Technical workflow reference

ADITO workflows are modelled in Flowable Modeler and executed with Flowable Service. This reference covers workflow elements, variables and expressions, and the technical configuration of Flowable Service.

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Model a workflow

A workflow consists of a start event, one or more flow elements, and an end event. Create and deploy the workflow in Flowable Modeler; use the workflow-definition context to make it available in the ADITO client.

Workflow properties

Figure: Workflow properties in Flowable Modeler.

Property	Description
Process identifier	The ID of the workflow.
Name	The name displayed in the ADITO client.
Is executable	Defines whether the workflow can be executed.
Signal definitions	Optional. Defines signals that can trigger the workflow.

Events and sequence flows

Every workflow requires a start event and an end event. Flowable Modeler adds a standard start event to new workflows. Use a Signal Start Event when the workflow must be triggered by a signal configured in ADITO.

A sequence flow connects one source element to one target element and defines the order in which the process runs.

Property	Description
Flow condition	Optional for standard flows and required for exclusive gateways. The expression must return a Boolean value.

Tasks

Use a user task for work completed by a person, a service task to call an ADITO process, and a script task to run a small calculation in the workflow.

User task

Property	Description
Name	The name of the task displayed to the user in the ADITO client.
Assignments	The user or group that receives the task.
Form properties	Fields that users complete in the ADITO client. Their values are available in jDito code.

Service task

Service tasks use ADITO processes with the workflow variant and communicate through REST web services.

Property	Description
ID	The unique ID of the task.
Name	The name used to distinguish the task.
Class	This value should already be set.
jDito process	The ADITO process that runs when the task starts. Its parameters are available in the jDito code.

Script task

Property	Description
Script format	Set this value to javascript.
Script	The script content.
Name	The name used to distinguish the scripts.

Gateways

Gateways split or combine routes in a workflow.

Gateway	Description
Exclusive Gateway	Creates alternative paths. A workflow instance can take only one of the outgoing paths.
Parallel Gateway	Creates parallel paths, for example to start multiple tasks at the same time.

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Workflow variables and expressions

Workflow variables transfer values between workflow elements and ADITO processes. They can be set in the following ways.

Method	Use it to
Process start	Pass values when a workflow starts by key or signal.
Service task	Add values returned by a jDito service task.
Script task	Calculate and store a value in the workflow.
User-task form	Make entered form values available to later workflow elements.

Set variables when starting a workflow

When you start a workflow directly by key or signal, pass targetId and targetContext in addition to your own variables. These values are set automatically when a workflow starts from an ADITO context or through the Start Workflow action.

var workflowVariables = {
    targetId: vars.getString("$local.uid"),
    targetContext: ContextUtils.getCurrentContextId(),
    myVariable: "foo"
};

workflow.startProcessByKey("SalesProjectPhaseExecution", workflowVariables);

Set variables in a service task

Workflow variables are available in a service task as the JSON string in $local.value. Values passed to result.object() are added to the workflow variables when the service task runs.

var variables = JSON.parse(vars.get("$local.value"));
var activityId = variables.activityId;
var contactsStr = getContactsLinkString(activityId);

result.object({
    contactPersons: contactsStr,
    myServiceVariable: "foo"
});

Set variables in a script task

Use execution.setVariable(variableName, value) to set a variable from a script task. This example calculates a due date.

var monthToAdd = parseInt(execution.getVariable("CareDueMonth"), 10);

if (isNaN(monthToAdd)) {
    monthToAdd = 0;
}

var date = new Date();
var newDate = new Date(date.setMonth(date.getMonth() + monthToAdd));

execution.setVariable("dueDate", newDate.toISOString());

Use form values and expressions

Values entered in a user-task form are available as workflow variables.

Figure: Form properties of a workflow user task.

Flowable resolves expressions with Unified Expression Language (UEL). For example, use the following flow condition when the isActive variable must be true:

${isActive == true}

Use variables:get, var, or vars when the variable might not be defined:

${variables:get(isActive) == true}
${vars:eq(isActive, true)}

Expressions can also set task properties dynamically.

Figure: A user task with assignment and due date set by expressions.

The assignment field expects a user ID. A script task can calculate a due date and store it as a variable before the user task starts.

Show or hide form fields

Use a visibility expression on a user-task form field to show or hide it from the values of other fields. The values are available through currentValues.<fieldId> only within a visibility expression.

${currentValues.customerSatisfaction == true}

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Additional workflow elements

Lookup component

Use the lookup component in a user task in Flowable Modeler to provide lookup values from entities connected to WorkflowTask_entity in the workflow module.

Timer events

Timer events, such as a boundary timer event, require an ISO 8601 duration or schedule expression. For an intermediate timer-catching event that must run from Monday to Saturday between 08:00 and 23:00, use the following Quartz cron expression:

* * 8-23 ? * 2-7 *

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Configure Flowable Service

Configure Flowable Service with environment variables. The following variables use SPRING_APPLICATION_JSON for the ADITO connection.

Variable	Description	Default
SPRING_APPLICATION_JSON	JSON configuration with aditoUrl, aditoUser, aditoPassword, and aditoExternalUrl.	See the alternative variables below.
FLOWABLE_COMMON_APP_IDM-REDIRECT-URL	Login redirect URL.	https://localhost/flowable-idm
FLOWABLE_COMMON_APP_IDM-URL	Flowable identity-management URL.	https://localhost/flowable-idm
FLOWABLE_COMMON_APP_IDM-ADMIN_USER	Default administrator user name.	admin
FLOWABLE_COMMON_APP_IDM-ADMIN_PASSWORD	Default administrator password.	test
SPRING_DATASOURCE_DRIVER-CLASS-NAME	Database driver.	Embedded H2 database
SPRING_DATASOURCE_URL	Database URL.	Embedded H2 database
SPRING_DATASOURCE_USERNAME	Database user name.	Embedded H2 database
SPRING_DATASOURCE_PASSWORD	Database password.	Embedded H2 database

Alternatively, configure the ADITO connection with the following individual variables instead of SPRING_APPLICATION_JSON.

Variable	Description	Default
ADITO_URL	ADITO server URL.	https://host.docker.internal:8443
ADITO_USER	ADITO authentication user.	flowableIdmService
ADITO_PASSWORD	ADITO authentication password.	HczABCxBEUKSmwQEnT8vbmkE8Bj1hcXOKSbsLWBg
ADITO_EXTERNAL_URL	URL used for browser redirects.	ADITO_URL

warning

Change the documented default credentials before using Flowable Service in a non-local environment.