BusinessFlowManagerService interface

The BusinessFlowManagerService interface exposes business-process functions that can be called by a client application.

The methods that can be called by the BusinessFlowManagerService interface depend on the state of the process or the activity and the authorization of the person that uses the application containing the method. The main methods for manipulating business process objects are listed here. For more information about these methods and the other methods that are available in the BusinessFlowManagerService interface, see the Javadoc in the com.ibm.bpe.api package.

Process templates

A process template is a versioned, deployed, and installed process model that contains the specification of a business process. It can be instantiated and started by issuing appropriate requests, for example, initiate(). The execution of the process instance is driven automatically by the server.

Table 1. API methods for process templates
Method Description
getProcessTemplate Retrieves the specified process template.
queryProcessTemplate Retrieves process templates that are stored in the database.

Process instances

The following API methods start process instances.

Table 2. API methods for starting process instances
Method Description
call Creates and runs a process instance.
callWithReplyContext Creates and runs a process instance from the specified process template and waits asynchronously for the result.
callWithUISettings Creates and runs a process instance and returns the output message and the client user interface (UI) settings.
initiate Creates a process instance and initiates processing of the process instance.
sendMessage Sends the specified message to the specified activity service and process instance.
getStartActivities (for processes with a non-unique starting service) Returns information about the activities that can start a process instance from the specified process template.
getActivityServiceTemplate Retrieves the specified activity service template.
Table 3. API methods for controlling the life cycle of process instances
Method Description
suspend Suspends the execution of a long-running, top-level process instance that is in the running or failing state.
resume Resumes the execution of a long-running, top-level process instance that is in the suspended state.
restart Restarts a long-running, top-level process instance that is in the finished, failed, compensated, or terminated state.
forceComplete Forces the completion of an activity instance that is in the running or stopped state.
forceRetry Forces the repetition of an activity instance that is in the running or stopped state.
forceTerminate Terminates the specified top-level process instance, its subprocesses, and its running, claimed, or waiting activities.
delete Deletes the specified top-level process instance and its subprocesses.
query Retrieves the properties from the database that match the search criteria.

Activities

For invoke activities, you can specify in the process model that these activities continue in error situations. If the continue-on-error flag is set to false and an unhandled error occurs, the activity is put into the stopped state. A process administrator can then repair the activity. The continue-on-error flag and the associated repair functions can, for example, be used in a long-running process where an invoke activity fails occasionally, but the effort required to model compensation and fault handling is too high. The following methods are available for repairing activities.

Table 4. API methods for controlling the life cycle of activity instances
Method Description
claim Claims a ready activity instance for a user to work on the activity.
cancelClaim Cancels the claim of the activity instance.
complete Completes the activity instance.
forceComplete Forces the completion of an activity instance that is in the running or stopped state.
forceRetry Forces the repetition of an activity instance that is in the running or stopped state.
query Retrieves the properties from the database that match the search criteria.

Variables and custom properties

The interface provides a get and a set method to retrieve and set values for variables. You can also associate named properties with, and retrieve named properties from, process and activity instances. Custom property names and values must be of the java.lang.String type.

Table 5. API methods for variables and custom properties
Method Description
getVariable Retrieves the specified variable.
setVariable Sets the specified variable.
getCustomProperty Retrieves the named custom property of the specified activity or process instance.
getCustomProperties Retrieves the named custom properties of the specified activity or process instance.
getCustomPropertyNames Retrieves the names of the custom properties for the specified activity or process instance.
setCustomProperty Stores custom-specific values for the specified activity or process instance.
Related information
Deprecated features

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Last updated: Mon Mar 27 18:04:05 2006

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