Working with the Sample Applications

Before you can work with the sample applications you must have My webMethods Server, Integration Server, and Software AG Designer running, and you must:

Import the process model into Software AG Designer and then build and upload the process to the Integration Server.

Import the task application into Designer and then publish it to My webMethods Server.

Unzip the WmFormFlowTest package, add it to the /packages directory of your Integration Server instance, and then activate the package with the Integration Server Administrator.

Log in to My webMethods Server and access the StartLoanProcess portlet with the following URL: [hostname]:[port]/start.loan.process. For example: localhost:8585/start.loan.process.

At this point, you can demonstrate a very simple usage scenario with the installed applications:

1. Type a value into the Loan Number field in the Start Loan Process 2 window.

An instance of the FormFlowProcess business process starts, and immediately starts Task Step 1, while the StartLoanProcess portlet waits.

When the StartLoanProcess portlet is notified that the user task is fully instantiated, the StartLoanProcess portlet redirects to the user task interface URL, which opens the task interface for the end user to interact with.

In this sample, Task Step 1 has no functionality other than to display the Loan Number entered in the StartLoanProcess portlet.

The process instance starts the next user task in the sequence, Task Step 2, while Task Step 1 waits.

When Task Step 1 is notified that the Task Step 2 is fully instantiated, Task Step 1 redirects to the URL of the Task Step 2 interface, and the second task interface opens.

Again, Task Step 2 has no functionality other than to display the Loan Number entered in the StartLoanProcess portlet.

This completes the task workflow, and the process instance transitions to the End service task:

The service activity is configured to run the IS service formFlowComplete in the WmFormFlowTest package.

The formFlowComplete service contains the WmTaskClient service pub.task.taskclient:formFlowTaskNotify, which enables you to pass a correlation ID, a result, as well as the Loan document.

This step can also be configured to provide any required error handling

With the completion of the End service activity, the original StartLoanProcess portlet interface appears in My webMethods, and the entire process can begin again. However, if necessary, the business process could continue on from the service step to additional downstream steps in the process.

This workflow can be extended with as many user tasks as necessary. In addition, the logic capabilities of both the process instance and the user task steps can be implemented to provide more advanced handling. For example:

You can implement task events, task assignment, and the task control set functionality when you design the tasks to apply a certain level of conditional behavior within the tasks applications.

The task activity steps themselves can be configured with process behavior such as transition looping, join logic, and If Condition transitions for further flexibility. For more information, see the webMethods BPM Process Development Help in Software AG Designer.

Using the available process step logic, you can add service activity steps to the process model to provide any process work that is needed to support the task workflow.