topic Re: Process and Task variables storage in Alfresco Archive

Process and Task variables storage

frankee787 — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 08:33:03 GMT

Dear All, This is about a design choice. In all process backed applications which involves "Human Task" etc, there will definitely be process variables and task variables. These variables will hold values which are either filled in by the end user(eg: leave dates) or sometimes generated by the syst

Re: Process and Task variables storage

trademak — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 08:49:24 GMT

Hi,

1. If you want to query on them using the Activiti query API using name/value pairs is the easiest of course. You can use complex Javabeans implementing Serializable, but you won't be able to query on them very easily.
2. Of course, when there are a lot of database rows and complex variable structures performance can become an issue. But process variables should not become complex structures to my opinion. They should be simple name/value pairs and process container objects consisting of a flat Javabean structure. If you need complex structures it's better to store it separately in a database and use the JPA extension of Activiti.

Best regards,

Re: Process and Task variables storage

frankee787 — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 09:24:32 GMT

Hi Tijs,
Thanks for the prompt response. Its good to get information straight from the horse's mouth.

Could you tell me what exactly is "process container objects" ?

If you need complex structures it's better to store it separately in a database and use the JPA extension of Activiti.

Do you mean its better to store these complex structure in a relational manner or again as key value pairs?

What do you mean by JPA extension of Activiti ?

Regards,
Franklin

Re: Process and Task variables storage

trademak — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 09:48:51 GMT

Hi Franklin,

A process container object is a POJO that contains several simple type attributes that overcomes the issue of having a lot of simple name/value process variables.
In mean that if you have a complex structure it's better to store it separately in a relational manner. Then you can use the built-in JPA functionality in Activiti to make it easily accessible in your process instance. The JPA extension is described in the userguide. But you can of course also build your own data logic classes.

Best regards,