topic User task forms do not map custom variables in Alfresco Archive

User task forms do not map custom variables

francesco_lilli — Sat, 07 Sep 2013 12:59:34 GMT

Hi,I am new to Activiti. I am developing my first workflow, and the flow just work as a charm, but I am stuck with an apparently stupid problem.First I want to set execution variables into the ScriptExecutionListener of the "start" event:<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><definitions xm

Re: User task forms do not map custom variables

francesco_lilli — Mon, 09 Sep 2013 09:38:14 GMT

Anyone? *help*
I can't seem to figure out why this happens, but it's something I need to solve before going on with programming.. I have the impression that I'm missing something as a poor newbie *cray2*

Re: User task forms do not map custom variables

trademak — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 09:04:43 GMT

Just to be sure if I understand what you are doing exactly. You want to show these values on the start form of your process definition? That's not possible. You can only work with variables after the process instance has been started and that's not the case in the start form, because there's no process instance yet.

Best regards,

Re: User task forms do not map custom variables

francesco_lilli — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 09:46:39 GMT

Hi Tijs,
thanks for your reply.

Exactly, that's what I wanted to do.
Fine, I understand. I can accepts these values not to be shown in the START form.

Now, what I can't accept is that these values are not shown in ANY of the forms.. even though these values are actually stored (I can see them in the workflow details).

Re: User task forms do not map custom variables

jbarrez — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 10:53:02 GMT

The concept of a start form is that it is used to populate the variables when starting a process instance. So far we're on the same page 🙂

I checked the xml, but can't see much wrong … did you try putting it on the 'general info' set?, just to be sure?

Re: User task forms do not map custom variables

francesco_lilli — Sat, 14 Sep 2013 14:25:41 GMT

Hi Joram,

that doesn't seem to help.. plus, as I said, in the "General Info" view (where you can access in the Workflow Details page) I can see those values.
Can't only see them in the "Prepare" task (as well as in all the other ones).
This is what I have now ( I assured that putting my variables in "general info" only makes things worse).

<code>
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<definitions xmlns="http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/20100524/MODEL" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:activiti="http://activiti.org/bpmn" xmlns:bpmndi="http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/20100524/DI" xmlnsmgdc="http://www.omg.org/spec/DD/20100524/DC" xmlnsmgdi="http://www.omg.org/spec/DD/20100524/DI" typeLanguage="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" expressionLanguage="http://www.w3.org/1999/XPath" targetNamespace="http://www.activiti.org/test">
<process id="signatureCycle" name="Signature Cycle" isExecutable="true">
     ………….
     <startEvent id="start" name="Start" activiti:formKey="wf:signatureCycle">
<extensionElements>
    <activiti:executionListener event="start" class="org.alfresco.repo.workflow.activiti.listener.ScriptExecutionListener">
              <activiti:field name="script">
                 <activiti:string>
   execution.setVariable('wf_sect', 'AAA');
   execution.setVariable('wf_dt', 'BBB');
   </activiti:string>
              </activiti:field>
           </activiti:executionListener>
       </extensionElements>
     </startEvent>
     <userTask id="prepareTask" name="Prepare" activiti:candidateUsers="${candidatesPrepare}" activiti:formKey="wfrepareTask">
      <documentation>
          "Prepare" task.
      </documentation>
      <extensionElements>
        <activiti:taskListener event="create" class="org.alfresco.repo.workflow.activiti.tasklistener.ScriptTaskListener">
          <activiti:field name="script">
            <activiti:string>
logger.log("PREPARE TASK!");
task.setVariable('wf_sect', execution.getVariable('wf_sect'));
logger.log("PREPARE TASK. TASK SECTION: " + task.getVariable('wf_sect'));
task.setVariable('wf_dt', execution.getVariable('wf_dt'));
logger.log("PREPARE TASK. TASK DT: " + task.getVariable('wf_dt'));
     </activiti:string>
          </activiti:field>
        </activiti:taskListener>
        <activiti:taskListener event="complete" class="org.alfresco.repo.workflow.activiti.tasklistener.ScriptTaskListener">
          <activiti:field name="script">
            <activiti:string>
logger.log("PREPARED (complete).");
     </activiti:string>
          </activiti:field>
        </activiti:taskListener>
      </extensionElements>
    </userTask>
    ……….
</definitions>
</code>

<code>
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<model name="wf:workflowmodel" xmlns="http://www.alfresco.org/model/dictionary/1.0">
   <imports>
      <import uri="http://www.alfresco.org/model/dictionary/1.0" prefix="d"/>
      <import uri="http://www.alfresco.org/model/bpm/1.0" prefix="bpm"/>
   </imports>
   <namespaces>
      <namespace uri="http://www.alfresco.org/model/workflow/1.0" prefix="wf"/>
   </namespaces>
   <types>
      …….
      <type name="wf:signatureCycle">
<parent>bpm:startTask</parent>
<mandatory-aspects>
   <aspect>wf:docInfo</aspect>
</mandatory-aspects>
     </type>
     <type name="wfrepareTask">
<parent>bpm:workflowTask</parent>
     </type>
     …….
   </types>
   <aspects>
      ……..
      <aspect name="wf:docInfo">
<properties>
   <property name="wf:sect">
    <type>d:text</type>
    <mandatory>true</mandatory>
   </property>
   <property name="wf:dt">
    <type>d:text</type>
    <mandatory>true</mandatory>
   </property>
</properties>
      </aspect>
      …..
    </aspects>
</model>
</code>

<code>
<alfresco-config>
    <config evaluator="string-compare" condition="activiti$signatureCycle">
<forms>
   <form>
    <field-visibility>
     <show id="bpm:workflowDescription" />
     <show id="bpm:workflowDueDate" />
     <show id="bpm:workflowPriority" />
     <show id="wf:sect" />
     <show id="wf:dt" />
     <show id="bpm:comment" />
    </field-visibility>
    <appearance>
     <set id="" appearance="title" label-id="workflow.set.general" />
     <set id="abs" appearance="title" label-id="workflow.set.abs" />
     <field id="bpm:workflowDescription" label-id="workflow.field.message">
      <control template="/org/alfresco/components/form/controls/textarea.ftl">
       <control-param name="style">width: 60%</control-param>
      </control>
     </field>
     <field id="bpm:workflowDueDate" label-id="workflow.field.due"
      set="info" />
     <field id="bpm:workflowPriority" label-id="workflow.field.priority"
      set="info">
      <control
       template="/org/alfresco/components/form/controls/workflow/priority.ftl" />
     </field>
     <field id="wf:sect" set="abs">
      <control template="/org/alfresco/components/form/controls/info.ftl" />
     </field>
     <field id="wf:dt" set="abs">
      <control template="/org/alfresco/components/form/controls/info.ftl" />
     </field>
     <field id="bpm:comment" label-id="workflow.field.comment"
      set="response">
      <control template="/org/alfresco/components/form/controls/textarea.ftl" />
     </field>
    </appearance>
   </form>
</forms>
</config>
        <config evaluator="task-type" condition="wfrepareTask">
<forms>
   <form>
    <field-visibility>
     <show id="bpm:workflowDescription" />
     <show id="bpm:workflowDueDate" />
     <show id="bpm:workflowPriority" />
     <show id="packageItems" />
     <show id="wf:sect" />
     <show id="wf:dt" />
     <show id="bpm:comment" />
     <show id="transitions" />
    </field-visibility>
    <appearance>
     <set id="" appearance="title" label-id="workflow.set.general" />
     <set id="info" appearance=""
      template="/org/alfresco/components/form/2-column-set.ftl" />
     <set id="items" appearance="title" label-id="workflow.set.items" />
     <set id="abs" appearance="title" label-id="workflow.set.abs" />
     <set id="response" appearance="title" label-id="workflow.set.response" />
     <field id="bpm:workflowDescription" label-id="workflow.field.message">
      <control template="/org/alfresco/components/form/controls/textarea.ftl">
       <control-param name="style">width: 60%</control-param>
      </control>
     </field>
     <field id="bpm:workflowDueDate" label-id="workflow.field.due"
      set="info" />
     <field id="bpm:workflowPriority" label-id="workflow.field.priority" set="info">
      <control template="/org/alfresco/components/form/controls/workflow/priority.ftl" />
     </field>
     <field id="packageItems" set="items" read-only="true"/>
     <field id="wf:sect" set="abs">
      <control template="/org/alfresco/components/form/controls/info.ftl" />
     </field>
     <field id="wf:dt" set="abs">
      <control template="/org/alfresco/components/form/controls/info.ftl" />
     </field>
     <field id="bpm:comment" label-id="workflow.field.comment"
      set="response">
      <control template="/org/alfresco/components/form/controls/textarea.ftl" />
     </field>
     <field id="transitions" set="response" />
    </appearance>
   </form>
</forms>
</config>
        ……..
</alfresco-config>
</code>

Re: User task forms do not map custom variables

francesco_lilli — Sat, 14 Sep 2013 14:26:30 GMT

Can't only see them in the "Prepare" FORM (as well as in all the other ones) –> sorry.

Re: User task forms do not map custom variables

frederikherema1 — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 07:55:45 GMT

With you're current solution, do you see the correct "PREPARE TASK. TASK SECTION: " logging passing by, from the task-create-listener? Does your "prepare-task" also have that mandatory aspect applied (which holds the wf:sect etc)? If the aspect is not present, the task's properties won't contain those properties, even though they are present in the workflow…

With regards to the "general info" section on the workflow details-page, as Joram said, the values filled in at the start are displayed and NOT the current values in the workflow..

Re: User task forms do not map custom variables

francesco_lilli — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 12:43:49 GMT

That was it! I just added the mandatory aspect to the Prepare task, now I'm able to see the values in the forms.. Thank you so much.

Anyway I'd like to get to know why this happens.
1) Why is it necessary to say that an aspect is "mandatory" even though it's just visualized on a form? I thought I had to define an aspect as mandatory only if it was actually mandatory to fill it in a form…
2) Why are the values in the general info section NOT the current values in the workflow?

Re: User task forms do not map custom variables

frederikherema1 — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 10:01:07 GMT

1) I'm not an content-modeling expert, but the mandatory-aspects section means that the aspects are ALWAYS applied to it. As the workflow-task aren't actual pieces of alfresco-content, the model is just a description of the properties that are expected, rather than a fixed representation of what the actual data in the DB is (as is the case with normal content). So I guess there is a difference between "normal" aspects (added ad-hoc) and "mandatory" aspects, which are defined in the model. For tasks, however, always use "mandatory" ones

2) This is due to the nature of the WorkflowService and related screens, historically. Activiti was implemented as a layer beneath the already existing workflow-api, not exposing "variables" of the process. Rather, those screens use the start-task to display the "General Info". This is currently the way it's implemented but is not optimal… I think the idea behind is was to be more task-focused, not paying too much attention to the "runtime info" of a process but rather focus on each task, showing relevant data for the task and the workflow on the task-form.

Re: User task forms do not map custom variables

francesco_lilli — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 15:21:08 GMT

Seems legit. Thanks a lot for your explanation, Frederik *i-m_so_happy*
And thank you all for your time!

*bye*

Francesco

Re: User task forms do not map custom variables

frederikherema1 — Fri, 20 Sep 2013 12:37:02 GMT

We are aware that the (long-time existing) WorklfowService api in Alfresco and related screens do not fully expose the activity potential, but we're working on improving this in the future…