Anthony, About OFBiz code in OSWorfkow i found this by chance : http://lists.ofbiz.org/pipermail/dev/2002-April/001124.html
Jacques ----- Message d'origine ----- De : "David E Jones" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> À : <dev@ofbiz.apache.org> Envoyé : vendredi 18 mai 2007 20:36 Objet : Re: State of workflow in Ofbiz. > > Anthony, > > That would be great. When looking at new tools the most valuable thing is usually case studies and PoC types of things related to real world use. > > -David > > > Anthony Enrione wrote: > > > > Hi All, > > > > When we have integrated it, i will write up a document with some > > examples so that you can take a look at what it offers. We have > > refactored the OSWorkflow component quite a bit as well to make it > > simpler to use. > > > > Anthony. > > > > Jacques Le Roux wrote: > >> Thanks for feedback David, > >> > >> Yes only future will tell, past did already. I pretty sure you are right > >> : experience tells. > >> > >> Actually, I'm not specially a workflow big fan, and ECA have proven > >> their usefulness. Nevertheless, I wonder what would appear from > >> OSWorkflow in OFBiz in > >> some areas. > >> > >> In general, I don't like to close doors (or not open them rather) before > >> being sure there are nothing interesting behing them, live is so short ! > >> > >> My father always told me : "L'experience d'autrui ne profite jamais", he > >> was right ! > >> > >> A bit digressive sorry :o) > >> > >> Jacques > >> > >> ----- Message d'origine ----- > > >> > >>> For anyone looking into this it might be helpful to keep in mind that > >>> > >> OSWorkflow is VERY different from the ECA rules in OFBiz and is also > >> very different (rather less different though) from a WfMC style workflow > >> engine which includes both Shark and the old OFBiz Workflow Engine. > >> > >>> For anyone wondering how this affects things in the future in OFBiz, > >>> > >> it will depend totally on where people find it to be helpful. For many > >> things, even very custom things, that we've done we have found that a > >> workflow engine just doesn't end up helping a whole lot when you are > >> doing custom application that require special management of automated > >> and manual work. You end up having to create custom screens and map > >> everything in the workflow to other entities in the data model anyway, > >> and it's usually less code and work initially and over time, and WAY > >> more flexible, to just do that with the other tools in OFBiz rather than > >> having a centralized work management piece. There are of course > >> exceptions to this, but in general the changes that are often needed > >> over time don't always match up well with the changes that a tool like > >> this will facilitate. In short, having tried many of these tools for > >> similar problems I haven't seen a huge win with a workflow engine yet. > >> > >>> -David > >>> > >>> > >>> Jacques Le Roux wrote: > >>> > >>>> Anthony, > >>>> > >>>> Thanks for this. Having an usable alternative to ECA sounds good to > >>>> > >> me. > >> > >>>> Nice to know, by the way, that the Jira team uses OSWorkflow in > >>>> > >> their > >> > >>>> work. Does someone know more about that ? > >>>> > >>>> I'm sure I'm not the only one looking forward for your work ! > >>>> > >>>> Jacques > >>>> > >>>> De : "Anthony Enrione" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >>>> > >>>>> Hi Jacques, > >>>>> > >>>>> Yes i would like to get it into Ofbiz. I will keep you all posted > >>>>> > >> on > >> > >>>> my > >>>> > >>>>> progress. When we have completed the integration i will produce a > >>>>> > >>>> patch > >>>> > >>>>> file. It's a nice workflow engine because it's small a compact and > >>>>> > >> i > >> > >>>>> think that it would be a good fit for Ofbiz. > >>>>> > >>>>> Anthony. > >>>>> > >>>>> Jacques Le Roux wrote: > >>>>> > >>>>>> Anthony, > >>>>>> > >>>>>> Do you think about integrating OSWorkflow in OFBiz ? > >>>>>> > >>>>>> Jacques > >>>>>> > >>>>>> De : "Anthony Enrione" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >>>>>> > >>>>>> > >>>>>>> Jacques, > >>>>>>> > >>>>>>> Thanks for the reply. > >>>>>>> > >>>>>>> We had a look at using the eventing mechanisms in Ofbiz but found > >>>>>>> > >>>> it > >>>> > >>>>>>> hard to create complex workflows, especially workflows that need > >>>>>>> > >> to > >> > >>>>>> make > >>>>>> > >>>>>> > >>>>>>> decisions or persist state. We had a look at Shark and found it a > >>>>>>> > >>>>>>> > >>>>>> little > >>>>>> > >>>>>> > >>>>>>> on the heavy side. > >>>>>>> > >>>>>>> Just to let you know... > >>>>>>> After having evaluated a number of workflow engines, we have > >>>>>>> > >>>> decided > >>>> > >>>>>> to > >>>>>> > >>>>>> > >>>>>>> go with OSWorkflow. It is small. The main workflow is done in a > >>>>>>> > >>>> single > >>>> > >>>>>>> Java class and it has a simple persistance interface. We found it > >>>>>>> already has support for Ofbiz entities (perhaps this was added by > >>>>>>> > >>>> the > >>>> > >>>>>>> Jira developers as they use both OSWorkflow and the Ofbiz Entity > >>>>>>> Engine?). I have been busy integrating OSWorkflow and adding > >>>>>>> > >>>> support > >>>> > >>>>>> for > >>>>>> > >>>>>> > >>>>>>> invoking Ofbiz Services. OSWorkflow makes use of Quartz to do the > >>>>>>> scheduling but it was very easy to replace this with the Ofbiz > >>>>>>> > >>>>>>> > >>>>>> scheduler. > >>>>>> > >>>>>> > >>>>>>> Anthony. > >>>>>>> > >>>>>>> Jacques Le Roux wrote: > >>>>>>> > >>>>>>> > >>>>>>>> Anthony, > >>>>>>>> > >>>>>>>> Quick answer. > >>>>>>>> > >>>>>>>> The OFBIz workflow engine is normally deprecated by the Shark > >>>>>>>> > >>>>>>>> > >>>>>> workflow > >>>>>> > >>>>>> > >>>>>>>> engine (which was originally built on the top of th OFBiz > >>>>>>>> > >> workflow > >> > >>>>>>>> engine). > >>>>>>>> However I guess that there are not a lot of persons using a > >>>>>>>> > >>>> workflow > >>>> > >>>>>>>> engine in OFBiz. > >>>>>>>> In a typical use of OFBiz (eCommerce for instance) most of the > >>>>>>>> > >>>>>>>> > >>>>>> workflow > >>>>>> > >>>>>> > >>>>>>>> job is currently done thru ECA mechanims (SECA for Services, > >>>>>>>> > >> EECA > >> > >>>>>> for > >>>>>> > >>>>>> > >>>>>>>> Entities, MECA for mailing). > >>>>>>>> > >>>>>>>> This is not to discourage you to use the existing workflow > >>>>>>>> > >> engines > >> > >>>>>> in > >>>>>> > >>>>>> > >>>>>>>> OFBiz but to let you know that you will not find much support > >>>>>>>> > >> from > >> > >>>>>> the > >>>>>> > >>>>>> > >>>>>>>> OFBiz community. > >>>>>>>> > >>>>>>>> Jacques > >>>>>>>> > >>>>>>>> De : "Anthony Enrione" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >>>>>>>> > >>>>>>>> > >>>>>>>> > >>>>>>>>> Hi all, > >>>>>>>>> > >>>>>>>>> We are using Ofbiz to build an ecommerce site and i am > >>>>>>>>> > >> currently > >> > >>>>>>>>> evaluating workflow engines. I have seen that Ofbiz has it's > >>>>>>>>> > >> own > >> > >>>>>>>>> workflow engine which (from the source code) looks fairly > >>>>>>>>> > >>>> complete. > >>>> > >>>>>>>>> There is also support for the Ehydra Workflow engine. I have > >>>>>>>>> > >> some > >> > >>>>>>>>> questions regarding the two: > >>>>>>>>> > >>>>>>>>> What is the state of the internal workflow engine in Ofbiz? Is > >>>>>>>>> > >> it > >> > >>>>>>>>> > >>>>>>>> fully > >>>>>>>> > >>>>>>>> > >>>>>>>> > >>>>>>>>> functional? If not what areas need to be worked on? > >>>>>>>>> Why was Ehydra chosen to replace the existing Workflow engine > >>>>>>>>> > >> in > >> > >>>>>>>>> > >>>>>>>> Ofbiz? > >>>>>>>> > >>>>>>>> > >>>>>>>> > >>>>>>>>> How well does it integrate with Ofbiz? > >>>>>>>>> Does anybody have any experience of using either of the two > >>>>>>>>> > >>>>>>>>> > >>>>>> systems? > >>>>>> > >>>>>> > >>>>>>>>> Any advice would be gratefully appreciated. > >>>>>>>>> > >>>>>>>>> Anthony. > >>>>>>>>> > >>>>>>>>> > >>>>>>>>> > >>>>>> > >> > >> > >> > > > >
