Integration development environment
Test the complete portal-based business process application on a staging system that comprises a portal server and a process server and that is available to everyone on the integration development team. When testing the components of a business process application, enable IBM WAS application security to correctly display each user's personal tasks.
Here is how the application development team works within the development and test environment for business process integration:
- The process designer develops the business process using WebSphere Integration Developer and unit tests it using the corresponding integrated test environment. During development he can set the Client UI identifier on the human tasks of the business process that will be rendered on dedicated task pages in the portal. The tested business process is then exported as an EAR file that can be deployed on the WebSphere Process Server of the staging system. Additionally, the process designer can use WebSphere Integration Developer to auto-generate individual portlet skeletons for the individual human tasks and give them (or just the corresponding WSDL and XSD files) to the portlet developer. Alternatively, if WebSphere Integration Developer v6.1 was installed with the Portal Toolkit, the process designer can also complete the task processing and task initiation portlet development within WebSphere Integration Developer.
- The portlet application developer first imports the portlet skeletons or the necessary WSDL and XSD files provided by the process designer into IBM Rational Application Developer. Then she starts developing the Task Processing portlet. She cannot directly test the portlet, but must first deploy it to the portal server of the staging system on a page that has the unique name defined as the Client UI Identifier of the task. To test the portlet, she starts the associated business process using the Business Process Choreographer Explorer or the Manage Processes portlet and manually steps through the process until she reaches the human task for which she is providing a portlet. She can accomplish this by using either the Business Process Choreographer Explorer, the generic task processing portlet, or other portlets that are already created.
- The administrator adds supporting portlets to the task page definition and wires portlets that need to work as cooperative portlets on task pages.
Figure 1. Configuration of the development and test environment for process integration
After all components of the business process application have been developed and successfully tested, you can deploy the components to the production servers.
Parent topic:
Prepare to develop process applications