Activiti, Alfresco, TimerStartEvent and Initiator

[bprado]

[posted on Alfresco forums but got no answer: http://forums.alfresco.com/forum/developer-discussions/workflow/timerstartevent-how-set-initiator-03... ]

Hi all,

I'm new to Alfresco and Activiti and after some digging was finally able to create, deploy and redeploy advanced custom workflows created with Activiti designer plug in for eclipse.
Unfortunately I had problems working with "TimerStartEvent". The TimerEventDefiniton worked as expected, and all my workflows were created "on time". My workflow, however, had incomplete properties, and "initiator" was missing. As a consequence, the tasks won't show in MyTasks (error in JavaScript) and tasks cannot be ended (error in log).
From what I could figure, If I could set the initiator of the workflow, everything would work as expected. Please notice that I tried setting activiti:initiator on StartEvent without success.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Alfresco version is 4.2.b (since 4.2.c is giving me errors when using custom workflows)

fcteste1.bpmn

<?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" xmlns:omgdc="http://www.omg.org/spec/DD/20100524/DC" xmlns:omgdi="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="fcteste1" name="fcteste1" isExecutable="true">
    <startEvent id="timerstartevent1" name="Timer start" activiti:initiator="bruno">
      <timerEventDefinition>
        <timeCycle>R5/PT1M</timeCycle>
      </timerEventDefinition>
    </startEvent>
    <userTask id="usertask1" name="Timer Task" activiti:assignee="bruno" activiti:candidateUsers="bruno,teste" activiti:formKey="wf:adhocTask">
      <extensionElements>
        <activiti:taskListener event="create" class="org.alfresco.repo.workflow.activiti.tasklistener.ScriptTaskListener">
          <activiti:field name="script">
            <activiti:string>logger.log("Timed task created as expected");</activiti:string>
          </activiti:field>
        </activiti:taskListener>
      </extensionElements>
    </userTask>
    <sequenceFlow id="flow1" sourceRef="timerstartevent1" targetRef="usertask1"></sequenceFlow>
    <endEvent id="endevent1" name="End"></endEvent>
    <sequenceFlow id="flow2" sourceRef="usertask1" targetRef="endevent1"></sequenceFlow>
  </process>
  <bpmndi:BPMNDiagram id="BPMNDiagram_fcteste1">
    <bpmndi:BPMNPlane bpmnElement="fcteste1" id="BPMNPlane_fcteste1">
      <bpmndi:BPMNShape bpmnElement="endevent1" id="BPMNShape_endevent1">
        <omgdc:Bounds height="35.0" width="35.0" x="340.0" y="280.0"></omgdc:Bounds>
      </bpmndi:BPMNShape>
      <bpmndi:BPMNShape bpmnElement="timerstartevent1" id="BPMNShape_timerstartevent1">
        <omgdc:Bounds height="35.0" width="35.0" x="100.0" y="280.0"></omgdc:Bounds>
      </bpmndi:BPMNShape>
      <bpmndi:BPMNShape bpmnElement="usertask1" id="BPMNShape_usertask1">
        <omgdc:Bounds height="55.0" width="105.0" x="180.0" y="270.0"></omgdc:Bounds>
      </bpmndi:BPMNShape>
      <bpmndi:BPMNEdge bpmnElement="flow1" id="BPMNEdge_flow1">
        <omgdi:waypoint x="135.0" y="297.0"></omgdi:waypoint>
        <omgdi:waypoint x="180.0" y="297.0"></omgdi:waypoint>
      </bpmndi:BPMNEdge>
      <bpmndi:BPMNEdge bpmnElement="flow2" id="BPMNEdge_flow2">
        <omgdi:waypoint x="285.0" y="297.0"></omgdi:waypoint>
        <omgdi:waypoint x="340.0" y="297.0"></omgdi:waypoint>
      </bpmndi:BPMNEdge>
    </bpmndi:BPMNPlane>
  </bpmndi:BPMNDiagram>
</definitions>
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Log of error when trying to finish the task:

 Mar 05, 2013 2:52:56 PM org.activiti.engine.impl.interceptor.CommandContext close
SEVERE: Error while closing command context
org.activiti.engine.ActivitiException: Exception while invoking TaskListener: 02053124 Mandatory task properties have not been provided! {http://www.alfresco.org/model/bpm/1.0}package
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Javascript error on MyTasks:

…
["bpm_status"]),y=z.getData("owner"),v=c(z.getData("description")),l=c(q.initiator.firstName);var 
…

Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'firstName' of null 

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Description of workflow using workflow-console (initiator is null and shouldn't)

desc workflow activiti$840
 
definition: activiti$fcteste1
id: activiti$840
description: null
active: true
start date: Tue Mar 05 13:25:48 UTC 2013
end date: null
initiator: null
context: null
package: null

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[frederikherema1]

No, the execution-listeners run inside the process, so no matter how the process is started (worklfowService API, rest-call, timer-start, ..) this will be called.

[jyri_ahia]

I am having the same problem. I am starting workflow instances, or should be, to different users with javascript. Can not get the Initiator attribute to a chosen user. It's always the user who runs the script/JS.

How would I use a javadelegate and a service task?

Jyri