topic Re: Attach document-link to process instances via new REST API in Alfresco Archive

Attach document-link to process instances via new REST API

b_schnarr — Fri, 29 Nov 2013 07:43:58 GMT

Hello at all,we want to upload attachments to user tasks AND process instances via REST API in a way that the users can see those attachments in the activiti explorer.Especially, we want to attach links to documents, not the document itself. I know that you can attatch document links to both, user t

Re: Attach document-link to process instances via new REST API

trademak — Fri, 29 Nov 2013 13:23:51 GMT

But if you only want to add a link you could also just use a process variable for that.
You're right that adding attachment links is currently only available for tasks in the REST API. If you also need it on process instances, please create a JIRA issue and we'll add it to the REST API.

Best regards,

Re: Attach document-link to process instances via new REST API

b_schnarr — Fri, 29 Nov 2013 14:11:07 GMT

Thank you for your quick reply. If I use a process variable to attach the link, is this link visible in the activiti axplorer?

best regards,
Ben

Re: Attach document-link to process instances via new REST API

frederikherema1 — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 09:33:55 GMT

I comitted a fix for this.. The process-instance ID was not populated, when uploaded through REST…

Re: Attach document-link to process instances via new REST API

b_schnarr — Sun, 08 Dec 2013 15:10:39 GMT

Thanks for your reply. Does that mean that it is now possible to attach a link to a process instance correctly via REST API? How can we use this fix?

Re: Attach document-link to process instances via new REST API

frederikherema1 — Tue, 10 Dec 2013 12:24:56 GMT

The fix involves populating the process-instance id when a task-attachment is added trough REST. Adding attachments without a task is currently not possible. Add attachments trough tasks that are part of the process, and they will appear in the explorer the way they should….

Re: Attach document-link to process instances via new REST API

b_schnarr — Wed, 11 Dec 2013 11:36:19 GMT

Do we have to use another activiti commit for that? Will this fix be included in the next release?

Re: Attach document-link to process instances via new REST API

jbarrez — Wed, 11 Dec 2013 14:28:23 GMT

Frederik has committed a patch for it on https://github.com/Activiti/Activiti.

You can either build a snapshot version yourself (mvn clean install) or wait for the next official release.

Re: Attach document-link to process instances via new REST API

b_schnarr — Sun, 12 Jan 2014 11:59:41 GMT

We need to implement a document-centric process (like a document-approval process). Therefore, each task in this process should have the same link to the document attached (and it must be visible in the activity explorer). In addition, we want to trigger the process via REST. Is this possible via REST? I know how to start a process via rest, but I have no idea how to attach the link to ALL tasks in the process in a way that the link is shown in the activity explorer when I start a process instance?

Re: Attach document-link to process instances via new REST API

frederikherema1 — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 08:20:17 GMT

Currently, we only support adding attachments to a task. However, I've fixed an issue with that resource, so that the process-instance ID is also populated (will be available in 5.15, 5.14 won't show the attachments process-instance wide):

https://github.com/Activiti/Activiti/commit/57034fa44bfbaefdd2449d70cbe4da668659e687

This fix will expose these attachments on all tasks of that process (in case the task is part of a process). The REST-resource I was referring to is posted below and supports both URL-attachment (JSON-body) and file-attachment (multipart-body).


POST runtime/tasks/{taskId}/attachments

Re: Attach document-link to process instances via new REST API

b_schnarr — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 12:22:29 GMT

Ok, just for my understanding: With the new version 5.15, do I have a chance to realize my requirement? What does this exactly mean :"This fix will expose these attachments on all tasks of that process". Lets say I start a new process instance, am I able to attach a link to ALL tasks that are part of this process in a way that the attachment is shown in the activity explorer?

Thanks for your quick reply

Re: Attach document-link to process instances via new REST API

frederikherema1 — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 12:48:21 GMT

Yes, you will be able to attach an attachment to a task. All other tasks in that task's process (future and existing) will show that attachment in the Explorer UI as "related content". An explicit call to add an attachment ONLY to a process-instance is not yet included since this is inconsistent with the Java-API, which allows you to add attachments only though the taskService.

Re: Attach document-link to process instances via new REST API

b_schnarr — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 14:29:28 GMT

Wow, that is great! So the steps would be:

1.) Start a process instance via rest (e.g. a process which has 3 user tasks)
2.) Attach the document link to ONE of those 3 tasks via REST
3.) All 3 tasks will show the related content in the UI
Am I right?

Could you give me a an estimation when the new version will be released?

Thanks for your reply!

Re: Attach document-link to process instances via new REST API

frederikherema1 — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 15:17:30 GMT

Yes, those 3 steps would become possible in the 5.15 release, scheduled for half of february (15th I think).

Just out of curiosity, are you actually using Activiti Explorer as a fronted for your users? It's initially intended to be used as a demo-app to get familiar with the API-calls and concepts Activiti offers…

Re: Attach document-link to process instances via new REST API

b_schnarr — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 16:21:00 GMT

We are planning to extend the functionalities of an existing Enterprise Content Management Archive with document-routing services. Therefore, we want to start processes in the ECM-GUI and set parameters for the involved documents as links. For the interaction with the processes (document approval), we plan to use the activity explorer so we do not need to render forms etc in the ECM GUI; In addition, it would be overdosed to develop a separate GUI just for this case.

Re: Attach document-link to process instances via new REST API

b_schnarr — Tue, 11 Feb 2014 10:15:34 GMT

I tried to attach one Document-Link to ONE task of a specific process via REST but the attached link is not shown in the activiti explorer even though the attachment is successfully added. The POST Request is:

http://10.120.40.24:8080/activiti-rest/service/runtime/tasks/2626/attachments with the body:

{
"name":"test link",
"description":"test",
"type":"simpleType",
"externalUrl":"https://www.google.de"
}

When I query all attachment of this task with rest with GET http://10.120.40.24:8080/activiti-rest/service/runtime/tasks/2626/attachments, I can see this attachment. But the activiti explorer only shows the comment on the right side, that the link was attached. The link itself is not shown.

When I attach a link in the activiti explorer, I can see this link in the explorer, but not in the rest query. Could it be that the links which are shown in the "related content" section are stored in another table? It seems that the attachments via REST are separated from the attachments created directly in the explorer.
Both web apps use the same database and all other data is consistent.

It would be great if someone could help me. Thank you very much

Re: Attach document-link to process instances via new REST API

b_schnarr — Tue, 11 Feb 2014 12:53:27 GMT

I found the difference. When I add an attachment via activiti explorer, the TASK_ID is null and the PROC_INST_ID is set to the corresponsing process instance id in the table act_hi_attachment. When I add an attachment via REST, the TASK_ID is set and the PROC_INST_ID is null.
Look at this picture: https://www.dropbox.com/s/6vpoyxssoq90yxx/attachment_rest.png
I have added two attachments to the task with the task_id = 2667. The corresponding process_instance_id is 2662. The activiti explorer shows only those attachments, where the PROC_INST_ID_ is set. Wouldn´t it be better if both variables (task_id and PROC_INST_ID_) were set no matter if the attachment is added via rest or via the activiti explorer?

Should I open an issue in the activiti explorer section?

Would be great if this could be fixed. I hope that I can contribute with this post.

Thank you very much
Ben

Re: Attach document-link to process instances via new REST API

trademak — Tue, 11 Feb 2014 14:54:57 GMT

Hi Ben,

We make a difference between process instance attachments and task attachments. But the Activiti Explorer could be enriched by also showing the task attachments. We still need to add a REST service to add attachments to a process instance as well.

Best regards,

Re: Attach document-link to process instances via new REST API

b_schnarr — Tue, 11 Feb 2014 15:46:15 GMT

Hi Tijs,

thank you for your quick answer. Will this fix : https://github.com/Activiti/Activiti/commit/57034fa44bfbaefdd2449d70cbe4da668659e687
solve my problem? Because Frederik said that with this fix, all tasks of a certain process will show the corresponding attachments in the activiti explorer

Best regards and thanks
Ben

Re: Attach document-link to process instances via new REST API

trademak — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 18:06:56 GMT

Hi Ben,

Yes that should solve your problem.

Best regards,