bmpn20.xml does not sync with .acitiviti files properly

[ruedesilva]

Hi,

In the latest 5.7.1 designer when you open an .xml file the .activiti file that gets generated automatically is not synced properly. Form parameters, documentation elements etc are missing in the Activiti diagram. Then when you save the Activiti diagram the .xml file is overwritten and all the Form params, documentation etc are gone. This was not the case previously as there used to be a 'design' and 'src' tabs instead of having to open the diagram and .xml files separately. Also if you modify the .xml file the changes are not reflected in the Acitiviti diagram - which was not the behaviour before. So now it has become very difficult to maintain complex WFs.

Is this the normal behaviour now? Seems like some bug? It should work as prior to 5.7.1 no matter where you make a change both should be synched.

thanks,
Rue

[warden]

I have the same issue as you.
Does somebody know if this is the nomal behaviour?

Is there any other modeler that imports bpmn20.xml to modify it and export it again?

Thanks

[trademak]

Hi,

In the current version we have chosen to do a one way generation of the BPMN 2.0 XML document.
But what you can do, is delete the .activiti file and reopen the BPMN 2.0 XML document. Then the diagram will be regenerated.

Best regards,

[ruedesilva]

Yes but then as per my original post:

"Form parameters, documentation elements etc are missing in the Activiti diagram"

An when I save they are gone from the bpmn.xml file also. This is really creating a big headache and I think is a bug?

thanks,
Rue

[ronald_van_kuij]

Formparams is already fixed on trunk (see other post). For documentation it might not.

[trademak]

Hi,

Documentation is now also fixed for process, sub process, user and service tasks.
If you experience other issues in the import just let me know.

Best regards,

[ronald_van_kuij]

Besides the delay between the initial and second post, the issues are fixed within half a day. Great work by Tijs don't you think?

[ruedesilva]

Yes it's incredible. You guys are doing a great job, and we really appreciate it.

Keep up the good work!

thanks,
Rue

[lisama]

Is there a way to not overwrite changes I made manually to the xml file (like adding an intermediateCatchingEvent) when saving the diagram but merge them somehow?

I found the option to not automatically save everything to the xml file, so that I need to export everything with the "Export to BPMN2.0 XML" but I see that more as an workaround because once I change the sequence flow in which I added my catchingEvent the catchingEvent in the xml fileis gone again.

When I add the catchingEvent and delete the diagram to generate a new one, like suggested before, I get a whole bunch of errors because the designer doesn't know the catchingEvent. So the errors make actually sense but makes my work so much more difficult.

[tiesebarrell]

other than the way you described, no, you can't keep changes in place that Designer doesn't understand. The entire Bpmn file is recreated every time the export is done. If you find yourself applying the same tedious changes to the bpmn file all the time, there's always the option to automate it. I know it's a workaround, but if you create an xslt file to do the additions and run it from a unit test, it's a matter of seconds to redo the additions Designer doesn't support at the moment. In fact, add that to the setup of your unit tests for the process and you probably won't even notice the difference.