IBM BPM, V8.0.1, All platforms > Authoring services in Integration Designer > Developing business processes > Building human tasks > Set up a user interface for your human task

Generate IBM Forms clients (deprecated)

Generate a client for your human task or process based on forms that you specify in the User interface settings.

The client generator uses the input and output forms that you specify in the human task editor. If no form is specified, the client generator creates a form based on the service interface of the human task. For each task, you can choose to generate either an Lotus form or a JSP page to render the input and output message of the human task in final client.

Tip: Instance data identifiers generate a business object when you generate a business process. When you create multiple BPEL processes using identical instance data identifiers, each business object is created with the same name. It is suggested created unique instance data identifiers (or modify the existing identifiers) to make sure that each business object has a unique name.

If you migrate from WebSphere Integration Developer v6.2 or earlier and your project contains certain IBM Forms, migration errors can occur. If the business object that is used as input or output message of the interface to your human task extends business graphs, validation errors show up in the Problems view. These errors are typified by the words: "XPath is not valid for the IBM Form". To correct this problem, regenerate the forms in IBM Integration Designer.


Procedure

To generate an IBM Forms client:

  1. In the Business Integration view, right-click the human tasks for which you want to generate a user-interface, and select Generate Human Task User Interfaces. To generate a client for tasks in different modules, select those modules in the business integration view by holding the Ctrl key while you select each one. The User Interface Wizard for Human Tasks launches.

    • If the generated client is intended to be able to start a process, then this process must have a human task defined for the initial receive activities, or you must have another initiating task on the assembly diagram wired to the process .

    • If the human task is not represented on your assembly diagram, then you will get a warning message.

    • If a humans task contains an error of any kind, the task will not be listed in the wizard. A warning message will be shown.

  2. On the Client Generator Selection page, proceed as follows:

    1. In the Generator type field choose IBM Forms client application.

    2. Use this list to choose the human tasks for which you want to generate the client. Expand the tree until you find the required human tasks, and then select the associated check boxes.

    3. Click Next.

  3. On the IBM Forms client configuration page, proceed as follows:

    1. In the Name of dynamic web project field, enter the name of the web project in which the generated client will be stored.

    2. In the Company logo field, you can specify the file location of a graphic file containing a company logo. This logo will appear as a banner on the top of the generated client's web page. You can browse either to a GIF or JPEG file. If your image has a height higher than 60 pixels, then it will automatically be shrunk to fit the space available. You can adjust the height of your logo in the page Banner.jsp of the generated client. The background color of the banner is defined in the style sheet styles.css, refer to class .Banner. The CSS file is located in the generated web project in WebContent\theme\styles.css

    3. In the Client location area, you have two choices. Select Generated client and related processes and tasks reside on the same server (Local client view) if one server will be used to deploy both the generated client and the related processes and tasks on the same IBM Process Server. Select Generated client and related processes and tasks reside on different servers (Remote client view) if two or more servers will be used in the same cell, and your generated client will be deployed on one server, and the related processes and tasks on another. If you are using two or more servers, you will need to provide the IP address of the server and the bootstrap port, the required format is: iiop://REMOTE_SERVER_IP:BOOTSTRAP_PORT.

    4. In the Style selection area, you can choose from the two styles that are provided for your generated client, or add your own style file (CSS format). This custom CSS file must reside in a web project in your workspace. The CSS file can contain your settings regarding color, font size and style, but these settings have to have proper names since they are used as reference in the generated client. The best approach is to modify one of the predefined style files of a generated client (styles-IBM.css or styles-blue.css), and save it as your CSS file. In the Style field, you can then click Add and Browse to select your CSS file.

    5. When you are done, click Next.

  4. On the second IBM Forms client configuration page, you can choose a forms or JSP user interface for each task. The human tasks are listed under the Forms or Java™ Server Pages headings. If necessary, select the human tasks and use the arrow buttons to transfer them to the opposite column.

  5. When you are done, click Finish.


Results

Your new client will be generated. In the business integration view, you will see a new entry under Integration Logic > IBM Forms. Your next step is to deploy it to a runtime environment.


What to do next

If you refactor a human task that contains an IBM Forms client, the refactoring behavior depends on the way in which the form was associated with the task. See related links for more information.

Important: Before you can deploy this user interface to a runtime environment, you will need to install the IBM Forms Viewer and the Lotus If s Server API on each machine where the client will be deployed (this includes IBM Process Server and the corresponding test environments). However, the same IBM forms can be used in a Process Portal space, in which case you will not need the Server API to be installed. For instructions on how to install IBM Forms in the IBM Integration Designer environment, see the related topic "Installing optional software and documentation".

Generate JSF clients for your human tasks

Set up a user interface for your human task


Related concepts:
Before you begin: Client types and prerequisites


Related tasks:
Generate JSF clients for your BPEL processes
Generate WebSphere Portal portlets
Defining user interfaces for a human task
Generate HTML-Dojo pages or IBM Forms for Process Portal spaces
Integrating JavaScript in HTML-Dojo pages
Generate JSF clients for your human tasks
Prepare to extend generated JSF code
Customize clients
Deploying a generated client to an external runtime environment


Related reference:
Design considerations for user interface generation


Related information:
Installing optional software and documentation