Integrate activiti with external application

[nbklot3]

Hi,
We are trying to implement work flow in one of our existing applications and I'm trying to explore the different possibilities or solutions using activiti. We are planning to create a generic work flow with 2 tasks - one to receive an object with field name and values and user task to provide the approval. (I have attached the process file)
1. User A submits changes in external application
2. Application kicks off a new work flow instance
3. A change request form is automatically generated and the object is sent to workflow engine
4. Workflow engine sends the task to the approver assigned to the user task
5. User B looks up tasks assigned and should be able to browse and view the object data
6. User B approves the change in external application
7. external application sends approval action to workflow engine
8. Workflow engine executes a web service to persist data in actual database

example of object - <InfoObject><field name=“name” id=”name”>Arun</field><field name=“department” id=“23”>Information tech</field>
</InfoObject>

can you please provide pointers or suggestions on implementing these use cases. Thanks in advance!

Thanks,
Arun

[nbklot3]

attached the process file

[jbarrez]

What exactly are you looking pointers for? Your use case is definitely possible using Activiti.

You object is a plain XML file, so no problems there: just store it as a process variable and manipulate it in your service tasks

[nbklot3]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply, I need help in receiving the object/xml in activiti and saving the data from object into activiti. How could this be done? any pointers or sample code for this functionality?
After approval, I can just pull all the variables associated with the task id and getVariables(), then form the xml/object and send it back to external application.

Thanks,
Arun

[jbarrez]

The easiest is to just set your xml as a process variable (runtimeService.setProcessVariable), before you call your process (eg when you're in a usertask by calling the taskService.complete() method or else the runtimeService.signal() method)

[nbklot3]

Thanks for your reply