IBM BPM, V8.0.1, All platforms > Programming IBM BPM > Developing client applications for BPEL processes and tasks > Developing EJB client applications > Developing applications for BPEL processes

Processing human task activities

Human task activities in business processes are assigned to various people in your organization through work items. When a BPEL process is started, work items are created for the potential owners.

When a human task activity is activated, both an activity instance and an associated to-do task are created. Handling of the human task activity and the work item management is delegated to Human Task Manager. Any state change of the activity instance is reflected in the task instance and vice versa.

A potential owner claims the activity. This person is responsible for providing the relevant information and completing the activity.

Procedure

1. List the activities belonging to a logged-on person that are ready to be worked on:

   FilterOptions fo = new FilterOptions();
   fo.setSelectedAttributes("AIID");
   fo.setQueryCondition("STATE=STATE_READY AND KIND=KIND_STAFF AND WI.REASON=REASON_POTENTIAL_OWNER");
   EntityResultSet ers = process.queryEntities("ACTIVITY", fo, null, null);

   This action returns a query result set that contains the activities that can be worked on by the logged-on person.
2. Claim the activity to be worked on:

   if (ers.getEntities().size() > 0)
   {
     Entity activity = (Entity) ers.getEntities().get(0);
     AIID aiid = (AIID) activity.getAttributeValue("AIID");
     ClientObjectWrapper input = process.claim(aiid);
     DataObject activityInput = null ;
     if ( input.getObject() != null && (input.getObject() instanceof DataObject) )    {
       activityInput = (DataObject)input.getObject();
       // read the values     ...
       }  }

   When the activity is claimed, the input message of the activity is returned.

3. When work on the activity is finished, complete the activity. The activity can be completed either successfully or with a fault message. If the activity is successful, an output message is passed. If the activity is unsuccessful, the activity is put into the failed or stopped state and a fault message is passed. You must create the appropriate messages for these actions. When you create the message, you must specify the message type name so that the message definition is contained.

   1. To complete the activity successfully, create an output message.

      ActivityInstanceData activity = process.getActivityInstance(aiid);
      ClientObjectWrapper output = 
            process.createMessage(aiid, activity.getOutputMessageTypeName());
      DataObject myMessage = null ;
      if ( output.getObject()!= null && output.getObject() instanceof DataObject )
      {
        myMessage = (DataObject)output.getObject();
        //set the parts in your message, for example, an order number   myMessage.setInt("OrderNo", 4711);} 
      //complete the activity process.complete(aiid, output);

      This action sets an output message that contains the order number.

   2. To complete the activity when a fault occurs, create a fault message.

      //retrieve the faults modeled for the human task activity List faultNames = process.getFaultNames(aiid);
      
      //create a message of the appropriate type ClientObjectWrapper myFault = 
            process.createMessage(aiid, faultNames.get(0) );
      
      // set the parts in your fault message, for example, an error number DataObject myMessage = null ;
      if ( myFault.getObject()!= null && input.getObject() instanceof DataObject )
      {
        myMessage = (DataObject)myFault.getObject();
        //set the parts in the message, for example, a customer name   myMessage.setInt("error",1304);} 
      process.complete(aiid, myFault,(String)faultNames.get(0) );

      This action sets the activity in either the failed or the stopped state. If the continueOnError parameter for the activity in the process model is set to true, the activity is put into the failed state and the navigation continues. If the continueOnError parameter is set to false and the fault is not caught on the surrounding scope, the activity is put into the stopped state. In this state the activity can be repaired using force complete or force retry.

Developing applications for BPEL processes

Related concepts:
Relationship between human tasks and BPEL processes
Inline tasks
Continue-on-error behavior of BPEL processes and activities