Bug in org.alfresco.repo.workflow.jbpm.JBPMEngine ?

[jmliege]

Hi,

I'm currently prototyping some complexes workflows with pooledactors.

When i try to put a task back in the pool, i get an error (null pointer exception).

This errors occurs in the following code: (starting line 1498)

else if (key.equals(ContentModel.PROP_OWNER))
                {
                    if (value != null && !(value instanceof String))
                    {
                        throw new WorkflowException("Task owner '" + value + "' is invalid");
                    }
                    String actorId = (String)value;
                    String existingActorId = instance.getActorId();
                    if (existingActorId == null || !actorId.equals(existingActorId))
                    {
                        instance.setActorId((String)value);
                    }
                    continue;
                }
‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

As the calling code (ManageTaskDialog.returnOwnerShip) sets the owner to null, i have 'value=null', and so, i have an actorId = null.

Your code is checking if existingActorId variable is not null, not on actorId.
So I would suggest the following correction if it makes senses to you.

if (existingActorId == null || !existingActorId.equals(ActorId))
                    {
                        instance.setActorId((String)value);
                    }
‍‍‍‍‍‍

This should avoid the null pointer exception.:wink:

NB: To avoid this problem, I will override the ManageTaskDialog in order to provide an empty String instead of a null value.

Best regards,
JMarc

[davidc]

Thanks.

I will apply the fix to v2.1.

[davidc]

Done - http://issues.alfresco.com/browse/AR-1323

[jmliege]

Just to inform that overriding the ManageTaskDialog.returnOwnership() is not enough so far.
In fact, the owner must be set to null unless the task is considered as assigned and therefore is not visible in the pooled tasks dashlet.

For now and until i get a hand on the v2.1, i'm working with an ugly overriding of the org.alfresco.repo.workflow.jbpm.JBPMEngine class (but it works fine…) ops:

Glad to help.

JM