IBM BPM, V8.0.1, All platforms > Programming IBM BPM > Developing client applications for BPEL processes and tasks > Create plug-ins to customize human task functionality > Use a plug-in to post-process people query results

People query result post-processing plug-in

Use the people query result post-processing plug-in service provider interface (SPI) to create a plug-in to change the results of people queries returned.

For example, to improve workload balancing, you might have a plug-in that removes users from the query result who already have a high workload.

You can create a plug-in to add or remove users, or to change user or group information. You can also use the plug-in to change the result type, for example, from a list of users to a group, or to everybody.

You can have only one post-processing plug-in; this means that the plug-in must handle the people query results from all tasks. Your plug-in can add or remove users, or change user or group information. It can also change the result type, for example, from a list of users to a group, or to everybody.

Because the plug-in runs after people resolution completes, any rules that you have to preserve confidentiality or security have already been applied. The plug-in receives information about users that have been removed during people resolution (in the HTM_REMOVED_USERS map key). You must ensure that your plug-in uses this context information to preserve any confidentiality or security rules you might have.

These classes run in the context of a Java™ Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) Enterprise application. The classes can invoke methods of other classes. Ensure that the class that you implement and its helper classes follow the EJB specification. You must implement all of the methods in the interface. These methods include information relating to the people assignment criteria for the specific task template, task or escalation role.

Choice of interfaces

To implement post-processing of people query results, you can either use the StaffQueryResultPostProcessorPlugin interface or the StaffQueryResultPostProcessorPlugin2 interface. Both these interfaces have methods for modifying the query results for tasks, escalations, task templates, and application components.

If you are implementing a new plug-in, use the newer StaffQueryResultPostProcessorPlugin2 interface, which can provide better performance for cases where the post-processing will yield the same result for a specific task role or escalation role across all task instances or escalation instances that are based on the same task template. This interface provides methods for getting the assignment reason and other application context information about the task template, escalation template, task instance or escalation instance.

Use a plug-in to post-process people query results

Related concepts:
Developing a plug-in using the StaffQueryResultPostProcessorPlugin2 interface
Developing a plug-in using the StaffQueryResultPostProcessorPlugin interface

Related information:

Sample: People assignment customization using the Post Processor Plugin