topic Re: External form rendering : Form properties values listing in Alfresco Archive

External form rendering : Form properties values listing

fredg — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 13:14:44 GMT

Hi all,I’m working on a workaround to migrate from jpdl outgoing transitions to BPMN 2 (human task + Exclusive gateway)My need: * Provide a form display; give user a choice to decide next step (outgoing sequence flow).* Choice must be "by design" embedded in process. (using Activiti Eclipse Designer

Re: External form rendering : Form properties values listing

frederikherema1 — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 11:30:04 GMT

Not sure if I understand what you're trying to do, my best shot:

You should fill in the FormProperty values yourself, and submit the form-properties to the formService, so the task is completed with the values you specified. Internally, the values you filled in (or set in code on the FormProperty objects) will be made available as process-variables. These can be used in expressions in your gateway afterwards.

Re: External form rendering : Form properties values listing

fredg — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 12:51:00 GMT

Thanks, I think my post is not clear, i'm a step before submiting using formService, i'm displaying the form to submit.

Imagine a usertask having many outgoing transitions (sequence flow) and a user can choose to follow only one of them.
This is what i want to do.
(This can be done in jbpm; but seems impossible in BPMN 2 http://forums.activiti.org/en/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1279)

So i try to implement the jbarrez right way to do : (see from post)
"The right way to do it, is using a combination of task + exclusive gateway"

I have a usertask, followed by an exclusive gateway (then some more but doesn't matter).
The gateway is looking for a variable, with some expected values

Ex :


if ${userChoiceFlow=='pathA'} then move on to TaskA
if ${userChoiceFlow=='pathB'} then move on to TaskB

I'm looking for a solution to show on my own task rendering form : "pathA" or "pathB" so user can choose one.

I try to use Form Properties to store my expected values (some other solution ?) inside process definition :


<bpmn2:UserTask …>
 <formProperties id="step1" name="step1" type="string" value="pathA,pathB" readable="true" />
</bpmn2:UserTask>

Now in java :

When the user task is active, how can I get default values defined in the process ?
This is BEFORE submit, I just want to retrieve the value="pathA,pathB" to display on my form.

I would expect the following code shows value="pathA,pathB" when id="step1", but it's always null (property is found by id).


for (FormProperty prop : formService.getTaskFormData(task.getId())) {
    String id = prop.getId();
    String value = prop.getValue();
}

I've also check vars :


        Map<String, Object> v1 = runtimeService.getVariables(processInstance.getId());
        Map<String, Object> v2 = runtimeService.getVariablesLocal(task.getExecutionId());
        Map<String, Object> v3 = taskService.getVariables(task.getId());
        Map<String, Object> v4 = taskService.getVariablesLocal(task.getId());

But they're all empty.

What's the point ?

Regards,

Re: External form rendering : Form properties values listing

ronald_van_kuij — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 13:47:52 GMT

defining them is not the same giving them a value… If not explicitly set, they are just not there….

Re: External form rendering : Form properties values listing

frederikherema1 — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 14:03:11 GMT

Check out the org.activiti.engine.impl.form.EnumFormType. You should do a getInformation("values") to get the possible values defined in your process-definition


/**
 * @author Tom Baeyens
 */
public class EnumFormType extends AbstractFormType {

  protected Map<String, String> values;

  public EnumFormType(Map<String, String> values) {
    this.values = values;
  }

  public String getName() {
    return "enum";
  }

…

Re: External form rendering : Form properties values listing

fredg — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:15:24 GMT

Thank you for answers.

Unfortunately, neither EnumFormType.getInformation("values") nor StringFormType.xxx() are filled with default values provided in process xml definition.
I've tried all methods & debug mode to browse objects.

For EnumFormType so far I understood I will need to manually add something like (example from user-guide):

<activiti:formProperty id="direction" type="enum">
      <activiti:value id="left" name="Go Left" />
      <activiti:value id="right" name="Go Right" />
      <activiti:value id="up" name="Go Up" />
      <activiti:value id="down" name="Go Down" />
</activiti:formProperty>

in my xx.bpmn20.xml process because Eclipse Designer doesn’t do it from the xx.activiti file. In this case EnumFormType.getInformation("values") works but this is not user friendly… and I can’t choose this solution (manual update after WYSIWYG designed process)

For information, Eclipse Designer generates no <activiti:value> tags
(some jira opened see see http://forums.activiti.org/en/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2110&hilit=formProperty+enum😞

<activiti:formProperty id="step2" name="step2" type="enum" variable="TaskA,TaskB" required="false" readable="true" writable="true"></activiti:formProperty>

That's why I wanna try using StringFormType, but value's empty too…

Anyway with your answer & Ronald one I’ve found than the .activiti process:

    <formProperties id="step1" name="step1" type="string" value="TaskA,TaskB" readable="true"/>
    <formProperties id="step2" name="step2" type="enum" value="TaskA,TaskB" readable="true"/>

is translated to bpmn20.xml :

<activiti:formProperty id="step1" name="step1" type="string" variable="TaskA,TaskB" required="false" readable="true" writable="false"></activiti:formProperty>
        <activiti:formProperty id="step2" name="step2" type="enum" variable="TaskA,TaskB" required="false" readable="true" writable="false"></activiti:formProperty>

So you’re right I’m not setting value just declaring it, due to issue in the designer?

So far another solution to workaround the multi-outgoing transition in BPMN2 ? (using Designer only)

Re: External form rendering : Form properties values listing

frederikherema1 — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 12:12:02 GMT

Yes, looks like designer issue than. Can you give a clear explaination and file a JIRA issue?

Re: External form rendering : Form properties values listing

hmandic — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 12:11:30 GMT

I'm having the same problem, so I didn't start a new topic.
Is this fixed by now? Or will it be in the near future?

Re: External form rendering : Form properties values listing

james_eckles — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 19:12:01 GMT

How do you get access to the EnumFormType?
I'm trying to get access to the form values for a task.
This works - but I don't want to be so intimate with you guys (nothing personal).
<code>
TaskFormData tfd = processEngine.getFormService().getTaskFormData(ti.getId());
   Task task = tfd.getTask();

   // this is an internal class and probably should not be using it, but I was
   // unable to get the form values any other way.
   if(task instanceof TaskEntity) {

    TaskEntity taskEntity = (TaskEntity) task;
    TaskDefinition taskDefinition = taskEntity.getTaskDefinition();
    TaskFormHandler tfh = taskDefinition.getTaskFormHandler();
    if(tfh instanceof DefaultTaskFormHandler) {
     DefaultTaskFormHandler defaultTaskFormHandler = (DefaultTaskFormHandler) tfh;
     List<FormPropertyHandler> formPropertyHandlers = defaultTaskFormHandler.getFormPropertyHandlers();
     if(formPropertyHandlers != null && !formPropertyHandlers.isEmpty()) {
      for(FormPropertyHandler fph : formPropertyHandlers) {
       if(fph.getType() != null) {
        if(fph.getType() instanceof EnumFormType) {
         EnumFormType enumFormType = (EnumFormType) fph.getType();
         // obviously we are way out in the weeds here.
         Object o = enumFormType.getInformation("values");
         if(o != null) {
          if(o instanceof LinkedHashMap) {
           // here's the data i need
           // example {complete=force complete, retry=retry}
           LinkedHashMap<String, String> map = (LinkedHashMap) o;
           transitions.addAll(map.keySet());
          }
         }
        }
       }
      }
     }
    }
   }
</code>

Re: External form rendering : Form properties values listing

trademak — Mon, 07 Apr 2014 09:26:33 GMT

Should be fixed yes. Let us know if you are still experiencing issues.

Best regards,

Re: External form rendering : Form properties values listing

raymondx — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 11:54:33 GMT

I tried to do same.
I watched how EnumFormType.java is written, and created a type with the same constructor (HashMap<String,String>)

Here is the code:

<java>
public class ClassSemesterType extends AbstractFormType {
//http://forums.activiti.org/content/external-form-rendering-form-properties-values-listing
public static final String TYPE_NAME = "classsemester";

protected Map<String,String> values;

public ClassSemesterType(Map<String, String> values){

this.values = values;
}

@Override
public Object getInformation(String key){
if(key.equals("values")){
   return values;
}

return null;
}

/*public ClassSemesterType(){
this.getInformation(key)
}*/

public Object convertFormValueToModelValue(String propertyValue) {
return propertyValue.toString();

}

public String convertModelValueToFormValue(Object modelValue) {
if (modelValue == null) {
   return null;
}
return modelValue.toString();
}

public String getName() {
return TYPE_NAME;
}
</java>

But if I deploy my jar into the tomcat, then activiti thinks:

<code>
aused by: org.springframework.beans.BeanInstantiationException: Could not instantiate bean class [zeus.activiti.type.ClassSemesterType]: No default constructor found; nested exception is java.lang.NoSuchMethodException: zeus.activiti.type.ClassSemesterType.<init>()
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.SimpleInstantiationStrategy.instantiate(SimpleInstantiationStrategy.java:85)

</code>

But EnumFormType does not have a default constructor, its the same constructor, so what am I doing wrong?

I just want to have access on a property of the last task. As Example in the last task is a property with the name = "anyid", its a String, its readable, writable etc. pp.
Example:
Task 1 -> Choose Something (anyid = String)
Task 2 -> Print the choosed anyid of Task 1 (from the typerenderer)…

Raymond

Re: External form rendering : Form properties values listing

jbarrez — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 12:49:07 GMT

Pass the key/value map into the constructor when you define the bean in xml, then the default constructor is not called.