Timer Question

[bhupendrabjain]

I am new to Activiti so forgive me if this is a stupid question

I am creating an encoding workflow so after I send a request to do encoding I need to check the status periodically and based on the status I need to either move to the next step in the workflow or terminate the workflow . How can I achieve this in Activiti . I have been using JBPM where I do the following to achieve the above functionality but not sure how can i do the same in Activiti

<state name="Wait for Callback">
      <timer name="Wait for Callback Action" duedate="15 minutes"
         repeat="10 minute">
         <action
            class='com.mtvi.mediabus.egvtranscode.action.MediaSiloUXStatusTimerAction' />
      </timer>
      <transition to="Download Files" name="Download_Files"></transition>
      <transition to="exception" name="exception"></transition>
   </state>

Can someone help me with this ?

[martin_grofcik]

Hi,

You could use timer intermediate event in the loop
http://www.activiti.org/userguide/#bpmnTimerIntermediateEvent

Regards
Martin

[bhupendrabjain]

Hi martin , Thanks for the reply . I am already using intermediateCatchEvent but i am not sure how to signal it to the next step in the process after the desired status is received ?

[bhupendrabjain]

Attaching the bpmn file for reference

Code

import org.activiti.engine.ProcessEngine;
import org.activiti.engine.ProcessEngines;
import org.activiti.engine.RuntimeService;
import org.activiti.engine.delegate.DelegateExecution;
import org.activiti.engine.delegate.JavaDelegate;
import org.activiti.engine.impl.pvm.PvmTransition;
import org.activiti.engine.impl.pvm.delegate.ActivityBehavior;
import org.activiti.engine.impl.pvm.delegate.ActivityExecution;

import com.mtvi.unicorn.bean.TestBean;

public class CheckStatus implements ActivityBehavior {


public void execute(ActivityExecution execution) throws Exception {
  TestBean ts = (TestBean) execution.getVariable("testBean");
     System.out.println("I am here to check Status:" + ts.getId());
     PvmTransition transition = null;
     try {
       int id = ts.getId();
       if (id > 20) {
       transition = execution.getActivity().findOutgoingTransition("flow6");
       execution.take(transition);
       } else {
       id = id + 10;
       ts.setId(id);
       }
     } catch (Exception e) {
       transition = execution.getActivity().findOutgoingTransition("flow5");
       execution.take(transition);
     }
    
}

I am trying to transition to next node only if the condition is reached but the problem here is this class is called only once . I want this class to be called again and again till the condition is reached and it moves to the next node . Can someone help me with this

[trademak]

The intermediate catch event doesn't fire again if the process instance reached an end state in the first cycle. Is that the case in your example?

Best regards,

[martin_grofcik]

Hi

• I would recommend to remove logic from java class into the process definition
• use exclusive gateway (http://www.activiti.org/userguide/#bpmnExclusiveGateway) to take decision whether continue in checking or continue further
• current implementation can consume a lot of resources in the loop. I would say you should use ReceiveTask (http://www.activiti.org/userguide/#bpmnReceiveTask) to wait

Regards
Martin

[bhupendrabjain]

Thanks Martin . I am using exclusive gateway and I am able to transition from one task to another based on certain condition

I am still not clear about certain things

1) If I use ReceiveTask  dont I need an external Trigger to take some action ?

2) In timer I want it to repeat checking the status every 1 min for n number of times
I gave the following in my bpm file

<timeCycle>R3/PT1M</timeCycle>

I thought the above expression means repeat 3 time every 1 minutes but I see it is checking status every sec .

[martin_grofcik]

1) If I use ReceiveTask dont I need an external Trigger to take some action ?

Yes. Trigger signals process execution to continue.

2) In timer I want it to repeat checking the status every 1 min for n number of times

Could you prepare jUnit test for it?
http://forums.activiti.org/content/sticky-how-write-unit-test

Regards
Martin