Alfresco workflow(jbpm engine)

[onizuka82]

Hi

I am a newbie. I am currently doing my final year project on workflow system in sponsored based company. I have found that Alfresco 1.4 version has jBPM engine embedded.

I am wondering wether the workflow engine is limited for the usage of Alfresco(only for moving document,check in, check out and etc but not automating business process = application for leave and etc). Is the jBPM engine in Alfresco has limited functionality as compare to the standalone jBPM engine?

Can the workflow engine(ibpm) in the Alfresco run standalone or the workflow must be used in the Alfresco environment. I am planning to use the workflow(jBPM engine) inside Alfresco as mine worfklow system(FYP). Is this a good idea? Do i need to understand the workflow only or i need to understand the overall the Alfresco in order for the workflow to work.

Please correct me if i am wrong.

I hope that any kind samaritan will help me with this.

[davidc]

It really depends on what you want to do in your workflow.

All of jBPM's functionality is available within the Alfresco server.  However, we've added a fair amount to integrate it tightly with the Alfresco repository and web-client allowing content-oriented workflows to be developed.

Mind you, you can build whatever workflow you like - jBPM supports java plug-ins allowing the execution of any business logic.

One advantage of using Alfresco workflow is that we've tightly integrated our web-client f/w into the execution of the process.  So, it's easy to develop custom UI task dialogs etc.

[onizuka82]

Hi David

Thanks for your detailed explanation. Really appreciate it. I have installed mySQL, Tomcat. I have downloaded the source from SVN and uses ANT to build it.I am wondering whether Alfresco uses Hibernate in because jBPM uses it. As i know, JBoss AS 4.x come with Hibernate in it, i am currently using Tomcat and mySQL so do i need to install Hibernate.

Thank you in advance.

[davidc]

Hi,

Alfresco uses Hibernate and so does jBPM.  As part of the integration, we've ensured that all Alfresco & jBPM persistence is tied transactionally etc.  From a repo perspective, it's all one schema.

So, you need Hibernate.  It's already part of the SVN checkout.

You might want to try the SDK too - it has everything pre-built etc.

Dave

[onizuka82]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for your explanation.

Good day