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Building a Processor from Scratch: Creating Custom Pages and Controls

Building a Step Processor from scratch involves creating custom ASPX pages and User Controls. When building a new Step Processor from scratch, you must follow these guidelines:

  • When you create your ASPX page, ensure that it is not ASP compatible (see Using JiGlue with ASP.NET Issues).
  • Use the FnProcessSessionDP class to handle Process session authentication, logon and logoff (you will need an instantiated VWSession object for each Processor class).
  • Remember that the User Control does not access data directly. To access data, use the appropriate Data Provider. This may be the default FnProcessStepProcDP Data Provider, or you may use one or more Open Client Data Providers (such as, fndoccontent.vb, FnFolderContent.vb, FnSession.vb, etc.).
  • Use the appropriate Data Provider classes to provide Process-specific user interface functionality, such as using the FnProcessStepProcDP for an HTML Step Processor, and so on. Remember to import the appropriate system controls and base Data Providers so these classes can inherit them. For example, be sure to import the FnProcessBaseDP base Process Data Provider abstract class (inherits FnBase). Note that this class also includes Open Client wrapper classes for corresponding Process Data Provider classes to provide Process-related functionality, such as setting an FnProcessSession object to a VWSession object, converting a Process VWQueueElement to an FnQueueElement, and so on.)
  • When you create new User Controls, remember that you may use these controls in conjunction with other Open Client User Controls and the .NET server controls (and associated .NET classes) to provide the presentation layer (the "View" part of the MVC model) that provides the user interface. Open Client User controls (the file names are fairly self-explanatory) include controls for attachments, plugins, a base User control class (FnStepProcBaseUC.ascx), data fields, general info, milestones, reassignments, workgroups, and so on.
  • Using the JiGlue COM Bridge provides the ability to make calls (for example, in Visual Basic within the ASP.NET context) with the effect of native Java statements for most Win32 programming tasks. For example, a typical Process use might be to use JiGlue to enable the Open Client's PWM (Personal Work Manager) Data Provider to retrieve items from the "Inbox" queue and provide them to the presentation layer. The FnProcessStepProcDP Data Provider provides the interface between the Step Processor ASPX page and JiGlue. If you plan to customize the Data Provider interface, there are a number of JiGlue and COM-related issues you must consider. For details, see Using JiGlue with ASP.NET Issues.
  • Once you have completed the ASPX page and its associated code-behind file, deploy your Processor on the Web server. For details, see Deploying an Open Client HTML Processor.
  • Remember to add your custom HTML Processor to the workflow. For details, see Adding an Open Client HTML Processor to the Workflow.

    Note: For general guidelines on creating/modifying ASPX pages, see Developing ASPX Pages for Open Client.