IBM BPM, V8.0.1, All platforms > Create processes in IBM Process Designer > Designing process interactions for business users > Developing flexible and efficient process applications

Configure activities for inline completion

Some activities in your process application can be completed with a single action, such as an approval, rejection, or a simple decision. Using the services provided in the system toolkit in Process Designer, you can configure these activities to be performed by the business user in Process Portal with a single click action that does not necessitate the user opening the coach interface.

There are three types of tasks that can be configured to be completed by the user from within their task list without requiring the user to open the coach interface: a simple approval or rejection, a simple completion, or a simple choice between a set of options.

Inline completion task type characteristics
Task Type Usage Inputs Outputs
Simple Approval

Use when the task requires the business user to indicate an approval or rejection based on the task narrative and the task details that are exposed in the task list.

None.

  • approved Type: Boolean
  • comment Type: String

Simple Completion

Use when the task requires the business user to indicate task completion based on the task narrative and the task details that are exposed in the task list.

For example, in a simple completion task the user might only need to indicate that they have reviewed the task narrative and the exposed task details, and include a comment.

None.

  • comment Type: String

Simple Choice

Use when the task requires the business user to choose between a list of options.

  • choices Type: String, List. By default these choices are tw.resource.SimpleChoice.Approve, tw.resource.SimpleChoice.Reject

  • decision Type: String
  • comment Type: String


Procedure

  1. In the BPD, select the task that you would like to configure for inline completion.

  2. In the Implementation tab of the Properties view, select User Task as a task type.

  3. Select the predefined Human Service that corresponds with the type of inline task that you are creating: Simple Approval, Simple Completion or Simple Choice.

    When the user is completing a Simple Approval task, they must enter a comment if they select the reject option.

  4. If you are creating a Simple Choice task, you can modify the choices presented to the user, and provide additional choices. These options will each appear as a button in the Process Portal task list.

    1. Ensure that you have enabled The IBM BPM Advanced Features by going to File > Preferences > IBM BPM > Capabilities. The check box for IBM BPM Advanced Features should be selected.

    2. In the Variables tab of the BPD, create a private variable to represent the different options that are presented to the user. .
    3. Because the variable will contain a list of strings, assign it type String and select the Is List check box.
    4. Under Default Value, select the Has Default check box.

    5. The list of options, which appear as button labels in the Process Portal interface, are added as string values for the autoObject[n] parameters. When you first create your variable, the default appears as follows: 
      var autoObject = new tw.object.arrayOf.String();
autoObject[0] = "";
autoObject

      For each option that is presented to the user, add an autoObject[n] parameter and a string value.

      For example, if you are creating inline completion buttons for computer configuration, you might have the following: 

      var autoObject = new tw.object.arrayOf.String();
autoObject[0] = "Single Core";
autoObject[1] = "Dual Core";
autoObject[2] = "Quad Core";
autoObject
    6. Save the BPD.

  5. In the Data Mapping tab, the inputs and outputs required by the predefined service are already added. Map the relevant variables that are specific to your process to the data required by the predefined service.

    For example, if you created a simple choice task drawing from a list of options defined in a private variable, then you must map this variable to the choices(List of String) variable associated with the Simple Choice service.

Developing flexible and efficient process applications


Related tasks:
Mapping input and output data for an activity or step