topic Re: [Proposal] Linking process instances and users in Alfresco Archive

[Proposal] Linking process instances and users

marcus1 — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 11:19:38 GMT

In Activiti users are linked to tasks through IdentityLink and can be queried using TaskQuery.candidateUser(…). Similarly, the ability to link users with process definitions has been added recently through ProcessDefinitionQuery.startableByUser(…).However, unless I've missed something obvious, there

Re: [Proposal] Linking process instances and users

jbarrez — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 09:23:49 GMT

I don't see the point yet: if users have tasks, they are involved with the process instance. So isn't a query on the tasks enough to know which process instances people are involved? Also, typically people are not really interested in processes, but tasks in my opinion. But probably you have another use case in mind … maybe it helps to share it?

Re: [Proposal] Linking process instances and users

marcus1 — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 12:07:05 GMT

Hi Joram,

Suppose that a user starts a leave request process. As soon as he submits the first form, he will no longer have an active task, so he is no longer associated with the process. However, the user is still interested in that status of this process. We want to show the process diagram with the current state (highlighting the current task, but also show the assigned users, submission times, etc) so the user can see what is happening with his request as it goes through the organisation. This is especially interesting for non-trivial processes in which many different users are involved.

Re: [Proposal] Linking process instances and users

frederikherema1 — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 12:40:42 GMT

This is a typical use case that can be solved using a combination of activiti:initiator, variables, history and task/execution-listeners, and can be audited later on.

Re: [Proposal] Linking process instances and users

marcus1 — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 13:09:52 GMT

Sure, that is how we've implemented it so far.

It just seems to me that it could be done so much simpler, more robust and more efficient if done within Activiti.

Re: [Proposal] Linking process instances and users

frederikherema1 — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 09:40:04 GMT

After some discussion, it seems to be a valid use-case to involve people with a process. The suggested approach seems to be a good one, perhaps we should add a "runtimeService.addUserIdentityLink(processInstanceId, userId, role)" method, similar to the taskService.addUserIdentityLink() method.

It's great that you're willing to contribute this to the activiti project. I'll make sure I get the pull-request reviewed and into Activiti asap when you've finished the implementation. Don't hesitate to ask additional questions during development…

Re: [Proposal] Linking process instances and users

marcus1 — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 10:03:11 GMT

Great. Will do.

Re: [Proposal] Linking process instances and users

marcus1 — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 22:24:18 GMT

Done: https://github.com/Activiti/Activiti/pull/41