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.
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.
Method | Description |
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getProcessTemplate | Retrieves the specified process template. |
queryProcessTemplate | Retrieves process templates that are stored in the database. |
The following API methods start process instances.
Method | Description |
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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. |
Method | Description |
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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. |
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.
Method | Description |
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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. |
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.
Method | Description |
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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. |
Last updated: Tue Feb 21 17:21:50 2006
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