Using E-forms in a Business Process
This section provides an overview of the basic workflow for using e-forms with a business process; for specific information and procedures, see:
webMethods Service Development Help webMethods BPM Process Development Help webMethods BPM Task Development Help webMethods CAF and OpenCAF Development Help webMethods Task Engine User’s Guide To use e-forms in a business process, you follow these general procedures:
1. Create a business process.
2. Create an IS document type from an e-form template with the Create New Document Type wizard.
Note: | The generated e-form document type is a fully compliant IS document type and can be used in the same ways as any other IS document type. |
3. Drag the resulting IS document type onto the business process canvas to create a receive step, or drop it onto an existing receive step.
4. Specify the receive step e-form repository location.
5. If you want to integrate the e-form data with a task in the process, create a task step in one of the following ways (a process can contain multiple e-form enabled tasks):
Use the
CAF > Generate Task menu option from the e-form document type, then:
i. Configure the task as required (assignment, events, etc.)
ii. Use the Task UI Update wizard to add the e-form fields and upload/download buttons to the task interface.
Select an existing task, or implement an existing step in the process as a task, and then:
i. Add the e-form IS document type as business data if not yet included.
ii. Configure the task as required (assignment, events, etc.)
iii. Use the Task UI Update wizard to add the e-form fields and upload/download buttons to the task interface.
6. Build and upload the process project.
7. Deliver an e-form instance to the repository instance folder (sourced from the correct e-form template).
The Process Engine monitors the specified instance folder in the repository; when a new instance of the e-form appears in the folder, the Process Engine automatically converts the e-form instance to an IS document based on the previously defined e-form template-to-IS document type relationship.
The receive step handles the e-form based IS document just as it would any other IS document, and the e-form data is added to the process pipeline.
If there is a task step in the process, when it is reached, a new task is queued and appears in the appropriate My webMethods inboxes, with e-form fields and e-form instance values in the Data view.
In My webMethods, the assigned task user can:
Work with e-form data in the task.
Download the e-form from the task for offline access (in actual e-form format).
Upload the modified e-form back into the task.
