Re: Workflow impasse? New ideas.
As it stands, the Struts ActionMappings are already very nearly workflows. To close the loop, I believe we only need a few things. 1) A way to declare prerequesite actions. 2) A way to bookmark an Action, so the workflows can be rentrant. 3) A way to declare the html:form Action path at runtime. Given these capabilities, and a simple support structure, a set of ActionMappings can be linked together to form a robust workflow that can reuse input forms. Matthias Bauer has code for (1), http://www.mail-archive.com/struts-dev@jakarta.apache.org/msg01685.html and Martin Cooper has a plan for ActionRequests that sound good for (2). http://www.mail-archive.com/struts-dev@jakarta.apache.org/msg02398.html As for (3), I have a hack in place now, http://www.mail-archive.com/struts-dev@jakarta.apache.org/msg02374.html but was waiting on Martin's ActionRequests before thinking seriously about integrating the mechanism into the framework. Craig is also reviewing some airplane notes http://www.mail-archive.com/struts-dev@jakarta.apache.org/msg02439.html he has about a scripting mechanism that might also be used for workflows. In the end, I think a workflow will look like another set of ActionMappings, and the Action will just contain some extra logic for returning the correct ActionForward if the flow gets out of synch. In the meantime, I do like the ideas that are coming up on this thread. Jonathan Asbell wrote: Hello all. I just got back and was reading the e-mails about workflows. By the tone and lack of dialog I think that we are not sure how we really want to design workflows still. So lets have more discussion on the subject. When its clearer we will better know what we want to do.
Workflow impasse? New ideas.
Hello all. I just got back and was reading the e-mails about workflows. By the tone and lack of dialog I think that we are not sure how we really want todesign workflows still. So lets have more discussion on the subject. When its clearer we will better know what we want to do. Here are some ideas I thoughtcould break down the problem a little more. I was thinking that a workflow can be described in the following ways: 1) It has a specific order 2) It DOES'NT having a specific order 3) It has a combination of tasks, some of which need to be executed in order,and others that do not 4) All of its tasks must be finished at the end 5) It May be made up of other worklflows Therefore, you would get a workflow with the characteristics you want. At the end you would make sure all tasks have been done in order it to be considered a completed workflow. For items that need order we can use the struts config file to put an entry in for workflows flow name="createAccount" class="com.brooksbrothers.workflows.Account_WF" step ordered="yes" number="1" class="com.brooksbrothers.workflows.AccountPersonal_ITEM" step ordered="yes" number="2" class="com.brooksbrothers.workflows.AccountCreditCheck_ITEM" step ordered="no" class="com.brooksbrothers.workflows.AccountDisplayTotal_ITEM" /flow /workflows anyone want to add
Re: Workflow impasse? New ideas.
A nice way of looking at workflows is EVTX diagrams/methods Where E - Entry Criteria to start process activity V - Validation Methods (inspection methods) T - Tasks in the process activity X - Exit Criteria to say task is complete You can define your process by Listing the process activites (Each with an EVTX datum), then linking the process tasks together This has worked well for Modeling Software Process and Manufacturing Processes, Any thoughts on this? Jonathan Asbell wrote: Hello all. I just got back and was reading the e-mails about workflows. By the tone and lack of dialog I think that we are not sure how we really want to design workflows still. So lets have more discussion on the subject. When its clearer we will better know what we want to do.Here are some ideas I thought could break down the problem a little more. I was thinking that a workflow can be described in the following ways:1) It has a specific order2) It DOES'NT having a specific order3) It has a combination of tasks, some of which need to be executed in order, and others that do not4) All of its tasks must be finished at the end5) It May be made up of other worklflowsTherefore, you would get a workflow with the characteristics you want. At the end you would make sure all tasks have been done in order it to be considered a completed workflow. For items that need order we can use the struts config file to put an entry in forworkflows> flow name="createAccount" class="com.brooksbrothers.workflows.Account_WF"> step ordered="yes" number="1" class="com.brooksbrothers.workflows.AccountPersonal_ITEM"> step ordered="yes" number="2" class="com.brooksbrothers.workflows.AccountCreditCheck_ITEM"> step ordered="no" class="com.brooksbrothers.workflows.AccountDisplayTotal_ITEM"> /flow>/workflows>anyone want to add
Re: Workflow impasse? New ideas.
In Java Pet Store Application there is some mention about workflow .Why can't we just follow it ? Here is what they do ? from requestMapping.xml ( similar to our struts-config.xml input mapping) request-mappings screen definitions .../ url-mapping url="/verifysignin" screen="SIGN_IN_SUCCESS" useRequestHandler="true" useFlowHandler="true" request-handler-classcom.sun.j2ee.blueprints.petstore.control.web.handlers.SigninHandler/request-handler-class flow-handler class="com.sun.j2ee.blueprints.petstore.control.web.handlers.SigninFlowHandler" handler-result result="2" screen="SIGN_IN_ERROR"/ handler-result result="1" screen="SIGN_IN_SUCCESS"/ /flow-handler /url-mapping /request-mapping. Then use the DOM parser to parse it . I have not seen how in struts the work-flow is handled ? Or is it similar to above :-) Suhas - Original Message - From: Jonathan Asbell To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2001 5:54 AM Subject: Workflow impasse? New ideas. Hello all. I just got back and was reading the e-mails about workflows. By the tone and lack of dialog I think that we are not sure how we really want todesign workflows still. So lets have more discussion on the subject. When its clearer we will better know what we want to do. Here are some ideas I thoughtcould break down the problem a little more. I was thinking that a workflow can be described in the following ways: 1) It has a specific order 2) It DOES'NT having a specific order 3) It has a combination of tasks, some of which need to be executed in order,and others that do not 4) All of its tasks must be finished at the end 5) It May be made up of other worklflows Therefore, you would get a workflow with the characteristics you want. At the end you would make sure all tasks have been done in order it to be considered a completed workflow. For items that need order we can use the struts config file to put an entry in for workflows flow name="createAccount" class="com.brooksbrothers.workflows.Account_WF" step ordered="yes" number="1" class="com.brooksbrothers.workflows.AccountPersonal_ITEM" step ordered="yes" number="2" class="com.brooksbrothers.workflows.AccountCreditCheck_ITEM" step ordered="no" class="com.brooksbrothers.workflows.AccountDisplayTotal_ITEM" /flow /workflows anyone want to add
