Imixs Workflow ...the open source workflow technology for business applications

Modelling

The Workflow Editor

The Workflow Editor of the Imixs Modeler openes in the editor area of your Eclipse IDE when you open a file with the file-name extension ".ixm".

The illustration below shows an open Workflow Editor with the file "ticket.ixm" opened.

The name of the model file is displayed on the editor tab. If an asterisk (*) is displayed at the left-hand side of the tab, this indicates that changes made within the editor have not yet been saved. If you attempt to quit the editor or the workbench while changes have not yet been saved, you are alerted to store the changes.

You can open several main editors in the editor area simultaneously. These editors are then displayed as a stack. You can activate an individual editor by clicking on its tab. You can also arrange editors within the editor area side by side to display its contents simultaneously.

You can move between editors by clicking on arrows labeled "Next" and "Back" in the symbol bar or by pressing "ctrl+F6". You can navigate through the menu options by clicking on the arrow buttons. This may cause several locations in a file to be touched before switching to another file. By pressing "ctrl+F6", a list with all currently opened editors is displayed with the editor highlighted that was selected before the current editor.

To quit the editor, choose one of the following options:

  • Click on the "Close" button ("X") on the editor tab.
  • From the menu bar, select option File > Close.

The main Editor is devided into different section (tabs) which can be switched at the bottom of the editor to control different settings of a workflow model.

The following section describes the different tabs.

The Workflow overview

Model Version

In the Section 'General Information' you can see and edit the Version number of the Model. The Version number is used by the Imixs Workflow Engine to process a workitem depending on a specific version number. You can change the version number if you would like to provide a similar model with a new version. The new version is typical used by the Imixs Workflow System to process new created workitems. So the version number enables you to control different behaviors of the same process model in one workflow server instance.

Process Groups

Through section "ProcessGroups", you can open and edit the process groups created in your model. If your model does not yet have a process group available, you can create a new group by clicking on link "Create new process group". If you have an application server and download a model from it, the process groups are also included in this section. Through the "Refresh" icon in the upper right corner, you can update the display of the process groups. This may become necessary after downloading model data from an application server.

The Workflow Profile

The workflow profile is a unique section in the Imixs Editor that you can open by clicking on the "Profile" tab.

Through the profile, the information is configured that is both required for executing the model in a WorkflowManager and for configuring the workflow activities.

General Information

In section "General Information", you can define the debugging level as well as the error result. The debugging level defines the debugging configuration of the workflow manager on the server. This setting is required to check the behavior of the process execution on the application server side. The following settings are possible:

  • Debug off - no information is output
  • Warnings - only information is output that results in an error or in abortion of process execution.
  • Verbose - all information concerning process execution is logged.

Switch the debugging level to "Verbose" to write all information generated during process execution into the server log. The default setting is "Debug off". Please note that the settings must be transferred to the application server using the upload function before the settings become effective.

Plug-Ins

In this section, the plug-ins used by the workflow manager as well as their order are defined. The configuration is normally determined by the workflow system being used. Only plug-ins can be configured that are known to the application server being used. If you have questions with respect to the required plug-ins, please contact your system administrator.

Actors

Actor definitions are used to display the role and group names within an activity. Actors always refer to the WorkItem to be processed. During process execution, the WorkflowManager uses this information to compare the information of the workflow model with the information stored in the WorkItem. If your workflow application contains a field named "namDelegate" in which the delegate of a task is stored, you should enter "Delegate | namDelegate" as the NameObject. This allows you to use the "delegate" role during the configuration of activities. During process execution by the workflow manager or the plug-in, the information contained in the "namDelegate" field of the WorkItem is used to perform the action.

Timers

Timers perform a similar function as Actors. They are used to map attributes of the WorkItem of type "Date" in an object of workflow modeling. If your workflow application contains a field named "datFrom" that defines a specific point of time after which an action should be launched, you can enter "Begin | datFrom" as the Timer. During modeling, you can then work in the activities with the "Begin" time value. This is especially useful for schedule activities.

Synchronize a Model

Models can be stored locally in the file system of the eclipse Workbench inside a Eclipse Project. But to use the Workflow Model in an Imixs Workflow Management System you need to synchronize the Workflow Model with an Server Instance. The Imixs Workflow Modeler offers several possibilities to synchronize a Workflow Model with an Imixs Workflow Server instance. Switch to the "Synchronize" Tab to start the synchronization.

Depending of the Imixs Workflow Server configuration you can either choose the SOAP based Web Service Interface or the REST Services.

To transfer a local WorkflowModel via a web Service to an Imixs Workflow Instance, you can enter the Web Service Enpoint URL into the field 'Location'.

For a REST Service Interface this URL typical looks like this:

  http://localhost:8080/workflow-rest/model

Replace 'localhost' with your servers host name. The URL part 'workflow-rest' indicates the REST Service interface. The part '/model' finds the Imixs Model service. Read more about using the Imixs Restservice in the Rest Service description.

For a SOAP Web Service Interface lookup the Web Service Endpoint URL in your application Server. Details about using SOAP Services can be found in the XML and Web Service description.

Click the "Synchronize Model" link below the Service Selection to start the upload of a Model definition to the Workflow Server. You need to authenticate against the Worklfow Server Instance with your username and password.

Note:
You can simply test your Web Service interface provided by the Imixs Worklow Server if you put the Web Service endpoint URL into your Webbrowser. You will see an XML Output indicating that your Service is up and running.