Testing for an Alfresco association in order to select a workflow path

[amargosian]

Greetings!

This is my first post here, and I'm also new to Activiti (as well as Alfresco), so hopefully this will be a very easy question for you veterans!

I'm using Alfresco Enterprise with Activiti. I'm trying to set up a workflow where a user can initiate a workflow, assign either a single group or multiple individual users (by name), and the workflow will behave accordingly. In essence, I'm trying to combine the Activiti-delivered 'parallel review' and 'pooled review' workflows, with a decision point after the start task to decide which model to follow.

The examples delivered with the product use the Alfresco aspects "bpm:assignees" and "bpm:groupAssignee" to handle the assignments in the start task, but I can't leverage these directly, since I obviously can't set both as mandatory aspects when I want the user to pick one or the other. The problem is, I can't figure out how to test whether either or both of these associations is populated in order to set a flag through the listener. (I would then use that flag to choose a path from the decision point.)

In the sample code below, I'm trying to do this using task.getVariable, but it's not working. (I'm using typeof below; I've also tried this a few different ways.) Is there a different method I need to invoke?

By the way, I realize there are other problems with the code below, but I'm focusing specifically on this problem for now–once the forking is working the way I want it to, I'll flesh out the rest!

Thanks for your help!

********** BPMN definition *********

<?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" xmlnsmgdc="http://www.omg.org/spec/DD/20100524/DC" xmlnsmgdi="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="ecm809h" name="ECM-809-H" isExecutable="true">

        <extensionElements>
            <activiti:executionListener event="start" class="org.alfresco.repo.workflow.activiti.listener.ScriptExecutionListener">
           <activiti:field name="script">
                     <activiti:string>
                          execution.setVariable('wf_sendToUser', 'false');
                          execution.setVariable('wf_sendToGroup', 'false');
                     </activiti:string>
                  </activiti:field>
            </activiti:executionListener>
        </extensionElements>
   
    <startEvent id="startevent1" name="Start" activiti:initiator="${initiator.properties.userName}" activiti:formKey="edtrmwf:coordinationWfStart">
   <extensionElements>
           <activiti:taskListener event="complete" class="org.alfresco.repo.workflow.activiti.tasklistener.ScriptTaskListener">
             <activiti:field name="script">
               <activiti:string>
                  
                  if (typeof task.getVariable('edtrmwf_groupAssignee') != 'undefined') {
                     execution.setVariable('edtrmwf_groupAssignee', task.getVariable('edtrmwf_groupAssignee'));
                     execution.setVariable('wf_sendToGroup', 'true');
                  }   
                  else
                     execution.setVariable('edtrmwf_groupAssignee', 'null');
                  
                  if (typeof task.getVariable('edtrmwf_assignees') != 'undefined') {
                     execution.setVariable('edtrmwf_assignees', task.getVariable('edtrmwf_assignees'));
                     execution.setVariable('wf_sendToUser', 'true');
      }
                  else
                     execution.setVariable('edtrmwf_assignees', 'null');           
   
      </activiti:string>
             </activiti:field>
           </activiti:taskListener>
   </extensionElements>
   
    </startEvent>
   
    <exclusiveGateway id="exclusivegateway1" name="Exclusive Gateway"></exclusiveGateway>
   
    <sequenceFlow id="flow1" sourceRef="startevent1" targetRef="exclusivegateway1"></sequenceFlow>
   
    <userTask id="usertask1" name="User Task" activiti:formKey="edtrmwf:coordinateTaskUser"></userTask>
   
    <sequenceFlow id="flow2" sourceRef="exclusivegateway1" targetRef="usertask1">
       <conditionExpression xsi:type="tFormalExpression"><![CDATA[${wf_sendToUser == 'true'}]]></conditionExpression>
    </sequenceFlow>
   
    <userTask id="usertask2" name="Group Task" activiti:formKey="edtrmwf:coordinateTaskGroup"></userTask>
   
    <sequenceFlow id="flow3" sourceRef="exclusivegateway1" targetRef="usertask2">
       <conditionExpression xsi:type="tFormalExpression"><![CDATA[${wf_sendToGroup == 'true'}]]></conditionExpression>
    </sequenceFlow>
   
    <endEvent id="endevent1" name="End"></endEvent>
   
    <sequenceFlow id="flow4" sourceRef="usertask1" targetRef="endevent1"></sequenceFlow>
   
    <sequenceFlow id="flow5" sourceRef="usertask2" targetRef="endevent1"></sequenceFlow>
 
  </process>
 
  <bpmndi:BPMNDiagram id="BPMNDiagram_ecm809h">
    <bpmndi:BPMNPlane bpmnElement="ecm809h" id="BPMNPlane_ecm809h">
      <bpmndi:BPMNShape bpmnElement="startevent1" id="BPMNShape_startevent1">
        <omgdc:Bounds height="35.0" width="35.0" x="160.0" y="260.0"></omgdc:Bounds>
      </bpmndi:BPMNShape>
      <bpmndi:BPMNShape bpmnElement="exclusivegateway1" id="BPMNShape_exclusivegateway1">
        <omgdc:Bounds height="40.0" width="40.0" x="260.0" y="257.0"></omgdc:Bounds>
      </bpmndi:BPMNShape>
      <bpmndi:BPMNShape bpmnElement="usertask1" id="BPMNShape_usertask1">
        <omgdc:Bounds height="55.0" width="105.0" x="400.0" y="190.0"></omgdc:Bounds>
      </bpmndi:BPMNShape>
      <bpmndi:BPMNShape bpmnElement="usertask2" id="BPMNShape_usertask2">
        <omgdc:Bounds height="55.0" width="105.0" x="400.0" y="320.0"></omgdc:Bounds>
      </bpmndi:BPMNShape>
      <bpmndi:BPMNShape bpmnElement="endevent1" id="BPMNShape_endevent1">
        <omgdc:Bounds height="35.0" width="35.0" x="610.0" y="260.0"></omgdc:Bounds>
      </bpmndi:BPMNShape>
      <bpmndi:BPMNEdge bpmnElement="flow1" id="BPMNEdge_flow1">
        <omgdi:waypoint x="195.0" y="277.0"></omgdi:waypoint>
        <omgdi:waypoint x="260.0" y="277.0"></omgdi:waypoint>
      </bpmndi:BPMNEdge>
      <bpmndi:BPMNEdge bpmnElement="flow2" id="BPMNEdge_flow2">
        <omgdi:waypoint x="280.0" y="257.0"></omgdi:waypoint>
        <omgdi:waypoint x="280.0" y="217.0"></omgdi:waypoint>
        <omgdi:waypoint x="400.0" y="217.0"></omgdi:waypoint>
      </bpmndi:BPMNEdge>
      <bpmndi:BPMNEdge bpmnElement="flow3" id="BPMNEdge_flow3">
        <omgdi:waypoint x="280.0" y="297.0"></omgdi:waypoint>
        <omgdi:waypoint x="280.0" y="347.0"></omgdi:waypoint>
        <omgdi:waypoint x="400.0" y="347.0"></omgdi:waypoint>
      </bpmndi:BPMNEdge>
      <bpmndi:BPMNEdge bpmnElement="flow4" id="BPMNEdge_flow4">
        <omgdi:waypoint x="505.0" y="217.0"></omgdi:waypoint>
        <omgdi:waypoint x="627.0" y="217.0"></omgdi:waypoint>
        <omgdi:waypoint x="627.0" y="260.0"></omgdi:waypoint>
      </bpmndi:BPMNEdge>
      <bpmndi:BPMNEdge bpmnElement="flow5" id="BPMNEdge_flow5">
        <omgdi:waypoint x="505.0" y="347.0"></omgdi:waypoint>
        <omgdi:waypoint x="627.0" y="347.0"></omgdi:waypoint>
        <omgdi:waypoint x="627.0" y="295.0"></omgdi:waypoint>
      </bpmndi:BPMNEdge>
    </bpmndi:BPMNPlane>
  </bpmndi:BPMNDiagram>
</definitions>

**************** And the associated type from my Alfresco content model ************

      <type name="edtrmwf:coordinationWfStart">
         <title>Coordination Start</title>

          <parent>bpm:startTask</parent>
           
           <properties>  
              <!– decide how many people have to approve (all) –>
               <property name="edtrmwf:requiredApprovePercent">
                   <type>d:int</type>
                   <protected>true</protected>
                   <default>100</default>
                   <constraints>
                       <constraint type="MINMAX">
                           <parameter name="minValue"><value>1</value></parameter>
                           <parameter name="maxValue"><value>100</value></parameter>
                       </constraint>
                   </constraints>
               </property>
              
               <!– apm decide where task is going –>
            <property name="edtrmwf:sendToGroup">
                  <type>d:boolean</type>
                  <default>false</default>
                  <!– apm probably need to add bpm:groupassignee(s) as mandatory aspect –>
               </property>
              
               <property name="edtrmwf:sendToUser">
                  <type>d:boolean</type>
                  <default>false</default>
                  <!– apm probably need to add bpm:assignees as mandatory aspect –>
               </property>
              
          </properties>
            
             <!– apm associations cribbed from bpm:assignees and bpm:groupAssignee in order to avoid making both aspects mandatory –>
       <associations>

                <association name="edtrmwf:assignees">
                    <source>
                        <mandatory>false</mandatory>
                        <many>false</many>
                    </source>
                    <target>
                        <class>cmerson</class>
                        <mandatory>false</mandatory>
                        <many>true</many>
                    </target>
                </association>

                <association name="edtrmwf:groupAssignee">
                    <source>
                        <mandatory>false</mandatory>
                        <many>false</many>
                    </source>
                    <target>
                        <class>cm:authorityContainer</class>
                        <mandatory>false</mandatory>
                        <many>true</many>
                    </target>
                </association>

             </associations>


</type>

[frederikherema1]

You can always use a custom task-model and NOT use bpm:assignees, but use you're own associations. Make sure the form-config uses the right "control" to render a user/group picker.

ALternative to see if a variable is set is to use task.getVariable('bpm_…') == null in your scripts instead.