Hi Anthony, I recommend jbpm. Please do think about it.
Shi Yusen/Beijing Langhua Ltd. 在 2007-05-18五的 11:05 +0100，Anthony Enrione写道： > 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. > >>>>>>>> > >>>>>>>> > >>>>>>>> > >>>>> > > > > > > >
