Developing Process Applications Overview

Process applications are designed to enable end users to process information and use resources associated with a business process or workflow. The Process Engine manages workflow definitions and events, which are created using the Process Designer, one of the graphical GUI tools of the FileNet P8 Platform and Image Manager Services.

A workflow definition is a user-created graphical map showing the sequences, resources, and routing logic of the specific steps needed to complete a business process. The specification of each step includes which user or group of users will do the work, the user interface that the participant will see, which attachments (documents or folders) are required, what data is necessary, and what responses the participant can choose. The workflow definition's routing logic specifies how work advances from one step to the next.

Developing a custom Process application involves customizing the user interface and the way work is done for one or more steps in a workflow (often for each step in a workflow), how an end user (workflow participant or tracker) will interface with the workflow (e.g., by selecting work items displayed on a User Inbox page and opening them to work on), how the application accesses data and other resources, and how it interfaces with the Process Engine and related services to perform tasks associated with a step or operation. This can be a complex task that is further complicated by the capabilities of the Process Engine, which provides you with a variety of different approaches you can use.

Note for information on the different types of Process applications, see Introduction to Process Applications (provides an introduction to Step Processors, Work Performers, Component Integrator operations, the User Tasks Page, and the differences between them.

Topics covered in this section include:

Developing HTML and Step Processors

Describes how to develop a custom HTML or Java Step Processor. Subtopics include:

Building a Step Processor with the Java Step Processor UI Toolkit Describes the sample Java Step Processors and Launch Step Processors and the Java Step Processor UI Toolkit, and how to use the UI Toolkit to build, customize, deploy and run the sample Java Step Processors.
Developing Work Performers and Component Integrator Operations

Describes how to develop a custom Work Performer. Subtopics include:

Opening Step Processors Describes the algorithm used to determine which Step Processor to open for a step assignment and the URL templates used.
Developing a Custom User Inbox

Describes how to develop a custom User Inbox (also called a "User Tasks Page" and is used to provide the end user (workflow participant or Tracker) with the notifications on the work items he/she needs to work on). Subtopics include: