the respective yellow arrow on the canvas edge.

Report a bu g

4 .3.10. Validat ing a Process

Process validation can be set up to be continuous or to be only immediate.

To valid ate your Process model continuously, click the Validate( ) bu tton in the toolbar of the

Process Design er with the Process and click Start Validating . If validation errors have been

detected, the elements with errors are highlighted in oran ge. Click on the inval id element on the

canvas to display a dia log with the summary of its validation errors. To disab le continuous

validation, click the Validate( ) bu tton in the toolbar of the Process Design er with the Process

and click Stop Validating .

Also no te that errors on the element properties are visualized in further details in the Properties view

of the respective element.

If you want to displa y the valid ation errors and no t to keep the valida tion feature activated, click the

Validate( ) bu tton in the toolbar of the Process Design er with the Process and click View

all issues.

Additionally after you save your Process, any validation errors are also displa yed in the Messages

view.


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Figure 4.5. Stoppin g continu ous validation

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4.4. Exporting a Process

To export you r Process definition to one of the supported formats (PNG, PDF, BPMN2, JSON, SVG,

or ERDF), open the Process and click the Export drop-down icon. The Process will be exported to a

file with the na me of the Process d efinition .

Figure 4 .6 . Export Icon

Share Process Image - Generates PNG file into the repository.

Share Process PDF- Generates PD F file into the repository.

Download Process PNG - Generates PNG file into the repository and the browser starts

download ing this file.

Download Process PDF- Generates PD F file into the repository an d the browser starts

download ing this file.

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View Process Sou rces - Opens the "Process Sources" dialog bo x which con tains the BPMN2,

JSON, SVG, and ERDF source codes. The "Download BPMN2" button a llows the user to

download BPMN2 files. Pressing CTRL+A allows you to select the source code in a pa rticular

format. Pressing CTRL+F enables the find tool (Use /re/ syntax for regexp search).

Figure 4.7. Process Sources

Note that when exporting to PD F, the outpu t PDF file will contain also the values of the

Documentation properties o f the Process and its elements.

Report a bu g

4.5. Process elements

4 .5.1. Generic proper t ies of visualized Process elements


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All Process elements have the following visua lization properties, which can be defined in their

Propertiestab:

Background

The backgroun d co lor of the element in the diagra m

Border color

The border color o f the element in the dia gram

Font colo r

The color of the font in the element name

Font siz e

The size of the fon t in the element name

Name

The element name disp layed on the BPMN diag ram

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4.5.2. Defining Process elements properties

All Process Elements, including the Process, define a set of properties that define the following:

Coreprop erties, which inclu de the basic p roperties of an element (typically Name, Data Set,

Scripts, etc.).

Extraproperties, which include the properties necessary for the element execution (refer toSection A.6, Process Elements ), data mapp ing (variab le mapp ing) and loca l variable definitions

(see Section 4.8.1, Globals ), properties that represent an extension o f the jBPM eng ine, typically

onExitAction, D ocumentation , etc.

Graphical properties, which inclu de graph ical representation o f elements (colors, text settings).

Simulationprop erties are used by the Simulation engine.

In element properties of the String type can use #{expression}to embed a value. The value will be

retrieved on element instantiation , and the substitution expression will be replaced with the result of

calling the toString() method on the variab le defined in the expression. The expression cou ld be the

name of a va riab le (in which case it resolves to the value of the variable), but more advanced MVELexpression s are po ssible as well, e.g., #{person.name.firstname}.

To define Element properties, do the following :

1. Open the Process definition in the Process Designer:

2. On the canvas, select the Element.

3. Click the doub le arrow ( ) in the upper left corner of the Process Design er to disp lay the

Propertiesview.

4. In the displayed Properties view, click the property value fields to edit them. Note that where

app licable, you can click the drop-down arrow and the relevant value editor appears in a

new dialog box.

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5. To save you r changes, click the Saveicon a nd select option Save.

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4.6. Forms

A formis a layou t definition for a pag e (defined as HTML) that is disp layed as a dialog window to

the user on a

process instantiationor a

task instantiation.

The form is then respectively referred to as a Process formor a Task form. It serves for acqu iring

data for the Element instance execution , be it a Process or Task, from a human u ser: a Process form

can take as its input an d output Process variables; a Task form can take as its input D ataInputSet

variables with assignment defined, and as its output DataOutputSet variables with assignment

defined.

For example, you cou ld a sk the user to p rovide the input pa rameters needed for Processinstantiation a nd d isplay an y variable data conn ected to the Process; or using a Human Task show

information and request input for further Process execution .

This data can be mapped to the Task as DataInputSet and u sed as the Task's lo cal variab les and to

Da taOutputSet to prov ide the data to the parent Process instance (refer to Section 4.11,

Assignment ).

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4 .6.1. Defining Process form

A Process form is a form tha t is displayed at Process instantiation to the user who instantiated the

Process.

To create a Process form, do the following:

1. Open your Process definition in the Process Designer.

2. In the editor toolba r, click the Form( ) icon and then Edit Process Form.

3. Select the edito r to use to edit the form. Note that this document deals only with the

Graphical Modeleroption.

Note that the Form is created in the root of your current Project and is available from any o ther

Process definitions in the Projects.

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4 .6.2. Defining T ask form

A Task form is a form tha t is disp layed a t User Task in stantiation , that is, when the execution flow

reaches the Task, to the Actor of the User Task.

To create a Task form, do the following:

1. Open you r Process definition with the User Task in the Process Designer.


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2. Select the Task on the canvas and click the Edit Process Form( ) in the User Task

menu.

3. In the displayed Form Editor, define the Task form.

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4 .6.3. Defining form fields

Once you have created a form definition , you n eed to d efine its content: tha t is its fields a nd the data

they are bound to. You can add either the pre-defined field types to your form, or define your own

data origin and use the custom field types in you r form definition.

Note

Automatic form generation is not recursive, which means that when custom da ta ob jects are

used, on ly the top-level form is generated (no subforms). The user is respons ible for creating

forms tha t represent the custom data ob jects an d l ink them to the parent form.

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4.7. Form Modeler

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite provides a custom editor for definin g forms called Form Modeler.

Form Modeler inc ludes the follo wing key features:

Form Modeling WYSIWYG UI for forms

Form autogeneration from data model / Java o bjects

Data bind ing for Java objects

Formula and expressions

Customized forms layouts

Forms embeddin g

Form Modeler comes with predefined field types, such as Short Text, Long Text, or Integer,which you place onto the canvas to crea te a fo rm. In add ition to th at, Form Mod eler a lso a llows you

to create custom types based on data modeler classes, Java classes (must be on the classpath), or

primitive Java data types. For this pu rpose, the Form data origintab contains three options:

From Data Model , From Java Class, and From basic type.

Use the Add fields by origintab visib le in the following figu re to select fields based on their

source.

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Figure 4 .8. Adding fields by origin

To view and add Java classes created in Data Modeler in Form Modeler, go to section Form data

originan d select the From Data Model op tion shown in the following figure.

Figure 4 .9 . Adding classes from data model

You can adjust the form layou t using the Form Propertiestab that contains a Predefined

layout selected by default, as well as a Customoption.

When a task o r process cal ls a form, it sends the form a map o f objects, which in clude local va riables

of the process or task. Also, when the form is completed, a map is sent ba

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