Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite 6.4

Development Guide

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Development Guide for Red Hat JBoss Developers

Red Hat Content Services

Gemma Sheldon

<gsheldon@redhat.com>

Klara Kufova

<kkufova@redhat.com>

Marek Czernek

<mczernek@redhat.com>

Tomas Radej

<tradej@redhat.com>

Vidya Iyengar

<viyengar@redhat.com>

Copyright © 2016 Red Hat, Inc.

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Abstract

A guide to using API's in Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite for developers.

Part I. Overview

Chapter 1. About This Guide

This guide is intended for users who are implementing a standalone Red Hat JBoss BRMS solution or the complete Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite solution. It discusses the following topics:

Detailed Architecture of Red Hat JBoss BRMS and Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite.

Detailed description of how to author, test, debug, and package simple and complex business rules and processes using Integrated Development environment (IDE).

Red Hat JBoss BRMS runtime environment.

Domain specific languages (DSLs) and how to use them in a rule.

Complex event processing.

This guide comprises the following sections:

Overview

This section provides detailed information on Red Hat JBoss BRMS and Red Hat JBoss BPM suite, their architecture, key components. It also discusses the role of Maven in project building and deploying.

All About Rules

This section provides details on all you have to know to author rules with Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio. It describes the rule algorithms, rule structure, components, advanced conditions, constraints, commands, Domain Specific Languages and Complex Event Processing. It provides details on how to use the various views, editors, and perspectives that Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio offers.

All About Processes

This section describes what comprises a business process and how you can author and test them using Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio.

KIE

This section highlights the KIE API with detailed description of how to create, build, deploy, and run KIE projects.

Appendix

This section comprises important reference material such as key knowledge terms, and examples.

Audience

This book has been designed to be understood by:

Author of rules and processes who are responsible for authoring and testing business rules and processes using Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio.

Java application developers responsible for developing and integrating business rules and processes into Java and Java EE enterprise applications.

Prerequisites

Users of this guide must meet one or more of the following prerequisites:

Basic Java/Java EE programming experience

Knowledge of the Eclipse IDE, Maven, and GIT

Chapter 2. Red HatJBoss BRMS and Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Architecture

Red Hat JBoss Business Rules Management System

Red Hat JBoss BRMS is an open source business rule management system that provides rules development, access, change, and management capabilities. In today’s world, when IT organizations consistently face changes in terms of policies, new products, government imposed regulations, a system like JBoss BRMS makes it easy by separating business logic from the underlying code. It includes a rule engine, a rules development environment, a management system, and a repository. It allows both developers and business analysts to view, manage, and verify business rules as they are executed within an IT application infrastructure.

Red Hat JBoss BRMS can be executed in any Java EE-compliant container. It supports an open choice of authoring and management consoles and language and decision table inputs.

Red Hat JBoss BRMS Key Components

Red Hat JBoss BRMS comprises the following components:

Drools Expert

Drools Expert is a pattern matching based rule engine that runs on Java EE application servers, Red Hat JBoss BRMS platform, or bundled with Java applications. It comprises an inference engine, a production memory, and a working memory. Rules are stored in the production memory and the facts that the inference engine matches the rules against, are stored in the working memory.

Business Central

Business Central is a web interface intended for business analysts for creation and maintenance of business rules and rule artifacts. It is designed to ease creation, testing, and packaging of rules for business users.

Drools Flow

Drools flow provides business process capabilities to the Red Hat JBoss BRMS platform. This framework can be embedded into any Java application or can even run standalone on a server. A business process provides stepwise tasks using a flow chart, for the Rule Engine to execute.

Drools Fusion

Drools Fusion provides event processing capabilities to the Red Hat JBoss BRMS platform. Drools Fusion defines a set of goals to be achieved such as:

Support events as first class citizens.

Support detection, correlation, aggregation and composition of events.

Support processing streams of events.

Support temporal constraints in order to model the temporal relationships between events.

Drools Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

We encourage you to use Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio (JBDS) with Red Hat JBoss BRMS plug-ins to develop and test business rules. The Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio builds upon an extensible, open source Java-based IDE Eclipse providing platform and framework capabilities, making it ideal for Red Hat JBoss BRMS rules development.

Red Hat JBoss BRMS Features

The Red Hat JBoss BRMS provides the following key features:

centralized repository of business assets (JBoss BRMS artifacts),

IDE tools to define and govern decision logic,

building, deploying, and testing the decision logic,

packages of business assets,

categorization of business assets,

integration with development tools,

business logic and data separation,

business logic open to reuse and changes,

easy to maintain business logic,

enables several stakeholders (business analysts, developer, administrators) to contribute in defining the business logic.

Red Hat JBoss Business Process Management Suite

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite is an open source business process management system that combines business process management and business rules management. Red Hat JBoss BRMS offers tools to author rules and business processes, but does not provide tools to start or manage the business processes. Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite includes all the Red Hat JBoss BRMS functionalities, with additional capabilities of business activity monitoring, starting business processes, and managing tasks using Business Central. Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite also provides a central repository to store rules and processes.

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Key Components

The Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite comprises the following components:

JBoss BPM Central (Business Central)

Business Central is a web-based application for creating, editing, building, managing, and monitoring Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite business assets. It also allows execution of business processes and management of tasks created by those processes.

Business Activity Monitoring Dashboards

The Business Activity Monitor (BAM) dashboard provides report generation capabilities. It allows you to use a pre-difined dashboard and even create your own customized dashboard.

Maven Artifact Repository

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite projects are built as Apache Maven projects and the default location of the Maven repository is WORKING_DIRECTORY/repositories/kie. You can specify an alternate repository location by changing the org.guvnor.m2repo.dir property.

Each project builds a JAR artifact file called a kjar. You can store your project artifacts and dependent JARs in this repository.

Execution Engine

The Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite execution engine is responsible for executing business processes and managing the tasks, which result from these processes. Business Central provides a user interface for executing processes and managing tasks.

Note

To execute your business processes, you can use Business Central web application that bundles the execution engine, enabling a ready to use process execution environment. Alternatively, you can create your own execution server and embed the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite and Red Hat JBoss BRMS libraries with your application using the standard Java EE way.

For example, if you are developing a web application, include the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite or Red Hat JBoss BRMS libraries in the WEB-INF/lib folder of your application.

Business Central Repository

The business artifacts of a Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite project such as process models, rules, and forms are stored in Git repositories managed through the Business Central. You can also access these repositories outside of Business Central through the Git or SSH protocols.

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Features

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite provides the following features:

Pluggable human task service based on WS-HumanTask for including tasks that need to be performed by human actors.

Pluggable persistence and transactions (based on JPA/JTA).

Web-based process designer to support the graphical creation and simulation of your business processes (drag and drop).

Web-based data modeler and form modeler to support the creation of data models and process and task forms.

Web-based, customizable dashboards and reporting.

A web-based workbench called Business Central, supporting the complete BPM life cycle:

Modeling and deployment: to author your processes, rules, data models, forms and other assets.

Execution: to execute processes, tasks, rules and events on the core runtime engine.

Runtime Management: to work on assigned task, manage process instances.

Reporting: to keep track of the execution using Business Activity Monitoring capabilities.

Eclipse-based developer tools to support the modeling, testing and debugging of processes.

Remote API to process engine as a service (REST, JMS, Remote Java API).

Integration with Maven, Spring, and OSGi.

Supported Platforms

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite and Red Hat JBoss BRMS are supported on the following containers:

Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6.4,

Red Hat JBoss Web Server 2.1 (Tomcat 7) on JDK 1.7,

IBM WebSphere Application Server 8.5.5.0,

Oracle WebLogic Server 12.1.3 (12c).

Use Cases

Use Case: Business Decision Management in Insurance Industry with Red Hat JBoss BRMS

Red Hat JBoss BRMS comprises a high performance rule engine, a rule repository, easy to use rule authoring tools, and complex event processing rule engine extensions. The following use case describes how these features of Red Hat JBoss BRMS are implemented in insurance industry.

The consumer insurance market is extremely competitive, and it is imperative that customers receive efficient, competitive, and comprehensive services when visiting an online insurance quotation solution. An insurance provider increased revenue from their online quotation solution by upselling relevant, additional products during the quotation process to the visitors of the solution.

The diagram below shows integration of Red Hat JBoss BRMS with the insurance provider’s infrastructure. This integration is fruitful in such a way that when a request for insurance is processed, Red Hat JBoss BRMS is consulted and appropriate additional products are presented with the insurance quotation.

Figure 2.1. JBoss BRMS Use Case: Insurance Industry Decision Making

Red Hat JBoss BRMS provides the decision management functionality, that automatically determines the products to present to the applicant based on the rules defined by the business analysts. The rules are implemented as decision tables, so they can be easily understood and modified without requiring additional support from IT.

Use Case: Process-Based Solutions in Loan Industry

This section describes a use case of deploying Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite to automate business processes (such as loan approval process) at a retail bank. This use case is a typical process-based specific deployment that might be the first step in a wider adoption of Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite throughout an enterprise. It leverages features of both business rules and processes of Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite.

A retail bank offers several types of loan products each with varying terms and eligibility requirements. Customers requiring a loan must file a loan application with the bank. The bank then processes the application in several steps, such as verifying eligibility, determining terms, checking for fraudulent activity, and determining the most appropriate loan product. Once approved, the bank creates and funds a loan account for the applicant, who can then access funds. The bank must be sure to comply with all relevant banking regulations at each step of the process, and has to manage its loan portfolio to maximize profitability. Policies are in place to aid in decision making at each step, and those policies are actively managed to optimize outcomes for the bank.

Business analysts at the bank model the loan application processes using the BPMN2 authoring tools (Process Designer) in Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite. Here is the process flow:

Figure 2.2. High-Level Loan Application Process Flow

Business rules are developed with the rule authoring tools in Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite to enforce policies and make decisions. Rules are linked with the process models to enforce the correct policies at each process step.

The bank’s IT organization deploys the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite so that the entire loan application process can be automated.

Figure 2.3. Loan Application Process Automation

The entire loan process and rules can be modified at any time by the bank’s business analysts. The bank is able to maintain constant compliance with changing regulations, and is able to quickly introduce new loan products and improve loan policies in order to compete effectively and drive profitability.

Chapter 3. Maven Dependencies

Apache Maven is a distributed build automation tool used in Java application development to build and manage software projects. Apart from building, publishing, and deploying capabilities, using Maven for your Red Hat JBoss BRMS and Red Hat JBoss BPM suite projects ensures the following:

The build process is easy and a uniform build system is implemented across projects.

All the required jar files for a project are made available at compile time.

A proper project structure is set up.

Dependencies and versions are well managed.

No need for additional build processing, as Maven builds output into a number of predefined types, such as JAR and WAR.

Maven Repositories

Maven uses repositories to store Java libraries, plug-ins, and other build artifacts. These repositories can be local or remote. Red Hat JBoss BRMS and Red Hat JBoss BPM suite products maintain local and remote maven repositories that you can add to your project for accessing the rules, processes, events, and other project dependencies. You must configure Maven to use these repositories and the Maven Central Repository in order to provide correct build functionality.

When building projects and archetypes, Maven dynamically retrieves Java libraries and Maven plug-ins from local repositories or downloads then from remote repositories. This promotes sharing and reuse of dependencies across projects.

Using Maven Repository in Your Project

You can direct Maven to use the Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform Maven repository in your project in one of the following ways:

Configure the project’s POM file (pom.xml).

Modify the Maven settings file (settings.xml).

The recommended approach is to direct Maven to use the Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform Maven repository across all projects using the Maven global or user settings.

Maven Configuration File

To use Apache Maven for building and managing your Red Hat JBoss BRMS and Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite projects, you need to configure your projects to be built with Maven. To do so, Maven provides the Project Object Model or a pom.xml file that holds configuration details for your project.

The pom.xml is an XML file that contains information about the project (such as project name, version, description, developers, mailing list, and license), and build details (such as dependencies, location of the source, test, target directories, and plug-ins, repositories).

When you generate a project in Maven, it automatically generates the pom.xml file. You can edit this file to add more dependencies and new repositories. Maven downloads all the JAR files and the dependent jar files from the Maven repository when you compile and package your project.

The schema for the pom.xml file can be found at http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd.

For more information about POM files, see Apache Maven Project POM Reference.

Maven Settings File

The Maven settings file (settings.xml) is used to configure Maven execution. You can locate this file in the following locations:

In the Maven install directory at $M2_HOME/conf/settings.xml. These settings are called global settings.

In the user’s install directory at $USER_HOME/.m2/settings.xml. These settings are called user settings.

Folder location specified by the system property kie.maven.settings.custom.

Note that the actual settings used is a merge of the files located in these locations.

Here is an example of a Maven settings.xml file:

<settings>
  <profiles>
    <profile>
      <id>my-profile</id>
      <activation>
        <activeByDefault>true</activeByDefault>
      </activation>
      <repositories>
        <repository>
          <id>fusesource</id>
          <url>http://repo.fusesource.com/nexus/content/groups/public/</url>
          <snapshots>
            <enabled>false</enabled>
          </snapshots>
          <releases>
            <enabled>true</enabled>
          </releases>
        </repository>
        ...
      </repositories>
    </profile>
  </profiles>
  ...
</settings>

Here, the activeByDefault tag is used to activate the profile that specifies the remote repository.

Dependency Management

In order to use the correct Maven dependencies in your Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite project, you must add relevant Bill Of Materials (BOM) files to the project’s pom.xml file. Adding the BOM files ensures that the correct versions of transitive dependencies from the provided Maven repositories are included in the project.

The Maven repository in 6.1.0 onwards is designed to be used only in combination with Maven Central and no other repositories are required. Depending on your project requirements, declare the dependencies in your POM file in the dependencies section.

See the Supported Component Versions chapter of Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Installation Guide to view the supported BOM components.

Declare the BOM in pom.xml. For example:

Example 3.1. BOM for Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite 6.4.0

<dependencyManagement>
 <dependencies>
  <dependency>
   <groupId>org.jboss.bom.brms</groupId>
   <artifactId>jboss-brms-bpmsuite-platform-bom</artifactId>
   <version>6.4.0.GA-redhat-2</version>
   <type>pom</type>
   <scope>import</scope>
  </dependency>
 </dependencies>
</dependencyManagement>
<dependencies>
<!-- Your dependencies -->
</dependencies>

Furthermore, declare dependencies needed for your project in the dependencies tag.

For a basic Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite project, declare the following dependencies:

Embedded jBPM Engine Dependencies

<dependency>
  <groupId>org.jbpm</groupId>
  <artifactId>jbpm-kie-services</artifactId>
</dependency>

<!-- Dependency needed for default WorkItemHandler implementations. -->
<dependency>
  <groupId>org.jbpm</groupId>
  <artifactId>jbpm-workitems</artifactId>
</dependency>

<!-- Logging dependency. You can use any logging framework compatible with slf4j. -->
<dependency>
  <groupId>ch.qos.logback</groupId>
  <artifactId>logback-classic</artifactId>
  <version>${logback.version}</version>
</dependency>

For a basic Red Hat JBoss BRMS project, declare the following dependencies:

Embedded Drools Engine Dependencies

<dependency>
  <groupId>org.drools</groupId>
  <artifactId>drools-compiler</artifactId>
</dependency>

<!-- Dependency for persistence support. -->
<dependency>
  <groupId>org.drools</groupId>
  <artifactId>drools-persistence-jpa</artifactId>
</dependency>

<!-- Dependencies for decision tables, templates, and scorecards.
For other assets, declare org.drools:drools-workbench-models-* dependencies. -->
<dependency>
  <groupId>org.drools</groupId>
  <artifactId>drools-decisiontables</artifactId>
</dependency>
<dependency>
  <groupId>org.drools</groupId>
  <artifactId>drools-templates</artifactId>
</dependency>
<dependency>
  <groupId>org.drools</groupId>
  <artifactId>drools-scorecards</artifactId>
</dependency>

<!-- Dependency for loading KJARs from a Maven repository using KieScanner. -->
<dependency>
  <groupId>org.kie</groupId>
  <artifactId>kie-ci</artifactId>
</dependency>

<!-- Dependency for loading KJARs from a Maven repository using KieScanner in an OSGi environment. -->
<dependency>
  <groupId>org.kie</groupId>
  <artifactId>kie-ci-osgi</artifactId>
</dependency>

Do not use both kie-ci and kie-ci-osgi in one pom.xml file.

To use the Intelligent Process Server, declare the following dependencies:

Client Application Intelligent Process Server Dependencies

<dependency>
  <groupId>org.kie.server</groupId>
  <artifactId>kie-server-client</artifactId>
</dependency>
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.kie.server</groupId>
    <artifactId>kie-server-api</artifactId>
</dependency>

<!-- Dependency for Red Hat JBoss BRMS functionality. -->
<dependency>
  <groupId>org.drools</groupId>
  <artifactId>drools-core</artifactId>
</dependency>

To use assets in KJAR packaging, the preferred way is to include kie-maven-plugin:

Kie Maven Plugin

<!-- BOM does not resolve plugin versioning. Consult section Supported Components of Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Installation Guide for newest version number. -->

<packaging>kjar</packaging>
<build>
 <plugins>
  <plugin>
   <groupId>org.kie</groupId>
   <artifactId>kie-maven-plugin</artifactId>
   <version>6.5.0.Final-redhat-2</version>
   <extensions>true</extensions>
  </plugin>
 </plugins>
</build>

For testing purposes, declare the following dependencies:

Testing Dependencies

<!-- JUnit dependency -->
<dependency>
  <groupId>junit</groupId>
  <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
  <version>${junit.version}</version>
  <scope>test</scope>
</dependency>

<!-- Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite integration services dependency -->
<dependency>
  <groupId>org.jbpm</groupId>
  <artifactId>jbpm-shared-services</artifactId>
  <classifier>btm</classifier>
  <scope>test</scope>
</dependency>

<!-- Logging dependency -->
<dependency>
  <groupId>ch.qos.logback</groupId>
  <artifactId>logback-classic</artifactId>
  <version>${logback.version}</version>
  <scope>test</scope>
</dependency>

<!-- Persistence tests dependencies -->
<dependency>
  <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
  <artifactId>hibernate-entitymanager</artifactId>
  <version>${hibernate.version}</version>
  <scope>test</scope>
</dependency>
<dependency>
  <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
  <artifactId>hibernate-core</artifactId>
  <version>${hibernate.core.version}</version>
  <scope>test</scope>
</dependency>
<dependency>
  <groupId>com.h2database</groupId>
  <artifactId>h2</artifactId>
  <version>${h2.version}</version>
  <scope>test</scope>
</dependency>
<dependency>
  <groupId>org.codehaus.btm</groupId>
  <artifactId>btm</artifactId>
  <version>${btm.version}</version>
  <scope>test</scope>
</dependency>

Alternatively, for extensive testing of Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite, include the jbpm-test dependency. Note that jbpm-test includes some of the previous dependencies, for example the junit dependency, dependencies required for persistence tests, and others.

Declaring jbpm-test Dependency

<dependency>
  <groupId>org.jbpm</groupId>
  <artifactId>jbpm-test</artifactId>
</dependency>

Note

If you are deploying Red Hat JBoss BRMS or Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite on Red Hat JBoss EAP 7, you need to make changes to the project BOM files. For more information on the BOM changes, see the Red Hat JBoss EAP Migration chapter in the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Migration Guide.

For more information on BOM usage in Red Hat JBoss EAP 7, see the Using Maven with JBoss EAP chapter in the Red Hat JBoss EAP Development Guide.

Integrated Maven Dependencies

Throughout the Red Hat JBoss BRMS and BPM Suite documentation, various code samples are presented with KIE API for the 6.1.x releases. These code samples will require Maven dependencies in the various pom.xml file and should be included like the following example:

<dependency>
  <groupId>commons-logging</groupId>
  <artifactId>commons-logging</artifactId>
  <version>1.1.1-redhat-2</version>
  <scope>compile</scope>
</dependency>

All the Red Hat JBoss related product dependencies can be found at the following location: Red Hat Maven Repository.

Uploading Artifacts to Maven Repository

There may be scenarios when your project may fail to fetch dependencies from a remote repository configured in its pom.xml. In such cases, you can programmatically upload dependencies to Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite by uploading artifacts to the embedded maven repository through Business Central. Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite uses a servlet for the maven repository interactions. This servlet processes a GET request to download an artifact and a POST request to upload one. You can leverage the servlet’s POST request to upload an artifact to the repository using REST. To do this, implement the Http basic authentication and issue an HTTP POST request in the following format:

PROTOCOL://HOST_NAME:PORT/CONTEXT_ROOT/maven2/[GROUP_ID replacing '.' with '/']/ARTIFACT_ID/VERSION/ARTIFACT_ID-VERSION.jar

For example, to upload the org.slf4j:slf4j-api:1.7.7.jar, where ARTIFACT_ID is slf4j-api, GROUP_ID is slf4j, and VERSION is 1.7.7, the URI must be:

http://localhost:8080/business-central/maven2/org/slf4j/slf4j-api/1.7.7/slf4j-api-1.7.7.jar

The following example illustrates uploading a JAR located at /tmp directory as a user bpmsAdmin with the password abcd1234!, to an instance of Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite running locally:

package com.rhc.example;

import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;

import org.apache.http.HttpEntity;
import org.apache.http.HttpHost;
import org.apache.http.auth.AuthScope;
import org.apache.http.auth.UsernamePasswordCredentials;
import org.apache.http.client.AuthCache;
import org.apache.http.client.ClientProtocolException;
import org.apache.http.client.CredentialsProvider;
import org.apache.http.client.methods.CloseableHttpResponse;
import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpPost;
import org.apache.http.client.protocol.HttpClientContext;
import org.apache.http.entity.mime.HttpMultipartMode;
import org.apache.http.entity.mime.MultipartEntityBuilder;
import org.apache.http.entity.mime.content.FileBody;
import org.apache.http.impl.auth.BasicScheme;
import org.apache.http.impl.client.BasicAuthCache;
import org.apache.http.impl.client.BasicCredentialsProvider;
import org.apache.http.impl.client.CloseableHttpClient;
import org.apache.http.impl.client.HttpClients;
import org.slf4j.Logger;
import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;

public class UploadMavenArtifact {
  private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(UploadMavenArtifact.class);

  public static void main(String[] args) {

    // Maven coordinates:
    String groupId = "com.rhc.example";
    String artifactId = "bpms-upload-jar";
    String version = "1.0.0-SNAPSHOT";

    // File to upload:
    File file = new File("/tmp/"+artifactId+"-"+version+".jar");

    // Server properties:
    String protocol = "http";
    String hostname = "localhost";
    Integer port = 8080;
    String username = "bpmsAdmin";
    String password = "abcd1234!";

    // Create the HttpEntity (body of our POST):
    FileBody fileBody = new FileBody(file);
    MultipartEntityBuilder builder = MultipartEntityBuilder.create();
    builder.setMode(HttpMultipartMode.BROWSER_COMPATIBLE);
    builder.addPart("upfile", fileBody);
    HttpEntity entity = builder.build();

    // Calculate the endpoint from the Maven coordinates:
    String resource = "/business-central/maven2/" + groupId.replace('.', '/') + "/" + artifactId +"/" + version + "/" + artifactId + "-" + version + ".jar";

    LOG.info("POST " + hostname + ":" + port + resource);

    // Set up HttpClient to use Basic pre-emptive authentication with the provided credentials:
    HttpHost target = new HttpHost(hostname, port, protocol);
    CredentialsProvider credsProvider = new BasicCredentialsProvider();
    credsProvider.setCredentials(
      new AuthScope(target.getHostName(), target.getPort()),
      new UsernamePasswordCredentials(username,password));
    CloseableHttpClient httpclient = HttpClients.custom().setDefaultCredentialsProvider(credsProvider).build();
    HttpPost httpPost = new HttpPost(resource);
    httpPost.setEntity(entity);
    AuthCache authCache = new BasicAuthCache();
    BasicScheme basicAuth = new BasicScheme();
    authCache.put(target, basicAuth);
    HttpClientContext localContext = HttpClientContext.create();
    localContext.setAuthCache(authCache);

    try {
      // Perform the HTTP POST:
      CloseableHttpResponse response = httpclient.execute(target, httpPost, localContext);
      LOG.info(response.toString());
      // Now check your artifact repository!
    } catch (ClientProtocolException e) {
      LOG.error("Protocol Error", e);
      throw new RuntimeException(e);
    } catch (IOException e) {
      LOG.error("IOException while getting response", e);
      throw new RuntimeException(e);
    }
  }
}

Alternative Maven Approach

An alternative Maven approach is to configure your projects pom.xml by adding the repository as shown below:

<distributionManagement>
  <repository>
    <id>guvnor-m2-repo</id>
    <name>maven repo</name>
    <url>http://localhost:8080/business-central/maven2/</url>
    <layout>default</layout>
  </repository>
</distributionManagement>

Once you specify the repository information in the pom.xml, add the corresponding configuration in settings.xml as shown below:

<server>
  <id>guvnor-m2-repo</id>
  <username>bpmsAdmin</username>
  <password>abcd1234!</password>
  <configuration>
    <wagonProvider>httpclient</wagonProvider>
    <httpConfiguration>
      <all>
        <usePreemptive>true</usePreemptive>
      </all>
    </httpConfiguration>
  </configuration>
</server>

Now when you run the mvn deploy command, the JAR file gets uploaded.

Deploying Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Artifacts to Red Hat JBoss Fuse

Red Hat JBoss Fuse is an open source Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) with an elastic footprint and is based on Apache Karaf. The 6.4 version of Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite supports deployment of runtime artifacts to Fuse.

With the 6.1 release, Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite runtime components (in the form of JARs) are OSGi enabled. The runtime engines JARs MANIFEST.MF files describe their dependencies, amongst other things. You can plug these JARs directly into an OSGi environment, like Fuse.

POM Parser Limitations in OSGi Environments

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite uses a scanner to enable continuous integration and resolution/fetching of artifacts from remote Maven repositories. This scanner, called KIE-CI, uses a native Maven parser called Plexus to parse Maven POMs. However, this parser is not OSGi compatible and fails to instantiate in an OSGi environment. KIE-CI automatically switches to a simpler POM parser called MinimalPomParser.

The MinimalPomParser is a very simple POM parser implementation provided by Drools and is limited in what it can parse. It ignores some POM file parts, like a kJAR’s parent POM. This means that users must not rely on those POM features (such as dependencies declared in parent POM in their kJARs) when using KIE-CI in OSGi environment.

Separating Assets and Code

One of the main advantage of deploying Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite artifacts on Red Hat JBoss Fuse is that each bundle is isolated, running in its own classloader. This allows you to separate the logic (code) from the assets. Business users can produce and change the rules and processes (assets) and package them in their own bundle, keeping them separate from the project bundle (code), created by the developer team. Assets can be updated without needing to change the project code.

Chapter 4. Install and Set up Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio

Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio is the JBoss Integrated Development Environment (IDE) based on Eclipse. Get the latest Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio from the Red Hat Customer Portal. Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio provides plug-ins with tools and interfaces for Red Hat JBoss BRMS and Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite. These plugins are based on the community version of these products. So, the Red Hat JBoss BRMS plug-in is called the Drools plug-in and the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite plug-in is called the jBPM plug-in.

See the Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio documentation for installation and setup instructions.

Warning

Due to an issue in the way multi-byte rule names are handled, you must ensure that the instance of Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio is started with the file encoding set to UTF-8. You can do this by editing the $JBDS_HOME/studio/jbdevstudio.ini file and adding the following property: "-Dfile.encoding=UTF-8".

Installing Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio Plug-ins

Get the latest Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio version 8 from the Red Hat Customer Portal. The Red Hat JBoss BRMS and Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite plug-ins for Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio are available using the update site.

Installing Red Hat JBoss BRMS and Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Plug-ins in Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio 8

Start Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio.

Select Help → Install New Software.

Click Add to enter the Add Repository menu.

Provide a name for the software site in the Name field and add the following URL into the Location field: https://devstudio.jboss.com/updates/8.0/integration-stack/.

Click OK.

Select the JBoss Business Process and Rule Development from the available options and click Next and then Next again.

Read and accept the license by selecting the appropriate radio button, and click Finish.

You must restart Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio, after the installation of the plug-ins has completed.

Configuring Red Hat JBoss BRMS/BPM Suite Server

Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio can be configured to run the Red Hat JBoss BRMS and Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite server.

Configuring Red Hat JBoss BRMS and Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Server

Open the Drools view: go to Window → Open Perspective → Other, select Drools and click OK.

To open the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite view, go to Window → Open Perspective → Other, select jBPM and click OK.

Add the server view: go to Window → Show View → Other…​ and select Server → Servers.

Open the server menu by right clicking the Servers panel and selecting New → Server.

Define the server by selecting JBoss Enterprise Middleware → JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6.1+ and clicking Next.

Set the home directory by clicking Browse button. Navigate to and select the installation directory for Red Hat JBoss EAP which has Red Hat JBoss BRMS installed.

For configuring Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite server, select the installation directory which has Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite installed.

Provide a name for the server in the Name field, make sure that the configuration file is set, and click Finish.

Importing Projects from Git Repository into Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio

You can configure Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio to connect to a central Git asset repository. The repository stores rules, models, functions, and processes.

You can either clone a remote Git repository or import a local Git repository.

Cloning Remote Git Repository

Start the Red Hat JBoss BRMS/BPM Suite server (whichever is applicable): select the server from the Server tab and click the start icon.

Simultaneously, start the Secure Shell server, if not running already, by using the following command. The command is Linux and Mac specific only. On these platforms, if sshd has already been started, this command fails. In that case, you may safely ignore this step.

/sbin/service sshd start

In Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio , select File → Import…​ and navigate to the Git folder. Open the Git folder to select Projects from Git and click Next.

Select the repository source as Clone URI and click Next.

Enter the details of the Git repository in the next window and click Next.

Figure 4.1. Git Repository Details

Select the branch you wish to import in the following window and click Next.

To define the local storage for this project, enter (or select) a non-empty directory, make any configuration changes and click Next.

Import the project as a general project in the following window and click Next.

Name the project and click Finish.

Importing Local Git Repository

Start the Red Hat JBoss BRMS/BPM Suite server (whichever is applicable) by selecting the server from the Server tab and click the start icon.

In Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio, select File → Import…​ and navigate to the Git folder. Open the Git folder to select Projects from Git and click Next.

Select the repository source as Existing local repository and click Next.

Figure 4.2. Git Repository Details

Select the repository that is to be configured from the list of available repositories and click Next.

In the dialog window that opens, select the Import as general project radio button from the Wizard for project import group and click Next.

Name the project and click Finish.

Figure 4.3. Wizard for Project Import

Part II. All About Rules

Chapter 5. Rule Algorithms

PHREAK Algorithm

The new PHREAK algorithm is evolved from the RETE algorithm. While RETE is considered eager and data oriented, PHREAK on the other hand follows lazy and goal oriented approach. The RETE algorithm does a lot of work during the insert, update and delete actions in order to find partial matches for all rules. In case of PHREAK, this partial matching of rule is delayed deliberately.

The eagerness of RETE algorithm during rule matching wastes a lot of time in case of large systems as it does result in a rule firing eventually. PHREAK algorithm addresses this issue and therefore is able to handle large data more efficiently.

PHREAK is derived from a number of algorithms including the following LEAPS, RETE/UL and Collection-Oriented Match algorithms.

In addition to the enhancements listed in the Rete00 algorithm, PHREAK algorithm adds the following set of enhancements:

Three layers of contextual memory: Node, Segment, and Rule memories.

Rule, segment, and node based linking.

Lazy (delayed) rule evaluation.

Stack-based evaluations with pause and resume.

Isolated rule evaluation.

Set-oriented propagations.

Rule Evaluation With PHREAK Algorithm

When the rule engine starts, all the rules are unlinked. At this stage, there is no rule evaluation. The insert, update, and deletes actions are queued before entering the beta network. The rule engine uses a simple heuristic, based on the rule most likely to result in firings, to calculate and select the next rule for evaluation. This delays the evaluation and firing of the other rules. When a rule has all the right input values populated, it gets linked in. That means, a goal representing this rule is created and placed into a priority queue, which is ordered by salience. Each queue is associated with an AgendaGroup. The engine only evaluates rules for the active AgendaGroup by inspecting the queue and popping the goal for the rule with the highest salience. So the work done shifts from the insert, update, delete phase to the fireAllRules phase. Only the rule for which the goal was created is evaluated and other potential rule evaluations are delayed. While individual rules are evaluated, node sharing is still achieved through the process of segmentation.

Unlike the tuple oriented RETE, the PHREAK propagation is collection-oriented. So for the rule being evaluated, the engine accesses the first node and processes all queued insert, update, and deletes. The results are added to a set and the set is propagated to the child node. In the child node, all queued insert, update, and deletes are processed, adding the results to the same set. Once finished, this set is propagated to the next child node, and so on until the terminal node is reached. This creates a batch process effect which can provide performance advantages for certain rule constructs.

This linking and unlinking of rules happens through a layered bit mask system, based on network segmentation. When the rule network is built, segments are created for nodes that are shared by the same set of rules. A rule itself is made up from a path of segments. In case when there is no sharing of the node, it becomes a single segment.

A bit-mask offset is assigned to each node in the segment. Also another bit mask is assigned to each segment in the rule’s path. When there is at least one input, the node’s bit is set to on state. When each node has its bit set to on state, the segment’s bit is also set to on state. If any node’s bit is set to off state, the segment is also set to off state. If each segment in the rule’s path is set to on state, the rule is said to be linked in and a goal is created to schedule the rule for evaluation. The same bit-mask technique is used to also track dirty node, segments and rules. This allows for an already linked rule to be scheduled for evaluation if it is considered dirty since it was last evaluated. This ensures that no rule will ever evaluate partial matches.

As opposed to a single unit of memory in RETE, PHREAK has three levels of memory. This allows for much more contextual understanding during evaluation of a rule.

Rete Algorithm

ReteOO

The Rete implementation used in BRMS is called ReteOO. It is an enhanced and optimized implementation of the Rete algorithm specifically for object-oriented systems. The Rete Algorithm has now been deprecated, and PHREAK is an enhancement of Rete. However, Rete can still be used by developers. This section describes how the Rete Algorithm functions.

Rete Root Node

Figure 5.1. ReteNode

When using ReteOO, the root node is where all objects enter the network. From there, it immediately goes to the ObjectTypeNode.

ObjectTypeNode

The ObjectTypeNode helps to reduce the workload of the rules engine. If there are several objects, the rule engine wastes a lot of cycles trying to evaluate every node against every object. To make things efficient, the ObjectTypeNode is used so that the engine only passes objects to the nodes that match the object’s type. This way, if an application asserts a new Account, it does not propagate to the nodes for the Order object.

In Red Hat JBoss BRMS, an inserted object retrieves a list of valid ObjectTypesNodes through a lookup in a HashMap from the object’s class. If this list does not exist, it scans all the ObjectTypeNodes to find valid matches. It then caches these matched nodes in the list. This enables Red Hat JBoss BRMS to match against any class type that matches with an instanceof check.

AlphaNodes

AlphaNodes are used to evaluate literal conditions. When a rule has multiple literal conditions for a single object type, they are linked together. This means that if an application asserts an Account object, it must first satisfy the first literal condition before it can proceed to the next AlphaNode.

AlphaNodes are propagated using ObjectTypeNodes.

Hashing

Red Hat JBoss BRMS uses hashing to extend Rete by optimizing the propagation from ObjectTypeNode to AlphaNode. Each time an AlphaNode is added to an ObjectTypeNode, it adds the literal value as a key to the HashMap with the AlphaNode as the value. When a new instance enters the ObjectType node, rather than propagating to each AlphaNode, it retrieves the correct AlphaNode from the HashMap. This avoids unnecessary literal checks.

When facts enter from one side, you may do a hash lookup returning potentially valid candidates (referred to as indexing). At any point a valid join is found, the Tuple joins with the Object (referred to as a partial match) and then propagates to the next node.

BetaNodes

BetaNodes are used to compare two objects and their fields. The objects may be of the same or different types.

Alpha Memory

Alpha memory refers to the left input on a BetaNode. In Red Hat JBoss BRMS, this input remembers all incoming objects.

Beta Memory

Beta memory is the term used to refer to the right input of a BetaNode. It remembers all incoming tuples.

Lookups with BetaNodes

When facts enter from one side, you can do a hash lookup returning potentially valid candidates (referred to as indexing). If a valid join is found, the Tuple joins with the Object (referred to as a partial match) and then propagates to the next node.

LeftInputNodeAdapters

A LeftInputNodeAdapter takes an Object as an input and propagates a single Object Tuple.

Terminal Nodes

Terminal nodes are used to indicate when a single rule matches all its conditions (that is, the rule has a full match). A rule with an OR conditional disjunctive connective results in a sub-rule generation for each possible logical branch. Because of this, one rule can have multiple terminal nodes.

Node Sharing

Node sharing is used to prevent redundancy. As many rules repeat the same patterns, node sharing allows users to collapse those patterns so that the patterns need not be reevaluated for every single instance.

The following rules share the first pattern but not the last:

rule
when
  Cheese($cheddar : name == "cheddar")
  $person: Person(favouriteCheese == $cheddar)
then
  System.out.println($person.getName() + "likes cheddar");
end

rule
when
  Cheese($cheddar : name == "cheddar")
  $person : Person(favouriteCheese != $cheddar)
then
  System.out.println($person.getName() + " does not like cheddar");
end

The Rete network displayed below denotes that the alpha node is shared but the beta nodes are not. Each beta node has its own TerminalNode.

Figure 5.2. Node Sharing

Switching Between PHREAK and ReteOO

Switching Using System Properties

To switch between the PHREAK algorithm and the ReteOO algorithm, you need to edit the drools.ruleEngine system property with one the following values:

drools.ruleEngine=phreak

or

drools.ruleEngine=reteoo

The previous value of phreak is the default value.

The Maven GAV (Group, Artifact, Version) value for ReteOO is depicted below:

<dependency>
  <groupId>org.drools</groupId>
  <artifactId>drools-reteoo</artifactId>
  <version>${drools.version}</version>
</dependency>

For the supported Maven artifact version, see Supported Component Versions of the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Installation Guide.

Switching in KieBaseConfiguration

When creating a particular KieBase, you can specify the rule engine algorithm in the KieBaseConfiguration:

import org.kie.api.KieBase;
import org.kie.api.KieBaseConfiguration;
import org.kie.api.KieServices;
import org.kie.api.runtime.KieContainer;
...

KieServices kservices = KieServices.Factory.get();
KieBaseConfiguration kconfig = kieServices.Factory.get().newKieBaseConfiguration();

// You can either specify phreak (default):
kconfig.setOption(RuleEngineOption.PHREAK);

// or legacy ReteOO:
kconfig.setOption(RuleEngineOption.RETEOO);

// ... and then create a KieBase for the selected algorithm
// (getKieClasspathContainer() is just an example):
KieContainer container = kservices.getKieClasspathContainer();
KieBase kbase = container.newKieBase(kieBaseName, kconfig);

Note

Switching to ReteOO requires drools-reteoo-(version).jar to exist on the classpath. If not, the BRMS Engine reverts back to PHREAK and issues a warning. This applies for switching with KieBaseConfiguration and system properties.

Chapter 6. Getting Started with Rules and Facts

To create business rules, you need an appropriate fact model on which your business rules will operate. A fact is an instance of an application object represented as a POJO. You then author rules containing the business logic using either the Business Central web interface or your Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio.

The conditions on the when clause of a rule, query for fact combinations that match it’s criteria. So, when a particular set of conditions occur as specified in your rule’s when clause, then the specified list of actions in the then clause are executed. A rule’s action asserts a fact, retracts a fact, or updates a fact on to the Rule engine. As a result, other rules may then be fired.

This is how rules are processed:

BRMS parses all the .drl rule files into the knowledge base.

Each fact is asserted into the working memory. As the facts are asserted, BRMS uses PHREAK or RETE algorithm to infer how the facts relate to the rules. So the working memory now contains a copy of the parsed rules and a reference to the facts.

The fireAllRules() method is called. This triggers all the interactions between facts and rules and the rule engine evaluates all the rules against all the facts and concludes which rules should be fired against which facts.

All the rule-facts combination (when a particular rule matches against one or more sets of facts), are queued within a data construct called an agenda.

Finally, activations are processed one-by-one from the agenda, calling the consequence of the rule on the facts that activated it. Note that the firing of an activation on the agenda can modify the contents of the agenda before the next activation is fired. The PHREAK or RETE algorithm are used to handle such situations efficiently.

Create Your First Rule

In this section, you will learn to create and execute your first rule.

As with most Java applications, you can create a rule in plain Java and that is what we will start with. This will allow you to get comfortable with the idea of using rules without getting distracted with tooling.

Since a lot of developers are more comfortable with using Maven, we will next show you how to create the same rule using Maven. We will then move on to creating (and executing) the same rule using JBoss Developer Studio with the Red Hat JBoss BRMS plug-in. Finally, we will move to creating and executing the same rule in the Business Central environment of Red Hat JBoss BRMS.

This will help you decide which environment is right for you to learn about rules. Let’s get started.

Creating and Executing Your First Rule Using Plain Java

Create and Execute Your First Rule Using Plain Java

Create your fact model:

Create a POJO based on which your rule runs. For example, create a Person.java file in a directory called my-project. The Person class contains the getter and setter methods to retrieve and set values of first name, last name, hourly rate, and wage of a person:

import org.kie.api.KieServices;
import org.kie.api.runtime.KieContainer;
import org.kie.api.runtime.KieSession;

  public class Person {
    private String firstName;
    private String lastName;
    private Integer hourlyRate;
    private Integer wage;

    public String getFirstName() {
      return firstName;
    }

    public void setFirstName(String firstName) {
      this.firstName = firstName;
    }

    public String getLastName() {
      return lastName;
    }

    public void setLastName(String lastName) {
      this.lastName = lastName;
    }

    public Integer getHourlyRate() {
      return hourlyRate;
    }

    public void setHourlyRate(Integer hourlyRate) {
      this.hourlyRate = hourlyRate;
    }

    public Integer getWage(){
      return wage;
    }

    public void setWage(Integer wage){
      this.wage = wage;
    }
  }

Create your rule:

Create your rule file in .drl format under my-project directory. Here is a simple rule file Person.drl, which does a calculation on the wage and hourly rate values and displays a message based on the result.

dialect "java"

rule "Wage"
  when
    Person(hourlyRate * wage > 100)
    Person(name : firstName, surname : lastName)
  then
    System.out.println("Hello" + " " + name + " " + surname + "!");
    System.out.println("You are rich!");
end

Create a main class:

Create your main class (say, DroolsTest.java) and save it in the same my-project directory as your POJO. This file will load the knowledge base and fire your rules:

In the DroolsTest.java file:

Add the following import statements to import the KIE services, container, and session:

import org.kie.api.KieServices;
import org.kie.api.runtime.KieContainer;
import org.kie.api.runtime.KieSession;

Load the knowledge base and fire your rule from the main() method:

public class DroolsTest {
  public static final void main(String[] args) {
    try {
      // Load the knowledge base:
      KieServices ks = KieServices.Factory.get();
      KieContainer kContainer = ks.getKieClasspathContainer();
      KieSession kSession = kContainer.newKieSession();

      // Go!
      Person p = new Person();
      p.setWage(12);
      p.setFirstName("Tom");
      p.setLastName("Summers");
      p.setHourlyRate(10);

      kSession.insert(p);
      kSession.fireAllRules();
    }

    catch (Throwable t) {
      t.printStackTrace();
    }
  }
}

The main() method passes the model to the rule, which contains the first name, last name, wage, and hourly rate.

Download the Red Hat JBoss BRMS Core Engine JAR files:

Download the Red Hat JBoss BRMS Core Engine JAR files and save them under my-project/BRMS-engine-jars/. These files are available at the Red Hat Customer Portal.

Create a kmodule.xml metadata file:

Create a file called kmodule.xml under my-project/META-INF to create the default session. At the minimum, this file contains the following:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<kmodule xmlns="http://www.drools.org/xsd/kmodule">
</kmodule>

Build your example:

Navigate to the my-project directory and execute the following command from the command line:

javac -classpath "./BRMS-engine-jars/*:." DroolsTest.java

This will compile and build your Java files.

Run your example:

If there were no compilation errors, you can now run the DroolsTest to execute your rule:

java -classpath "./BRMS-engine-jars/*:." DroolsTest

The expected output is:

Hello Tom Summers!
You are rich!

Creating and Executing Your First Rule Using Maven

Create and Execute Your First Rule Using Maven

Create a basic Maven archetype:

Navigate to a directory of choice in your system and execute the following command:

mvn archetype:generate -DgroupId=com.sample.app -DartifactId=my-app  -DarchetypeArtifactId=maven-archetype-quickstart -DinteractiveMode=false

This creates a directory called my-app with the following structure:

my-app
|-- pom.xml
`-- src
    |-- main
    |   `-- java
    |       `-- com
    |           `-- mycompany
    |               `-- app
    |                   `-- App.java
    `-- test
        `-- java
            `-- com
                `-- mycompany
                    `-- app
                        `-- AppTest.java

The my-app directory comprises:

A src/main directory for storing your application’s sources.

A src/test directory for storing your test sources.

A pom.xml file containing the Project Object Model (POM) for your project. At this stage, the pom.xml file contains the following:

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
  <groupId>com.sample.app</groupId>
  <artifactId>my-app</artifactId>
  <packaging>jar</packaging>
  <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
  <name>my-app</name>
  <url>http://maven.apache.org</url>
  <dependencies>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>junit</groupId>
      <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
      <version>3.8.1</version>
      <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>
  </dependencies>
</project>

Create your fact model:

Once you are done with the archetype, create a class based on which your rule runs. Create a POJO called Person.java file under my-app/src/main/java/com/mycompany/app folder. This class contains the getter and setter methods to retrieve and set values of first name, last name, hourly rate, and wage of a person.

package com.mycompany.app;

  public class Person {

    private String firstName;
    private String lastName;
    private Integer hourlyRate;
    private Integer wage;

    public String getFirstName() {
      return firstName;
    }

    public void setFirstName(String firstName) {
      this.firstName = firstName;
    }

    public String getLastName() {
      return lastName;
    }

    public void setLastName(String lastName) {
      this.lastName = lastName;
    }

    public Integer getHourlyRate() {
      return hourlyRate;
    }

    public void setHourlyRate(Integer hourlyRate) {
      this.hourlyRate = hourlyRate;
    }

    public Integer getWage(){
      return wage;
    }

    public void setWage(Integer wage){
      this.wage = wage;
    }
  }

Create your rule:

Create your rule file in .drl format under my-app/src/main/resources/rules.

Here is the simple rule file called Person.drl, which imports the Person class:

package com.mycompany.app;
import com.mycompany.app.Person;

dialect "java"

rule "Wage"
  when
    Person(hourlyRate * wage > 100)
    Person(name : firstName, surname : lastName)
  then
    System.out.println("Hello " + name + " " + surname + "!");
    System.out.println("You are rich!");
end

As before, this rule does a simple calculation on the wage and hourly rate values and displays a message based on the result.

Create a kmodule.xml metadata file:

Create an empty file called kmodule.xml under my-app/src/main/resources/META-INF to create the default session. This file contains the following:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<kmodule xmlns="http://www.drools.org/xsd/kmodule">
</kmodule>

Set project dependencies in the pom.xml configuration file:

As Maven manages the classpath through this configuration file, you must declare in it the libraries your application requires. Edit the my-app/pom.xml file to set the Red Hat JBoss BRMS dependencies and set up the Group, Artifact, and Version (GAV) values for your application, as shown below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
<groupId>com.mycompany.app</groupId>
<artifactId>my-app</artifactId>
<version>1.0.0</version>
<repositories>
  <repository>
    <id>jboss-ga-repository</id>
	<url>http://maven.repository.redhat.com/ga/</url>
  </repository>
</repositories>
<dependencies>
  <dependency>
    <groupId>org.drools</groupId>
    <artifactId>drools-compiler</artifactId>
    <version>${version}</version>
  </dependency>
  <dependency>
    <groupId>org.kie</groupId>
    <artifactId>kie-api</artifactId>
    <version>${version}</version>
  </dependency>
  <dependency>
    <groupId>junit</groupId>
    <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
    <version>4.11</version>
    <scope>test</scope>
  </dependency>
</dependencies>
</project>

For the supported Maven artifact version, see Supported Component Versions of the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Installation Guide.

Test it:

After you add the dependencies in the pom.xml file, use the testApp method of the my-app/src/test/java/com/mycompany/app/AppTest.java (which is created by default by Maven) to instantiate and test the rule.

In the AppTest.java file:

Add the following import statements to import the KIE services, container, and session:

import org.kie.api.KieServices;
import org.kie.api.runtime.KieContainer;
import org.kie.api.runtime.KieSession;

Load the knowledge base and fire your rule from the testApp() method:

public void testApp() {

  // Load the knowledge base:
  KieServices ks = KieServices.Factory.get();
  KieContainer kContainer = ks.getKieClasspathContainer();
  KieSession kSession = kContainer.newKieSession();

  // Set up our Person fact model:
  Person p = new Person();
  p.setWage(12);
  p.setFirstName("Tom");
  p.setLastName("Summers");
  p.setHourlyRate(10);

  // Insert him into the session:
  kSession.insert(p);

  // And fire all rules on him:
  kSession.fireAllRules();

  // We can assert here, but the rule itself should output something
  // since the person's wage is more than our baseline rule.
}

The testApp() method passes the model to the rule, which contains the first name, last name, wage, and hourly rate.

Build your example:

Navigate to the my-app directory and execute the following command from the command line:

mvn clean install

When you run this command for the first time, it may take a while as Maven downloads all the artifacts required for this project such as Red Hat JBoss BRMS JAR files.

The expected output is:

Hello Tom Summers!
You are rich!
Tests run: 1, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0, Time elapsed: 1.194 sec

Results :

Tests run: 1, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0

[INFO]
...

[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESS
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time: 6.393 s
...
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------

That is it! You have run the rule using Maven!

Creating and Executing Your First Rule Using Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio

Create and Execute Your First Rule Using Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio

To execute a rule project in Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio successfully, ensure that you have installed the Red Hat JBoss BRMS tools plug-in support, and configured the Red Hat JBoss EAP 6 running BRMS and the BRMS runtime.

Create a BRMS project:

Start Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio and navigate to File → New → Project.

This opens a New Project dialog box.

In the New Project dialog box, select Drools → Drools Project and click Next.

Type a name for your project and click Next.

The New Project dialog box provides you choice to add some default artifacts to your project, such as sample rules, decision tables, and Java classes for them. Let us select the first two check boxes and click Next.

Select the configured BRMS runtime in the Drools Runtime dialog box. If you have not already configured your BRMS runtime, click Configure Workspace Settings…​ link and configure the BRMS runtime JARs.

Select Drools 6.0.x for Generate code compatible with: field and provide values for groupId, artifactId, and version. These values form your project’s fully qualified artifact name. Let us provide the following values:

groupId: com.mycompany.app

artifactId: my-app

version: 1.0.0

Click Finish.

This sets up a basic project structure, classpath, and sample rules for you to get started with.

My-Project
 `-- src/main/java
    |-- com.sample
    |   `-- DroolsTest.java
    |
 `-- src/main/rules
    | -- Sample.drl
    |
 `-- JRE System Library
    |
 `-- Drools Library
    |
 `-- src
    |
 `-- pom.xml

This newly created project called My-Project comprises the following:

A rule file called Sample.drl under src/main/rules directory.

An example Java file called DroolsTest.java under src/main/java in the com.sample package. You can use the DroolsTest class to execute your rules in the BRMS engine.

The Drools Library directory. This acts as a custom classpath container that contains all the other JAR files necessary for execution.

Create your fact model:

The sample DroolsTest.java file contains a sample POJO called Message with getter and setter methods. You can edit this class or create another similar POJO. Let us remove this POJO and create a new POJO called Person, which sets and retrieves values of first name, last name, hourly rate, and wage of a person:

public static class Person {

  private String firstName;
  private String lastName;
  private Integer hourlyRate;
  private Integer wage;

  public String getFirstName() {
    return firstName;
  }

  public void setFirstName(String firstName) {
    this.firstName = firstName;
  }

  public String getLastName() {
    return lastName;
  }

  public void setLastName(String lastName) {
    this.lastName = lastName;
  }

  public Integer getHourlyRate() {
    return hourlyRate;
  }

  public void setHourlyRate(Integer hourlyRate) {
    this.hourlyRate = hourlyRate;
  }

  public Integer getWage(){
    return wage;
  }

  public void setWage(Integer wage){
    this.wage = wage;
  }
}

Update the main() method:

The sample DroolsTest.java file contains a main() method that loads up the knowledge base and fires the rules. Update this main() method to pass the Person object to the rule:

public static final void main(String[] args) {
  try {
    // Load the knowledge base:
    KieServices ks = KieServices.Factory.get();
    KieContainer kContainer = ks.getKieClasspathContainer();
    KieSession kSession = kContainer.newKieSession("ksession-rules");

    // Go!
    Person p = new Person();
    p.setWage(12);
    p.setFirstName("Tom");
    p.setLastName("Summers");
    p.setHourlyRate(10);

    kSession.insert(p);
    kSession.fireAllRules();
  }

  catch (Throwable t) {
    t.printStackTrace();
  }
}

Note

To load the knowledge base, you first get the KieServices instance and the classpath-based KieContainer. Then you build your KieSession with the KieContainer. Here, we are passing the session name ksession-rules that matches the one defined in kmodule.xml file.

Create your rule:

The sample rule file Sample.drl contains a basic skeleton of a rule. You can edit this file or create a new one to write your own rule.

In your rule file:

Include the package name:

package com.sample

Import facts into the rule:

import com.sample.DroolsTest.Person;

Create the rule in when–then format.

dialect "java"

rule "Wage"
  when
    Person(hourlyRate * wage > 100)
    Person(name : firstName, surname : lastName)
  then
    System.out.println("Hello" + " " + name + " " + surname + "!");
    System.out.println("You are rich!");
end

Test your rule:

Right-click the DroolsTest.java file and select Run As → Java Application.

Expected output at the console view:

Hello Tom Summers!
You are rich!

Creating and Executing Your First Rule Using Business Central

Prerequisite

Ensure that you have successfully installed Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite before you run this simple rule example using Business Central interface.

Create and Execute Your First Rule Using Business Central

Log in to Business Central:

On the command line, move into the $SERVER_HOME/bin/ directory and execute the following command for Unix environment:

./standalone.sh

and the following command for Windows environment:

./standalone.bat

Once your server is up and running, go to http://localhost:8080/business-central in a web browser.

This opens the Business Central login page.

Log in to the Business Central with the user credentials created during installation.

Create a repository structure and a project:

In the main menu of Business Central, go to Authoring → Administration.

Click Organizational Units → Manage Organizational Units, then click Add.

In the displayed Organizational Unit Manager view, click Add.

In the displayed Add New Organizational Unit dialog box, define the unit properties. For example:

Name: EmployeeWage

Owner: Employee

Click OK.

In the perspective menu, click Repositories → New repository.

In the displayed New Repository dialog box, define the repository properties. For example:

Repository Name: EmployeeRepo

In the Organizational Unit drop-down menu, select EmployeeWage.

Click Finish.

Go to Authoring → Project Authoring.

In the Project Explorer, under the organizational unit drop-down box, select EmployeeWage, and in the repository drop-down box select EmployeeRepo.

On the perspective menu, go to New Item → Project.

In the displayed New Project wizard, provide a name (for example, MyProject) for your project.

In the Group artifact version part of the wizard, define the Maven properties of the project. For example:

Group ID: org.bpms

Artifact ID: MyProject

Version ID: 1.0.0

Click Finish.

Create a fact model:

On the perspective menu, go to New Item → Data Object.

In the displayed Create new Data Object dialog box, provide the values for object name and package. For example:

Data Object: Person

Package: org.bpms.myproject

Click Ok.

Click add field button and on the New Field window, add a variable name in the Id field, select data type for the variable in the Type field. For example:

Id: firstName, Type: String

Id: lastName, Type: String

Id: hourlyRate, Type: Integer

Id: wage, Type: Integer

Click Create and continue button to add more fields. Once you have added all the fields, click Create and then save the changes.

Create a rule:

On the perspective menu, click New Item → DRL File.

In the Create new DRL file dialog box, provide the name and package name of your rule file. For example:

DRL file name: MyRule

Package: org.bpms.myproject

Click Ok.

In the displayed DRL editor with the MyRule.drl file, write your rule as shown below:

package org.bpms.myproject;

rule "MyRule"
ruleflow-group "MyProjectGroup"
  when
    Person(hourlyRate * wage > 100)
    Person(name : firstName, surname : lastName)
  then
    System.out.println("Hello" + " " + name + " " + surname + "!");
    System.out.println("You are rich!");
end

Click Save.

Create a business process and add a business rule task:

On the perspective menu, click New Item → Business Process.

In the Create new Business Process dialog box, provide values for business process name and package. For example:

Business Process: MyProcess

Package: org.bpms.myproject

Click Ok. The Process Designer opens with the canvas of the created Process definition.

Expand the Object Library palette with Process Elements.

A Start Event element appears on the canvas.

From the Object Library , navigate to Tasks and drag a Business Rule Task to the canvas. Then, connect Task with Start and End events.

Open the Properties panel to set the Variable Definition value. Click next to Variable Definitions to open the Editor of Variable Definitions window. Provide variable definition values, for example:

Name: person

Defined Types: Person[org.bpms.myproject]

Click Ok.

Select the Business Rule Task and set the following values in the Properties panel under Core Properties:

Name: My_Rule

Ruleflow Group: Click and select MyProjectGroup from the Editor of RuleFlow Groups window. Click Save.

Assigments: Click to open the Data I/O editor. Add values for Data Inputs and Assignments. In this example, in the My_Rule Data I/O editor, click +Add to add the Data Inputs and Assignments values:

Name: Person

Data Type: Person[org.bpms.myproject]

Source: person

Click Save to save the assigment values.

You have now successfully created an object that maps to the variables you have set in your fact model. Your business process passes this object as an input to your rule.

Click Generate all Forms ( development guide 6565 ).

Save the process.

Build and deploy your rule:

Open Project Editor and click Build & Deploy.

A green notification appears in the upper part of the screen informing you that the project has been built and deployed successfully to the Execution Server.

Go to Process Management → Process Definitions.

You can see your newly built process listed in the Process Definitions window.

Click Start button under Actions to start your process.

A MyProcess dialog box opens.

In the MyProcess dialog box, provide the following values of the variables defined in your fact model and click Submit:

firstName: Tom

hourlyRate: 12

lastName: Summers

wage: 10

As these values satisfy the rule condition, the expected output at the console is:

16:19:58,479 INFO  [org.jbpm.kie.services.impl.store.DeploymentSynchronizer] (http-/127.0.0.1:8080-1) Deployment unit org.bpms:MyProject:1.0 stored successfully
16:26:56,119 INFO  [stdout] (http-/127.0.0.1:8080-5) Hello Tom Summers!
16:26:56,119 INFO  [stdout] (http-/127.0.0.1:8080-5) You are rich!

Execution of Rules

Agenda

The Agenda is a Rete feature. During actions on the WorkingMemory, rules may become fully matched and eligible for execution. A single Working Memory Action can result in multiple eligible rules. When a rule is fully matched an Activation is created, referencing the rule and the matched facts, and placed onto the Agenda. The Agenda controls the execution order of these Activations using a Conflict Resolution strategy.

Agenda Processing

The engine cycles repeatedly through two phases:

Working Memory Actions. This is where most of the work takes place, either in the Consequence (the RHS itself) or the main Java application process. Once the Consequence has finished or the main Java application process calls fireAllRules() the engine switches to the Agenda Evaluation phase.

Agenda Evaluation. This attempts to select a rule to fire. If no rule is found it exits, otherwise it fires the found rule, switching the phase back to Working Memory Actions.

The process repeats until the agenda is clear, in which case control returns to the calling application. When Working Memory Actions are taking place, no rules are being fired.

Conflict Resolution

Conflict resolution is required when there are multiple rules on the agenda. As firing a rule may have side effects on the working memory, the rule engine needs to know in what order the rules should fire (for instance, firing ruleA may cause ruleB to be removed from the agenda).

AgendaGroup

Agenda groups are a way to partition rules on the agenda. At any one time, only one group has "focus" which means that activations for rules in that group only will take effect. You can also have rules with "auto focus" which means that the focus is taken for its agenda group when that rule’s conditions are true.

Agenda groups are known as "modules" in CLIPS terminology. Agenda groups provide a way to create a "flow" between grouped rules. You can switch the group which has focus either from within the rule engine, or via the API. If your rules have a clear need for multiple "phases" or "sequences" of processing, consider using agenda-groups for this purpose.

setFocus()

Each time setFocus() is called it pushes the specified Agenda Group onto a stack. When the focus group is empty it is popped from the stack and the focus group that is now on top evaluates. An Agenda Group can appear in multiple locations on the stack. The default Agenda Group is "MAIN", with all rules which do not specify an Agenda Group being in this group. It is also always the first group on the stack, given focus initially, by default.

setFocus() Example

This is what the setFocus() element looks like:

ksession.getAgenda().getAgendaGroup("Group A").setFocus();

ActivationGroup

An activation group is a set of rules bound together by the same activation-group rule attribute. In this group only one rule can fire, and after that rule has fired all the other rules are cancelled from the agenda. The clear() method can be called at any time, which cancels all of the activations before one has had a chance to fire.

ActivationGroup Example

This is what an ActivationGroup looks like:

ksession.getAgenda().getActivationGroup("Group B").clear();

Inference

The Inference Engine

The inference engine is the part of the Red Hat JBoss BRMS engine which matches production facts and data to rules. It is often called the brain of a Production Rules System as it is able to scale to a large number of rules and facts. It makes inferences based on its existing knowledge and performs the actions based on what it infers from the information.

The rules are stored in the production memory and the facts that the inference engine matches against, are stored in the working memory. Facts are asserted into the working memory where they may get modified or retracted. A system with a large number of rules and facts may result in many rules being true for the same fact assertion. Such conflicting rules are managed using a conflict resolution strategy. This strategy determines the order of execution of the rules by assigning a priority level to each rule.

Inferences can be forward chaining or backward chaining. In a forward chaining inference mechanism, when some data gets inserted into the working memory, the related rules are triggered and if the data satisfies the rule conditions, corresponding actions are taken. These actions may insert new data into the working memory and therefore trigger more rules and so on. Thus, the forward chaining inference is data driven. On the contrary, the backward chaining inference is goal driven. In this case, the system looks for a particular goal, which the engine tries to satisfy. If it cannot do so it searches for sub-goals, that is, conclusions that will complete part of the current goal. It continues this process until either the initial conclusion is satisfied or there are no more unsatisfied sub-goals. Correct use of inference can create agile and less error prone business rules, which are easier to maintain.

Inference Example

The following example illustrates how an inference is made about whether a person is eligible to have a bus pass based on the rule conditions. Here is a rule that provides the age policy for a person to hold a bus pass:

rule "Infer Adult"
when
  $p : Person(age >= 18)
then
  insert(new IsAdult($p))
end

Based on this rule, a rule engine infers whether a person is an adult or a child and act on it. Every person who is 18 years or above will have an instance of IsAdult inserted for them in the working memory. This inferred relation of age and bus pass can be inferred in any rule, such as:

$p : Person()
IsAdult(person == $p)

Truth Maintenance

The inference engine is responsible for logical decisions on assertions and retraction of facts. After regular insertions, facts are generally retracted explicitly. However, in case of logical assertions, the fact that was asserted are automatically retracted when the conditions that asserted it in the first place are no longer true. In other words, the facts are retracted when there is no single condition that supports the logical assertion.

The inference engine uses a the mechanism of truth maintenance to efficiently handle the inferred information from rules. A Truth Maintenance System (TMS) refers to an inference engine’s ability to enforce truthfulness when applying rules. It provides justified reasoning for each and every action taken by the inference engine. It validates the conclusions of an inference engine. If the inference engine asserts some data as a result of firing a rule, it uses the truth maintenance to justify the assertion.

A Truth Maintenance System also helps identify inconsistencies and handle contradictions. For example, if there are two rules to be fired, each resulting in a contradictory action, the Truth Maintenance System enables the inference engine to decide its actions based on assumptions and derivations of previously calculated conclusions. Truth maintenance plays an important role in enabling the inference engine to logically insert or retract facts. With logical assertions, the fact that was asserted are automatically retracted when the conditions that asserted it in the first place are no longer true.

The normal insertion of facts, referred to as stated insertions, are straight forward and do not need a reasoning. However, the logical assertions need to be justified. If the inference engine tries to logically insert an object when there is an equal stated object, it fails as it can not justify a stated fact. If the inference engine tries for a stated insertion of an existing equal object that is justified, then it overrides the justified insertion, and removes the justifications.

The following flowcharts illustrate the lifecycle of stated and logical insertions:

Figure 6.1. Stated Assertion

Figure 6.2. Logical Assertion

Important

For the Truth Maintenance System and logical assertions to work, your fact objects (POJOs) must override equals and hashCode methods from java.lang.Object as per the Java standard. Two objects are equal if and only if their equals methods return true for each other and if their hashCode methods return the same values. For more information, see the Java API documentation.

Example Illustrating Truth Maintenance

This example illustrates how the Truth Maintenance System helps in the inference mechanism. The following rules provides information on basic policies on issuing child and adult bus passes.

rule "Issue Child Bus Pass"
when
  $p : Person(age < 16)
then
  insert(new ChildBusPass($p));
end

rule "Issue Adult Bus Pass"
when
  $p : Person(age >= 16)
then
  insert(new AdultBusPass($p));
end

These rules are monolithic and provide poor separation of concerns. The truth maintenance mechanism in an inference engine makes the system become more robust and have a clear separation of concerns. For example, the following rule uses logical insertion of facts, which makes the fact dependent on the truth of the when clause:

rule "Infer Child"
when
  $p : Person(age < 16)
then
  insertLogical(new IsChild($p))
end

rule "Infer Adult"
when
  $p : Person(age >= 16)
then
  insertLogical(new IsAdult($p))
end

When the condition in the rule is false, the fact is automatically retracted. This works particularly well as the two rules are mutually exclusive. So in the above rules, if the person is under 16 years, it inserts an IsChild fact. Once the person is 16 years or above, the IsChild fact is automatically retracted and the IsAdult fact inserted.

Now the two rules for issuing child and adult bus pass can logically insert the ChildBusPass and AdultBusPass facts, as the Truth Maintenance System supports chaining of logical insertions for a cascading set of retracts. Here is how the logical insertion is done:

rule "Issue Child Bus Pass"
when
  $p : Person()
    IsChild(person == $p)
then
  insertLogical(new ChildBusPass($p));
end

rule "Issue Adult Bus Pass"
when
  $p : Person(age >= 16)
    IsAdult(person =$p)
then
  insertLogical(new AdultBusPass($p));
end

When a person turns 16 years old, the IsChild fact as well as the person’s ChildBusPass fact is retracted. To these set of conditions, you can relate another rule which states that a person must return the child pass after turning 16 years old. So when the Truth Maintenance System automatically retracts the ChildBusPass object, this rule triggers and sends a request to the person:

rule "Return ChildBusPass Request"
when
  $p : Person()
    not(ChildBusPass(person == $p))
then
  requestChildBusPass($p);
end

Using Decision Tables in Spreadsheets

Decision tables are a way of representing conditional logic in a precise manner, and they are well suited to business level rules.

Decision Tables in Spreadsheets

Red Hat JBoss BRMS supports managing rules in a spreadsheet format. Supported formats are Excel (XLS) and CSV. This means that a variety of spreadsheet programs (such as Microsoft Excel, OpenOffice.org Calc, and others) can be utilized.

Note

Use XLS format for decision tables if you are building and uploading them using Business Central. Business Central does not support decision tables in CSV format.

OpenOffice Example

Figure 6.3. OpenOffice Screenshot

In the above examples, the technical aspects of the decision table have been collapsed away (using a standard spreadsheet feature).

The rules start from row 17, with each row resulting in a rule. The conditions are in columns C, D, E, and the actions are off-screen. The values' meanings are indicated by the headers in Row 16. Column B is just a description.

Note

Although the decision tables look like they process top down, this is not necessarily the case. Ideally, rules are authored without regard for the order of rows. This makes maintenance easier, as rows will not need to be shifted around all the time.

Rules and Spreadsheets

Rules Inserted into Rows

As each row is a rule, the same principles apply as with written code. As the rule engine processes the facts, any rules that match may fire.

Agendas

It is possible to clear the agenda when a rule fires and simulate a very simple decision table where only the first match effects an action.

Multiple Tables

You can have multiple tables on one spreadsheet. This way, rules can be grouped where they share common templates, but are still all combined into one rule package.

The RuleTable Keyword

When using decision tables, the spreadsheet searches for the RuleTable keyword to indicate the start of a rule table (both the starting row and column).

Important

Keywords should all be in the same column.

The RuleSet Keyword

The RuleSet keyword indicates the name to be used in the rule package that will encompass all the rules. This name is optional, using a default, but it must have the RuleSet keyword in the cell immediately to the right.

Data-Defining Cells

There are two types of rectangular areas defining data that is used for generating a DRL file. One, marked by a cell labelled RuleSet, defines all DRL items except rules. The other one may occur repeatedly and is to the right and below a cell whose contents begin with RuleTable. These areas represent the actual decision tables, each area resulting in a set of rules of similar structure.

A Rule Set area may contain cell pairs, one below the RuleSet cell and containing a keyword designating the kind of value contained in the other one that follows in the same row.

Rule Table Columns

The columns of a Rule Table area define patterns and constraints for the left hand sides of the rules derived from it, actions for the consequences of the rules, and the values of individual rule attributes. A Rule Table area should contain one or more columns, both for conditions and actions, and an arbitrary selection of columns for rule attributes, at most one column for each of these. The first four rows following the row with the cell marked with RuleTable are earmarked as header area, mostly used for the definition of code to construct the rules. It is any additional row below these four header rows that spawns another rule, with its data providing for variations in the code defined in the Rule Table header.

Note

All keywords are case insensitive.

Only the first worksheet is examined for decision tables.

Rule Set Entries

Entries in a Rule Set area may define DRL constructs (except rules), and specify rule attributes. While entries for constructs may be used repeatedly, each rule attribute may be given at most once, and it applies to all rules unless it is overruled by the same attribute being defined within the Rule Table area.

Entries must be given in a vertically stacked sequence of cell pairs. The first one contains a keyword and the one to its right the value. This sequence of cell pairs may be interrupted by blank rows or even a Rule Table, as long as the column marked by RuleSet is upheld as the one containing the keyword.

Table 6.1. Entries in the Rule Set area

Keyword
Value
Usage

RuleSet

The package name for the generated DRL file. Optional, the default is rule_table.

Must be the first entry.

Sequential

true or false. If true, then salience is used to ensure that rules fire from the top down.

Optional, at most once. If omitted, no firing order is imposed.

EscapeQuotes

true or false. If true, then quotation marks are escaped so that they appear literally in the DRL.

Optional, at most once. If omitted, quotation marks are escaped.

Import

A comma-separated list of Java classes to import.

Optional, may be used repeatedly.

Variables

Declarations of DRL globals, for example a type followed by a variable name. Multiple global definitions must be separated with a comma.

Optional, may be used repeatedly.

Functions

One or more function definitions, according to DRL syntax.

Optional, may be used repeatedly.

Queries

One or more query definitions, according to DRL syntax.

Optional, may be used repeatedly.

Declare

One or more declarative types, according to DRL syntax.

Optional, may be used repeatedly.

Rule Attribute Entries in Rule Set Area

Important

Rule attributes specified in a Rule Set area will affect all rule assets in the same package (not only in the spreadsheet). Unless you are sure that the spreadsheet is the only one rule asset in the package, the recommendation is to specify rule attributes not in a Rule Set area but in a Rule Table columns for each rule instead.

Table 6.2. Rule Attribute Entries in the Rule Set Area

Keyword
Initial
Value

PRIORITY

P

An integer defining the "salience" value for the rule. Overridden by the "Sequential" flag.

DURATION

D

A long integer value defining the "duration" value for the rule.

TIMER

T

A timer definition. See "Timers" section.

CALENDARS

E

A calendars definition. See "Calendars" section.

NO-LOOP

U

A Boolean value. true inhibits looping of rules due to changes made by its consequence.

LOCK-ON-ACTIVE

L

A Boolean value. true inhibits additional activations of all rules with this flag set within the same ruleflow or agenda group.

AUTO-FOCUS

F

A Boolean value. true for a rule within an agenda group causes activations of the rule to automatically give the focus to the group.

ACTIVATION-GROUP

X

A string identifying an activation (or XOR) group. Only one rule within an activation group will fire, for example the first one to fire cancels any existing activations of other rules within the same group.

AGENDA-GROUP

G

A string identifying an agenda group, which has to be activated by giving it the "focus", which is one way of controlling the flow between groups of rules.

RULEFLOW-GROUP

R

A string identifying a rule-flow group.

DATE-EFFECTIVE

V

A string containing a date and time definition. A rule can only activate if the current date and time is after DATE-EFFECTIVE attribute.

DATE-EXPIRES

Z

A string containing a date and time definition. A rule cannot activate if the current date and time is after the DATE-EXPIRES attribute.

The RuleTable Cell

All Rule Tables begin with a cell containing RuleTable, optionally followed by a string within the same cell. The string is used as the initial part of the name for all rules derived from this Rule Table, with the row number appended for distinction. This automatic naming can be overridden by using a NAME column. All other cells defining rules of this Rule Table are below and to the right of this cell.

Column Types

The next row after the RuleTable cell defines the column type. Each column results in a part of the condition or the consequence, or provides some rule attribute, the rule name or a comment. Each attribute column may be used at most once.

Table 6.3. Column Headers in the Rule Table

Keyword
Initial
Value
Usage

NAME

N

Provides the name for the rule generated from that row. The default is constructed from the text following the RuleTable tag and the row number.

At most one column.

DESCRIPTION

I

A text, resulting in a comment within the generated rule.

At most one column.

CONDITION

C

Code snippet and interpolated values for constructing a constraint within a pattern in a condition.

At least one per rule table.

ACTION

A

Code snippet and interpolated values for constructing an action for the consequence of the rule.

At least one per rule table.

METADATA

@

Code snippet and interpolated values for constructing a metadata entry for the rule.

Optional, any number of columns.

Conditional Elements

Given a column headed CONDITION, the cells in successive lines result in a conditional element.

Text in the first cell below CONDITION develops into a pattern for the rule condition, with the snippet in the next line becoming a constraint. If the cell is merged with one or more neighbours, a single pattern with multiple constraints is formed: all constraints are combined into a parenthesized list and appended to the text in this cell. The cell may be left blank, which means that the code snippet in the next row must result in a valid conditional element on its own.

To include a pattern without constraints, you can write the pattern in front of the text for another pattern.

The pattern may be written with or without an empty pair of parentheses. A "from" clause may be appended to the pattern.

If the pattern ends with "eval", code snippets are supposed to produce boolean expressions for inclusion into a pair of parentheses after "eval".

Text in the second cell below CONDITION is processed in two steps.

The code snippet in this cell is modified by interpolating values from cells farther down in the column. If you want to create a constraint consisting of a comparison using "==" with the value from the cells below, the field selector alone is sufficient. Any other comparison operator must be specified as the last item within the snippet, and the value from the cells below is appended. For all other constraint forms, you must mark the position for including the contents of a cell with the symbol $param. Multiple insertions are possible by using the symbols $1, $2, etc., and a comma-separated list of values in the cells below.

A text according to the pattern forall(DELIMITER){SNIPPET} is expanded by repeating the SNIPPET once for each of the values of the comma-separated list of values in each of the cells below, inserting the value in place of the symbol $ and by joining these expansions by the given DELIMITER. Note that the forall construct may be surrounded by other text.

If the cell in the preceding row is not empty, the completed code snippet is added to the conditional element from that cell. A pair of parentheses is provided automatically, as well as a separating comma if multiple constraints are added to a pattern in a merged cell.

If the cell above is empty, the interpolated result is used as is.

Text in the third cell below CONDITION is for documentation only. It should be used to indicate the column’s purpose to a human reader.

From the fourth row on, non-blank entries provide data for interpolation as described above. A blank cell results in the omission of the conditional element or constraint for this rule.

Action Statements

Given a column headed ACTION, the cells in successive lines result in an action statement:

Text in the first cell below ACTION is optional. If present, it is interpreted as an object reference.

Text in the second cell below ACTION is processed in two steps.

The code snippet in this cell is modified by interpolating values from cells farther down in the column. For a singular insertion, mark the position for including the contents of a cell with the symbol $param. Multiple insertions are possible by using the symbols $1, $2, etc., and a comma-separated list of values in the cells below.

A method call without interpolation can be achieved by a text without any marker symbols. In this case, use any non-blank entry in a row below to include the statement.

The forall construct is available here, too.

If the first cell is not empty, its text, followed by a period, the text in the second cell and a terminating semicolon are stringed together, resulting in a method call which is added as an action statement for the consequence.

If the cell above is empty, the interpolated result is used as is.

Text in the third cell below ACTION is for documentation only. It should be used to indicate the column’s purpose to a human reader.

From the fourth row on, non-blank entries provide data for interpolation as described above. A blank cell results in the omission of the action statement for this rule.

Note

Using $1 instead of $param will fail if the replacement text contains a comma.

Metadata Statements

Given a column headed METADATA, the cells in successive lines result in a metadata annotation for the generated rules:

Text in the first cell below METADATA is ignored.

Text in the second cell below METADATA is subject to interpolation, as described above, using values from the cells in the rule rows. The metadata marker character @ is prefixed automatically, and should not be included in the text for this cell.

Text in the third cell below METADATA is for documentation only. It should be used to indicate the column’s purpose to a human reader.

From the fourth row on, non-blank entries provide data for interpolation as described above. A blank cell results in the omission of the metadata annotation for this rule.

Interpolating Cell Data Example

If the template is Foo(bar == $param) and the cell is 42, then the result is Foo(bar == 42).

If the template is Foo(bar < $1, baz == $2) and the cell contains 42,43, the result will be Foo(bar < 42, baz ==43).

The template forall(&&){bar != $} with a cell containing 42,43 results in bar != 42 && bar != 43.

Tips for Working Within Cells

Multiple package names within the same cell must be comma-separated.

Pairs of type and variable names must be comma-separated.

Functions must be written as they appear in a DRL file. This should appear in the same column as the RuleSet keyword. It can be above, between or below all the rule rows.

You can use Import, Variables, Functions and Queries repeatedly instead of packing several definitions into a single cell.

Trailing insertion markers can be omitted.

You can provide the definition of a binding variable.

Anything can be placed in the object type row. Apart from the definition of a binding variable, it could also be an additional pattern that is to be inserted literally.

The cell below the ACTION header can be left blank. Using this style, anything can be placed in the consequence, not just a single method call. The same technique is applicable within a CONDITION column.

The SpreadsheetCompiler Class

The SpreadsheetCompiler class is the main class used with API spreadsheet-based decision tables in the drools-decisiontables module. This class takes spreadsheets in various formats and generates rules in DRL.

The SpreadsheetCompiler can be used to generate partial rule files and assemble them into a complete rule package after the fact. This allows the separation of technical and non-technical aspects of the rules if needed.

Using Spreadsheet-Based Decision Tables

Procedure: Task

Generate a sample spreadsheet that you can use as the base.

If the Red Hat JBoss BRMS plug-in is being used, use the wizard to generate a spreadsheet from a template.

Use an XSL-compatible spreadsheet editor to modify the XSL.

Lists

In Excel, you can create lists of values. These can be stored in other worksheets to provide valid lists of values for cells.

Revision Control

When changes are being made to rules over time, older versions are archived. Some applications in Red Hat JBoss BRMS provide a limited ability to keep a history of changes, but it is recommended to use an alternative means of revision control.

Tabular Data Sources

A tabular data source can be used as a source of rule data. It can populate a template to generate many rules. This can allow both for more flexible spreadsheets, but also rules in existing databases for instance (at the cost of developing the template up front to generate the rules).

Dependency Management for Guided Decision Tables, Scorecards, and Rule Templates

When you build your own application with the embedded Drools or jBPM engine, that uses guided decision tables, guided scorecards, or guided templates, you need to add the drools-workbench-models-guided-dtable, drools-workbench-models-guided-scorecard, and drools-workbench-models-guided-template dependencies respectively, on the class path.

If you want to use a kJAR in the Intelligent Process server, you do not need to add these dependencies, as the server already has them.

When using Maven, declare the dependencies in the pom.xml file as shown below:

<dependency>
<groupId>org.drools</groupId>
<artifactId>drools-workbench-models-guided-dtable</artifactId>
</dependency>

<dependency>
<groupId>org.drools</groupId>
<artifactId>drools-workbench-models-guided-scorecard</artifactId>
</dependency>

<dependency>
<groupId>org.drools</groupId>
<artifactId>drools-workbench-models-guided-template</artifactId>
</dependency>

Logging

The logging feature enables you to investigate what the Rule Engine does at the back-end. The rule engine uses Java logging API SLF4J for logging. The underlying logging back-end can be Logback, Apache Commons Logging, Log4j, or java.util.logging. You can add a dependency to the logging adaptor for your logging framework of choice.

Here is an example of how to use Logback by adding a Maven dependency:

<dependency>
  <groupId>ch.qos.logback</groupId>
  <artifactId>logback-classic</artifactId>
  <version>1.x</version>
</dependency>

Note

If you are developing for an ultra light environment, use slf4j-nop or slf4j-simple.

Configuring Logging Level

Here is an example of how you can configure the logging level on the package org.drools in your logback.xml file when you are using Logback:

<configuration>
  <logger name="org.drools" level="debug"/>
  ...
  ...
<configuration>

Here is an example of how you can configure the logging level in your log4j.xml file when you are using Log4J:

<log4j:configuration xmlns:log4j="http://jakarta.apache.org/log4j/">
  <category name="org.drools">
    <priority value="debug" />
  </category>
  ...
</log4j:configuration>

Chapter 7. Complex Event Processing

Introduction to Complex Event Processing

JBoss BRMS Complex Event Processing provides the JBoss Enterprise BRMS Platform with complex event processing capabilities.

For the purpose of this guide, Complex Event Processing, or CEP, refers to the ability to process multiple events and detect interesting events from within a collection of events, uncover relationships that exist between events, and infer new data from the events and their relationships.

An event can best be described as a record of a significant change of state in the application domain. Depending on how the domain is modeled, the change of state may be represented by a single event, multiple atomic events, or even hierarchies of correlated events. Using a stock broker application as an example, a change in security prices, a change in ownership from seller to buyer, or a change in an account holder’s balance are all considered to be events as a change has occurred in the state of the application domain.

Event processing use cases, in general, share several requirements and goals with business rules use cases.

From a business perspective, business rule definitions are often defined based on the occurrence of scenarios triggered by events. For example:

On an algorithmic trading application: Take an action if the security price increases X% above the day’s opening price.

The price increases are denoted by events on a stock trade application.

On a monitoring application: Take an action if the temperature in the server room increases X degrees in Y minutes.

The sensor readings are denoted by events.

Both business rules and event processing queries change frequently and require an immediate response for the business to adapt to new market conditions, regulations, and corporate policies.

From a technical perspective:

Both business rules and event processing require seamless integration with the enterprise infrastructure and applications. This is particularly important with regard to life-cycle management, auditing, and security.

Both business rules and event processing have functional requirements like pattern matching and non-functional requirements like response time limits and query/rule explanations.

Note

JBoss BRMS Complex Event Processing provides the complex event processing capabilities of JBoss Business Rules Management System. The Business Rules Management and Business Process Management capabilities are provided by other modules.

Complex event processing scenarios share these distinguishing characteristics:

They usually process large numbers of events, but only a small percentage of the events are of interest.

The events are usually immutable, as they represent a record of change in state.

The rules and queries run against events and must react to detected event patterns.

There are usually strong temporal relationships between related events.

Individual events are not important. The system is concerned with patterns of related events and the relationships between them.

It is often necessary to perform composition and aggregation of events.

As such, JBoss BRMS Complex Event Processing supports the following behaviors:

Support events, with their proper semantics, as first class citizens.

Allow detection, correlation, aggregation, and composition of events.

Support processing streams of events.

Support temporal constraints in order to model the temporal relationships between events.

Support sliding windows of interesting events.

Support a session-scoped unified clock.

Support the required volumes of events for complex event processing use cases.

Support reactive rules.

Support adapters for event input into the engine (pipeline).

Events

Events are a record of significant change of state in the application domain. From a complex event processing perspective, an event is a special type of fact or object. A fact is a known piece of data. For instance, a fact could be a stock’s opening price. A rule is a definition of how to react to the data. For instance, if a stock price reaches $X, sell the stock.

The defining characteristics of events are the following:

Events are immutable

An event is a record of change which has occurred at some time in the past, and as such it cannot be changed.

Note

The rules engine does not enforce immutability on the Java objects representing events; this makes event data enrichment possible.

The application should be able to populate un-populated event attributes, which can be used to enrich the event with inferred data; however, event attributes that have already been populated should not be changed.

Events have strong temporal constraints

Rules involving events usually require the correlation of multiple events that occur at different points in time relative to each other.

Events have managed life-cycles

Because events are immutable and have temporal constraints, they are usually only of interest for a specified period of time. This means the engine can automatically manage the life-cycle of events.

Events can use sliding windows

It is possible to define and use sliding windows with events since all events have timestamps associated with them. Therefore, sliding windows allow the creation of rules on aggregations of values over a time period.

Events can be declared as either interval-based events or point-in-time events. Interval-based events have a duration time and persist in working memory until their duration time has lapsed. Point-in-time events have no duration and can be thought of as interval-based events with a duration of zero.

Event Declaration

To declare a fact type as an event, assign the @role metadata tag to the fact with the event parameter. The @role metadata tag can accept two possible values:

fact: assigning the fact role declares the type is to be handled as a regular fact. Fact is the default role.

event: assigning the event role declares the type is to be handled as an event.

This example declares that a stock broker application’s StockTick fact type will be handled as an event:

Example 7.1. Declaring Fact Type as Event

import some.package.StockTick

declare StockTick
  @role( event )
end

Facts can also be declared inline. If StockTick was a fact type declared in the DRL instead of in a pre-existing class, the code would be as follows:

Example 7.2. Declaring Fact Type and Assigning it to Event Role

declare StockTick
  @role(event)

  datetime : java.util.Date
  symbol : String
  price : double
end

For more information on type declarations, see the Rule Languages section.

Event Metadata

Every event has associated metadata. Typically, the metadata is automatically added as each event is inserted into working memory. The metadata defaults can be changed on an event-type basis using the metadata tags:

@role

@timestamp

@duration

@expires

The following examples assume the application domain model includes the following class:

Example 7.3. The VoiceCall Fact Class

/**
 * A class that represents a voice call in a Telecom domain model.
 */
public class VoiceCall {
  private String  originNumber;
  private String  destinationNumber;
  private Date    callDateTime;
  private long    callDuration;  // in milliseconds

  // Constructors, getters, and setters.
}

@role

The @role metadata tag indicates whether a given fact type is either a regular fact or an event. It accepts either fact or event as a parameter. The default is fact.

@role(<fact|event>)

Example 7.4. Declaring VoiceCall as Event Type

declare VoiceCall
  @role(event)
end

@timestamp

A timestamp is automatically assigned to every event. By default, the time is provided by the session clock and assigned to the event at insertion into the working memory. Events can have their own timestamp attribute, which can be included by telling the engine to use the attribute’s timestamp instead of the session clock.

To use the attribute’s timestamp, use the attribute name as the parameter for the @timestamp tag.

@timestamp(<attributeName>)

Example 7.5. Declaring VoiceCall Timestamp Attribute

declare VoiceCall
  @role(event)
  @timestamp(callDateTime)
end

@duration

JBoss BRMS Complex Event Processing supports both point-in-time and interval-based events. A point-in-time event is represented as an interval-based event with a duration of zero time units. By default, every event has a duration of zero. To assign a different duration to an event, use the attribute name as the parameter for the @duration tag.

@duration(<attributeName>)

Example 7.6. Declaring VoiceCall Duration Attribute

declare VoiceCall
  @role(event)
  @timestamp(callDateTime)
  @duration(callDuration)
end

@expires

Events may be set to expire automatically after a specific duration in the working memory. By default, this happens when the event can no longer match and activate any of the current rules. You can also explicitly define when an event should expire. The @expires tag is only used when the engine is running in stream mode.

@expires(<timeOffset>)

The value of timeOffset is a temporal interval that sets the relative duration of the event.

[#d][#h][#m][#s][#[ms]]

All parameters are optional and the # parameter should be replaced by the appropriate value.

To declare that the VoiceCall facts should expire one hour and thirty-five minutes after insertion into the working memory, use the following:

Example 7.7. Declaring Expiration Offset for VoiceCall Events

declare VoiceCall
  @role(event)
  @timestamp(callDateTime)
  @duration(callDuration)
  @expires(1h35m)
end

Clock Implementation in Complex Event Processing

Session Clock

Events have strong temporal constraints making it is necessary to use a reference clock. If a rule needs to determine the average price of a given stock over the last sixty minutes, it is necessary to compare the stock price event’s timestamp with the current time. The reference clock provides the current time.

Because the rules engine can simultaneously run an array of different scenarios that require different clocks, multiple clock implementations can be used by the engine.

Scenarios that require different clocks include the following:

Rules testing: Testing always requires a controlled environment, and when the tests include rules with temporal constraints, it is necessary to control the input rules, facts, and the flow of time.

Regular execution: A rules engine that reacts to events in real time needs a real-time clock.

Special environments: Specific environments may have specific time control requirements. For instance, clustered environments may require clock synchronization or JEE environments may require you to use an application server-provided clock.

Rules replay or simulation: In order to replay or simulate scenarios, it is necessary that the application controls the flow of time.

Available Clock Implementations

JBoss BRMS Complex Event Processing comes equipped with two clock implementations:

Real-Time Clock

The real-time clock is the default implementation based on the system clock. The real-time clock uses the system clock to determine the current time for timestamps.

To explicitly configure the engine to use the real-time clock, set the session configuration parameter to realtime:

import org.kie.api.KieServices.Factory;
import org.kie.api.runtime.KieSessionConfiguration;

KieSessionConfiguration config = KieServices.Factory.get().newKieSessionConfiguration();

config.setOption(ClockTypeOption.get("realtime"));

Pseudo-Clock

The pseudo-clock is useful for testing temporal rules since it can be controlled by the application.

To explicitly configure the engine to use the pseudo-clock, set the session configuration parameter to pseudo:

import org.kie.api.runtime.KieSessionConfiguration;
import org.kie.api.KieServices.Factory;

KieSessionConfiguration config = KieServices.Factory.get().newKieSessionConfiguration();

config.setOption(ClockTypeOption.get("pseudo"));

This example shows how to control the pseudo-clock:

import org.kie.api.runtime.KieSessionConfiguration;
import org.kie.api.KieServices.Factory;
import org.kie.api.runtime.KieSession;
import org.kie.api.time.SessionClock;
import org.kie.api.runtime.rule.FactHandle;

KieSessionConfiguration conf = KieServices.Factory.get().newKieSessionConfiguration();

conf.setOption( ClockTypeOption.get("pseudo"));
KieSession session = kbase.newKieSession(conf, null);

SessionPseudoClock clock = session.getSessionClock();

// Then, while inserting facts, advance the clock as necessary:
FactHandle handle1 = session.insert(tick1);
clock.advanceTime(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);

FactHandle handle2 = session.insert(tick2);
clock.advanceTime(30, TimeUnit.SECONDS);

FactHandle handle3 = session.insert(tick3);

Event Processing Modes

Rules engines process facts and rules to provide applications with results. Regular facts (facts with no temporal constraints) are processed independent of time and in no particular order. Red Hat JBoss BRMS processes facts of this type in cloud mode. Events (facts which have strong temporal constraints) must be processed in real-time or near real-time. Red Hat JBoss BRMS processes these events in stream mode. Stream mode deals with synchronization and makes it possible for Red Hat JBoss BRMS to process events.

Cloud Mode

Cloud mode is the default operating mode of Red Hat JBoss Business Rules Management System.

Running in Cloud mode, the engine applies a many-to-many pattern matching algorithm, which treats the events as an unordered cloud. Events still have timestamps, but there is no way for the rules engine running in Cloud mode to draw relevance from the timestamp because Cloud mode is unaware of the present time.

This mode uses the rules constraints to find the matching tuples, activate, and fire rules.

Cloud mode does not impose any kind of additional requirements on facts; however, because it has no concept of time, it cannot take advantage of temporal features such as sliding windows or automatic life-cycle management. In Cloud mode, it is necessary to explicitly retract events when they are no longer needed.

Certain requirements that are not imposed include the following:

No need for clock synchronization since there is no notion of time.

No requirement on ordering events since the engine looks at the events as an unordered cloud against which the engine tries to match rules.

Cloud mode can be specified either by setting a system property, using configuration property files, or using the API.

The API call follows:

import org.kie.api.KieBaseConfiguration;
import org.kie.api.KieServices.Factory;

KieBaseConfiguration config = KieServices.Factory.get().newKieBaseConfiguration();

config.setOption(EventProcessingOption.CLOUD);

The equivalent property follows:

drools.eventProcessingMode = cloud

Stream Mode

Stream mode processes events chronologically as they are inserted into the rules engine. Stream mode uses a session clock that enables the rules engine to process events as they occur in time. The session clock enables processing events as they occur based on the age of the events. Stream mode also synchronizes streams of events (so events in different streams can be processed in chronological order), implements sliding windows of interest, and enables automatic life-cycle management.

The requirements for using stream mode are the following:

Events in each stream must be ordered chronologically.

A session clock must be present to synchronize event streams.

Note

The application does not need to enforce ordering events between streams, but the use of event streams that have not been synchronized may cause unexpected results.

Stream mode can be enabled by setting a system property, using configuration property files, or using the API.

The API call follows:

import org.kie.api.KieBaseConfiguration;
import org.kie.api.KieServices.Factory;

KieBaseConfiguration config = KieServices.Factory.get().newKieBaseConfiguration();

config.setOption(EventProcessingOption.STREAM);

The equivalent property follows:

drools.eventProcessingMode = stream

Event Streams

Complex event processing use cases deal with streams of events. The streams can be provided to the application using JMS queues, flat text files, database tables, raw sockets, or even web service calls.

Streams share a common set of characteristics:

Events in the stream are ordered by timestamp. The timestamps may have different semantics for different streams, but they are always ordered internally.

There is usually a high volume of events in the stream.

Atomic events contained in the streams are rarely useful by themselves.

Streams are either homogeneous (they contain a single type of event) or heterogeneous (they contain events of different types).

A stream is also known as an entry point.

Facts from one entry point, or stream, may join with facts from any other entry point in addition to facts already in working memory. Facts always remain associated with the entry point through which they entered the engine. Facts of the same type may enter the engine through several entry points, but facts that enter the engine through entry point A will never match a pattern from entry point B.

Declaring and Using Entry Points

Entry points are declared implicitly by making direct use of them in rules. Referencing an entry point in a rule will make the engine, at compile time, identify and create the proper internal structures to support that entry point.

For example, a banking application that has transactions fed into the engine using streams could have one stream for all of the transactions executed at ATMs. A rule for this scenario could state, "A withdrawal is only allowed if the account balance is greater than the withdrawal amount the customer has requested."

Example 7.8. ATM Rule

rule "Authorize Withdraw"
when
  WithdrawRequest($ai : accountId, $am : amount) from entry-point "ATM Stream"
  CheckingAccount(accountId == $ai, balance > $am)
then
  // authorize withdraw
end

When the engine compiles this rule, it will identify that the pattern is tied to the entry point ATM Stream. The engine will create all the necessary structures for the rule-base to support the ATM Stream, and this rule will only match WithdrawRequest events coming from the ATM Stream.

Note the ATM example rule joins the event (WithdrawalRequest) from the stream with a fact from the main working memory (CheckingAccount).

The banking application may have a second rule that states, "A fee of $2 must be applied to a withdraw request made using a branch teller."

Example 7.9. Using Multiple Streams

rule "Apply Fee on Withdraws on Branches"
when
  WithdrawRequest($ai : accountId, processed == true) from entry-point "Branch Stream"
  CheckingAccount(accountId == $ai)
then
  // apply a $2 fee on the account
end

This rule matches events of the same type (WithdrawRequest) as the example ATM rule but from a different stream. Events inserted into the ATM Stream will never match the pattern on the second rule, which is tied to the Branch Stream; accordingly, events inserted into the Branch Stream will never match the pattern on the example ATM rule, which is tied to the ATM Stream.

Declaring the stream in a rule states that the rule is only interested in events coming from that stream.

Events can be inserted manually into an entry point instead of directly into the working memory.

Example 7.10. Inserting Facts into Entry Point

import org.kie.api.runtime.KieSession;

// Create your rulebase and your session as usual:
KieSession session = ...

// Get a reference to the entry point:
WorkingMemoryEntryPoint atmStream = session.getWorkingMemoryEntryPoint("ATM Stream");

// ...and start inserting your facts into the entry point:
atmStream.insert(aWithdrawRequest);

Negative Pattern in Stream Mode

A negative pattern is concerned with conditions that are not met. Negative patterns make reasoning in the absence of events possible. For instance, a safety system could have a rule that states "If a fire is detected and the sprinkler is not activated, sound the alarm."

In Cloud mode, the engine assumes all facts (regular facts and events) are known in advance and evaluates negative patterns immediately.

Example 7.11. Rule with Negative Pattern

rule "Sound the Alarm"
when
  $f : FireDetected()
  not(SprinklerActivated())
then
  // sound the alarm
end

An example in stream mode is displayed below. This rule keeps consistency when dealing with negative patterns and temporal constraints at the same time interval.

Example 7.12. Rule with Negative Pattern, Temporal Constraints, and Explicit Duration Parameter

rule "Sound the Alarm"
  duration(10s)
when
  $f : FireDetected()
  not(SprinklerActivated(this after[0s,10s] $f))
then
  // sound the alarm
end

In stream mode, negative patterns with temporal constraints may force the engine to wait for a set time before activating a rule. A rule may be written for an alarm system that states, "If a fire is detected and the sprinkler is not activated after 10 seconds, sound the alarm." Unlike the previous stream mode example, this one does not require the user to calculate and write the duration parameter.

Example 7.13. Rule with Negative Pattern with Temporal Constraints

rule "Sound the Alarm"
when
  $f : FireDetected()
  not(SprinklerActivated(this after[0s,10s] $f))
then
  // sound the alarm
end

The rule depicted below expects one "Heartbeat" event to occur every 10 seconds; if not, the rule fires. What is special about this rule is that it uses the same type of object in the first pattern and in the negative pattern. The negative pattern has the temporal constraint to wait between 0 to 10 seconds before firing, and it excludes the Heartbeat bound to $h. Excluding the bound Heartbeat is important since the temporal constraint [0s, …​] does not exclude by itself the bound event $h from being matched again, thus preventing the rule to fire.

Example 7.14. Excluding Bound Events in Negative Patterns

rule "Sound the Alarm"
when
  $h: Heartbeat() from entry-point "MonitoringStream"
  not(Heartbeat(this != $h, this after[0s,10s] $h) from entry-point "MonitoringStream")
then
  // sound the alarm
end

Temporal Operations

Temporal Reasoning

Complex Event Processing requires the rules engine to engage in temporal reasoning. Events have strong temporal constraints so it is vital the rules engine can determine and interpret an event’s temporal attributes, both as they relate to other events and the 'flow of time' as it appears to the rules engine. This makes it possible for rules to take time into account; for instance, a rule could state "Calculate the average price of a stock over the last 60 minutes."

Note

JBoss BRMS Complex Event Processing implements interval-based time events, which have a duration attribute that is used to indicate how long an event is of interest. Point-in-time events are also supported and treated as interval-based events with a duration of 0 (zero).

Temporal Operations

JBoss BRMS Complex Event Processing implements the following temporal operators and their logical complements (negation):

after

before

coincides

during

finishes

finishes by

includes

meets

met by

overlaps

overlapped by

starts

started by

After

The after operator correlates two events and matches when the temporal distance (the time between the two events) from the current event to the event being correlated falls into the distance range declared for the operator.

For example:

$eventA : EventA(this after[3m30s, 4m] $eventB)

This pattern only matches if the temporal distance between the time when $eventB finished and the time when $eventA started is between the lower limit of three minutes and thirty seconds and the upper limit of four minutes.

This can also be represented as follows:

3m30s <= $eventA.startTimestamp - $eventB.endTimeStamp <= 4m

The after operator accepts one or two optional parameters:

If two values are defined, the interval starts on the first value (3 minutes and 30 seconds in the example) and ends on the second value (4 minutes in the example).

If only one value is defined, the interval starts on the provided value and runs indefinitely with no end time.

If no value is defined, the interval starts at one millisecond and runs indefinitely with no end time.

The after operator also accepts negative temporal distances.

For example:

$eventA : EventA(this after[-3m30s, -2m] $eventB)

If the first value is greater than the second value, the engine will automatically reverse them.

The following two patterns are equivalent to each other:

$eventA : EventA(this after[-3m30s, -2m] $eventB)
$eventA : EventA(this after[-2m, -3m30s] $eventB)

Before

The before operator correlates two events and matches when the temporal distance (time between the two events) from the event being correlated to the current event falls within the distance range declared for the operator.

For example:

$eventA : EventA(this before[3m30s, 4m] $eventB)

This pattern only matches if the temporal distance between the time when $eventA finished and the time when $eventB started is between the lower limit of three minutes and thirty seconds and the upper limit of four minutes.

This can also be represented as follows:

3m30s <= $eventB.startTimestamp - $eventA.endTimeStamp <= 4m

The before operator accepts one or two optional parameters:

If two values are defined, the interval starts on the first value (3 minutes and 30 seconds in the example) and ends on the second value (4 minutes in the example).

If only one value is defined, the interval starts on the provided value and runs indefinitely with no end time.

If no value is defined, the interval starts at one millisecond and runs indefinitely with no end time.

The before operator also accepts negative temporal distances.

For example:

$eventA : EventA(this before[-3m30s, -2m] $eventB)

If the first value is greater than the second value, the engine will automatically reverse them.

The following two patterns are equivalent to each other:

$eventA : EventA(this before[-3m30s, -2m] $eventB)
$eventA : EventA(this before[-2m, -3m30s] $eventB)

Coincides

The coincides operator correlates two events and matches when both events happen at the same time.

For example:

$eventA : EventA(this coincides $eventB)

This pattern only matches if both the start timestamps of $eventA and $eventB are identical and the end timestamps of both $eventA and $eventB are also identical.

The coincides operator accepts optional thresholds for the distance between the events' start times and the events' end times, so the events do not have to start at exactly the same time or end at exactly the same time, but they need to be within the provided thresholds.

The following rules apply when defining thresholds for the coincides operator:

If only one parameter is given, it is used to set the threshold for both the start and end times of both events.

If two parameters are given, the first is used as a threshold for the start time and the second one is used as a threshold for the end time.

For example:

$eventA : EventA(this coincides[15s, 10s] $eventB)

This pattern will only match if the following conditions are met:

abs($eventA.startTimestamp - $eventB.startTimestamp) <= 15s
&&
abs($eventA.endTimestamp - $eventB.endTimestamp) <= 10s

Warning

The coincides operator does not accept negative intervals, and the rules engine will throw an exception if an attempt is made to use negative distance internals.

During

The during operator correlates two events and matches when the current event happens during the event being correlated.

For example:

$eventA : EventA(this during $eventB)

This pattern only matches if $eventA starts after $eventB and ends before $eventB ends.

This can also be represented as follows:

$eventB.startTimestamp < $eventA.startTimestamp <= $eventA.endTimestamp < $eventB.endTimestamp

The during operator accepts one, two, or four optional parameters:

The following rules apply when providing parameters for the during operator:

If one value is defined, this value will represent the maximum distance between the start times of the two events and the maximum distance between the end times of the two events.

If two values are defined, these values represent a threshold that the current event’s start time and end time must occur between in relation to the correlated event’s start and end times.

If the values 5s and 10s are provided, the current event must start between 5 and 10 seconds after the correlated event, and similarly the current event must end between 5 and 10 seconds before the correlated event.

If four values are defined, the first and second values will be used as the minimum and maximum distances between the starting times of the events, and the third and fourth values will be used as the minimum and maximum distances between the end times of the two events.

Finishes

The finishes operator correlates two events and matches when the current event’s start timestamp post-dates the correlated event’s start timestamp and both events end simultaneously.

For example:

$eventA : EventA(this finishes $eventB)

This pattern only matches if $eventA starts after $eventB starts and ends at the same time as $eventB ends.

This can be represented as follows:

$eventB.startTimestamp < $eventA.startTimestamp
&&
$eventA.endTimestamp == $eventB.endTimestamp

The finishes operator accepts one optional parameter. If defined, the optional parameter sets the maximum time allowed between the end times of the two events.

For example:

$eventA : EventA(this finishes[5s] $eventB)

This pattern matches if these conditions are met:

$eventB.startTimestamp < $eventA.startTimestamp
&&
abs($eventA.endTimestamp - $eventB.endTimestamp) <= 5s

Warning

The finishes operator does not accept negative intervals, and the rules engine will throw an exception if an attempt is made to use negative distance intervals.

Finishes By

The finishedby operator correlates two events and matches when the current event’s start time predates the correlated event’s start time but both events end simultaneously. finishedby is the symmetrical opposite of the finishes operator.

For example:

$eventA : EventA(this finishedby $eventB)

This pattern only matches if $eventA starts before $eventB starts and ends at the same time as $eventB ends.

This can be represented as follows:

$eventA.startTimestamp < $eventB.startTimestamp
&&
$eventA.endTimestamp == $eventB.endTimestamp

The finishedby operator accepts one optional parameter. If defined, the optional parameter sets the maximum time allowed between the end times of the two events.

$eventA : EventA(this finishedby[5s] $eventB)

This pattern matches if these conditions are met:

$eventA.startTimestamp < $eventB.startTimestamp
&&
abs($eventA.endTimestamp - $eventB.endTimestamp) <= 5s

Warning

The finishedby operator does not accept negative intervals, and the rules engine will throw an exception if an attempt is made to use negative distance intervals.

Includes

The includes operator examines two events and matches when the event being correlated happens during the current event. It is the symmetrical opposite of the during operator.

For example:

$eventA : EventA(this includes $eventB)

This pattern only matches if $eventB starts after $eventA and ends before $eventA ends.

This can be represented as follows:

$eventA.startTimestamp < $eventB.startTimestamp <= $eventB.endTimestamp < $eventA.endTimestamp

The includes operator accepts 1, 2 or 4 optional parameters:

If one value is defined, this value will represent the maximum distance between the start times of the two events and the maximum distance between the end times of the two events.

If two values are defined, these values represent a threshold that the current event’s start time and end time must occur between in relation to the correlated event’s start and end times.

If the values 5s and 10s are provided, the current event must start between 5 and 10 seconds after the correlated event, and similarly the current event must end between 5 and 10 seconds before the correlated event.

If four values are defined, the first and second values will be used as the minimum and maximum distances between the starting times of the events, and the third and fourth values will be used as the minimum and maximum distances between the end times of the two events.

Meets

The meets operator correlates two events and matches when the current event ends at the same time as the correlated event starts.

For example:

$eventA : EventA(this meets $eventB)

This pattern matches if $eventA ends at the same time as $eventB starts.

This can be represented as follows:

abs($eventB.startTimestamp - $eventA.endTimestamp) == 0

The meets operator accepts one optional parameter. If defined, it determines the maximum time allowed between the end time of the current event and the start time of the correlated event.

For example:

$eventA : EventA(this meets[5s] $eventB)

This pattern matches if these conditions are met:

abs($eventB.startTimestamp - $eventA.endTimestamp) <= 5s

Warning

The meets operator does not accept negative intervals, and the rules engine will throw an exception if an attempt is made to use negative distance intervals.

Met By

The metby operator correlates two events and matches when the current event starts at the same time as the correlated event ends.

For example:

$eventA : EventA(this metby $eventB)

This pattern matches if $eventA starts at the same time as $eventB ends.

This can be represented as follows:

abs($eventA.startTimestamp - $eventB.endTimestamp) == 0

The metby operator accepts one optional parameter. If defined, it sets the maximum distance between the end time of the correlated event and the start time of the current event.

For example:

$eventA : EventA(this metby[5s] $eventB)

This pattern matches if these conditions are met:

abs($eventA.startTimestamp - $eventB.endTimestamp) <= 5s

Warning

The metby operator does not accept negative intervals, and the rules engine will throw an exception if an attempt is made to use negative distance intervals.

Overlaps

The overlaps operator correlates two events and matches when the current event starts before the correlated event starts and ends after the correlated event starts, but it ends before the correlated event ends.

For example:

$eventA : EventA(this overlaps $eventB)

This pattern matches if these conditions are met:

$eventA.startTimestamp < $eventB.startTimestamp < $eventA.endTimestamp < $eventB.endTimestamp

The overlaps operator accepts one or two optional parameters:

If one parameter is defined, it will define the maximum distance between the start time of the correlated event and the end time of the current event.

If two values are defined, the first value will be the minimum distance, and the second value will be the maximum distance between the start time of the correlated event and the end time of the current event.

Overlapped By

The overlappedby operator correlates two events and matches when the correlated event starts before the current event, and the correlated event ends after the current event starts but before the current event ends.

For example:

$eventA : EventA(this overlappedby $eventB)

This pattern matches if these conditions are met:

$eventB.startTimestamp < $eventA.startTimestamp < $eventB.endTimestamp < $eventA.endTimestamp

The overlappedby operator accepts one or two optional parameters:

If one parameter is defined, it sets the maximum distance between the start time of the correlated event and the end time of the current event.

If two values are defined, the first value will be the minimum distance, and the second value will be the maximum distance between the start time of the correlated event and the end time of the current event.

Starts

The starts operator correlates two events and matches when they start at the same time, but the current event ends before the correlated event ends.

For example:

$eventA : EventA(this starts $eventB)

This pattern matches if $eventA and $eventB start at the same time, and $eventA ends before $eventB ends.

This can be represented as follows:

$eventA.startTimestamp == $eventB.startTimestamp
&&
$eventA.endTimestamp < $eventB.endTimestamp

The starts operator accepts one optional parameter. If defined, it determines the maximum distance between the start times of events in order for the operator to still match:

$eventA : EventA(this starts[5s] $eventB)

This pattern matches if these conditions are met:

abs($eventA.startTimestamp - $eventB.startTimestamp) <= 5s
&&
$eventA.endTimestamp < $eventB.endTimestamp

Warning

The starts operator does not accept negative intervals, and the rules engine will throw an exception if an attempt is made to use negative distance intervals.

Started By

The startedby operator correlates two events. It matches when both events start at the same time and the correlating event ends before the current event.

For example:

$eventA : EventA(this startedby $eventB)

This pattern matches if $eventA and $eventB start at the same time, and $eventB ends before $eventA ends.

This can be represented as follows:

$eventA.startTimestamp == $eventB.startTimestamp
&&
$eventA.endTimestamp > $eventB.endTimestamp

The startedby operator accepts one optional parameter. If defined, it sets the maximum distance between the start time of the two events in order for the operator to still match:

$eventA : EventA( this starts[5s] $eventB)

This pattern matches if these conditions are met:

abs( $eventA.startTimestamp - $eventB.startTimestamp ) <= 5s
&&
$eventA.endTimestamp > $eventB.endTimestamp

Warning

The startedby operator does not accept negative intervals, and the rules engine will throw an exception if an attempt is made to use negative distance intervals.

Sliding Windows

Sliding Time Windows

Stream mode allows events to be matched over a sliding time window. A sliding window is a time period that stretches back in time from the present. For instance, a sliding window of two minutes includes any events that have occurred in the past two minutes. As events fall out of the sliding time window (in this case because they occurred more than two minutes ago), they will no longer match against rules using this particular sliding window.

For example:

StockTick() over window:time(2m)

JBoss BRMS Complex Event Processing uses the over keyword to associate windows with patterns.

Sliding time windows can also be used to calculate averages and over time. For instance, a rule could be written that states "If the average temperature reading for the last ten minutes goes above a certain point, sound the alarm."

Example 7.15. Average Value over Time

rule "Sound the Alarm in Case Temperature Rises Above Threshold"
when
  TemperatureThreshold($max : max)
  Number(doubleValue > $max) from accumulate(
    SensorReading($temp : temperature) over window:time(10m),
    average($temp))
then
  // sound the alarm
end

The engine will automatically discard any SensorReading more than ten minutes old and keep re-calculating the average.

Sliding Length Windows

Similar to Time Windows, Sliding Length Windows work in the same manner; however, they consider events based on order of their insertion into the session instead of flow of time.

The pattern below demonstrates this order by only considering the last 10 RHT Stock Ticks independent of how old they are. Unlike the previous StockTick from the Sliding Time Windows pattern, this pattern uses window:length.

StockTick(company == "RHT") over window:length(10)

The example below portrays window length instead of window time; that is, it allows the user to sound an alarm in case the average temperature over the last 100 readings from a sensor is above the threshold value.

Example 7.16. Average Value over Length

rule "Sound the Alarm in Case Temperature Rises Above Threshold"
when
  TemperatureThreshold($max : max)
  Number(doubleValue > $max) from accumulate(
    SensorReading($temp : temperature) over window:length(100),
    average($temp))
then
  // sound the alarm
end

Note

The engine disregards events that fall off a window when calculating that window, but it does not remove the event from the session based on that condition alone as there might be other rules that depend on that event.

Note

Length based windows do not define temporal constraints for event expiration from the session, and the engine will not consider them. If events have no other rules defining temporal constraints and no explicit expiration policy, the engine will keep them in the session indefinitely.

Memory Management for Events

Automatic memory management for events is available when running the rules engine in Stream mode. Events that no longer match any rule due to their temporal constraints can be safely retracted from the session by the rules engine without any side effects, releasing any resources held by the retracted events.

The rules engine has two ways of determining if an event is still of interest:

Explicitly

Event expiration can be explicitly set with the @expires.

Implicitly

The rules engine can analyze the temporal constraints in rules to determine the window of interest for events.

Explicit Expiration

Explicit expiration is set with a declare statement and the metadata @expires tag.

For example:

Example 7.17. Declaring Explicit Expiration

declare StockTick
  @expires(30m)
end

Declaring expiration against an event-type will, in the above example StockTick events, remove any StockTick events from the session automatically after the defined expiration time if no rules still need the events.

Inferred Expiration

The rules engine can calculate the expiration offset for a given event implicitly by analyzing the temporal constraints in the rules.

For example:

Example 7.18. Rule with Temporal Constraints

rule "correlate orders"
when
  $bo : BuyOrder($id : id)
  $ae : AckOrder(id == $id, this after[0,10s] $bo)
then
  // do something
end

For the example rule, the rules engine automatically calculates that whenever a BuyOrder event occurs it needs to store the event for up to ten seconds to wait for the matching AckOrder event, making the implicit expiration offset for BuyOrder events ten seconds. An AckOrder event can only match an existing BuyOrder event making its implicit expiration offset zero seconds.

The engine analyzes the entire rule-base to find the offset for every event-type. Whenever an implicit expiration clashes with an explicit expiration the engine uses the greater value of the two.

Chapter 8. Working With Rules

About Rule Files

Rule File

A rule file is typically a file with a .drl extension. In a DRL file you can have multiple rules, queries and functions, as well as some resource declarations like imports, globals, and attributes that are assigned and used by your rules and queries. However, you are also able to spread your rules across multiple rule files (in that case, the extension .rule is suggested, but not required) - spreading rules across files can help with managing large numbers of rules. A DRL file is simply a text file.

Structure of Rule Files

The overall structure of a rule file is the following:

Example 8.1. Rule File

package package-name

imports

globals

functions

queries

rules

The order in which the elements are declared is not important, except for the package name that, if declared, must be the first element in the rules file. All elements are optional, so you will use only those you need.

Operating on Facts

Facts are domain model objects that BRMS uses to evaluate conditions and execute consequences. A rule specifies that when a particular set of conditions occur, then the specified list of actions must be executed. The inference engine matches facts against rules, and when matches are found, rule actions are placed on the agenda. The agenda is the place where rules are queued ready to have their actions fired. The rule engine then determines which eligible rules on the agenda must fire.

Accessing Working Memory

The working memory is a stateful object that provides temporary storage and manipulation of facts. The working memory includes an API that contains the following functions that allow access to working memory from rules files:

update(object, handle)

This method is used to tell the engine that an object has changed and rules may need to be reconsidered.

update(object)

In this method, the KieSession looks up the fact handle, via an identity check, for the passed object. Although, if property change listeners are provided to the JavaBeans that are inserted into the engine, it is possible to avoid the need to call update() method when the object changes.

insert(new <method name>())

This method places a new object into the working memory.

retract(handle)

This method removes an object from working memory. It is mapped to the delete method in a KieSession.

insertLogical(new <method name>())

This method is similar to insert, but the object is automatically retracted from the working memory when there are no more facts to support the truth of the currently firing rule.

halt()

This method terminates rule execution immediately. This is required for returning control to the point where the current session is put to work with fireUntilHalt() method.

getKieRuntime()

The full KIE API is exposed through a predefined variable, kcontext, of type RuleContext. Its method getKieRuntime() delivers an object of type KieRuntime, which in turn provides access to a wealth of methods, many of which are useful for coding the rule logic. The call kcontext.getKieRuntime().halt() terminates rule execution immediately.

Using Rule Keywords

Hard Keywords

Hard keywords are words which you cannot use when naming your domain objects, properties, methods, functions, and other elements that are used in the rule text. The hard keywords are true, false, and null.

Soft Keywords

Soft keywords can be used for naming domain objects, properties, methods, functions, and other elements. The rules engine recognizes their context and processes them accordingly.

List of Soft Keywords

Rule attributes can be both simple and complex properties that provide a way to influence the behavior of the rule. They are usually written as one attribute per line and can be optional to the rule. Listed below are various rule attributes:

Figure 8.1. Rule Attributes

Table 8.1. Soft Keywords

Name
Default Value
Type
Description

no-loop

false

Boolean

When a rule’s consequence modifies a fact, it may cause the rule to activate again, causing an infinite loop. Setting no-loop to true will skip the creation of another activation for the rule with the current set of facts.

lock-on-active

false

Boolean

Whenever a ruleflow-group becomes active or an agenda-group receives the focus, any rule within that group that has lock-on-active set to true will not be activated any more. Regardless of the origin of the update, the activation of a matching rule is discarded. This is a stronger version of no-loop because the change is not only caused by the rule itself. It is ideal for calculation rules where you have a number of rules that modify a fact, and you do not want any rule re-matching and firing again. Only when the ruleflow-group is no longer active or the agenda-group loses the focus, those rules with lock-on-active set to true become eligible again for their activations to be placed onto the agenda.

salience

0

Integer

Each rule has an integer salience attribute which defaults to zero and can be negative or positive. Salience is a form of priority where rules with higher salience values are given higher priority when ordered in the activation queue. BRMS also supports dynamic salience where you can use an expression involving bound variables like the following:

rule "Fire in rank order 1,2,.."
salience(-$rank)
when
  Element($rank : rank,...)
then
  ...
end

ruleflow-group

N/A

String

Ruleflow is a BRMS feature that lets you exercise control over the firing of rules. Rules that are assembled by the same ruleflow-group identifier fire only when their group is active. This attribute has been merged with agenda-group and the behaviours are basically the same.

agenda-group

MAIN

String

Agenda groups allow the user to partition the agenda, which provides more execution control. Only rules in the agenda group that have acquired the focus are allowed to fire. This attribute has been merged with ruleflow-group and the behaviours are basically the same.

auto-focus

false

Boolean

When a rule is activated where the auto-focus value is true and the rule’s agenda group does not have focus yet, it is automatically given focus, allowing the rule to potentially fire.

activation-group

N/A

String

Rules that belong to the same activation-group identified by this attribute’s String value, will only fire exclusively. More precisely, the first rule in an activation-group to fire will cancel all pending activations of all rules in the group, for example stop them from firing.

dialect

specified by package

String

Java and MVEL are the possible values of the dialect attribute. This attribute specifies the language to be used for any code expressions in the LHS or the RHS code block. While the dialect can be specified at the package level, this attribute allows the package definition to be overridden for a rule.

date-effective

N/A

String, date and time definition

A rule can only activate if the current date and time is after the date-effective attribute. An example date-effective attribute is displayed below:

rule "Start Exercising"
date-effective "4-Sep-2014"
when
  $m : org.drools.compiler.Message()
then
  $m.setFired(true);
end

date-expires

N/A

String, date and time definition

A rule cannot activate if the current date and time is after the date-expires attribute. An example date-expires attribute is displayed below:

rule "Run 4km"
date-effective "4-Sep-2014"
date-expires "9-Sep-2014"
when
  $m : org.drools.compiler.Message()
then
  $m.setFired(true);
end

duration

no default

long

If a rule is still true, the duration attribute will dictate that the rule will fire after a specified duration.

Note

The attributes ruleflow-group and agenda-group have been merged and now behave the same. The GET methods have been left the same, for deprecations reasons, but both attributes return the same underlying data.

Adding Comments to Rule File

Comments are sections of text that are ignored by the rule engine. They are stripped out when they are encountered, except inside semantic code blocks (like a rule’s RHS).

Single Line Comment Example

This is what a single line comment looks like. To create single line comments, you can use //. The parser will ignore anything in the line after the comment symbol:

rule "Testing Comments"
when
  // this is a single line comment
  eval(true) // this is a comment in the same line of a pattern
then
  // this is a comment inside a semantic code block
end

Multi-Line Comment Example

This is what a multi-line comment looks like. This configuration comments out blocks of text, both in and outside semantic code blocks:

rule "Test Multi-Line Comments"
when
  /* this is a multi-line comment
     in the left hand side of a rule */
  eval( true )
then
  /* and this is a multi-line comment
     in the right hand side of a rule */
end

Error Messages in Rules

Red Hat JBoss BRMS provides standardized error messages. This standardization aims to help users to find and resolve problems in a easier and faster way.

Error Message Format

This is the standard error message format.

Figure 8.2. Error Message Format Example

1st Block: This area identifies the error code.

2nd Block: Line and column information.

3rd Block: Some text describing the problem.

4th Block: This is the first context. Usually indicates the rule, function, template, or query where the error occurred. This block is not mandatory.

5th Block: Identifies the pattern where the error occurred. This block is not mandatory.

Error Message Description

Table 8.2. Error Messages

Error Message
Description
Example

[ERR 101] Line 4:4 no viable alternative at input 'exits' in rule one

Indicates when the parser came to a decision point but couldn’t identify an alternative.

1: rule one
2:   when
3:     exists Foo()
4:     exits Bar()
5:   then
6: end

[ERR 101] Line 3:2 no viable alternative at input 'WHEN'

This message means the parser has encountered the token WHEN (a hard keyword) which is in the wrong place, since the rule name is missing.

1: package org.drools;
2: rule
3:   when
4:     Object()
5:   then
6:     System.out.println("A RHS");
7: end

[ERR 101] Line 0:-1 no viable alternative at input '<eof>' in rule simple_rule in pattern [name]

Indicates an open quote, apostrophe or parentheses.

1: rule simple_rule
2:   when
3:     Student(name == "Andy)
4:   then
5: end

[ERR 102] Line 0:-1 mismatched input '<eof>' expecting ')' in rule simple_rule in pattern Bar

Indicates that the parser was looking for a particular symbol that it didn’t end at the current input position.

1: rule simple_rule
2:   when
3:     foo3 : Bar(

[ERR 102] Line 0:-1 mismatched input '<eof>' expecting ')' in rule simple_rule in pattern [name]

This error is the result of an incomplete rule statement. Usually when you get a 0:-1 position, it means that parser reached the end of source. To fix this problem, it is necessary to complete the rule statement.

1: package org.drools;
2:
3: rule "Avoid NPE on wrong syntax"
4:   when
5:     not(Cheese((type == "stilton", price == 10) || (type == "brie", price == 15)) from $cheeseList)
6:   then
7:     System.out.println("OK");
8: end

[ERR 103] Line 7:0 rule 'rule_key' failed predicate: {(validateIdentifierKey( DroolsSoftKeywords.RULE ))}? in rule

A validating semantic predicate evaluated to false. Usually these semantic predicates are used to identify soft keywords.

 1: package nesting;
 2: dialect "mvel"
 3:
 4: import org.drools.Person
 5: import org.drools.Address
 6:
 7: fdsfdsfds
 8:
 9: rule "test something"
10:   when
11:     p: Person(name=="Michael")
12:   then
13:     p.name = "other";
14:     System.out.println(p.name);
15: end

[ERR 104] Line 3:4 trailing semi-colon not allowed in rule simple_rule

This error is associated with the eval clause, where its expression may not be terminated with a semicolon. This problem is simple to fix: just remove the semi-colon.

1: rule simple_rule
2:   when
3:     eval(abc();)
4:   then
5: end

[ERR 105] Line 2:2 required (…​)+ loop did not match anything at input 'aa' in template test_error

The recognizer came to a subrule in the grammar that must match an alternative at least once, but the subrule did not match anything. To fix this problem it is necessary to remove the numeric value as it is neither a valid data type which might begin a new template slot nor a possible start for any other rule file construct.

1: template test_error
2:   aa s 11;
3: end

Packaging

A package is a collection of rules and other related constructs, such as imports and globals. The package members are typically related to each other, such as HR rules. A package represents a namespace, which ideally is kept unique for a given grouping of rules. The package name itself is the namespace, and is not related to files or folders in any way.

It is possible to assemble rules from multiple rule sources, and have one top-level package configuration that all the rules are kept under (when the rules are assembled). It is not possible to merge into the same package resources declared under different names. A single Rulebase may, however, contain multiple packages built on it. A common structure is to have all the rules for a package in the same file as the package declaration (so that is it entirely self-contained).

Import Statements

Import statements work like import statements in Java. You need to specify the fully qualified paths and type names for any objects you want to use in the rules. Red Hat JBoss BRMS automatically imports classes from the Java package of the same name, and also from the package java.lang.

Using Globals

In order to use globals you must:

Declare the global variable in the rules file and use it in rules. For example:

global java.util.List myGlobalList;

rule "Using a Global"
when
  eval(true)
then
  myGlobalList.add("Hello World");
end

Set the global value on the working memory. It is best practice to set all global values before asserting any fact to the working memory. For example:

List list = new ArrayList();
WorkingMemory wm = rulebase.newStatefulSession();
wm.setGlobal("myGlobalList", list);

From Element

The from element allows you to pass a Hibernate session as a global. It also lets you pull data from a named Hibernate query.

Using Globals with E-Mail Service

Procedure: Task

Open the integration code that is calling the rule engine.

Obtain your emailService object and then set it in the working memory.

In the DRL, declare that you have a global of type emailService and give it the name email.

In your rule consequences, you can use things like email.sendSMS(number, message).

Warning

Globals are not designed to share data between rules and they should never be used for that purpose. Rules always reason and react to the working memory state, so if you want to pass data from rule to rule, assert the data as facts into the working memory.

Important

Do not set or change a global value from inside the rules. We recommend to you always set the value from your application using the working memory interface.

Functions in Rules

Functions are a way to put semantic code in a rule source file, as opposed to in normal Java classes. The main advantage of using functions in a rule is that you can keep the logic all in one place. You can change the functions as needed.

Functions are most useful for invoking actions on the consequence (then) part of a rule, especially if that particular action is used repeatedly.

A typical function declaration looks like the following:

function String hello(String name) {
  return "Hello " + name + "!";
}

Note

Note that the function keyword is used, even though it’s not technically part of Java. Parameters to the function are defined as for a method. You don’t have to have parameters if they are not needed. The return type is defined just like in a regular method.

Function Declaration with Static Method Example

This example of a function declaration shows the static method in a helper class Foo.hello(). Red Hat JBoss BRMS supports the use of function imports, so the following code is all you would need to enter the following:

import function my.package.Foo.hello

Calling Function Declaration Example

Irrespective of the way the function is defined or imported, you use a function by calling it by its name, in the consequence or inside a semantic code block. This is shown below:

rule "Using a Static Function"
when
  eval(true)
then
  System.out.println(hello("Bob"));
end

Type Declarations

Type declarations have two main goals in the rules engine: to allow the declaration of new types, and to allow the declaration of metadata for types.

Table 8.3. Type Declaration Roles

Role
Description

Declaring new types

Red Hat JBoss BRMS uses plain Java objects as facts out of the box. However, if you wish to define the model directly to the rules engine, you can do so by declaring a new type. You can also declare a new type when there is a domain model already built and you want to complement this model with additional entities that are used mainly during the reasoning process.

Declaring metadata

Facts may have meta information associated to them. Examples of meta information include any kind of data that is not represented by the fact attributes and is consistent among all instances of that fact type. This meta information may be queried at runtime by the engine and used in the reasoning process.

Declaring New Types

To declare a new type, the keyword declare is used, followed by the list of fields and the keyword end. A new fact must have a list of fields, otherwise the engine will look for an existing fact class in the classpath and raise an error if not found.

Declaring New Fact Type Example

In this example, a new fact type called Address is used. This fact type will have three attributes: number, streetName and city. Each attribute has a type that can be any valid Java type, including any other class created by the user or other fact types previously declared:

declare Address
  number : int
  streetName : String
  city : String
end

Declaring New Fact Type Additional Example

This fact type declaration uses a Person example. dateOfBirth is of the type java.util.Date (from the Java API) and address is of the fact type Address.

declare Person
  name : String
  dateOfBirth : java.util.Date
  address : Address
end

Using Import Example

This example illustrates how to use the import feature to avoid he need to use fully qualified class names:

import java.util.Date

declare Person
  name : String
  dateOfBirth : Date
  address : Address
end

Generated Java Classes

When you declare a new fact type, Red Hat JBoss BRMS generates bytecode that implements a Java class representing the fact type. The generated Java class is a one-to-one Java Bean mapping of the type definition.

Generated Java Class Example

This is an example of a generated Java class using the Person fact type:

public class Person implements Serializable {
  private String name;
  private java.util.Date dateOfBirth;
  private Address address;

  // empty constructor
  public Person() {...}

  // constructor with all fields
  public Person(String name, Date dateOfBirth, Address address) {...}

  // if keys are defined, constructor with keys
  public Person( ...keys... ) {...}

  // getters and setters
  // equals/hashCode
  // toString
}

Using Declared Types in Rules Example

Since the generated class is a simple Java class, it can be used transparently in the rules like any other fact:

rule "Using a declared Type"
when
  $p : Person(name == "Bob")
then
  // Insert Mark, who is Bob's manager.
  Person mark = new Person();
  mark.setName("Mark");
  insert(mark);
end

Declaring Metadata

Metadata may be assigned to several different constructions in Red Hat JBoss BRMS, such as fact types, fact attributes and rules. Red Hat JBoss BRMS uses the at sign (@) to introduce metadata and it always uses the form:

@metadata_key(metadata_value)

The parenthesized metadata_value is optional.

Working with Metadata Attributes

Red Hat JBoss BRMS allows the declaration of any arbitrary metadata attribute. Some have special meaning to the engine, while others are available for querying at runtime. Red Hat JBoss BRMS allows the declaration of metadata both for fact types and for fact attributes. Any metadata that is declared before the attributes of a fact type are assigned to the fact type, while metadata declared after an attribute are assigned to that particular attribute.

Declaring Metadata Attribute with Fact Types Example

This is an example of declaring metadata attributes for fact types and attributes. There are two metadata items declared for the fact type (@author and @dateOfCreation) and two more defined for the name attribute (@key and @maxLength). The @key metadata has no required value, and so the parentheses and the value were omitted:

import java.util.Date

declare Person
  @author(Bob)
  @dateOfCreation(01-Feb-2009)

  name : String @key @maxLength(30)
  dateOfBirth : Date
  address : Address
end

@position Attribute

The @position attribute can be used to declare the position of a field, overriding the default declared order. This is used for positional constraints in patterns.

@position Example

This is what the @position attribute looks like in use:

declare Cheese
  name : String @position(1)
  shop : String @position(2)
  price : int @position(0)
end

Predefined Class Level Annotations

Table 8.4. Predefined Class Level Annotations

Annotation
Description

@role( <fact|event>)

This attribute can be used to assign roles to facts and events.

@typesafe(<boolean>)

By default, all type declarations are compiled with type safety enabled. @typesafe(false) provides a means to override this behavior by permitting a fall-back, to type unsafe evaluation where all constraints are generated as MVEL constraints and executed dynamically. This is useful when dealing with collections that do not have any generics or mixed type collections.

@timestamp(<attribute name>)

Creates a timestamp.

@duration(<attribute name>)

Sets a duration for the implementation of an attribute.

@expires(<time interval>)

Allows you to define when the attribute should expire.

@propertyChangeSupport

Facts that implement support for property changes as defined in the Javabean spec can now be annotated so that the engine register itself to listen for changes on fact properties.

@propertyReactive

Makes the type property reactive.

@key Attribute Functions

Declaring an attribute as a key attribute has two major effects on generated types:

The attribute is used as a key identifier for the type, and thus the generated class implements the equals() and hashCode() methods taking the attribute into account when comparing instances of this type.

Red Hat JBoss BRMS generates a constructor using all the key attributes as parameters.

@key Declaration Example

This is an example of @key declarations for a type. Red Hat JBoss BRMS generates equals() and hashCode() methods that checks the firstName and lastName attributes to determine if two instances of Person are equal to each other. It does not check the age attribute. It also generates a constructor taking firstName and lastName as parameters:

declare Person
  firstName : String @key
  lastName : String @key
  age : int
end

Creating Instance with Key Constructor Example

This is what creating an instance using the key constructor looks like:

Person person = new Person("John", "Doe");

Positional Arguments

Patterns support positional arguments on type declarations and are defined by the @position attribute.

Positional arguments are when you do not need to specify the field name, as the position maps to a known named field. That is, Person(name == "mark") can be rewritten as Person("mark";). The semicolon ; is important so that the engine knows that everything before it is a positional argument. You can mix positional and named arguments on a pattern by using the semicolon ; to separate them. Any variables used in a positional that have not yet been bound will be bound to the field that maps to that position.

Positional Argument Example

Observe the example below:

declare Cheese
  name : String
  shop : String
  price : int
end

The default order is the declared order, but this can be overridden using @position.

declare Cheese
  name : String @position(1)
  shop : String @position(2)
  price : int @position(0)
end

@position Annotation

The @position annotation can be used to annotate original pojos on the classpath. Currently only fields on classes can be annotated. Inheritance of classes is supported, but not interfaces of methods.

Example Patterns

These example patterns have two constraints and a binding. The semicolon ; is used to differentiate the positional section from the named argument section. Variables and literals and expressions using just literals are supported in positional arguments, but not variables:

Cheese("stilton", "Cheese Shop", p;)
Cheese("stilton", "Cheese Shop"; p : price)
Cheese("stilton"; shop == "Cheese Shop", p : price)
Cheese(name == "stilton"; shop == "Cheese Shop", p : price)

Backward-Chaining

Backward-Chaining Systems

Backward-Chaining is a feature recently added to the BRMS Engine. This process is often referred to as derivation queries, and it is not as common compared to reactive systems since BRMS is primarily reactive forward chaining. That is, it responds to changes in your data. The backward-chaining added to the engine is for product-like derivations.

Cloning Transitive Closures

Figure 8.3. Reasoning Graph

The previous chart demonstrates a House example of transitive items. A similar reasoning chart can be created by implementing the following rules:

Configuring Transitive Closures

First, create some java rules to develop reasoning for transitive items. It inserts each of the locations.

Next, create the Location class; it has the item and where it is located.

Type the rules for the House example as depicted below:

ksession.insert(new Location("office", "house"));
ksession.insert(new Location("kitchen", "house"));
ksession.insert(new Location("knife", "kitchen"));
ksession.insert(new Location("cheese", "kitchen"));
ksession.insert(new Location("desk", "office"));
ksession.insert(new Location("chair", "office"));
ksession.insert(new Location("computer", "desk"));
ksession.insert(new Location("drawer", "desk"));

A transitive design is created in which the item is in its designated location such as a "desk" located in an "office."

Figure 8.4. Transitive Reasoning Graph of House

Note

Notice compared to the previous graph, there is no "key" item in a "drawer" location. This will become evident in a later topic.

Defining Query

Defining Query

Create a query to look at the data inserted into the rules engine:

query isContainedIn(String x, String y)
  Location(x, y;)
  or
  (Location(z, y;) and isContainedIn(x, z;))
end

Notice how the query is recursive and is calling isContainedIn.

Create a rule to print out every string inserted into the system to see how things are implemented. The rule should resemble the following format:

rule "go" salience 10
when
  $s : String()
then
  System.out.println($s);
end

Using step 2 as a model, create a rule that calls upon the step 1 query isContainedIn.

rule "go1"
when
  String(this == "go1")
  isContainedIn("office", "house";)
then
  System.out.println("office is in the house");
end

The go1 rule will fire when the first string is inserted into the engine. That is, it asks if the item "office" is in the location "house." Therefore, the query from step 1 is evoked by the previous rule when the go1 String is inserted.

Create the go1, insert it into the engine, and call the fireAllRules.

ksession.insert("go1");
ksession.fireAllRules();
---
go1
office is in the house

The --- line indicates the separation of the output of the engine from the firing of the go rule and the go1 rule.

go1 is inserted

Salience ensures it goes first

The rule matches the query

Transitive Closure Example

Creating Transitive Closure

Create a transitive closure by implementing the following rule:

rule "go2"
when
  String(this == "go2")
  isContainedIn("drawer", "house";)
then
  System.out.println("Drawer in the House");
end

Recall from the cloning transitive closure topic, there was no instance of "drawer" in "house." "Drawer" was located in "desk."

Figure 8.5. Transitive Reasoning Graph of a Drawer.

Use the previous query for this recursive information.

query isContainedIn(String x, String y)
  Location(x, y;)
  or
  (Location(z, y;) and isContainedIn(x, z;))
end

Create the go2, insert it into the engine, and call the fireAllRules.

ksession.insert( "go2" );
ksession.fireAllRules();
---
go2
Drawer in the House

When the rule is fired, it correctly tells you go2 has been inserted and that the "drawer" is in the "house."

Check how the engine determined this outcome.

The query has to recurse down several levels to determine this.

Instead of using Location(x, y;), the query uses the value of (z, y;) since "drawer" is not in "house."

The z is currently unbound which means it has no value and will return everything that is in the argument.

y is currently bound to "house," so z will return "office" and "kitchen."

Information is gathered from "office" and checks recursively if the "drawer" is in the "office." The following query line is being called for these parameters: isContainedIn(x ,z;)

There is no instance of "drawer" in "office"; therefore, it does not match. With z being unbound, it will return data that is within the "office", and it will gather that z == desk.

isContainedIn(x==drawer, z==desk)

isContainedIn recurses three times. On the final recurse, an instance triggers of "drawer" in the "desk".

Location(x==drawer, y==desk)

This matches on the first location and recurses back up, so we know that "drawer" is in the "desk", the "desk" is in the "office", and the "office" is in the "house"; therefore, the "drawer" is in the "house" and returns true.

Reactive Transitive Queries

Creating a Reactive Transitive Query

Create a reactive transitive query by implementing the following rule:

rule "go3"
when
  String( this == "go3" )
  isContainedIn("key", "office"; )
then
  System.out.println( "Key in the Office" );
end

Reactive transitive queries can ask a question even if the answer can not be satisfied. Later, if it is satisfied, it will return an answer.

Note

Recall from the cloning transitive closures example that there was no key item in the system.

Use the same query for this reactive information.

query isContainedIn(String x, String y)
  Location(x, y;)
  or
  (Location(z, y;) and isContainedIn(x, z;))
end

Create the go3, insert it into the engine, and call the fireAllRules.

ksession.insert("go3");
ksession.fireAllRules();
---
go3

go3 is inserted

fireAllRules(); is called

The first rule that matches any String returns go3 but nothing else is returned because there is no answer; however, while go3 is inserted in the system, it will continuously wait until it is satisfied.

Insert a new location of "key" in the "drawer":

ksession.insert( new Location("key", "drawer"));
ksession.fireAllRules();
---
Key in the Office

This new location satisfies the transitive closure because it is monitoring the entire graph. In addition, this process now has four recursive levels in which it goes through to match and fire the rule.

Queries with Unbound Arguments

Creating Unbound Argument Query

Create a query with unbound arguments by implementing the following rule:

rule "go4"
when
  String(this == "go4")
  isContainedIn(thing, "office";)
then
  System.out.println("thing" + thing + "is in the office");
end

This rule is asking for everything in the "office", and it will tell everything in all the rows below. The unbound argument (out variable thing) in this example will return every possible value; accordingly, it is very similar to the z value used in the reactive transitive query example.

Use the query for the unbound arguments.

query isContainedIn(String x, String y)
  Location(x, y;)
  or
  (Location(z, y;) and isContainedIn(x, z;))
end

Create the go4, insert it into the engine, and call the fireAllRules.

ksession.insert( "go4" );
ksession.fireAllRules();
---
go4
thing Key is in the Office
thing Computer is in the Office
thing Drawer is in the Office
thing Desk is in the Office
thing Chair is in the Office

When go4 is inserted, it returns all the previous information that is transitively below "office."

Multiple Unbound Arguments

Creating Multiple Unbound Arguments

Create a query with multiple unbound arguments by implementing the following rule:

rule "go5"
when
  String(this == "go5")
  isContainedIn(thing, location;)
then
  System.out.println("thing" + thing + "is in" + location);
end

Both thing and location are unbound out variables, and without bound arguments, everything is called upon.

Use the query for multiple unbound arguments.

query isContainedIn(String x, String y)
  Location(x, y;)
  or
  (Location(z, y;) and isContainedIn(x, z;))
end

Create the go5, insert it into the engine, and call the fireAllRules.

ksession.insert("go5");
ksession.fireAllRules();
---
go5
thing Knife is in House
thing Cheese is in House
thing Key is in House
thing Computer is in House
thing Drawer is in House
thing Desk is in House
thing Chair is in House
thing Key is in Office
thing Computer is in Office
thing Drawer is in Office
thing Key is in Desk
thing Office is in House
thing Computer is in Desk
thing Knife is in Kitchen
thing Cheese is in Kitchen
thing Kitchen is in House
thing Key is in Drawer
thing Drawer is in Desk
thing Desk is in Office
thing Chair is in Office

When go5 is called, it returns everything within everything.

Type Declaration

Declaring Metadata for Existing Types

Red Hat JBoss BRMS allows the declaration of metadata attributes for existing types in the same way as when declaring metadata attributes for new fact types. The only difference is that there are no fields in that declaration.

Declaring Metadata for Existing Types Example

This example shows how to declare metadata for an existing type:

import org.drools.examples.Person

declare Person
  @author(Bob)
  @dateOfCreation(01-Feb-2009)
end

Declaring Metadata Using Fully Qualified Class Name Example

This example shows how you can declare metadata using the fully qualified class name instead of using the import annotation:

declare org.drools.examples.Person
  @author(Bob)
  @dateOfCreation(01-Feb-2009)
end

Parametrized Constructors for Declared Types Example

For a declared type like the following:

declare Person
  firstName : String @key
  lastName : String @key
  age : int
end

The compiler will implicitly generate 3 constructors: one without parameters, one with the @key fields and one with all fields.

Person() // parameterless constructor
Person(String firstName, String lastName)
Person(String firstName, String lastName, int age)

Non-Typesafe Classes

The @typesafe(BOOLEAN) annotation has been added to type declarations. By default all type declarations are compiled with type safety enabled. @typesafe(false) provides a means to override this behaviour by permitting a fall-back, to type unsafe evaluation where all constraints are generated as MVEL constraints and executed dynamically. This is useful when dealing with collections that do not have any generics or mixed type collections.

Accessing Declared Types from Application Code

Sometimes applications need to access and handle facts from the declared types. In such cases, Red Hat JBoss BRMS provides a simplified API for the most common fact handling the application wishes to do. A declared fact belongs to the package where it is declared.

Declaring Type

This illustrates the process of declaring a type:

package org.drools.examples

import java.util.Date

declare Person
  name : String
  dateOfBirth : Date
  address : Address
end

Handling Declared Fact Types Through API Example

This example illustrates the handling of declared fact types through the API:

// Get a reference to a knowledge base with a declared type:
Kie kbase = ...

// Get the declared FactType:
FactType personType = kbase.getFactType("org.drools.examples", "Person");

// Handle the type as necessary:
// Create instances:
Object bob = personType.newInstance();

// Set attributes values:
personType.set(bob, "name", "Bob" );
personType.set(bob, "age", 42);

// Insert fact into a session:
KieSession ksession = ...
ksession.insert(bob);
ksession.fireAllRules();

// Read attributes:
String name = personType.get(bob, "name");
int age = personType.get(bob, "age");

The API also includes other helpful methods, like setting all the attributes at once, reading values from a Map, or reading all attributes at once, into a Map.

Type Declaration Extends

Type declarations support the extends keyword for inheritance. To extend a type declared in Java by a DRL declared subtype, repeat the supertype in a declare statement without any fields.

Type Declaration Extends Example

This illustrates the use of the extends annotation:

import org.people.Person

declare Person
end

declare Student extends Person
  school : String
end

declare LongTermStudent extends Student
  years : int
  course : String
end

Traits

Traits allow you to model multiple dynamic types which do not fit naturally in a class hierarchy. A trait is an interface that can be applied (and eventually removed) to an individual object at runtime. To create a trait out of an interface, a @format(trait) annotation is added to its declaration in DRL.

Traits Example

declare GoldenCustomer
  @format(trait)
  // fields will map to getters/setters
  code     : String
  balance  : long
  discount : int
  maxExpense : long
end

In order to apply a trait to an object, the new don keyword is added:

when
  $c : Customer()
then
  GoldenCustomer gc = don($c, Customer.class);
end

Core Objects and Traits

When a core object dons a trait, a proxy class is created on the fly (one such class will be generated lazily for each core/trait class combination). The proxy instance, which wraps the core object and implements the trait interface, is inserted automatically and will possibly activate other rules. An immediate advantage of declaring and using interfaces, getting the implementation proxy for free from the engine, is that multiple inheritance hierarchies can be exploited when writing rules. The core classes, however, need not implement any of those interfaces statically, also facilitating the use of legacy classes as cores. Any object can don a trait. For efficiency reasons, however, you can add the @traitable annotation to a declared bean class to reduce the amount of glue code that the compiler will have to generate. This is optional and will not change the behavior of the engine.

@traitable Example

This illustrates the use of the @traitable annotation:

declare Customer
  @traitable
  code    : String
  balance : long
end

Writing Rules with Traits

The only connection between core classes and trait interfaces is at the proxy level. (That is, a trait is not specifically tied to a core class.) This means that the same trait can be applied to totally different objects. For this reason, the trait does not transparently expose the fields of its core object. When writing a rule using a trait interface, only the fields of the interface will be available, as usual. However, any field in the interface that corresponds to a core object field, will be mapped by the proxy class.

Rules with Traits Example

This example illustrates the trait interface being mapped to a field:

when
  $o: OrderItem($p : price, $code : custCode)
  $c: GoldenCustomer(code == $code, $a : balance, $d: discount)
then
  $c.setBalance( $a - $p*$d );
end

Hidden Fields

Hidden fields are fields in the core class not exposed by the interface.

Two-Part Proxy

The two-part proxy has been developed to deal with soft and hidden fields which are not processed intuitively. Internally, proxies are formed by a proper proxy and a wrapper. The former implements the interface, while the latter manages the core object fields, implementing a name/value map to supports soft fields. The proxy uses both the core object and the map wrapper to implement the interface, as needed.

Wrappers

The wrapper provides a looser form of typing when writing rules. However, it has also other uses. The wrapper is specific to the object it wraps, regardless of how many traits have been attached to an object. All the proxies on the same object will share the same wrapper. Additionally, the wrapper contains a back-reference to all proxies attached to the wrapped object, effectively allowing traits to see each other.

Wrapper Example

This is an example of using the wrapper:

when
  $sc : GoldenCustomer($c : code, // hard getter
                       $maxExpense : maxExpense > 1000 // soft getter)
then
  $sc.setDiscount( ... ); // soft setter
end

Wrapper with isA Annotation Example

This illustrates a wrapper in use with the isA annotation:

$sc : GoldenCustomer($maxExpense : maxExpense > 1000, this isA "SeniorCustomer")

Removing Traits

The business logic may require that a trait is removed from a wrapped object. There are two ways to do so:

Logical don

Results in a logical insertion of the proxy resulting from the traiting operation.

then
  don($x, // core object
      Customer.class, // trait class
      true // optional flag for logical insertion)

The shed keyword

The shed keyword causes the retraction of the proxy corresponding to the given argument type.

then
  Thing t = shed($x, GoldenCustomer.class)

This operation returns another proxy implementing the org.drools.factmodel.traits.Thing interface, where the getFields() and getCore() methods are defined. Internally, all declared traits are generated to extend this interface (in addition to any others specified). This allows to preserve the wrapper with the soft fields which would otherwise be lost.

Rule Syntax Example

This is an example of the syntax you should use when creating a rule:

rule "NAME"
  ATTRIBUTE*
when
  CONDITIONAL_ELEMENT*
then
  ACTION*
end

Rule Attributes

Table 8.5. Rule Attributes

Attribute Name
Default Value
Type
Description

no-loop

false

Boolean

When a rule’s consequence modifies a fact it may cause the rule to activate again, causing an infinite loop. Setting no-loop to true will skip the creation of another Activation for the rule with the current set of facts.

ruleflow-group

N/A

String

Ruleflow is a Drools feature that lets you exercise control over the firing of rules. Rules that are assembled by the same ruleflow-group identifier fire only when their group is active.

lock-on-active

false

Boolean

Whenever a ruleflow-group becomes active or an agenda-group receives the focus, any rule within that group that has lock-on-active set to true will not be activated any more; irrespective of the origin of the update, the activation of a matching rule is discarded. This is a stronger version of no-loop, because the change could now be caused not only by the rule itself. It’s ideal for calculation rules where you have a number of rules that modify a fact and you don’t want any rule re-matching and firing again. Only when the ruleflow-group is no longer active or the agenda-group loses the focus those rules with lock-on-active set to true become eligible again for their activations to be placed onto the agenda.

salience

0

Integer

Each rule has an integer salience attribute which defaults to zero and can be negative or positive. Salience is a form of priority where rules with higher salience values are given higher priority when ordered in the Activation queue.

agenda-group

MAIN

String

Agenda groups allow the user to partition the Agenda providing more execution control. Only rules in the agenda group that has acquired the focus are allowed to fire.

auto-focus

false

Boolean

When a rule is activated where the auto-focus value is true and the rule’s agenda group does not have focus yet, then it is given focus, allowing the rule to potentially fire.

activation-group

N/A

String

Rules that belong to the same activation-group, identified by this attribute’s string value, will only fire exclusively. In other words, the first rule in an activation-group to fire will cancel the other rules' activations, for example stop them from firing.

dialect

As specified by the package.

String

The dialect species the language to be used for any code expressions in the LHS or the RHS code block. Currently two dialects are available, Java and MVEL. While the dialect can be specified at the package level, this attribute allows the package definition to be overridden for a rule.

date-effective

N/A

String, containing a date and time definition.

A rule can only activate if the current date and time is after date-effective attribute.

date-expires

N/A

String, containing a date and time definition.

A rule cannot activate if the current date and time is after the date-expires attribute.

duration

no default value

long

The duration dictates that the rule will fire after a specified duration, if it is still true.

Rule Attribute Example

This is an example for using a rule attribute:

rule "my rule"
  salience 42
  agenda-group "number-1"
when ...

Timer Attribute Example

This is what the timer attribute looks like:

timer(int: INITIAL_DELAY REPEAT_INTERVAL?)
timer(int: 30s)
timer(int: 30s 5m)

timer(cron: CRON_EXPRESSION)
timer(cron:* 0/15 * * * ?)

Timers

The following timers are available in Red Hat JBoss BRMS:

Interval

Interval (indicated by int:) timers follow the semantics of java.util.Timer objects, with an initial delay and an optional repeat interval.

Cron

Cron (indicated by cron:) timers follow standard Unix cron expressions.

A rule controlled by a timer becomes active when it matches, and once for each individual match. Its consequence is executed repeatedly, according to the timer’s settings. This stops as soon as the condition doesn’t match any more.

Consequences are executed even after control returns from a call to fireUntilHalt. Moreover, the Engine remains reactive to any changes made to the Working Memory. For instance, removing a fact that was involved in triggering the timer rule’s execution causes the repeated execution to terminate, or inserting a fact so that some rule matches will cause that rule to fire. But the Engine is not continually active, only after a rule fires, for whatever reason. Thus, reactions to an insertion done asynchronously will not happen until the next execution of a timer-controlled rule.

Disposing a session puts an end to all timer activity.

Cron Timer Example

This is what the Cron timer looks like:

rule "Send SMS every 15 minutes"
  timer (cron:* 0/15 * * * ?)
when
  $a : Alarm(on == true)
then
  channels["sms"].insert(new Sms($a.mobileNumber, "The alarm is still on");
end

Calendars

Calendars are used to control when rules can fire. Red Hat JBoss BRMS uses the Quartz calendar.

Quartz Calendar Example

This is what the Quartz calendar looks like:

Calendar weekDayCal = QuartzHelper.quartzCalendarAdapter(org.quartz.Calendar quartzCal)

Registering Calendar

Procedure: Task

Start a StatefulKnowledgeSession.

Use the following code to register the calendar:

ksession.getCalendars().set("weekday", weekDayCal);

If you wish to utilize the calendar and a timer together, use the following code:

rule "Weekdays are high priority"
  calendars "weekday"
  timer (int:0 1h)
when
  Alarm()
then
  send("priority high - we have an alarm”);
end

rule "Weekend are low priority"
  calendars "weekend"
  timer (int:0 4h)
when
  Alarm()
then
  send("priority low - we have an alarm”);
end

Left Hand Side

The Left Hand Side (LHS) is a common name for the conditional part of the rule. It consists of zero or more conditional elements. If the LHS is empty, it will be considered as a condition element that is always true and it will be activated once, when a new WorkingMemory session is created.

Conditional Elements

Conditional elements work on one or more patterns. The most common conditional element is and. It is implicit when you have multiple patterns in the LHS of a rule that is not connected in any way.

Rule Without Conditional Element Example

This is what a rule without a conditional element looks like:

rule "no CEs"
when
  // empty
then
  ... // actions (executed once)
end

// The above rule is internally rewritten as:

rule "eval(true)"
when
  eval( true )
then
  ... // actions (executed once)
end

Patterns

A pattern element is the most important conditional element. It can potentially match on each fact that is inserted in the working memory. A pattern contains constraints and has an optional pattern binding.

Pattern Example

This is what a pattern looks like:

rule "Two unconnected patterns"
when
  Pattern1()
  Pattern2()
then
    ... // actions
end

// The above rule is internally rewritten as:

rule "Two and connected patterns"
when
  Pattern1()
  and Pattern2()
then
  ... // actions
end

Note

An and cannot have a leading declaration binding. This is because a declaration can only reference a single fact at a time, and when the and is satisfied it matches both facts.

Pattern Matching

A pattern matches against a fact of the given type. The type need not be the actual class of some fact object. Patterns may refer to superclasses or even interfaces, thereby potentially matching facts from many different classes. The constraints are defined inside parentheses.

Pattern Binding

Patterns can be bound to a matching object. This is accomplished using a pattern binding variable such as $p.

Pattern Binding with Variable Example

This is what pattern binding using a variable looks like:

rule ...
when
  $p : Person()
then
  System.out.println("Person " + $p);
end

Note

The prefixed dollar symbol ($) is not mandatory.

Constraints

A constraint is an expression that returns true or false. For example, you can have a constraint that states "five is smaller than six".

Elements and Variables

Property Access on Java Beans (POJOs)

Any bean property can be used directly. A bean property is exposed using a standard Java bean getter: a method getMyProperty() (or isMyProperty() for a primitive boolean) which takes no arguments and return something.

Red Hat JBoss BRMS uses the standard JDK Introspector class to do this mapping, so it follows the standard Java bean specification.

Warning

Property accessors must not change the state of the object in a way that may effect the rules. The rule engine effectively caches the results of its matching in between invocations to make it faster.

POJO Example

This is what the bean property looks like:

Person(age == 50)

// this is the same as:
Person(getAge() == 50)

The age property

The age property is written as age in DRL instead of the getter getAge().

Property accessors

You can use property access (age) instead of getters explicitly (getAge()) because of performance enhancements through field indexing.

Working with POJOs

Procedure: Task

Observe the example below:

public int getAge() {
  Date now = DateUtil.now(); // Do NOT do this.
  return DateUtil.differenceInYears(now, birthday);
}

To solve this, insert a fact that wraps the current date into working memory and update that fact between fireAllRules as needed.

POJO Fallbacks

When working with POJOs, a fallback method is applied. If the getter of a property cannot be found, the compiler will resort to using the property name as a method name and without arguments. Nested properties are also indexed.

Fallback Example

This is what happens when a fallback is implemented:

Person(age == 50)

// If Person.getAge() does not exists, this falls back to:
Person(age() == 50)

This is what it looks like as a nested property:

Person(address.houseNumber == 50)

// this is the same as:
Person(getAddress().getHouseNumber() == 50)

Warning

In a stateful session, care should be taken when using nested accessors as the Working Memory is not aware of any of the nested values and does not know when they change. Consider them immutable while any of their parent references are inserted into the Working Memory. If you wish to modify a nested value you should mark all of the outer facts as updated. In the above example, when the houseNumber changes, any Person with that Address must be marked as updated.

Java Expressions

Table 8.6. Java Expressions

Capability
Example

You can use any Java expression that returns a boolean as a constraint inside the parentheses of a pattern. Java expressions can be mixed with other expression enhancements, such as property access.

Person(age == 50)

You can change the evaluation priority by using parentheses, as in any logic or mathematical expression.

Person(age > 100 && (age % 10 == 0))

You can reuse Java methods.

Person(Math.round(weight / (height * height)) < 25.0)

Type coercion is always attempted if the field and the value are of different types; exceptions will be thrown if a bad coercion is attempted.

Person(age == "10") // "10" is coerced to 10

Warning

Methods must not change the state of the object in a way that may affect the rules. Any method executed on a fact in the LHS should be a read only method.

Warning

The state of a fact should not change between rule invocations (unless those facts are marked as updated to the working memory on every change):

Person(System.currentTimeMillis() % 1000 == 0) // Do NOT do this.

Important

All operators have normal Java semantics except for == and !=.

The == operator has null-safe equals() semantics:

// Similar to: java.util.Objects.equals(person.getFirstName(), "John")
// so (because "John" is not null) similar to:
// "John".equals(person.getFirstName())
Person(firstName == "John")

The != operator has null-safe !equals() semantics:

// Similar to: !java.util.Objects.equals(person.getFirstName(), "John")
Person(firstName != "John")

Comma-Separated Operators

The comma character (,) is used to separate constraint groups. It has implicit and connective semantics.

The comma operator is used at the top-level constraint as it makes them easier to read and the engine will be able to optimize them.

Comma-Separated Operator Example

The following illustrates comma-separated scenarios in implicit and connective semantics:

// Person is at least 50 and weighs at least 80 kg.
Person(age > 50, weight > 80)

// Person is at least 50, weighs at least 80 kg and is taller than 2 meter.
Person(age > 50, weight > 80, height > 2)

Note

The comma (,) operator cannot be embedded in a composite constraint expression, such as parentheses.

Binding Variables

You can bind properties to variables in Red Hat JBoss BRMS. It allows for faster execution and performance.

Binding Variable Examples

This is an example of a property bound to a variable:

// Two people of the same age:
Person($firstAge : age) // binding
Person(age == $firstAge) // constraint expression

Note

For backwards compatibility reasons, it’s allowed (but not recommended) to mix a constraint binding and constraint expressions as such:

// Not recommended:
Person($age : age * 2 < 100)

// Recommended (separates bindings and constraint expressions):
Person(age * 2 < 100, $age : age)

Unification

You can unify arguments across several properties. While positional arguments are always processed with unification, the unification symbol, :=, exists for named arguments.

Unification Example

This is what unifying two arguments looks like:

Person($age := age)
Person($age := age)

Options and Operators in Red Hat JBoss BRMS

Table 8.7. Options and Operators in Red Hat JBoss BRMS

Option
Description
Example

Date literal

The date format dd-mmm-yyyy is supported by default. You can customize this by providing an alternative date format mask as the System property named drools.dateformat. If more control is required, use a restriction.

Cheese(bestBefore < "27-Oct-2009")

List and Map access

You can directly access a List value by index.

Person(childList[0].age == 18)

Value key

You can directly access a Map value by key.

Person(credentialMap["jsmith"].valid)

Abbreviated combined relation condition

This allows you to place more than one restriction on a field using the restriction connectives && or ||. Grouping via parentheses is permitted, resulting in a recursive syntax pattern.

Person(age > 30 && < 40)

Person(age ((> 30 && < 40) || (> 20 && < 25)))

Person(age > 30 && < 40 || location == "london")

Operators

Operators can be used on properties with natural ordering. For example, for Date fields, < means before, for String fields, it means alphabetically lower.

Person(firstName < $otherFirstName)

Person(birthDate < $otherBirthDate)

Operator matches

Matches a field against any valid Java regular expression. Typically that regexp is a string literal, but variables that resolve to a valid regexp are also allowed. It only applies on String properties. Using matches against a null value always evaluates to false.

Cheese(type matches "(Buffalo)?\\S*Mozarella")

Operator not matches

The operator returns true if the String does not match the regular expression. The same rules apply as for the matches operator. It only applies on String properties.

Cheese(type not matches "(Buffulo)?\\S*Mozarella")

The operator contains

The operator contains is used to check whether a field that is a Collection or array and contains the specified value. It only applies on Collection properties.

CheeseCounter(cheeses contains "stilton") // contains with a String literal
CheeseCounter(cheeses contains $var) // contains with a variable

The operator not contains

The operator not contains is used to check whether a field that is a Collection or array and does not contain the specified value. It only applies on Collection properties.

CheeseCounter(cheeses not contains "cheddar") // not contains with a String literal
CheeseCounter(cheeses not contains $var) // not contains with a variable

The operator memberOf

The operator memberOf is used to check whether a field is a member of a collection or array; that collection must be a variable.

CheeseCounter(cheese memberOf $matureCheeses)

The operator not memberOf

The operator not memberOf is used to check whether a field is not a member of a collection or array. That collection must be a variable.

CheeseCounter(cheese not memberOf $matureCheeses)

The operator soundslike

This operator is similar to matches, but it checks whether a word has almost the same sound (using English pronunciation) as the given value.

Cheese(name soundslike 'foobar')

The operator str

The operator str is used to check whether a field that is a String starts with or ends with a certain value. It can also be used to check the length of the String.

Message(routingValue str[startsWith] "R1")

Message(routingValue str[endsWith] "R2")

Message(routingValue str[length] 17)

Compound Value Restriction

Compound value restriction is used where there is more than one possible value to match. Currently only the in and not in evaluators support this. The second operand of this operator must be a comma-separated list of values, enclosed in parentheses. Values may be given as variables, literals, return values or qualified identifiers. Both evaluators are actually syntactic sugar, internally rewritten as a list of multiple restrictions using the operators != and ==.

Person($cheese : favouriteCheese)
Cheese(type in ("stilton", "cheddar", $cheese))

Inline Eval Operator (deprecated)

An inline eval constraint can use any valid dialect expression as long as it results to a primitive boolean. The expression must be constant over time. Any previously bound variable, from the current or previous pattern, can be used; autovivification is also used to auto-create field binding variables. When an identifier is found that is not a current variable, the builder looks to see if the identifier is a field on the current object type, if it is, the field binding is auto-created as a variable of the same name. This is called autovivification of field variables inside of inline eval’s.

Person(girlAge : age, sex = "F")
Person(eval(age == girlAge + 2), sex = 'M') // eval() is actually obsolete in this example

Operator Precedence

Table 8.8. Operator Precedence

Operator Type
Operators
Notes

(nested) property access

.

Not normal Java semantics.

List/Map access

[ ]

Not normal Java semantics.

constraint binding

:

Not normal Java semantics.

multiplicative

* /%

additive

+ -

shift

<< >>>>>

relational

< ><= >=instanceof

equality

==!=

Does not use normal Java (not) same semantics: uses (not) equals semantics instead.

non-short circuiting AND

&

non-short circuiting exclusive OR

^

non-short circuiting inclusive OR

|

logical AND

&&

logical OR

||

ternary

? :

comma-separated AND

,

Not normal Java semantics.

Fine Grained Property Change Listeners

This feature allows the pattern matching to only react to modification of properties actually constrained or bound inside of a given pattern. This helps with performance and recursion and avoid artificial object splitting.

Note

By default this feature is off in order to make the behavior of the rule engine backward compatible with the former releases. When you want to activate it on a specific bean you have to annotate it with @propertyReactive.

Fine Grained Property Change Listener Example

DRL example

declare Person
  @propertyReactive
  firstName : String
  lastName : String
end

Java class example

@PropertyReactive
 public static class Person {
 private String firstName;
 private String lastName;
  }

Working with Fine Grained Property Change Listeners

Using these listeners means you do not need to implement the no-loop attribute to avoid an infinite recursion. The engine recognizes that the pattern matching is done on the property while the RHS of the rule modifies other the properties. On Java classes, you can also annotate any method to say that its invocation actually modifies other properties.

Using Patterns with @watch

Annotating a pattern with @watch allows you to modify the inferred set of properties for which that pattern will react. The properties named in the @watch annotation are added to the ones automatically inferred. You can explicitly exclude one or more of them by beginning their name with a ! and to make the pattern to listen for all or none of the properties of the type used in the pattern respectively with the wildcards * and !*.

@watch Example

This is the @watch annotation in a rule’s LHS:

// Listens for changes on both firstName (inferred) and lastName:
Person(firstName == $expectedFirstName) @watch(lastName)

// Listens for all the properties of the Person bean:
Person(firstName == $expectedFirstName) @watch(*)

// Listens for changes on lastName and explicitly exclude firstName:
Person(firstName == $expectedFirstName) @watch(lastName, !firstName)

// Listens for changes on all the properties except the age one:
Person(firstName == $expectedFirstName) @watch(*, !age)

Note

Since it does not make sense to use this annotation on a pattern using a type not annotated with @PropertyReactive the rule compiler will raise a compilation error if you try to do so. Also the duplicated usage of the same property in @watch (for example like in: @watch(firstName, ! firstName)) will end up in a compilation error.

Using @PropertySpecificOption

You can enable @watch by default or completely disallow it using the on option of the KnowledgeBuilderConfiguration. This new PropertySpecificOption can have one of the following 3 values:

DISABLED: the feature is turned off and all the other related annotations are just ignored.

ALLOWED: this is the default behavior: types are not property reactive unless they are not annotated with @PropertySpecific.

ALWAYS: all types are property reactive by default.

Alternatively, you can use the drools.propertySpecific system property. For example, if you use Red Hat JBoss EAP, add the property into EAP_HOME/standalone/configuration/standalone.xml:

<system-properties>
  ...
  <property name="drools.propertySpecific" value="DISABLED"/>
  ...
</system-properties>

Basic Conditional Elements

Table 8.9. Basic Conditional Elements

Name
Description
Example
Additional options

and

The conditional element and is used to group other conditional elements into a logical conjunction. Red Hat JBoss BRMS supports both prefix and and infix and. It supports explicit grouping with parentheses. You can also use traditional infix and prefix and.

Cheese(cheeseType : type) and Person(favouriteCheese == cheeseType)

(Cheese(cheeseType : type) and (Person(favouriteCheese == cheeseType) or Person(favouriteCheese == cheeseType))

Prefix and is also supported:

(and Cheese(cheeseType : type) Person(favouriteCheese == cheeseType))

The root element of the LHS is an implicit prefix and and does not need to be specified:

when
  Cheese(cheeseType : type)
  Person(favouriteCheese == cheeseType)
then
  ...

or

This is a shortcut for generating two or more similar rules. Red Hat JBoss BRMS supports both prefix or and infix or. You can use traditional infix, prefix and explicit grouping parentheses.

Cheese(cheeseType : type) or Person(favouriteCheese == cheeseType)

(Cheese(cheeseType : type) or
  (Person(favouriteCheese == cheeseType) and
   Person(favouriteCheese == cheeseType))

(or Person(sex == "f", age > 60)
    Person(sex == "m", age > 65)

Allows for optional pattern binding. Each pattern must be bound separately, using eponymous variables:

pensioner : (Person(sex == "f", age > 60) or Person(sex == "m", age > 65))

(or pensioner : Person(sex == "f", age > 60)
    pensioner : Person(sex == "m", age > 65))

not

This checks to ensure an object specified as absent is not included in the Working Memory. It may be followed by parentheses around the condition elements it applies to. In a single pattern you can omit the parentheses.

not Bus(color == "red")
not (Bus(color == "red", number == 42))
not (Bus(color == "red") and
     Bus(color == "blue"))

exists

This checks the working memory to see if a specified item exists. The keyword exists must be followed by parentheses around the CEs that it applies to. In a single pattern you can omit the parentheses.

exists Bus(color == "red")
exists (Bus(color == "red", number == 42))
exists (Bus(color == "red") and
        Bus(color == "blue"))

Note

The behavior of the Conditional Element or is different from the connective || for constraints and restrictions in field constraints. The engine cannot interpret the Conditional Element or. Instead, a rule with or is rewritten as a number of subrules. This process ultimately results in a rule that has a single or as the root node and one subrule for each of its CEs. Each subrule can activate and fire like any normal rule; there is no special behavior or interaction between these subrules.

Conditional Element forall

This element evaluates to true when all facts that match the first pattern match all the remaining patterns. It is a scope delimiter. Therefore, it can use any previously bound variable, but no variable bound inside it will be available for use outside of it.

forall can be nested inside other CEs. For instance, forall can be used inside a not CE. Only single patterns have optional parentheses, so with a nested forall parentheses must be used.

forall Examples

Evaluating to true

rule "All English buses are red"
when
  forall($bus : Bus(type == 'english')
                Bus(this == $bus, color = 'red'))
then
    // all English buses are red
end

Single pattern forall

rule "All buses are red"
when
  forall(Bus(color == 'red'))
then
  // all Bus facts are red
end

Multi-pattern forall

rule "All employees have health and dental care programs"
when
  forall($emp : Employee()
         HealthCare(employee == $emp)
         DentalCare(employee == $emp))
then
  // all employees have health and dental care
end

Nested forall

rule "Not all employees have health and dental care"
when
  not (forall($emp : Employee()
              HealthCare(employee == $emp)
              DentalCare(employee == $emp)))
then
    // not all employees have health and dental care
end

Conditional Element from

The conditional element from enables users to specify an arbitrary source for data to be matched by LHS patterns. This allows the engine to reason over data not in the Working Memory. The data source could be a sub-field on a bound variable or the results of a method call. It is a powerful construction that allows out of the box integration with other application components and frameworks. One common example is the integration with data retrieved on-demand from databases using hibernate named queries.

The expression used to define the object source is any expression that follows regular MVEL syntax. Therefore, it allows you to easily use object property navigation, execute method calls and access maps and collections elements.

Important

Using from with lock-on-active rule attribute can result in rules not being fired.

There are several ways to address this issue:

Avoid the use of from when you can assert all facts into working memory or use nested object references in your constraint expressions (shown below).

Place the variable assigned used in the modify block as the last sentence in your condition (LHS).

Avoid the use of lock-on-active when you can explicitly manage how rules within the same rule-flow group place activations on one another.

from Examples

Reasoning and binding on patterns

rule "Validate zipcode"
when
  Person($personAddress : address)
  Address(zipcode == "23920W") from $personAddress
then
  // zip code is ok
end

Using a graph notation

rule "Validate zipcode"
when
  $p : Person()
  $a : Address(zipcode == "23920W") from $p.address
then
  // zip code is ok
end

Iterating over all objects

rule "Apply 10% discount to all items over US$ 100,00 in an order"
when
  $order : Order()
  $item  : OrderItem( value > 100) from $order.items
then
  // apply discount to $item
end

Use with lock-on-active

rule "Assign people in North Carolina (NC) to sales region 1"
ruleflow-group "test"
lock-on-active true
when
  $p : Person(address.state == "NC")
then
  modify ($p) {} // Assign person to sales region 1 in a modify block
end

rule "Apply a discount to people in the city of Raleigh"
ruleflow-group "test"
lock-on-active true
when
  $p : Person(address.city == "Raleigh")
then
  modify ($p) {} //Apply discount to person in a modify block
end

Conditional Element collect

The conditional element collect allows rules to reason over a collection of objects obtained from the given source or from the working memory. In First Oder Logic terms this is the cardinality quantifier.

The result pattern of collect can be any concrete class that implements the java.util.Collection interface and provides a default no-arg public constructor. You can use Java collections like ArrayList, LinkedList and HashSet or your own class, as long as it implements the java.util.Collection interface and provide a default no-arg public constructor.

Variables bound before the collect CE are in the scope of both source and result patterns and therefore you can use them to constrain both your source and result patterns. Any binding made inside collect is not available for use outside of it.

Conditional Element accumulate

The conditional element accumulate is a more flexible and powerful form of the collect element and allows a rule to iterate over a collection of objects while executing custom actions for each of the elements. The accumulate element returns a result object.

The element accumulate supports the use of predefined accumulate functions, as well as the use of inline custom code. However, using inline custom code is not recommended, as it is harder to maintain and might lead to code duplication. On the other hand, accumulate functions are easier to test and reuse.

The conditional element accumulate supports multiple different syntaxes. The preferred is the top-level syntax (as noted below), but all other syntaxes are supported as well for backward compatibility.

Top-Level accumulate Syntax

The top-level accumulate syntax is the most compact and flexible. The simplified syntax is as follows:

accumulate(SOURCE_PATTERN ; FUNCTIONS [;CONSTRAINTS])

Example 8.2. Top-Level accumulate Syntax Example

rule "Raise Alarm"
when
  $s : Sensor()
  accumulate(Reading(sensor == $s, $temp : temperature);
    $min : min($temp),
    $max : max($temp),
    $avg : average($temp);
    $min < 20, $avg > 70)
then
  // raise the alarm
end

In the example above, min, max, and average are accumulate functions that calculate the minimum, maximum, and average temperature values over all the readings for each sensor.

Built-in accumulate Functions

Only user-defined custom accumulate functions have to be explicitly imported. The following accumulate functions are imported automatically by the engine:

average

min

max

count

sum

collectList

collectSet

These common functions accept any expression as an input. For instance, if you want to calculate an average profit on all items of an order, you can write a rule using the average function as follows:

rule "Average Profit"
when
  $order : Order()
  accumulate(
    OrderItem(order == $order, $cost : cost, $price : price);
    $avgProfit : average(1 - $cost / $price))
then
  // average profit for $order is $avgProfit
end

Accumulate Functions Pluggability

Accumulate functions are all pluggable; if needed, custom and domain-specific functions can be easily added to the engine and rules can start to use them without any restrictions.

To implement a new accumulate function, create a Java class that implements the org.kie.api.runtime.rule.AccumulateFunction interface. To use the function in the rules, import it using the import accumulate statement:

import accumulate CLASS_NAME FUNCTION_NAME

Example 8.3. Importing and Using Custom Accumulate Function

import accumulate some.package.VarianceFunction variance

rule "Calculate Variance"
when
  accumulate(Test($s : score), $v : variance($s))
then
  // variance of the test scores is $v
end

Example 8.4. Implementation of average Function

As an example of an accumulate function, see the following implementation of the average function:

import java.io.Externalizable;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.ObjectInput;
import java.io.ObjectOutput;
import java.io.Serializable;

import org.kie.api.runtime.rule.AccumulateFunction;

/**
 * Implementation of an accumulator capable of calculating average values.
 */
public class AverageAccumulateFunction implements AccumulateFunction {

  public void readExternal(ObjectInput in) throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException {}

  public void writeExternal(ObjectOutput out) throws IOException {}

  public static class AverageData implements Externalizable {
    public int    count = 0;
    public double total = 0;

    public AverageData() {}

    public void readExternal(ObjectInput in) throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException {
      count = in.readInt();
      total = in.readDouble();
    }

    public void writeExternal(ObjectOutput out) throws IOException {
      out.writeInt(count);
      out.writeDouble(total);
    }
  }

  /* (non-Javadoc)
   * @see org.kie.base.accumulators.AccumulateFunction#createContext()
   */
  public Serializable createContext() {
    return new AverageData();
  }

  /* (non-Javadoc)
   * @see org.kie.base.accumulators.AccumulateFunction#init(java.lang.Object)
   */
  public void init(Serializable context) throws Exception {
    AverageData data = (AverageData) context;
    data.count = 0;
    data.total = 0;
  }

  /* (non-Javadoc)
   * @see org.kie.base.accumulators.AccumulateFunction#accumulate(java.lang.Object,
   * java.lang.Object)
   */
  public void accumulate(Serializable context, Object value) {
    AverageData data = (AverageData) context;
    data.count++;
    data.total += ((Number) value).doubleValue();
  }

  /* (non-Javadoc)
   * @see org.kie.base.accumulators.AccumulateFunction#reverse(java.lang.Object,
   * java.lang.Object)
   */
  public void reverse(Serializable context, Object value) throws Exception {
    AverageData data = (AverageData) context;
    data.count--;
    data.total -= ((Number) value).doubleValue();
  }

  /* (non-Javadoc)
   * @see org.kie.base.accumulators.AccumulateFunction#getResult(java.lang.Object)
   */
  public Object getResult(Serializable context) throws Exception {
    AverageData data = (AverageData) context;
    return new Double(data.count == 0 ? 0 : data.total / data.count);
  }

  /* (non-Javadoc)
   * @see org.kie.base.accumulators.AccumulateFunction#supportsReverse()
   */
  public boolean supportsReverse() {
    return true;
  }

  /**
   * {@inheritDoc}
   */
  public Class< ? > getResultType() {
    return Number.class;
  }
}

Alternative Syntax

Previous accumulate syntaxes are still supported for backward compatibility.

In case the rule uses a single accumulate function on a given accumulate element, you can add a pattern for the result object and use the from keyword to link it to the accumulate result. See the following example:

Example 8.5. Rule with Alternative Syntax

rule "Apply 10% Discount on Orders over US $100.00"
when
  $order : Order()
  $total : Number(doubleValue > 100)
    from accumulate(OrderItem(order == $order, $value : value), sum($value))
then
  # apply discount on $order
end

In this example, the element accumulate uses only one function – sum. In this case, it is possible to write a pattern for the result type of the accumulate function with the constraints inside.

Important

Note that it is not possible to use both the return type and the function binding in the same accumulate statement.

accumulate with Inline Custom Code

Instead of using the accumulate functions, you can define inline custom code.

Warning

The use of accumulate with inline custom code is not recommended. It is difficult to maintain and test the rules, as well as reuse the code. Implementing your own accumulate functions allows you to test and use them easily.

The general syntax of the accumulate with inline custom code is as follows:

RESULT_PATTERN from accumulate(
	SOURCE_PATTERN,
	init(INIT_CODE),
	action(ACTION_CODE),
	reverse(REVERSE_CODE),
	result(RESULT_EXPRESSION))

RESULT_PATTERN

A regular pattern that the engine tries to match against the object returned from the RESULT_EXPRESSION.

If the attempt succeeds, the accumulate conditional element returns true and the engine proceeds with an evaluation of the next conditional element in the rule. In the second case, accumulate returns false and the engine stops evaluating conditional elements for this rule.

SOURCE_PATTERN

A regular pattern that the engine tries to match against each of the source objects.

INIT_CODE

A semantic block of code in the selected dialect that is executed once for each tuple before iterating over the source objects.

ACTION_CODE

A semantic block of code in the selected dialect that is executed for each of the source objects.

REVERSE_CODE

An optional semantic block of code in the selected dialect that is executed for each source object that no longer matches the source pattern.

The objective of this code block is to undo any calculation done in the ACTION_CODE block, so that the engine can do decremental calculation when a source object is modified or retracted. This significantly improves the performance of these operations.

RESULT_EXPRESSION

A semantic expression in the selected dialect that is executed after all source objects are iterated.

Example 8.6. Example of Inline Custom Code

rule "Apply 10% Discount on Orders over US $100.00"
when
  $order : Order()
  $total : Number(doubleValue > 100)
    from accumulate(OrderItem(order == $order, $value : value),
      init(double total = 0;),
      action(total += $value;),
      reverse(total -= $value;),
      result(total))
then
  # apply discount on $order
end

In this example, the engine executes the INIT_CODE for each Order in the working memory, initializing the total variable to zero. The engine then iterates over all OrderItem objects for that Order, executing the action for each one. After the iteration, the engine returns the value corresponding to the RESULT_EXPRESSION (in this case, a value of the total variable). Finally, the engine tries to match the result with the Number pattern. If the doubleValue is greater than 100, the rule fires.

The example is using Java programming language as a semantic dialect. In this case, a semicolon as a statement delimiter is mandatory in the init, action, and reverse code blocks. However, since the result is an expression, it does not require a semicolon. If you want to use any other dialect, note that you have to observe the principles of its specific syntax.

Custom Objects

The accumulate conditional element can be used to execute any action on source objects. The following example instantiates and populates a custom object:

Example 8.7. Instantiating Custom Objects

rule "accumulate Using Custom Objects"
when
  $person : Person($likes : likes)
  $cheesery : Cheesery(totalAmount > 100)
    from accumulate($cheese : Cheese(type == $likes),
      init(Cheesery cheesery = new Cheesery();),
      action(cheesery.addCheese($cheese);),
      reverse(cheesery.removeCheese($cheese);),
      result(cheesery));
then
  // do something
end

Conditional Element eval

The conditional element eval is essentially a catch-all which allows any semantic code (that returns a primitive boolean) to be executed. This code can refer to variables that were bound in the LHS of the rule, and functions in the rule package. Overuse of eval reduces the declarativeness of your rules and can result in a poorly performing engine. While eval can be used anywhere in the patterns, the best practice is to add it as the last conditional element in the LHS of a rule.

Evals cannot be indexed and thus are not as efficient as field constraints. However this makes them ideal for being used when functions return values that change over time, which is not allowed within field constraints.

eval Conditional Element Examples

This is what eval looks like in use:

p1 : Parameter()
p2 : Parameter()
eval(p1.getList().containsKey( p2.getItem()))

p1 : Parameter()
p2 : Parameter()
// call function isValid in the LHS
eval(isValid( p1, p2))

Right Hand Side

The Right Hand Side (RHS) is a common name for the consequence or action part of the rule. The main purpose of the RHS is to insert, retractor modify working memory data. It should contain a list of actions to be executed. The RHS part of a rule should also be kept small, thus keeping it declarative and readable.

Note

If you find you need imperative and/or conditional code in the RHS, break the rule down into multiple rules.

RHS Convenience Methods

Table 8.10. RHS Convenience Methods

Name
Description

update(OBJECT, HANDLE);

Tells the engine that an object has changed (one that has been bound to something on the LHS) and rules that need to be reconsidered.

update(OBJECT);

Using update(), the Knowledge Helper will look up the facthandle using an identity check for the passed object. If you provide Property Change Listeners to your Java beans that you are inserting into the engine, you can avoid the need to call update() when the object changes. After a fact’s field values have changed you must call update before changing another fact, or you will cause problems with the indexing within the rule engine. The modify keyword avoids this problem.

insert(NEW_OBJECT());

Places a new object of your creation into the Working Memory.

insertLogical(NEW_OBJECT());

Similar to insert, but the object will be automatically retracted when there are no more facts to support the truth of the currently firing rule.

retract(HANDLE);

Removes an object from Working Memory.

Convenience Methods Using Drools Variable

The call drools.halt() terminates rule execution immediately. This is required for returning control to the point whence the current session was put to work with fireUntilHalt().

Methods insert(Object o), update(Object o) and retract(Object o) can be called on drools as well, but due to their frequent use they can be called without the object reference.

drools.getWorkingMemory() returns the WorkingMemory object.

drools.setFocus(String s) sets the focus to the specified agenda group.

drools.getRule().getName(), called from a rule’s RHS, returns the name of the rule.

drools.getTuple() returns the Tuple that matches the currently executing rule, and drools.getActivation() delivers the corresponding Activation. (These calls are useful for logging and debugging purposes.)

Convenience Methods Using kcontext Variable

The call kcontext.getKieRuntime().halt() terminates rule execution immediately.

The accessor getAgenda() returns a reference to the session’s Agenda, which in turn provides access to the various rule groups: activation groups, agenda groups, and rule flow groups. A fairly common paradigm is the activation of some agenda group, which could be done with the lengthy call:

// Give focus to the agenda group CleanUp:
kcontext.getKieRuntime().getAgenda().getAgendaGroup("CleanUp").setFocus();

You can achieve the same using drools.setFocus("CleanUp").

To run a query, you call getQueryResults(String query), whereupon you may process the results.

A set of methods dealing with event management lets you add and remove event listeners for the Working Memory and the Agenda.

Method getKieBase() returns the KieBase object, the backbone of all the Knowledge in your system, and the originator of the current session.

You can manage globals with setGlobal(…​), getGlobal(…​) and getGlobals().

Method getEnvironment() returns the runtime’s Environment.

Modify Statement

Table 8.11. Modify Statement

Name
Description
Syntax
Example

modify

This provides a structured approach to fact updates. It combines the update operation with a number of setter calls to change the object’s fields.

modify (FACT_EXPRESSION)
{
 EXPRESSION [, EXPRESSION]*
}

The parenthesized FACT_EXPRESSION must yield a fact object reference. The expression list in the block should consist of setter calls for the given object, to be written without the usual object reference, which is automatically prepended by the compiler.

rule "Modify stilton"
when
  $stilton : Cheese(type == "stilton")
then
  modify($stilton){
    setPrice(20),
    setAge("overripe")
  }
end

Query Examples

Note

To return the results use ksession.getQueryResults("name"), where "name" is the query’s name. This returns a list of query results, which allow you to retrieve the objects that matched the query.

Query for people over the age of 30

query "People over the age of 30"
  person : Person(age > 30)
end

Query for people over the age of X, and who live in Y

query "People over the age of x"  (int x, String y)
  person : Person(age > x, location == y)
end

QueryResults Example

We iterate over the returned QueryResults using a standard for loop. Each element is a QueryResultsRow which we can use to access each of the columns in the tuple. These columns can be accessed by bound declaration name or index position:

QueryResults results = ksession.getQueryResults("people over the age of 30");
System.out.println("we have " + results.size() + " people over the age  of 30");

System.out.println("These people are are over 30:");

for (QueryResultsRow row : results) {
  Person person = (Person) row.get("person");
  System.out.println(person.getName() + "\n");
}

Queries Calling Other Queries

Queries can call other queries. This combined with optional query arguments provides derivation query style backward chaining. Positional and named syntax is supported for arguments. It is also possible to mix both positional and named, but positional must come first, separated by a semi colon. Literal expressions can be passed as query arguments, but you cannot mix expressions with variables.

Note

Using the ? symbol in this process means the query is pull only and once the results are returned you will not receive further results as the underlying data changes.

Queries Calling Other Queries Example

Query calling another query

declare Location
  thing : String
  location : String
end

query isContainedIn(String x, String y)
  Location(x, y;)
  or
  (Location(z, y;) and ?isContainedIn(x, z;))
end

Using live queries to reactively receive changes over time from query results

query isContainedIn(String x, String y)
  Location(x, y;)
  or
  (Location(z, y;) and isContainedIn(x, z;))
end

rule look when
  Person($l : likes)
  isContainedIn($l, 'office';)
then
  insertLogical($l 'is in the office');
end

Unification for Derivation Queries

Red Hat JBoss BRMS supports unification for derivation queries. This means that arguments are optional. It is possible to call queries from Java leaving arguments unspecified using the static field org.drools.runtime.rule.Variable.v. You must use v and not an alternative instance of Variable. These are referred to as out arguments.

Note

The query itself does not declare at compile time whether an argument is in or an out. This can be defined purely at runtime on each use.

Searching Working Memory Using Query

Queries

Queries are used to retrieve fact sets based on patterns, as they are used in rules. Patterns may make use of optional parameters. Queries can be defined in the Knowledge Base, from where they are called up to return the matching results. While iterating over the result collection, any identifier bound in the query can be used to access the corresponding fact or fact field by calling the get method with the binding variable’s name as its argument. If the binding refers to a fact object, its FactHandle can be retrieved by calling getFactHandle, again with the variable’s name as the parameter. Illustrated below is a query example:

QueryResults results = ksession.getQueryResults("my query", new Object[] {"string"});
for (QueryResultsRow row : results) {
  System.out.println(row.get("varName"));
}

Live Queries

Invoking queries and processing the results by iterating over the returned set is not a good way to monitor changes over time.

To alleviate this, Red Hat JBoss BRMS provides live queries, which have a listener attached instead of returning an iterable result set. These live queries stay open by creating a view and publishing change events for the contents of this view. To activate, start your query with parameters and listen to changes in the resulting view. The dispose method terminates the query and discontinues this reactive scenario.

ViewChangedEventListener Implementation Example

final List updated = new ArrayList();
final List removed = new ArrayList();
final List added = new ArrayList();

ViewChangedEventListener listener = new ViewChangedEventListener() {
  public void rowUpdated(Row row) {
    updated.add(row.get("$price"));
  }

  public void rowRemoved(Row row) {
    removed.add(row.get("$price"));
  }

  public void rowAdded(Row row) {
    added.add(row.get("$price"));
  }
}

// Open the LiveQuery:
LiveQuery query = ksession.openLiveQuery("cars", new Object[] {"sedan", "hatchback"}, listener);
...
query.dispose() // calling dispose to terminate the live query

Note

For an example of Glazed Lists integration for live queries, read the Glazed Lists examples for Drools Live Querries article.

Domain Specific Languages (DSLs)

Domain Specific Languages (or DSLs) are a way of creating a rule language that is dedicated to your problem domain. A set of DSL definitions consists of transformations from DSL "sentences" to DRL constructs, which lets you use of all the underlying rule language and engine features. You can write rules in DSL rule (or DSLR) files, which will be translated into DRL files.

DSL and DSLR files are plain text files and you can use any text editor to create and modify them. There are also DSL and DSLR editors you can use, both in the IDE as well as in the web based BRMS, although they may not provide you with the full DSL functionality.

DSL Editor

The DSL editor provides a tabular view of the mapping of Language to Rule Expressions. The Language Expression feeds the content assistance for the rule editor so that it can suggest Language Expressions from the DSL configuration. The rule editor loads the DSL configuration when the rule resource is loaded for editing.

Note

DSL feature is useful for simple use cases for non technical users to easily define rules based on sentence snippets. For more complex use cases, we recommend you to use other advanced features like decision tables and DRL rules, that are more expressive and flexible.

Using DSLs

DSLs can serve as a layer of separation between rule authoring (and rule authors) and the technical intricacies resulting from the modeling of domain object and the rule engine’s native language and methods. A DSL hides implementation details and focuses on the rule logic proper. DSL sentences can also act as "templates" for conditional elements and consequence actions that are used repeatedly in your rules, possibly with minor variations. You may define DSL sentences as being mapped to these repeated phrases, with parameters providing a means for accommodating those variations.

DSL Example

[when]Something is {colour}=Something(colour=="{colour}")

[when] indicates the scope of the expression (that is, whether it is valid for the LHS or the RHS of a rule).

The part after the bracketed keyword is the expression that you use in the rule.

The part to the right of the equal sign (=) is the mapping of the expression into the rule language. The form of this string depends on its destination, RHS or LHS. If it is for the LHS, then it ought to be a term according to the regular LHS syntax; if it is for the RHS then it might be a Java statement.

About DSL Parser

Whenever the DSL parser matches a line from the rule file written in the DSL with an expression in the DSL definition, it performs three steps of string manipulation:

The DSL extracts the string values appearing where the expression contains variable names in brackets.

The values obtained from these captures are interpolated wherever that name occurs on the right hand side of the mapping.

The interpolated string replaces whatever was matched by the entire expression in the line of the DSL rule file.

Note

You can use (for instance) a ? to indicate that the preceding character is optional. One good reason to use this is to overcome variations in natural language phrases of your DSL. But, given that these expressions are regular expression patterns, this means that all wildcard characters in Java’s pattern syntax have to be escaped with a preceding backslash (\).

About DSL Compiler

The DSL compiler transforms DSL rule files line by line. If you do not wish for this to occur, ensure that the captures are surrounded by characteristic text (words or single characters). As a result, the matching operation done by the parser plucks out a substring from somewhere within the line. In the example below, quotes are used as distinctive characters. The characters that surround the capture are not included during interpolation, just the contents between them.

DSL Syntax Examples

Table 8.12. DSL Syntax Examples

Name
Description and Example

Quotes

Use quotes for textual data that a rule editor may want to enter. You can also enclose the capture with words to ensure that the text is correctly matched.

[when]something is "{color}"=Something(color=="{color}")
[when]another {state} thing=OtherThing(state=="{state}"

Braces

In a DSL mapping, the braces "{" and "}" should only be used to enclose a variable definition or reference, resulting in a capture. If they should occur literally, either in the expression or within the replacement text on the right hand side, they must be escaped with a preceding backslash (\).

[then]do something= if (foo) \{ doSomething(); \}

Mapping with correct syntax example

# This is a comment to be ignored.
[when]There is a person with name of "{name}"=Person(name=="{name}")
[when]Person is at least {age} years old and lives in "{location}"=Person(age >= {age}, location=="{location}")
[then]Log "{message}"=System.out.println("{message}");
[when]And = and

Expanded DSL example

There is a person with name of "Kitty"
   ==> Person(name="Kitty")
Person is at least 42 years old and lives in "Atlanta"
   ==> Person(age >= 42, location="Atlanta")
Log "boo"
   ==> System.out.println("boo");
There is a person with name of "Bob" and Person is at least 30 years old and lives in "Utah"
   ==> Person(name="Bob") and Person(age >= 30, location="Utah")

Note

If you are capturing plain text from a DSL rule line and want to use it as a string literal in the expansion, you must provide the quotes on the right hand side of the mapping.

Chaining DSL Expressions

DSL expressions can be chained together one one line to be used at once. It must be clear where one ends and the next one begins and where the text representing a parameter ends. Otherwise you risk getting all the text until the end of the line as a parameter value. The DSL expressions are tried, one after the other, according to their order in the DSL definition file. After any match, all remaining DSL expressions are investigated, too.

Adding Constraints to Facts

Table 8.13. Adding Constraints to Facts

Name
Description
Example

Expressing LHS conditions

The DSL facility allows you to add constraints to a pattern by a simple convention: if your DSL expression starts with a hyphen (minus character, -) it is assumed to be a field constraint and, consequently, is is added to the last pattern line preceding it.

In the example, the class Cheese, has these fields: type, price, age, and country. You can express some LHS condition in normal DRL.

Cheese(age < 5, price == 20, type=="stilton", country=="ch")

DSL definitions

The DSL definitions given in this example result in three DSL phrases which may be used to create any combination of constraint involving these fields.

[when]There is a Cheese with=Cheese()
[when]- age is less than {age}=age<{age}
[when]- type is '{type}'=type=='{type}'
[when]- country equal to '{country}'=country=='{country}'

-

The parser will pick up a line beginning with - and add it as a constraint to the preceding pattern, inserting a comma when it is required.

There is a Cheese with
  - age is less than 42
  - type is 'stilton'

Cheese(age<42, type=='stilton')

Defining DSL phrases

Defining DSL phrases for various operators and even a generic expression that handles any field constraint reduces the amount of DSL entries.

[when][]is less than or equal to=<=
[when][]is less than=<
[when][]is greater than or equal to=>=
[when][]is greater than=>
[when][]is equal to===
[when][]equals===
[when][]There is a Cheese with=Cheese()

DSL definition rule

N/A

There is a Cheese with
  - age is less than 42
  - rating is greater than 50
  - type equals 'stilton'

In this specific case, a phrase such as "is less than" is replaced by <, and then the line matches the last DSL entry. This removes the hyphen, but the final result is still added as a constraint to the preceding pattern. After processing all of the lines, the resulting DRL text is:

Cheese(age<42, rating > 50, type=='stilton')

Note

The order of the entries in the DSL is important if separate DSL expressions are intended to match the same line, one after the other.

Tips for Developing DSLs

Write representative samples of the rules your application requires and test them as you develop.

Rules, both in DRL and in DSLR, refer to entities according to the data model representing the application data that should be subject to the reasoning process defined in rules.

Writing rules is easier if most of the data model’s types are facts.

Mark variable parts as parameters. This provides reliable leads for useful DSL entries.

You may postpone implementation decisions concerning conditions and actions during this first design phase by leaving certain conditional elements and actions in their DRL form by prefixing a line with a greater sign (">"). (This is also handy for inserting debugging statements.)

New rules can be written by reusing the existing DSL definitions, or by adding a parameter to an existing condition or consequence entry.

Keep the number of DSL entries small. Using parameters lets you apply the same DSL sentence for similar rule patterns or constraints.

DSL and DSLR Reference

A DSL file is a text file in a line-oriented format. Its entries are used for transforming a DSLR file into a file according to DRL syntax:

A line starting with # or // (with or without preceding white space) is treated as a comment. A comment line starting with #/ is scanned for words requesting a debug option, see below.

Any line starting with an opening bracket ([) is assumed to be the first line of a DSL entry definition.

Any other line is appended to the preceding DSL entry definition, with the line end replaced by a space.

DSL Entry Description

A DSL entry consists of the following four parts:

A scope definition, written as one of the keywords when or condition, then or consequence, * and keyword, enclosed in brackets ([ and ]). This indicates whether the DSL entry is valid for the condition or the consequence of a rule, or both. A scope indication of keyword means that the entry has global significance, that is, it is recognized anywhere in a DSLR file.

A type definition, written as a Java class name, enclosed in brackets. This part is optional unless the next part begins with an opening bracket. An empty pair of brackets is valid, too.

A DSL expression consists of a (Java) regular expression, with any number of embedded variable definitions, terminated by an equal sign (=). A variable definition is enclosed in braces ({ and }). It consists of a variable name and two optional attachments, separated by colons (:). If there is one attachment, it is a regular expression for matching text that is to be assigned to the variable. If there are two attachments, the first one is a hint for the GUI editor and the second one the regular expression.

Note that all characters that are "magic" in regular expressions must be escaped with a preceding backslash (\) if they should occur literally within the expression.

The remaining part of the line after the delimiting equal sign is the replacement text for any DSLR text matching the regular expression. It may contain variable references, for example a variable name enclosed in braces. Optionally, the variable name may be followed by an exclamation mark (!) and a transformation function, see below.

Note that braces ({ and }) must be escaped with a preceding backslash (\) if they should occur literally within the replacement string.

Debug Options for DSL Expansion

Table 8.14. Debug Options for DSL Expansion

Word
Description

result

Prints the resulting DRL text, with line numbers.

steps

Prints each expansion step of condition and consequence lines.

keyword

Dumps the internal representation of all DSL entries with scope keyword.

when

Dumps the internal representation of all DSL entries with scope when or *.

then

Dumps the internal representation of all DSL entries with scope then or *.

usage

Displays a usage statistic of all DSL entries.

DSL Definition Example

This is what a DSL definition looks like:

# Comment: DSL examples

#/ debug: display result and usage

# keyword definition: replaces "regula" by "rule"
[keyword][]regula=rule

# conditional element: "T" or "t", "a" or "an", convert matched word
[when][][Tt]here is an? {entity:\w+}=${entity!lc}: {entity!ucfirst} ()

# consequence statement: convert matched word, literal braces
[then][]update {entity:\w+}=modify(${entity!lc})\{ \}

Transformation of DSLR File

The transformation of a DSLR file proceeds as follows:

The text is read into memory.

Each of the keyword entries is applied to the entire text. The regular expression from the keyword definition is modified by replacing white space sequences with a pattern matching any number of white space characters, and by replacing variable definitions with a capture made from the regular expression provided with the definition, or with the default (.*?). Then, the DSLR text is searched exhaustively for occurrences of strings matching the modified regular expression. Substrings of a matching string corresponding to variable captures are extracted and replace variable references in the corresponding replacement text, and this text replaces the matching string in the DSLR text.

Sections of the DSLR text between when and then, and then and end, respectively, are located and processed in a uniform manner, line by line, as described below.

For a line, each DSL entry pertaining to the line’s section is taken in turn, in the order it appears in the DSL file. Its regular expression part is modified: white space is replaced by a pattern matching any number of white space characters; variable definitions with a regular expression are replaced by a capture with this regular expression, its default being .*?. If the resulting regular expression matches all or part of the line, the matched part is replaced by the suitably modified replacement text.

Modification of the replacement text is done by replacing variable references with the text corresponding to the regular expression capture. This text may be modified according to the string transformation function given in the variable reference; see below for details.

If there is a variable reference naming a variable that is not defined in the same entry, the expander substitutes a value bound to a variable of that name, provided it was defined in one of the preceding lines of the current rule.

If a DSLR line in a condition is written with a leading hyphen, the expanded result is inserted into the last line, which should contain a pattern CE, that is, a type name followed by a pair of parentheses. if this pair is empty, the expanded line (which should contain a valid constraint) is simply inserted, otherwise a comma (,) is inserted beforehand.

If a DSLR line in a consequence is written with a leading hyphen, the expanded result is inserted into the last line, which should contain a modify statement, ending in a pair of braces ({ and }). If this pair is empty, the expanded line (which should contain a valid method call) is simply inserted, otherwise a comma (,) is inserted beforehand.

Note

It is currently not possible to use a line with a leading hyphen to insert text into other conditional element forms (for example accumulate) or it may only work for the first insertion (for example eval).

String Transformation Functions

Table 8.15. String Transformation Functions

Name
Description

uc

Converts all letters to upper case.

lc

Converts all letters to lower case.

ucfirst

Converts the first letter to upper case, and all other letters to lower case.

num

Extracts all digits and - from the string. If the last two digits in the original string are preceded by . or ,, a decimal period is inserted in the corresponding position.

a?b/c

Compares the string with string a, and if they are equal, replaces it with b, otherwise with c. But c can be another triplet a, b, c, so that the entire structure is, in fact, a translation table.

Stringing DSL Transformation Functions

Table 8.16. Stringing DSL Transformation Functions

Name
Description
Example

.dsl

A file containing a DSL definition is customarily given the extension .dsl. It is passed to the Knowledge Builder with ResourceType.DSL. For a file using DSL definition, the extension .dslr should be used. The Knowledge Builder expects ResourceType.DSLR. The IDE, however, relies on file extensions to correctly recognize and work with your rules file.

# definitions for conditions
[when][]There is an? {entity}=${entity!lc}: {entity!ucfirst}()
[when][]- with an? {attr} greater than {amount}={attr} <= {amount!num}
[when][]- with a {what} {attr}={attr} {what!positive?>0/negative?%lt;0/zero?==0/ERROR}

DSL passing

The DSL must be passed to the Knowledge Builder ahead of any rules file using the DSL.

For parsing and expanding a DSLR file the DSL configuration is read and supplied to the parser. Thus, the parser can "recognize" the DSL expressions and transform them into native rule language expressions.

KnowledgeBuilder kBuilder = new KnowledgeBuilder();
Resource dsl = ResourceFactory.newClassPathResource(dslPath, getClass());
kBuilder.add(dsl, ResourceType.DSL);
Resource dslr = ResourceFactory.newClassPathResource(dslrPath, getClass());
kBuilder.add(dslr, ResourceType.DSLR);

Chapter 9. Using Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio to Create and Test Rules

There are many ways to author rules in BRMS, however as a developer you would prefer an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) such as Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio that offers you advanced tooling and content assistance. Red Hat JBoss BRMS and Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite tooling are compatible with Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio version 7 and above. The Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio with Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite/BRMS plug-ins simplify your development tasks. These plug-ins provide the following features:

Simple wizards for rule and project creation.

Content assistance for generating the basic rule structure. For example, If you open a .drl file in the Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio editor and type ru, and press Ctrl+Space , the template rule structure is created.

Syntax coloring.

Error highlighting.

IntelliSense code completion.

Outline view to display an outline of your structured rule project.

Debug perspective for rules and process debugging.

Rete tree view to display Rete network.

Editor for modifying business process diagram.

Support for unit testing using JUnit and TestNG.

Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio Drools Perspective

Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio comes with all the BRMS and BPM Suite plug-in requirements pre-packaged with it. It offers the following perspectives:

Drools: allows you to work with Red Hat JBoss BRMS specific resources;

Business Central Repository Exploring;

jBPM: allows you to work with Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite resources.

Red Hat JBoss BRMS Runtimes

A Drools runtime is a collection of JAR files on your file system that represent one specific release of the Drools project JARs. While creating a new runtime, you must either point to the release of your choice or create a new runtime on your file system from the jars included in the Drools plug-in. For creating a new runtime, you need to specify a default Drools runtime for your Eclipse workspace, but each individual project can override the default and select the appropriate runtime for that project specifically. You can add as many Drools runtimes as you need. In order to use the Red Hat JBoss BRMS plug-in with Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio, it is necessary to set up the runtime.

Defining a Red Hat JBoss BRMS Runtime

Extract the runtime JAR files located in the jboss-brms-engine.zip archive of the Red Hat JBoss BRMS Generic Deployable ZIP archive (not the EAP 6 deployable ZIP archive) available from Red Hat Customer Portal.

From the Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio menu, go to Window → Preferences.

The Preferences dialog opens displaying all your preferences.

Navigate to Drools → Installed Drools runtimes.

To define a new Drools runtime, click Add.

The Drools Runtime dialog opens.

In the Drools Runtime dialog, you have the following options to provide the name for your runtime and the its location on your file system:

Use the default JAR files included in the Drools Eclipse plug-in to create a new Drools runtime automatically:

Click the Create a new Drools runtime …​ button.

Browse and select the folder on your file system where you would like this runtime to be created.

The plug-in automatically copies all required dependencies to the specified folder.

Use one specific release of the Drools project:

Create a folder on your file system and copy all the necessary Drools libraries and dependencies into it.

Provide a name for your runtime in the Drools Runtime dialog in the Name field and browse to the location of this folder containing all the required JARs in the Path field.

Click OK.

The runtime appears in your table of installed Drools runtimes.

Click the checkbox in front of the newly created runtime to make it the default Drools runtime.

This default Drools runtime will be used as the runtime of all your Drools project that does not have a project-specific runtime selected.

Restart Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio if you have changed the default runtime to ensure that all the projects that are using the default runtime update their classpath accordingly.

Selecting a Runtime for Your Red Hat JBoss BRMS Project

Whenever you create a Drools project either by using the New Drools Project wizard or by converting an existing Java project to a Drools project, the Drools plug-in automatically adds all the required JAR files to the classpath of your project.

If you are creating a new Drools project, the plug-in uses the default Drools runtime for that project, unless you specify a project-specific one.

To define a project-specific runtime:

Create a new Drools project and in the final step of the New Drools Project wizard and uncheck the Use default Drools runtime checkbox.

Click the Configure workspace settings…​ link.

The workspace preferences showing the currently installed Drools runtimes opens.

Click Add to add new runtimes.

Changing the Runtime of Your Red Hat JBoss BRMS Project

To change the runtime of a Drools project:

In the Drools perspective, right-click the project and select Properties.

The project properties dialog opens.

Navigate and select the Drools category.

Check the Enable project specific settings checkbox and select the appropriate runtime from the drop-down box.

If you click the Configure workspace settings…​ link, the workspace preferences showing the currently installed Drools runtimes opens. You can add new runtimes there if required. If you uncheck the Enable project specific settings checkbox, it uses the default runtime as defined in your global preferences.

Click OK.

Configuring the Red Hat JBoss BRMS Server

Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio can be configured to run the Red Hat JBoss BRMS\BPM Suite Server.

Configuring the Server

Open the Drools view by selecting Window → Open Perspective → Other and then Drools. Click OK.

Add the server view by selecting Window → Show View → Other…​ and then Server → Servers.

Open the server menu by right clicking the Servers panel and selecting New → Server.

Define the server by selecting JBoss Enterprise Middleware → JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6.1+ and clicking Next.

Set the home directory by clicking Browse. Navigate to and select the installation directory for Red Hat JBoss EAP which has Red Hat JBoss BRMS installed.

Provide a name for the server in the Name field, ensure that the configuration file is set, and click Finish.

Exploring Red Hat JBoss BRMS Application

Before exploring how to create BRMS projects using Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio, let us first understand the structure of BRMS projects.

A BRMS project typically comprises the following:

Facts that are a set of java classes files (POJOs).

Rules that operate on the facts.

Drools library (JAR files) for executing the rules.

Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio helps you generate getter and setter methods for attributes automatically. When you create a BRMS or a BPM Suite project, the following directories are generated:

src/main/java that stores the class files (facts).

src/main/resources/rules that stores the .drl files (rules).

src/main/resources/process that stores the .bpmn files (processes).

src/main/resources/Drools Library that holds the generated .jar files required for rule execution.

Creating a Red Hat JBoss BRMS Project

To create a new Red Hat JBoss BRMS project in the Drools perspective, do the following:

Go to File → New → Project.

A New Project wizard opens.

Navigate to Drools → Drools Project.

A New Drools Project wizard opens.

On the New Drools Project wizard, click Next.

Enter a name for your Drools project and click Next.

Check the required checkboxes with default artifacts you need in your project, and click Next.

The Drools Runtime wizard opens.

Select a Drools runtime.

If you have not set up a Drools runtime, click the Configure Workspace Settings…​ link. If you click this link, the workspace preferences showing the currently installed Drools runtimes opens. Add new runtimes there and click OK.

Select the Drools project version from the Select code compatible with: option.

Provide values for the following:

groupId: The id of the project’s group or the root of your project’s Java package name.

artifactId: The id of the artifact (project).

version: The version of the artifact under the specified group.

Click Finish.

If you checked the default artifacts checkboxes in the Drools Project wizard, you can see the newly created Drools project in the Package Explorer accordingly containing:

A sample rule file Sample.drl in the src/main/resources/rules folder.

A sample process file Sample.bpmn in the src/main/resources/process folder.

An example java file DroolsTest.java in the src/main/java folder to execute the rules in the Drools engine in the com.sample package.

All the JAR files necessary for execution in the src/main/resources/Drools library.

Using Textual Rule Editor

In the Package Explorer, you can double-click your existing rule file to open it on a textual rule editor or choose File → New → Rule Resource to create a new rule on the textual editor. The textual rule editor has a pattern of a normal text editor and this is where you modify and manage your rules.

The textual rule editor works on files that have a .drl (or .rule) extension. Usually these contain related rules, but it is also possible to have rules in individual files, grouped by being in the same package namespace. These DRL files are plain text files. Even if your rule group is using a domain specific language (DSL), the rules are still stored as plain text. This allows easy management of rules and versions.

Textual editor provides features like:

Content assistance: The pop-up content assistance helps you quickly create rule attributes such as functions, import statements, and package declarations. You can invoke pop-up content assistance by pressing Ctrl+Space.

Code folding: Code Folding allows you to hide and show sections of a file use the icons with minus and plus on the left vertical line of the editor.

Sysnchronization with outline view: The text editor is in sync with the structure of the rules in the outline view as soon as you save your rules. The outline view provides a quick way of navigating around rules by name, or even in a file containing hundreds of rules. The items are sorted alphabetically by default.

Red Hat JBoss BRMS Views

You can alternate between these views when modifying rules:

Working Memory View

Shows all elements in the Red Hat JBoss BRMS working memory.

Agenda View

Shows all elements on the agenda. For each rule on the agenda, the rule name and bound variables are shown.

Global Data View

Shows all global data currently defined in the Red Hat JBoss BRMS working memory.

Audit View

Can be used to display audit logs containing events that were logged during the execution of a rules engine, in tree form.

Rete View

This shows you the current Rete Network for your DRL file. You display it by clicking on the tab "Rete Tree" at the bottom of the DRL Editor window. With the Rete Network visualization being open, you can use drag-and-drop on individual nodes to arrange optimal network overview. You may also select multiple nodes by dragging a rectangle over them so the entire group can be moved around.

Note

The Rete view works only in projects where the rule builder is set in the project´s properties. For other projects, you can use a workaround. Set up a Red Hat JBoss BRMS project next to your current project and transfer the libraries and the DRLs you want to inspect with the Rete view. Click on the right tab below in the DRL Editor, then click Generate Rete View.

Debugging Rules

Drools breakpoints are only enabled if you debug your application as a Drools Application. To do this you should perform one of two actions:

Select the main class of your application. Right-click on it and select Debug As → Drools Application.

Alternatively, select Debug As → Debug Configuration to open a new dialog window for creating, managing and running debug configurations.

Select the Drools Application item in the left tree and click New launch configuration (leftmost icon in the toolbar above the tree). This will create a new configuration with a number of the properties already filled in based on main class you selected in the beginning. All properties shown here are the same as any standard Java program.

Note

Remember to change the name of your debug configuration to something meaningful.

Click the Debug button on the bottom to start debugging your application.

After enabling the debugging, the application starts executing and will halt if any breakpoint is encountered. This can be a Drools rule breakpoint, or any other standard Java breakpoint. Whenever a Drools rule breakpoint is encountered, the corresponding .drl file is opened and the active line is highlighted. The Variables view also contains all rule parameters and their value. You can then use the default Java debug actions to decide what to do next (resume, terminate, step over, and others). The debug views can also be used to determine the contents of the working memory and agenda at that time as well (the current executing working memory is automatically shown).

Creating Breakpoints

Create breakpoints to help monitor rules that have been executed. Instead of waiting for the result to appear at the end of the process, you can inspect the details of the execution at each breakpoint you set. This is useful for debugging and ensuring rules are executed as expected.

To create breakpoints in the Package Explorer view or Navigator view of the Red Hat JBoss BRMS perspective, double-click the selected .drl file to open it in the editor.

You can add and remove rule breakpoints in the .drl files in two ways:

Double-click the rule in the Rule editor at the line where you want to add a breakpoint. A breakpoint can be removed by double-clicking the rule once more.

Note

Rule breakpoints can only be created in the consequence of a rule. Double-clicking on a line where no breakpoint is allowed does nothing.

Right-click the ruler. Select the Toggle Breakpoint action in the context menu. Choosing this action adds a breakpoint at the selected line or remove it if there is one already.

The Debug perspective contains a Breakpoints view which can be used to see all defined breakpoints, get their properties, enable/disable and remove them. You can switch to it by clicking Window → Perspective → Others → Debug.

Part III. All About Processes

Chapter 10. Getting Started with Processes

JBoss Business Process Management System is a light-weight, open-source, flexible Business Process Management (BPM) Suite that allows you to create, execute, and monitor business processes throughout their life cycle. The business processes allow you to model your business goals. They describe the steps that need to be executed to achieve those goals. It depicts the order of these goals in a flow chart. The business processes greatly improve the visibility and agility of your business logic.

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite creates the bridge between business analysts, developers and end users by offering process management features and tools in a way that both business users and developers like. The life cycle of Business processes includes authoring, deployment, process management and task lists, and dashboards and reporting.

The Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Engine

The core of Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite is a light-weight, extensible workflow engine called the BPM Suite engine in BPMN 2.0 format, written in pure Java that allows you to execute business processes. It can run in any Java environment, embedded in your application or as a service. It has the following features:

Solid, stable core engine for executing your process instances.

Native support for the latest BPMN 2.0 specification for modeling and executing business processes.

Strong focus on performance and scalability.

Light-weight. You can deploy it on almost any device that supports a simple Java Runtime Environment. It does not require any web container at all.

Pluggable persistence with a default JPA implementation (Optional).

Pluggable transaction support with a default JTA implementation.

Implemented as a generic process engine, so it can be extended to support new node types or other process languages.

Listeners to be notified of various events.

Ability to migrate running process instances to a new version of their process definition.

Integrating BPM Suite Engine With Other Services

The Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite engine can be integrated with a few independent core services such as:

The human task service

The human task service helps manage human tasks when human actors need to participate in the process. It is fully pluggable and the default implementation is based on the WS-HumanTask specification and manages the life cycle of the tasks, task lists, task forms, and some more advanced features like escalation, delegation, and rule-based assignments.

The history log

The history log stores all information about the execution of all the processes in the engine. This is necessary if you need access to historic information as runtime persistence only stores the current state of all active process instances. The history log can be used to store all current and historic states of active and completed process instances. It can be used to query for any information related to the execution of process instances, for monitoring, and analysis.

Chapter 11. Working with Processes

BPMN 2.0 Notation

Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) 2.0 Specification

The Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) 2.0 specification defines a standard for graphically representing a business process; it includes execution semantics for the defined elements and an XML format to store and share process definitions.

The table below shows the supported elements of the BPMN 2.0 specification and includes some additional elements and attributes.

Table 11.1. BPMN 2.0 Supported Elements and Attributes

Element
Supported attributes
Supported elements
Extension attributes
Extension elements

definitions

BPMNDiagram, itemDefinition, signal, process, relationship*

process

processType, isExecutable, name, id

property, laneSet, flowElement

packageName, adHoc, version

import, global

sequenceFlow

sourceRef, targetRef, isImmediate, name, id

conditionExpression

priority

interface

name, id

operation

operation

name, id

inMessageRef

laneSet

lane

lane

name, id

flowNodeRef

import

name

global

identifier, type

* Used for extension elements for BPMN2, such as simulation data.

Table 11.2. BPMN 2.0 Supported Elements and Attributes (Events)

Element
Supported attributes
Supported elements
Extension attributes
Extension elements

startEvent

name, id

dataOutput, dataOutputAssociation, outputSet, eventDefinition

x, y, width, height

endEvent

name, id

dataInput, dataInputAssociation, inputSet, eventDefinition

x, y, width, height

intermediateCatchEvent

name, id

dataOutput, dataOutputAssociation, outputSet, eventDefinition

x, y, width, height

intermediateThrowEvent

name, id

dataInput, dataInputAssociation, inputSet, eventDefinition

x, y, width, height

boundaryEvent

cancelActivity, attachedToRef, name, id

eventDefinition

x, y, width, height

terminateEventDefinition

compensateEventDefinition

activityRef

documentation, extensionElements

conditionalEventDefinition

condition

errorEventDefinition

errorRef

error

errorCode, id

escalationEventDefinition

escalationRef

escalation

escalationCode, id

messageEventDefinition

messageRef

message

itemRef, id

signalEventDefinition

signalRef

timerEventDefinition

timeCycle, timeDuration

Table 11.3. BPMN 2.0 Supported Elements and Attributes (Activities)

Element
Supported attributes
Supported elements
Extension attributes
Extension elements

task

name, id

ioSpecification, dataInputAssociation, dataOutputAssociation

taskName, x, y, width, height

scriptTask

scriptFormat, name, id

script

x, y, width, height

script

text[mixed content]

userTask

name, id

ioSpecification, dataInputAssociation, dataOutputAssociation, resourceRole

x, y, width, height

onEntry-script, onExit-script

potentialOwner

resourceAssignmentExpression

resourceAssignmentExpression

expression

businessRuleTask

name, id

x, y, width, height, ruleFlowGroup

onEntry-script, onExit-script

manualTask

name, id

x, y, width, height

onEntry-script, onExit-script

sendTask

messageRef, name, id

ioSpecification, dataInputAssociation

x, y, width, height

onEntry-script, onExit-script

receiveTask

messageRef, name, id

ioSpecification, dataOutputAssociation

x, y, width, height

onEntry-script, onExit-script

serviceTask

operationRef, name, id

ioSpecification, dataInputAssociation, dataOutputAssociation

x, y, width, height

onEntry-script, onExit-script

subProcess

name, id

flowElement, property, loopCharacteristics

x, y, width, height

adHocSubProcess

cancelRemainingInstances, name, id

completionCondition, flowElement, property

x, y, width, height

callActivity

calledElement, name, id

ioSpecification, dataInputAssociation, dataOutputAssociation

x, y, width, height, waitForCompletion, independent

onEntry-script, onExit-script

multiInstanceLoopCharacteristics

loopDataInputRef, inputDataItem

onEntry-script

scriptFormat

script

onExit-script

scriptFormat

script

Table 11.4. BPMN 2.0 Supported Elements and Attributes (Gateways)

Element
Supported attributes
Supported elements
Extension attributes
Extension elements

parallelGateway

gatewayDirection, name, id

x, y, width, height

eventBasedGateway

gatewayDirection, name, id

x, y, width, height

exclusiveGateway

default, gatewayDirection, name, id

x, y, width, height

inclusiveGateway

default, gatewayDirection, name, id

x, y, width, height

Table 11.5. BPMN 2.0 Supported Elements and Attributes (Data)

Element
Supported attributes
Supported elements
Extension attributes
Extension elements

property

itemSubjectRef, id

dataObject

itemSubjectRef, id

itemDefinition

structureRef, id

signal

name, id

ioSpecification

dataInput, dataOutput, inputSet, outputSet

dataInput

name, id

dataInputAssociation

sourceRef, targetRef, assignment

dataOutput

name, id

dataOutputAssociation

sourceRef, targetRef, assignment

inputSet

dataInputRefs

outputSet

dataOutputRefs

assignment

from, to

formalExpression

language

text[mixed content]

Table 11.6. BPMN 2.0 Supported Elements and Attributes (BPMNDI)

Element
Supported attributes
Supported elements
Extension attributes
Extension elements

BPMNDiagram

BPMNPlane

BPMNPlane

bpmnElement

BPMNEdge, BPMNShape

BPMNShape

bpmnElement

Bounds

BPMNEdge

bpmnElement

waypoint

Bounds

x, y, width, height

waypoint

x, y

BPMN 2.0 Process Example

Here is a BPMN 2.0 process that prints out a "Hello World" statement when the process is started:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<definitions
  id="Definition"
  targetNamespace="http://www.example.org/MinimalExample"
  typeLanguage="http://www.java.com/javaTypes"
  expressionLanguage="http://www.mvel.org/2.0"
  xmlns="http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/20100524/MODEL"
  xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xs:schemaLocation="http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/20100524/MODEL BPMN20.xsd"
  xmlns:bpmndi="http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/20100524/DI"
  xmlns:dc="http://www.omg.org/spec/DD/20100524/DC"
  xmlns:di="http://www.omg.org/spec/DD/20100524/DI"
  xmlns:tns="http://www.jboss.org/drools">

  <process processType="Private" isExecutable="true" id="com.sample.HelloWorld" name="Hello World">
    <!-- nodes -->
    <startEvent id="_1" name="StartProcess" />
    <scriptTask id="_2" name="Hello">
      <script>System.out.println("Hello World");</script>
    </scriptTask>
    <endEvent id="_3" name="EndProcess" >
        <terminateEventDefinition/>
    </endEvent>
    <!-- connections -->
    <sequenceFlow id="_1-_2" sourceRef="_1" targetRef="_2" />
    <sequenceFlow id="_2-_3" sourceRef="_2" targetRef="_3" />
  </process>

  <bpmndi:BPMNDiagram>
    <bpmndi:BPMNPlane bpmnElement="Minimal">

      <bpmndi:BPMNShape bpmnElement="_1">
        <dc:Bounds x="15" y="91" width="48" height="48" />
      </bpmndi:BPMNShape>

      <bpmndi:BPMNShape bpmnElement="_2">
        <dc:Bounds x="95" y="88" width="83" height="48" />
      </bpmndi:BPMNShape>

      <bpmndi:BPMNShape bpmnElement="_3">
        <dc:Bounds x="258" y="86" width="48" height="48" />
      </bpmndi:BPMNShape>

      <bpmndi:BPMNEdge bpmnElement="_1-_2">
        <di:waypoint x="39" y="115" />
        <di:waypoint x="75" y="46" />
        <di:waypoint x="136" y="112" />
      </bpmndi:BPMNEdge>

      <bpmndi:BPMNEdge bpmnElement="_2-_3">
        <di:waypoint x="136" y="112" />
        <di:waypoint x="240" y="240" />
        <di:waypoint x="282" y="110" />
      </bpmndi:BPMNEdge>

    </bpmndi:BPMNPlane>
  </bpmndi:BPMNDiagram>

</definitions>

Supported Elements and Attributes in BPMN 2.0 Specification

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite 6 does not implement all elements and attributes as defined in the BPMN 2.0 specification. However, we do support significant node types that you can use inside executable processes. This includes almost all elements and attributes as defined in the Common Executable subclass of the BPMN 2.0 specification, extended with some additional elements and attributes we believe are valuable in that context as well. The full set of elements and attributes that are supported can be found below, but it includes elements like:

Flow Objects

Events

Start Event (None, Conditional, Signal, Message, Timer)

End Event (None, Terminate, Error, Escalation, Signal, Message, Compensation)

Intermediate Catch Event (Signal, Timer, Conditional, Message)

Intermediate Throw Event (None, Signal, Escalation, Message, Compensation)

Non-interrupting Boundary Event (Escalation, Signal, Timer, Conditional, Message)

Interrupting Boundary Event (Escalation, Error, Signal, Timer, Conditional, Message, Compensation)

Activities

Script Task

Task

Service Task

User Task

Business Rule Task

Manual Task

Send Task

Receive Task

Reusable Sub-Process (Call Activity)

Embedded Sub-Process

Event Sub-Process

Ad-Hoc Sub-Process

Data-Object

Gateways

Diverging

Exclusive

Inclusive

Parallel

Event-Based

Converging

Exclusive

Inclusive

Parallel

Lanes

Data

Java type language

Process properties

Embedded Sub-Process properties

Activity properties

Connecting Objects

Sequence flow

Loading and Executing a BPMN2 Process Into Repository

The following example shows how you can load a BPMN2 process into your knowledge base:

import org.kie.api.KieServices;
import org.kie.api.builder.KieRepository;
import org.kie.api.builder.KieFileSystem;
import org.kie.api.builder.KieBuilder;
import org.kie.api.runtime.KieContainer;
import org.kie.api.KieBase;
...
KieServices kServices = KieServices.Factory.get();
KieRepository kRepository = kServices.getRepository();
KieFileSystem kFileSystem = kServices.newKieFileSystem();

kFileSystem.write(ResourceFactory.newClassPathResource("MyProcess.bpmn"));

KieBuilder kBuilder = kServices.newKieBuilder(kFileSystem);
kBuilder.buildAll();

KieContainer kContainer = kServices.newKieContainer(kRepository.getDefaultReleaseId());
KieBase kBase = kContainer.getKieBase();

What Comprises a Business Process

A business process is a graph that describes the order in which a series of steps need to be executed using a flow chart. A process consists of a collection of nodes that are linked to each other using connections. Each of the nodes represents one step in the overall process, while the connections specify how to transition from one node to the other. A large selection of predefined node types have been defined.

A typical process consists of the following parts:

The header part that comprises global elements such as the name of the process, imports, and variables.

The nodes section that contains all the different nodes that are part of the process.

The connections section that links these nodes to each other to create a flow chart.

Figure 11.1. A Business Process

Processes can be created with the following methods:

Using the Business Central or Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio with BPMN2 modeler.

As an XML file, according to the XML process format as defined in the XML Schema Definition in the BPMN 2.0 specification.

By directly creating a process using the Process API.

Note

The Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio Process editor has been deprecated in favor of BPMN2 Modeler for process modeling as it is not being developed any more. However, you can still use it for limited number of supported elements.

Process Nodes

Executable processes consist of different types of nodes which are connected to each other. The BPMN 2.0 specification defines three main types of nodes:

Events

Event elements represent a particular event that occurs or can occur during process runtime.

Activities

Activities represent relatively atomic pieces of work that need to be performed as part of the process execution.

Gateways

Gateways represent forking or merging of workflows during process execution.

Process Properties

Every process has the following properties:

ID: The unique ID of the process.

Name: The display name of the process.

Version: The version number of the process.

Package: The package (namespace) the process is defined in.

Variables (optional): Variables to store data during the execution of your process.

Swimlanes: Swimlanes used in the process for assigning human tasks.

Defining Processes Using XML

You can create processes directly in XML format using the BPMN 2.0 specifications. The syntax of these XML processes is defined using the BPMN 2.0 XML Schema Definition.

The process XML file consists of:

The process element

This is the top part of the process XML that contains the definition of the different nodes and their properties. The process XML consist of exactly one <process> element. This element contains parameters related to the process (its type, name, ID, and package name), and consists of three subsections: a header section (where process-level information like variables, globals, imports, and lanes can be defined), a nodes section that defines each of the nodes in the process, and a connections section that contains the connections between all the nodes in the process.

The BPMNDiagram element

This is the lower part of the process XML that contains all graphical information, like the location of the nodes. In the nodes section, there is a specific element for each node, defining the various parameters and, possibly, sub-elements for that node type.

The following XML fragment shows a simple process that contains a sequence of a Start Event, a Script Task that prints "Hello World" to the console, and an End Event:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<definitions
  id="Definition"
  targetNamespace="http://www.jboss.org/drools"
  typeLanguage="http://www.java.com/javaTypes"
  expressionLanguage="http://www.mvel.org/2.0"
  xmlns="http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/20100524/MODEL"
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/20100524/MODEL BPMN20.xsd"
  xmlns:g="http://www.jboss.org/drools/flow/gpd"
  xmlns:bpmndi="http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/20100524/DI"
  xmlns:dc="http://www.omg.org/spec/DD/20100524/DC"
  xmlns:di="http://www.omg.org/spec/DD/20100524/DI"
  xmlns:tns="http://www.jboss.org/drools">

  <process processType="Private" isExecutable="true" id="com.sample.hello" name="Hello Process">
    <!-- nodes -->
    <startEvent id="_1" name="Start" />

    <scriptTask id="_2" name="Hello">
      <script>System.out.println("Hello World");</script>
    </scriptTask>

    <endEvent id="_3" name="End" >
      <terminateEventDefinition/>
    </endEvent>

    <!-- connections -->

    <sequenceFlow id="_1-_2" sourceRef="_1" targetRef="_2" />
    <sequenceFlow id="_2-_3" sourceRef="_2" targetRef="_3" />
  </process>

  <bpmndi:BPMNDiagram>
    <bpmndi:BPMNPlane bpmnElement="com.sample.hello" >

      <bpmndi:BPMNShape bpmnElement="_1" >
        <dc:Bounds x="16" y="16" width="48" height="48" />
      </bpmndi:BPMNShape>

      <bpmndi:BPMNShape bpmnElement="_2" >
        <dc:Bounds x="96" y="16" width="80" height="48" />
      </bpmndi:BPMNShape>

      <bpmndi:BPMNShape bpmnElement="_3" >
        <dc:Bounds x="208" y="16" width="48" height="48" />
      </bpmndi:BPMNShape>

      <bpmndi:BPMNEdge bpmnElement="_1-_2" >
        <di:waypoint x="40" y="40" />
        <di:waypoint x="136" y="40" />
      </bpmndi:BPMNEdge>

      <bpmndi:BPMNEdge bpmnElement="_2-_3" >
        <di:waypoint x="136" y="40" />
        <di:waypoint x="232" y="40" />
      </bpmndi:BPMNEdge>

    </bpmndi:BPMNPlane>
  </bpmndi:BPMNDiagram>

</definitions>

Activities

An activity is an action performed inside a business process. Activities are classified based on the type of tasks they do:

Task

Use this activity type in your business process to implement a single task which can not be further broken into subtasks.

Subprocess

Use this activity type in your business process when you have a group of tasks to be processed in a sequential order in order to achieve a single result.

Each activity has one incoming and one outgoing connection.

Tasks

A task is an action that is executed inside a business process. Tasks can be of the following types:

Table 11.7. Types of Tasks in Object Library

Task
Icon
Description

User

Use the User task activity type in your business process when you require a human actor to execute your task.

The User task defines within it, the type of task that needs to be executed. You must pass the data that a human actor may require to execute this task as the content of the task.

The User task has one incoming and one outgoing connection. You can use the User tasks in combination with Swimlanes to assign multiple human tasks to similar human actors.

Send

Use the Send task to send a message.

A Send task has a message associated with it.

When a Send task is activated, the message data is assigned to the data input property of the Send task. A Send task completes when this message is sent.

Receive

Use the Receive task in your process when your process is relying on a specific message to continue.

When a Receive task receives the specified message, the data from the message is transferred to the Data Output property of the Receive task and the task completes.

Manual

Use the Manual task when you require a task to be executed by a human actor that need not be managed by your process.

The difference between a Manual task and a User task is that a User task is executed in the context of the process, requires system interaction to accomplish the task, and are assigned to specific human actors. The Manual tasks on the other hand, execute without the need to interact with the system and not managed by the process.

Service

Use the Service task in your business process for specifying the tasks use a service (such as a web service) that must execute outside the process engine.

The Service task may use any service such as email server, message logger, or any other automated service.

You can specify the required input parameters and expected results of this task in its properties. When the associated work is executed and specified result is received, the Service task completes.

Business Rule

Use the Business Rule task when you want a set of rules to be executed as a task in your business process flow.

During the execution of your process flow, when the engine reaches the Business Rule task, all the rules associated with this task are fired and evaluated.

The DataInputSet and DataOutputSet properties define the input to the rule engine and the calculated output received from the rule engine respectively.

The set of rules that this task runs are defined in .drl format.

All the rules that belong to a Business Rule task must belong to a specific ruleflow group. You can assign a rule its ruleflow group using the ruleflow-group attribute in the header of the rule. So when a Business Rule task executes, all the rules that belong to the ruleflow-group specified in the ruleflow-group property of the task are executed.

Script

Use the Script task in your business process when you want a script to be executed within the task.

A Script task has an associated action that contains the action code and the language that the action is written in.

When a Script task is reached in the process, it executes the action and then continues to the next node.

Use a Script task in your process to for modeling low level behavior such as manipulating variables. For a complex model, use a Service task.

Ensure that the script associated with a Script task is executed as soon as the task is reached in a business process. If that is not possible, use an asynchronous Service task instead.

Ensure that your script does not contact an external service as the process engine has no visibility of the external services that a script may call.

Ensure that any exception that your script may throw must be caught within the script itself.

None

A None task type is an abstract undefined task type.

Subprocesses

A subprocess is a process within another process. When a parent process calls a child process (subprocess), the child process executes in a sequential manner and once complete, the execution control then transfers to the main parent process. Subprocess can be of the following types:

Table 11.8. Types of Subprocesses in Object Library

Subprocess
Icon
Description

Reusable

Use the Reusable subprocess to invoke another process from the parent process.

The Reusable subprocess is independent from its parent process.

Multiple Instances

Use the Multiple Instances subprocess when you want to execute the contained subprocess elements multiple number of times.

When the engine reaches a Multiple Instance subprocess in your process flow, the subprocess instances are executed in a sequential manner.

A Multiple Instances subprocess is completed when the condition specified in the MI completion condition property is satisfied.

Embedded

Use the Embedded subprocess if you want a decomposable activity inside your process flow that encapsulates a part of your main process.

When you expand an Embedded subprocess, you can see a valid BPMN diagram inside that comprises a Start Event and at least one End Event.

An Embedded subprocess allows you to define local subprocess variables that are accessible to all elements inside this subprocess.

Ad-Hoc

Use the Ad-Hoc subprocess when you want to execute activities inside your process, for which the execution order is irrelevant. An Ad-Hoc subprocess is a group of activities that have no required sequence relationships.

You can define a set of activities for this subprocess, but the sequence and number of performances for the activities is determined by the performers of the activities.

Use an Ad-Hoc subprocesses for example when executing a list of tasks that have no dependencies between them and can be executed in any order.

Event

Use the Event subprocess in your process flow when you want to handle events that occur within the boundary of a subprocess. This subprocess becomes active when its start event gets triggered.

The Event subprocess differs from the other subprocess as they are not a part of the regular process flow and occur only in the context of a subprocess.

An Event subprocess can be interrupting or non-interrupting. The interrupting Event subprocess interrupts the parent process unlike the non-interrupting Event subprocess.

Note

Only the Reusable subprocess can contain Swimlanes.

Data

Throughout the execution of a process, data can be retrieved, stored, passed on, and used. To store runtime data during the execution of the process, process variables are used. A variable is defined with a name and a data type. A basic data type could include the following: boolean, int, String, or any kind of object subclass.

Variables can be defined inside a variable scope. The top-level scope is the variable scope of the process itself. Sub-scopes can be defined using a sub-process. Variables that are defined in a sub-scope are only accessible for nodes within that scope.

Whenever a variable is accessed, the process will search for the appropriate variable scope that defines the variable. Nesting variable scopes are allowed. A node will always search for a variable in its parent container; if the variable cannot be found, the node will look in the parent’s parent container, and so on, until the process instance itself is reached. If the variable cannot be found, a read access yields null, and a write access produces an error message. All of this occurs with the process continuing execution.

Variables can be used in the following ways:

Process-level variables can be set when starting a process by providing a map of parameters to the invocation of the startProcess method. These parameters will be set as variables on the process scope.

Script actions can access variables directly simply by using the name of the variable as a local parameter in their script. For example, if the process defines a variable of type "org.jbpm.Person" in the process, a script in the process could access this directly:

// call method on the process variable "person"

person.setAge(10);

Changing the value of a variable in a script can be done through the knowledge context:

kcontext.setVariable(variableName, value);

Service tasks (and reusable sub-processes) can pass the value of process variables to the outside world (or another process instance) by mapping the variable to an outgoing parameter. For example, the parameter mapping of a service task could define that the value of the process variable x should be mapped to a task parameter y just before the service is invoked. You can also inject the value of the process variable into a hard-coded parameter String using #{expression}. For example, the description of a human task could be defined as the following:

You need to contact person #{person.getName()}

Where person is a process variable. This will replace this expression with the actual name of the person when the service needs to be invoked. Similar results of a service (or reusable sub-process) can also be copied back to a variable using result mapping.

Various other nodes can also access data. Event nodes, for example, can store the data associated to the event in a variable. Check the properties of the different node types for more information.

Finally, processes (and rules) have access to globals, for example, globally defined variables and data in the Knowledge Session. Globals are directly accessible in actions like variables. Globals need to be defined as part of the process before they can be used. Globals can be set using the following:

ksession.setGlobal(name, value)

Globals can also be set from inside process scripts using:

kcontext.getKieRuntime().setGlobal(name,value);.

Events

Events are triggers, which when occur, impact a business process. Events are classified as start events, end events, and intermediate events. A start event indicates the beginning of a business process. An end event indicates the completion of a business process. And intermediate events drive the flow of a business process. Every event has an event ID and a name. You can implement triggers for each of these event types to identify the conditions under which an event is triggered. If the conditions of the triggers are not met, the events are not initialized, and hence the process flow does not complete.

Start Events

A start event is a flow element in a business process that indicates the beginning of a business process flow. The execution of a business process starts at this node, so a process flow can only have one start event. A start event can have only one outgoing connection which connects to another node to take the process flow ahead. Start events are of the following types:

Table 11.9. Types of Start Events in Object Library

Event
Icon
Description

None

Use the None start events when your processes do not need a trigger to be initialized.

You can use the start event if your process does not depend on any condition to begin.

The start event is mostly used to initialize a subprocess or a process that needs to trigger by default or the trigger for the process is irrelevant.

Message

Use the Message start event when you require your process to start, on receiving a particular message.

You can have multiple Message start events in your process.

A single message can trigger multiple Message start events that instantiates multiple processes.

Timer

Use the Timer start event when you require your process to initialize at a specific time, specific points in time, or after a specific time span.

The Timer start event is mostly used in cases where a waiting state is required, for example, in cases involving a Human Task.

Escalation

Use the Escalation start event in your subprocesses when you require your subprocess to initialize as a response to an escalation.

An escalation is identified by an escalation object in the main process, which is inserted into the main process by an Escalation Intermediate event or/and Escalation end event. An Escalation Intermediate event or/and Escalation end event produce an escalation object, which can be consumed by an Escalation Start event or an Escalation intermediate catch event.

A process flow can have one or more Escalation start events and the process flow does not complete until all the escalation objects are caught and handled in subprocesses.

Conditional

Use the Conditional start event to start a process instance based on a business condition.

A condition output is a Boolean value and when a condition is evaluated as true, the process flow is initialized.

You can have one or more Conditional start events in your business process.

Error

Use the Error start event in a subprocess when you require your subprocess to trigger as a response to a specific error object.

An error object indicates an incorrect process ending and must be handled for the process flow to complete.

An error object is inserted into a business process by an Error end event and can be handled by a Error intermediate catch event, or Error start event depending on the scope of the error in a process flow.

Compensation

Use the Compensation start event in a subprocess when you require to handle a compensation.

A compensation means undoing the results of an already completed action. Note that this is different than an error. An error suspends a process at the location where it occurs, however, a compensation compensates the results of an action the process has already committed and needs to be undone.

A Compensation start event starts a subprocess and is the target Activity of a Compensation intermediate event.

Signal

Use the Signal start event to start a process instance based on specific signals received from other processes.

A signal is identified by a signal object. A signal object defines a unique reference ID that is unique in a session.

A signal object is inserted in a process by a throw signal intermediate event as an action of an activity.

End Events

An end event marks the end of a business process. Your business process may have more than one end event. An end event has one incoming connection and no outgoing connections. End events are of the following types:

Table 11.10. Types of End Events in Object Library

Event
Icon
Description

None

Use the None error end event to mark the end of your process or a subprocess flow. Note that this does not influence the workflow of any parallel subprocesses.

Message

Use the Message end event to end your process flow with a message to an element in another process. An intermediate catch message event or a start message event in another process can catch this message to further process the flow.

Escalation

Use the Escalation end event to mark the end of a process as a result of which the case in hand is escalated. This event creates an escalation signal that further triggers the escalation process.

Error

Use the Error end event in your process or subprocess to end the process in an error state and throw a named error, which can be caught by a Catching Intermediate event.

Cancel

Use the Cancel end event to end your process as canceled. Note that if your process comprises any compensations, it completes them and then marks the process as canceled.

Compensation

Use the Compensation end event to end the current process and trigger compensation as the final step.

Signal

Use the Signal end event to end a process with a signal thrown to an element in one or more other processes. Another process can catch this signal using Catch intermediate events.

Terminate

Use the Terminate end event to terminate the entire process instance immediately. Note that this terminates all the other parallel execution flows and cancels any running activities.

Intermediate Events

Intermediate events occur during the execution of a process flow, and they drive the flow of the process. Some specific situations in a process may trigger these intermediate events. Intermediate events can occur in a process with one or no incoming flow and an outgoing flow. Intermediate events can further be classified as:

Catching Intermediate Events;

Throwing Intermediate Events.

Catching Intermediate Events

Catching intermediate events comprises intermediate events which implement a response to specific indication of a situation from the main process workflow. Catching intermediate events are of the following types:

Message: Use the Message catching intermediate events in your process to implement a reaction to an arriving message. The message that this event is expected to react to, is specified in its properties. It executes the flow only when it receives the specific message.

Timer: Use the Timer intermediate event to delay the workflow execution until a specified point or duration. A Timer intermediate event has one incoming flow and one outgoing flow and its execution starts when the incoming flow transfers to the event. When placed on an activity boundary, the execution is triggered at the same time as the activity execution.

Escalation: Use the Escalation catching intermediate event in your process to consume an Escalation object. An Escalation catching intermediate event awaits a specific escalation object defined in its properties. Once it receives the object, it triggers execution of its outgoing flow.

Conditional: Use the Conditional intermediate event to execute a workflow when a specific business Boolean condition that it defines, evaluates to true. When placed in the process workflow, a Conditional intermediate event has one incoming flow and one outgoing flow and its execution starts when the incoming flow transfers to the event. When placed on an activity boundary, the execution is triggered at the same time as the activity execution. Note that if the event is non-interrupting, it triggers continuously while the condition is true.

Error: Use the Error catching intermediate event in your process to execute a workflow when it received a specific error object defined in its properties.

Compensation: Use the Compensation intermediate event to handle compensation in case of partially failed operations. A Compensation intermediate event is a boundary event that is attached to an activity in a transaction subprocess that may finish with a Compensation end event or a Cancel end event. The Compensation intermediate event must have one outgoing flow that connects to an activity that defines the compensation action needed to compensate for the action performed by the activity.

Signal: Use the Signal catching intermediate event to execute a workflow once a specified signal object defined in its properties is received from the main process or any other process.

Throwing Intermediate Events

Throwing intermediate events comprises events which produce a specified trigger in the form of a message, escalation, or signal, to drive the flow of a process. Throwing intermediate events are of the following types:

Message: Use the Message throw intermediate event to produce and send a message to a communication partner (such as an element in another process). Once it sends a message, the process execution continues.

Escalation: Use the Escalation throw intermediate event to produce an escalation object. Once it creates an escalation object, the process execution continues. The escalation object can be consumed by an Escalation start event or an Escalation intermediate catch event, which is looking for this specific escalation object.

Signal: Use the Signal throwing intermediate events to produces a signal object. Once it creates a signal object, the process execution continues. The signal object is consumed by a Signal start event or a Signal catching intermediate event, which is looking for this specific signal object.

Gateways

"Gateways are used to control how Sequence Flows interact as they converge and diverge within a Process."[1]

Gateways are used to create or synchronize branches in the workflow using a set of conditions which is called the gating mechanism. Gateways are either converging (multiple flows into one flow) or diverging (one flow into multiple flows).

One Gateway cannot have multiple incoming and multiple outgoing flows.

Depending on the gating mechanism you want to apply, you can use the following types of gateways:

Parallel (AND): in a converging gateway, waits for all incoming flows. In a diverging gateway, takes all outgoing flows simultaneously.

Inclusive (OR): in a converging gateway, waits for all incoming flows whose condition evaluates to true. In a diverging gateway takes all outgoing flows whose condition evaluates to true.

Exclusive (XOR): in a converging gateway, only the first incoming flow whose condition evaluates to true is chosen. In a diverging gateway only one outgoing flow is chosen.

Event-based: used only in diverging gateways for reacting to events. See the section called “Event-Based Gateway”.

Data-based Exclusive: used in both diverging and converging gateways to make decisions based on available data. See the section called “Data-Based Exclusive Gateway”.

Gateway Types

Event-Based Gateway

"The Event-Based Gateway has pass-through semantics for a set of incoming branches (merging behavior). Exactly one of the outgoing branches is activated afterwards (branching behavior), depending on which of events of the Gateway configuration is first triggered."[2]

The Gateway is only diverging and allows you to react to possible events as opposed to the Data-based Exclusive Gateway, which reacts to the process data. It is the event that actually occurs that decides which outgoing flow is taken. As it provides the mechanism to react to exactly one of the possible events, it is exclusive, that is, only one outgoing flow is taken.

The Gateway might act as a start event, where the process is instantiated only if one the Intermediate Events connected to the Event-Based Gateway occurs.

Parallel Gateway

"A Parallel Gateway is used to synchronize (combine) parallel flows and to create parallel flows."[3]

Diverging

Once the incoming flow is taken, all outgoing flows are taken simultaneously.

Converging

The Gateway waits until all incoming flows have entered and only then triggers the outgoing flow.

Inclusive Gateway

Diverging

Once the incoming flow is taken, all outgoing flows whose condition evaluates to true are taken. Connections with lower priority numbers are triggered before triggering higher priority ones; priorities are evaluated but the BPMN2 specification doesn’t guarantee this. So for portability reasons it is recommended that you do not depend on this.

Important

Make sure that at least one of the outgoing flow evaluates to true at runtime; otherwise, the process instance terminates with a runtime exception.

Converging

The Gateway merges all incoming flows previously created by a diverging Inclusive Gateway; that is, it serves as a synchronizing entry point for the Inclusive Gateway branches.

Attributes

Default gate

The outgoing flow taken by default if no other flow can be taken.

Data-Based Exclusive Gateway

Diverging

The Gateway triggers exactly one outgoing flow: the flow with the constraint evaluated to true and the lowest priority is taken. After evaluating the constraints that are linked to the outgoing flows: the constraint with the lowest priority number that evaluates to true is selected.

Possible Runtime Exception

Make sure that at least one of the outgoing Flows evaluates to true at runtime: if no Flow can be taken, the execution returns a runtime exception.

Converging

The Gateway allows a workflow branch to continue to its outgoing flow as soon as it reaches the Gateway; that is, whenever one of the incoming flows triggers the Gateway, the workflow is sent to the outgoing flow of the Gateway; if it is triggered from more than one incoming connection, it triggers the next node for each trigger.

Attributes

Default gate

The outgoing flow taken by default if no other flow can be taken.

Variables

Variables are elements that serve for storing a particular type of data during runtime. The type of data a variable contains is defined by its data type.

Just like any context data, every variable has its scope that defines its "visibility". An element, such as a process, subprocess, or task can only access variables in its own and parent contexts: variables defined in the element’s child elements cannot be accessed. Therefore, when an elements requires access to a variable on runtime, its own context is searched first. If the variable cannot be found directly in the element’s context, the immediate parent context is searched. The search continues to "level up" until the Process context is reached; in case of globals, the search is performed directly on the session container. If the variable cannot be found, a read access request returns null and a write access produces an error message, and the process continues its execution. Variables are searched for based on their ID.

In Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite, variables can live in the following contexts:

Session context: Globals are visible to all process instances and assets in the given session and are intended to be used primarily by business rules and by constrains. The are created dynamically by the rules or constrains.

Process context: Process variables are defined as properties in the BPMN2 definition file and are visible within the process instance. They are initialized at process creation and destroyed on process finish.

Element context: Local variables are available within their process element, such as an activity. They are initialized when the element context is initialized, that is, when the execution workflow enters the node and execution of the OnEntry action finished if applicable. They are destroyed when the element context is destroyed, that is, when the execution workflow leaves the element.

Values of local variables can be mapped to global or process variables using the assignment mechanism (see the section called “Assignment”). This allows you to maintain relative independence of the parent element that accommodates the local variable. Such isolation may help prevent technical exceptions.

Assignment

The assignment mechanism allows you to assign a value to an object, such as a variable, before or after the particular element is executed.

When defining assignment on an activity element, the value assignment is performed either before or after activity execution. If the assignment defines mapping to a local variable, the time when the assignment is performed depends on whether the local variable is defined as an DataInput or DataOutput item.

For example, if you need to assign a task to a user whose ID is a process variable, use the assignment to map the variable to the parameter ActorId.

Assignment is defined in the Assignments property in case of activity elements and in the DataInputAssocations or DataOutputAssociations property in case of non-activity elements.

Data Types in Assignment

As parameters of the type String can make use of the assignment mechanism by applying the respective syntax directly in their value, #{userVariable}, assignment is rather intended for mapping of properties that are not of type String.

Action Scripts

Action scripts are pieces of code that define the Script property or an element’s interceptor action. Action scripts have access to global variables, process variables, and the predefined variable kcontext. Accordingly, kcontext is an instance of the ProcessContext interface. See the ProcessContext Javadoc for more information.

Currently, Java and MVEL are supported as dialects for action scripts definitions. MVEL accepts any valid Java code and additionally provides support for nested access to parameters. For example, the MVEL equivalent of Java call person.getName() is person.name.

Example 11.1. Sample Action Script

The following action script prints out the name of the person:

// Java dialect
System.out.println(person.getName());

// MVEL dialect
System.out.println(person.name);

Process Instance Action Scripts

Additionally, you can use action scripts to view information about process instances.

Use the following commands to:

Return the ID of a process instance:

System.out.println(kcontext.getProcessInstance().getId());

Return the parent process instance ID if a process instance has a parent:

System.out.println(kcontext.getProcessInstance().getParentProcessInstanceId());

Return the ID of a process definition that is related to a process instance:

System.out.println(kcontext.getProcessInstance().getProcessId());

Return the name of a process definition that is related to a process instance:

System.out.println(kcontext.getProcessInstance().getProcessName());

Return the state of a process instance:

System.out.println(kcontext.getProcessInstance().getState());

To set a process variable in an action script, use kcontext.setVariable("VARIABLE_NAME", "VALUE").

Constraints

There are two types of constraints in business processes: code constraints and rule constraints.

Code constraints are boolean expressions evaluated directly whenever they are reached; these constraints are written in either Java or MVEL. Both Java and MVEL code constraints have direct access to the globals and variables defined in the process.

Here is an example of a valid Java code constraint, person being a variable in the process:

return person.getAge() > 20;

Here is an example of a valid MVEL code constraint, person being a variable in the process:

return person.age > 20;

Rule constraints are equal to normal Drools rule conditions. They use the Drools Rule Language syntax to express complex constraints. These rules can, like any other rule, refer to data in the working memory. They can also refer to globals directly. Here is an example of a valid rule constraint:

Person(age > 20)

This tests for a person older than 20 in the working memory.

Rule constraints do not have direct access to variables defined inside the process. However, it is possible to refer to the current process instance inside a rule constraint by adding the process instance to the working memory and matching for the process instance in your rule constraint. Logic is included to make sure that a variable processInstance of type WorkflowProcessInstance will only match the current process instance and not other process instances in the working memory. Note, it is necessary to insert the process instance into the session. If it is necessary to update the process instance, use Java code or an on-entry, on-exit, or explicit action in the process. The following example of a rule constraint will search for a person with the same name as the value stored in the variable name of the process:

processInstance : WorkflowProcessInstance()
Person(name == (processInstance.getVariable("name")))
# add more constraints here ...

Timers

Timers wait for a predefined amount of time before triggering, once, or repeatedly. You can use timers to trigger certain logic after a certain period, or to repeat some action at regular intervals.

Configuring Timer with Delay and Period

A Timer node is set up with a delay and a period. The delay specifies the amount of time to wait after node activation before triggering the timer for the first time. The period defines the time between subsequent trigger activations. A period of 0 results in a one-shot timer. The (period and delay) expression must be of the form [#d][#h][#m][#s][#[ms]]. You can specify the amount of days, hours, minutes, seconds, and milliseconds. Milliseconds is the default value. For example, the expression 1h waits one hour before triggering the timer again.

Configuring Timer ISO-8601 Date Format

Since version 6, you can configure timers with valid ISO8601 date format that supports both one shot timers and repeatable timers. You can define timers as date and time representation, time duration or repeating intervals. For example:

Date - 2013-12-24T20:00:00.000+02:00 - fires exactly at Christmas Eve at 8PM
Duration - PT1S - fires once after 1 second
Repeatable intervals - R/PT1S - fires every second, no limit.
	Alternatively R5/PT1S fires 5 times every second

Configuring Timer with Process Variables

In addition to the above mentioned configuration options, you can specify timers using process variable that consists of string representation of either delay and period or ISO8601 date format. By specifying #{variable}, the engine dynamically extracts process variable and uses it as timer expression. The timer service is responsible for making sure that timers get triggered at the appropriate times. You can cancel timers so that they are no longer triggered. You can use timers in the following ways inside a process:

You can add a timer event to a process flow. The process activation starts the timer, and when it triggers, once or repeatedly, it activates the timer node’s successor. Subsequently, the outgoing connection of a timer with a positive period is triggered multiple times. Canceling a Timer node also cancels the associated timer, after which no more triggers occur.

You can associate timer with a sub-process or tasks as a boundary event.

Updating Timer Within a Running Process Instance

Sometimes a process requires the possibility to dynamically alter the timer period or delay without the need to restart the entire process workflow. In that case, an already scheduled timer can be rescheduled to meet the new requirements: for example to prolong or shorten the timer expiration time or change the delay, period, and repeat limit.

For this reason, jBPM offers a corresponding UpdateTimerCommand class which allows you to perform these several steps as an atomic operation. All of them are then done within the same transaction.

org.jbpm.process.instance.command.UpdateTimerCommand

It is supported to update the boundary timer events as well as the intermediate timer events.

You can reschedule the timer by specifying the two mandatory parameters and one of the three optional parameter sets of the UpdateTimerCommand class.

Both of the following two parameters are mandatory:

process instance ID (long);

timer node name (String).

Next, choose and configure one of the three following parameter sets:

delay (long);

period (long) and repeat limit (int);

delay, period, and repeat limit.

Example 11.2. Rescheduling Timer Event

// Start the process instance and record its ID:
long id = kieSession.startProcess(BOUNDARY_PROCESS_NAME).getId();

// Set the timer delay to 3 seconds:
kieSession.execute(new UpdateTimerCommand(id, BOUNDARY_TIMER_ATTACHED_TO_NAME, 3));

As you can notice, the rescheduling is performed using the kieSession executor to ensure execution within the same transaction.

Multi-Threading

Multi-Threading

In the following text, we will refer to two types of "multi-threading": logical and technical. Technical multi-threading is what happens when multiple threads or processes are started on a computer, for example by a Java or C program. Logical multi-threading is what we see in a BPM process after the process reaches a parallel gateway. From a functional standpoint, the original process will then split into two processes that are executed in a parallel fashion.

The BPM engine supports logical multi-threading; for example, processes that include a parallel gateway are supported. We’ve chosen to implement logical multi-threading using one thread; accordingly, a BPM process that includes logical multi-threading will only be executed in one technical thread. The main reason for doing this is that multiple (technical) threads need to be be able to communicate state information with each other if they are working on the same process. This requirement brings with it a number of complications. While it might seem that multi-threading would bring performance benefits with it, the extra logic needed to make sure the different threads work together well means that this is not guaranteed. There is also the extra overhead incurred because we need to avoid race conditions and deadlocks.

Engine Execution

In general, the BPM engine executes actions in serial. For example, when the engine encounters a script task in a process, it will synchronously execute that script and wait for it to complete before continuing execution. Similarly, if a process encounters a parallel gateway, it will sequentially trigger each of the outgoing branches, one after the other. This is possible since execution is almost always instantaneous, meaning that it is extremely fast and produces almost no overhead. As a result, the user will usually not even notice this. Similarly, action scripts in a process are also synchronously executed, and the engine will wait for them to finish before continuing the process. For example, doing a Thread.sleep(…​) as part of a script will not make the engine continue execution elsewhere but will block the engine thread during that period.

The same principle applies to service tasks. When a service task is reached in a process, the engine will also invoke the handler of this service synchronously. The engine will wait for the completeWorkItem(…​) method to return before continuing execution. It is important that your service handler executes your service asynchronously if its execution is not instantaneous.

An example of this would be a service task that invokes an external service. Since the delay in invoking this service remotely and waiting for the results might be too long, it might be a good idea to invoke this service asynchronously. This means that the handler will only invoke the service and will notify the engine later when the results are available. In the mean time, the process engine then continues execution of the process.

Human tasks are a typical example of a service that needs to be invoked asynchronously, as we don’t want the engine to wait until a human actor has responded to the request. The human task handler will only create a new task (on the task list of the assigned actor) when the human task node is triggered. The engine will then be able to continue execution on the rest of the process (if necessary), and the handler will notify the engine asynchronously when the user has completed the task.

Job Executor for Asynchronous Execution

In Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite, the Job Executor component integrates with the runtime engine for processing asynchronous tasks. You can delegate asynchronous execution operations, such as error handling, retry, cancellation, and history logging in a new thread (using custom implementation of WorkItemHandler) and use the Job Executor to handle these operations for you. The Job Executor provides an environment for background execution of commands, which are nothing but business logic encapsulated within a simple interface.

Using Job Executor in Embedded Mode

The Job Executor API is a public API and is available within kie-api (org.kie.api.executor). So, you can run your background processes asynchronously using the Job Executor from Business Central as well as outside it in an embedded mode.

Wrapping business logic with the Command interface:

The Job Executor contains the business logic to be executed and does not have any process runtime related information. The Job Executor works on instances of the Command interface. It receives data through the CommandContext object and returns results of the execution with ExecutionResults class:

package org.jbpm.executor;

public interface Command {
  public ExecutionResults execute(CommandContext ctx) throws Exception;
}

Here, ctx is the contextual data given by the executor service.

Since the Job Executor is decoupled from the runtime process engine and provides only the logic that is to be executed as a part of that command, it promotes reuse of already existing logic by wrapping it with Command implementation.

Transferring business data from the process engine to the Command interface:

The input data is transferred from process engine to the command using the CommandContext, which acts as a data transfer object. It is important that the data it holds are serializable.

package org.jbpm.executor;

import java.io.Serializable;
import org.kie.api.executor.CommandContext;

public class CommandContext implements Serializable {

  private static final long serialVersionUID = -1440017934399413860L;
  private Map<String, Object> data;

  public CommandContext() {
    data  = new HashMap<String, Object>();
  }

  public CommandContext(Map<String, Object> data) {
    this.data = data;
  }

  public void setData(Map<String, Object> data) {
    this.data = data;
  }

  public Map<String, Object> getData() {
    return data;
  }

  public Object getData(String key) {
    return data.get(key);
  }

  public void setData(String key, Object value) {
    data.put(key, value);
  }

  public Set<String> keySet() {
    return data.keySet();
  }

  @Override
  public String toString() {
    return "CommandContext{" + "data=" + data + '}';
  }
}

The CommandContext should provide the following:

businessKey: a unique identifier of the caller.

callbacks: the fully qualified classname (FQCN) of the CommandCallback instance to be called on command completion.

Executor configurations:

The Job Executor API’s usage scenarios are exactly the same when used from Business Central and when used outside it. Here are some more Job Executor configuration options:

In-memory Job Executor with optional configuration:

// Configuration of in-memory executor service.
executorService = ExecutorServiceFactory.newExecutorService();

// Set number of threads which will be used by executor - default is 1.
executorService.setThreadPoolSize(1);

// Sets interval at which executor threads are running in seconds - default is 3.
executorService.setInterval(1);

// Sets time unit of interval - default is SECONDS.
executorService.setTimeunit(TimeUnit.SECONDS);

// Number of retries in case of excepting during execution of command - default is 3.
executorService.setRetries(1);

executorService.init();

Executor configuration using the EntityManagerFactory to store jobs into a database:

emf = Persistence.createEntityManagerFactory("org.jbpm.executor");

// Configuration of database executor service.
executorService = ExecutorServiceFactory.newExecutorService(emf);

// Optional configuration is skipped.
executorService.init();

Using AsyncWorkItemHandler that uses Job Executor for scheduling tasks:

The custom tasks that the process engine delegates to the Job Executor runs as asynchronous WorkItemHandler. Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite provides AsyncWorkItemHandler that is backed by the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Job Executor. During the execution, the AsyncWorkItemHandler sets contextual data available inside the command. You can configure the AsyncWorkItemHandler class in two ways:

As a generic handler: In this case, you have to provide the command name as a part of work item parameters.

As a specific handler: In this case, it handles a given specific type of work item, thus allowing you to register different instances of AsyncWorkItemHandler for different work items.

Registering AsyncWorkItemHandler:

 RuntimeEnvironment environment = RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder
  .Factory.get().newDefaultBuilder()
  .userGroupCallback(userGroupCallback)
  .addAsset(ResourceFactory.newClassPathResource
    ("BPMN2-ScriptTask.bpmn2"), ResourceType.BPMN2)
  .registerableItemsFactory(new DefaultRegisterableItemsFactory() {

    @Override
    public Map<String, WorkItemHandler> getWorkItemHandlers(RuntimeEngine runtime) {
      Map<String, WorkItemHandler> handlers = super.getWorkItemHandlers(runtime);
      handlers.put("async", new AsyncWorkItemHandler
        (executorService, "org.jbpm.executor.commands.PrintOutCommand"));
      return handlers;
    }

    @Override
    public List<ProcessEventListener> getProcessEventListeners( RuntimeEngine runtime) {
      List<ProcessEventListener> listeners = super.getProcessEventListeners(runtime);
      listeners.add(countDownListener);
      return listeners;
    }
  })

  .get();

manager = RuntimeManagerFactory.Factory.get().newSingletonRuntimeManager(environment);
assertNotNull(manager);

RuntimeEngine runtime = manager.getRuntimeEngine(EmptyContext.get());
KieSession ksession = runtime.getKieSession();
assertNotNull(ksession);

ProcessInstance processInstance = ksession.startProcess("ScriptTask");
assertEquals(ProcessInstance.STATE_ACTIVE, processInstance.getState());

Thread.sleep(3000);

processInstance = runtime.getKieSession().getProcessInstance(processInstance.getId());
assertNull(processInstance);

Providing execution result back to the Process Engine:

The outcome of the command is provided to process engine using the ExecutionResults class. ExecutionResults is similar to the CommandContext and acts as data transfer object. As with the input data, the data provided by this class must also be serializable.

package org.jbpm.executor;

import org.kie.api.executor.ExecutionResults;
import org.kie.api.executor.ExecutorService;
import java.io.Serializable;

public class ExecutionResults implements Serializable {

  private static final long serialVersionUID = -1738336024526084091L;
  private Map<String, Object> data = new HashMap<String, Object>();

  public ExecutionResults() {}

  public void setData(Map<String, Object> data) {
    this.data = data;
  }

  public Map<String, Object> getData() {
    return data;
  }

  public Object getData(String key) {
    return data.get(key);
  }

  public void setData(String key, Object value) {
    data.put(key, value);
  }

  public Set<String> keySet() {
    return data.keySet();
  }

  @Override
  public String toString() {
    return "ExecutionResults{" + "data=" + data + '}';
  }
}

Process Fluent API

Using the Process Fluent API to Create Business Process

While it is recommended to define processes using the graphical editor or the underlying XML, you can also create a business process using the Process API directly. The most important process model elements are defined in the packages org.jbpm.workflow.core and org.jbpm.workflow.core.node.

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite provides you a fluent API that allows you to easily construct processes in a readable manner using factories. You can then validate the process that you were constructing manually.

Process Fluent API Example

Here is an example of a basic process with only a script task:

RuleFlowProcessFactory factory = RuleFlowProcessFactory.createProcess("org.jbpm.HelloWorld");

factory
  // Header
  .name("HelloWorldProcess")
  .version("1.0")
  .packageName("org.jbpm")
  // Nodes
  .startNode(1).name("Start").done()
  .actionNode(2).name("Action")
  .action("java", "System.out.println(\"Hello World\");").done()
  .endNode(3).name("End").done()
  // Connections
  .connection(1, 2)
  .connection(2, 3);

RuleFlowProcess process = factory.validate().getProcess();
KieServices ks = KieServices.Factory.get();
KieFileSystem kfs = ks.newKieFileSystem();
Resource resource = ks.getResources().newByteArrayResource(
  XmlBPMNProcessDumper.INSTANCE.dump(process).getBytes());

resource.setSourcePath("helloworld.bpmn2");
kfs.write(resource);
ReleaseId releaseId = ks.newReleaseId("org.jbpm", "helloworld", "1.0");
kfs.generateAndWritePomXML(releaseId);
ks.newKieBuilder(kfs).buildAll();
ks.newKieContainer(releaseId).newKieSession().startProcess("org.jbpm.HelloWorld");

In this example, we first call the static createProcess() method from the RuleFlowProcessFactory class. This method creates a new process and returns the RuleFlowProcessFactory that can be used to create the process.

A process consists of three parts:

Header: The header section comprises global elements such as the name of the process, imports, and variables.

In the above example, the header contains the name and version of the process and the package name.

Nodes: The nodes section comprises all the different nodes that are part of the process.

In the above example, nodes are added to the current process by calling the startNode(), actionNode() and endNode() methods. These methods return a specific NodeFactory that allows you to set the properties of that node. Once you have finished configuring that specific node, the done() method returns you to the current RuleFlowProcessFactory so you can add more nodes, if necessary.

Connections: The connections section links the nodes to create a flow chart.

In the above example, once you add all the nodes, you must connect them by creating connections between them. This can be done by calling the method connection, which links the nodes.

Finally, you can validate the generated process by calling the validate() method and retrieve the created RuleFlowProcess object.

Testing Business Processes

Unit Testing

You must design business processes at a high level with no implementation details. You must ensure that they are tested as they also have a lifecycle like other development artifacts and can be updated dynamically.

Unit tests are conducted to ensure processes behave as expected in specific use cases, for example, to test the output based on the specific input. The helper class JbpmJUnitTestCase (in the jbpm-test module) has been included to simplify unit testing. JbpmJUnitTestCase provides the following:

Helper methods to create a new knowledge base and session for a given set of processes.

Assert statements to check:

The state of a process instance (active, completed, aborted).

Which node instances are currently active.

Which nodes have been triggered (to check the path that has been followed).

The value of variables.

The image below contains a start event, a script task, and an end event. Within the example junit Test, a new session is created, the process is started, and the process instance is verified based on successful completion. It also checks whether these three nodes have been executed.

Figure 11.2. Example Hello World Process

Example 11.3. Example JUnit Test

public class ProcessPersistenceTest extends JbpmJUnitBaseTestCase {
  public ProcessPersistenceTest() {
    // Set up data source, enable persistence:
    super(true, true);
  }

  @Test
  public void testProcess() {
    // Create runtime manager with single process - hello.bpmn:
    createRuntimeManager("hello.bpmn");
    // Take RuntimeManager to work with process engine:
    RuntimeEngine runtimeEngine = getRuntimeEngine();
    // Get access to KieSession instance:
    KieSession ksession = runtimeEngine.getKieSession();
    // Start process:
    ProcessInstance processInstance = ksession.startProcess("com.sample.bpmn.hello");
    // Check whether the process instance has completed successfully:
    assertProcessInstanceCompleted(processInstance.getId(), ksession);
    // Check what nodes have been triggered:
    assertNodeTriggered(processInstance.getId(), "StartProcess", "Hello", "EndProcess");
  }
}

The JbpmJUnitBaseTestCase method acts as base test case class that you can use for JBoss BPM Suite related tests. It provides four usage areas:

JUnit life cycle methods:

setUp: This method is executed @Before. It configures data source and EntityManagerFactory and cleans up Singleton’s session ID.

tearDown: This method is executed @After. It clears out history, closes EntityManagerFactory and data source and disposes RuntimeEngines and RuntimeManager.

Knowledge Base and KnowledgeSession management methods:

createRuntimeManager: This method creates RuntimeManager for given set of assets and selected strategy.

disposeRuntimeManager: This method disposes RuntimeManager currently active in the scope of test.

getRuntimeEngine: This method creates new RuntimeEngine for given context.

Assertions:

assertProcessInstanceCompleted

assertProcessInstanceAborted

assertProcessInstanceActive

assertNodeActive

assertNodeTriggered

assertProcessVarExists

assertNodeExists

assertVersionEquals

assertProcessNameEquals

Helper methods:

getDs: This method returns currently configured data source.

getEmf: This method returns currently configured EntityManagerFactory.

getTestWorkItemHandler: This method returns test work item handler that might be registered in addition to what is registered by default.

clearHistory: This method clears history log.

setupPoolingDataSource: This method sets up data source.

JbpmJUnitBaseTestCase supports all the predefined RuntimeManager strategies as part of the unit testing. It is enough to specify which strategy shall be used whenever creating runtime manager as part of single test. The following example uses PerProcessInstance runtime manager strategy and task service to deal with user tasks:

public class ProcessHumanTaskTest extends JbpmJUnitBaseTestCase {
  private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(ProcessHumanTaskTest.class);
  public ProcessHumanTaskTest() {
    super(true, false);
  }

  @Test
  public void testProcessProcessInstanceStrategy() {
    RuntimeManager manager = createRuntimeManager
      (Strategy.PROCESS_INSTANCE, "manager", "humantask.bpmn");
    RuntimeEngine runtimeEngine = getRuntimeEngine(ProcessInstanceIdContext.get());
    KieSession ksession = runtimeEngine.getKieSession();
    TaskService taskService = runtimeEngine.getTaskService();

    int ksessionID = ksession.getId();
    ProcessInstance processInstance = ksession.startProcess("com.sample.bpmn.hello");

    assertProcessInstanceActive(processInstance.getId(), ksession);
    assertNodeTriggered(processInstance.getId(), "Start", "Task 1");

    manager.disposeRuntimeEngine(runtimeEngine);

    runtimeEngine = getRuntimeEngine(ProcessInstanceIdContext.get(processInstance.getId()));

    ksession = runtimeEngine.getKieSession();
    taskService = runtimeEngine.getTaskService();

    assertEquals(ksessionID, ksession.getId());

    // Let John execute Task 1:
    List<TaskSummary> list = taskService.getTasksAssignedAsPotentialOwner("john", "en-UK");
    TaskSummary task = list.get(0);
    logger.info("John is executing task {}", task.getName());

    taskService.start(task.getId(), "john");
    taskService.complete(task.getId(), "john", null);

    assertNodeTriggered(processInstance.getId(), "Task 2");

    // Let Mary execute Task 2:
    list = taskService.getTasksAssignedAsPotentialOwner("mary", "en-UK");
    task = list.get(0);

    logger.info("Mary is executing task {}", task.getName());

    taskService.start(task.getId(), "mary");
    taskService.complete(task.getId(), "mary", null);

    assertNodeTriggered(processInstance.getId(), "End");
    assertProcessInstanceCompleted(processInstance.getId(), ksession);
  }
}

Testing Integration with External Services

Using domain-specific processes makes it possible to use testing handlers to verify whether or not specific services are requested correctly.

A TestWorkItemHandler is provided by default that can be registered to collect all work items (each work item represents one unit of work, for example, sending q specific email or invoking q specific service, and it contains all the data related to that task) for a given type. The test handler can be queried during unit testing to check whether specific work was actually requested during the execution of the process and that the data associated with the work was correct.

The following example describes how a process that sends an email could be tested. The test case tests whether an exception is raised when the email could not be sent (which is simulated by notifying the engine that sending the email could not be completed). The test case uses a test handler that simply registers when an email was requested and the data associated with the request. When the engine is notified the email could not be sent (using abortWorkItem(..)), the unit test verifies that the process handles this case successfully by logging this and generating an error, which aborts the process instance in this case.

public void testProcess2() {

  // Create runtime manager with single process - hello.bpmn:
  createRuntimeManager("sample-process.bpmn");
  // Take RuntimeManager to work with process engine:
  RuntimeEngine runtimeEngine = getRuntimeEngine();
  // Get access to KieSession instance:
  KieSession ksession = runtimeEngine.getKieSession();
  // Register a test handler for "Email":
  TestWorkItemHandler testHandler = getTestWorkItemHandler();
  ksession.getWorkItemManager().registerWorkItemHandler("Email", testHandler);

  // Start the process:
  ProcessInstance processInstance = ksession.startProcess("com.sample.bpmn.hello2");

  assertProcessInstanceActive(processInstance.getId(), ksession);
  assertNodeTriggered(processInstance.getId(), "StartProcess", "Email");

  // Check whether the e-mail has been requested:
  WorkItem workItem = testHandler.getWorkItem();

  assertNotNull(workItem);
  assertEquals("Email", workItem.getName());
  assertEquals("me@mail.com", workItem.getParameter("From"));
  assertEquals("you@mail.com", workItem.getParameter("To"));

  // Notify the engine the e-mail has been sent:
  ksession.getWorkItemManager().abortWorkItem(workItem.getId());

  assertProcessInstanceAborted(processInstance.getId(), ksession);
  assertNodeTriggered(processInstance.getId(), "Gateway", "Failed", "Error");
}

Configuring Persistence

You can configure whether you want to execute the JUnit tests using persistence or not. By default, the JUnit tests will use persistence, meaning that the state of all process instances will be stored in a (in-memory H2) database (which is started by the JUnit test during setup) and a history log will be used to check assertions related to execution history. When persistence is not used, process instances will only live in memory and an in-memory logger is used for history assertions.

Persistence (and setup of data source) is controlled by the super constructor and allows following:

default: This is the no argument constructor and the most simple test case configuration (does not initialize data source and does not configure session persistence). It is usually used for in memory process management, without human task interaction.

super(boolean, boolean): This allows to explicitly configure persistence and data source. This is the most common way of bootstrapping test cases for Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite.

super(true, false): To execute with in-memory process management with human tasks persistence.

super(true, true): To execute with persistent process management with human tasks persistence.

super(boolean, boolean, string): This is same as super(boolean, boolean), however it allows use of another persistence unit name than default (org.jbpm.persistence.jpa).

Here is an example:

public class ProcessHumanTaskTest extends JbpmJUnitBaseTestCase {

  private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(ProcessHumanTaskTest.class);

  public ProcessHumanTaskTest() {
    // Configure this tests to not use persistence for
    // process engine but still use it for human tasks:
    super(true, false);
  }
}

[1] Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN). Version 2.0, OMG Document Number: formal/2011-01-03 http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/2.0

[2] Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN). Version 2.0, OMG Document Number: formal/2011-01-03 http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/2.0

[3] Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN). Version 2.0, OMG Document Number: formal/2011-01-03 http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/2.0

Chapter 12. Human Tasks Management

Human Tasks

Human Tasks are tasks within a process that must be carried out by human actors. BRMS Business Process Management supports a human task node inside processes for modeling the interaction with human actors. The human task node allows process designers to define the properties related to the task that the human actor needs to execute; for example, the type of task, the actor, and the data associated with the task can be defined by the human task node. A back-end human task service manages the lifecycle of the tasks at runtime. The implementation of the human task service is based on the WS-HumanTask specification, and the implementation is fully pluggable; this means users can integrate their own human task solution if necessary. Human tasks nodes must be included inside the process model and the end users must interact with a human task client to request their tasks, claim and complete tasks.

Using User Tasks in Processes

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite supports the use of human tasks inside processes using a special User Task node defined by the BPMN2 Specification. A User Task node represents an atomic task that is executed by a human actor.

Although Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite has a special user task node for including human tasks inside a process, human tasks are considered the same as any other kind of external service that is invoked and are therefore implemented as a domain-specific service.

You can edit the values of User Tasks variables in the Properties view of JBoss Developer Studio after selecting the User Task node.

A User Task node contains the following core properties:

Actors: The actors that are responsible for executing the human task. A list of actor id’s can be specified using a comma (,) as separator.

Group: The group id that is responsible for executing the human task. A list of group id’s can be specified using a comma (,) as separator.

Name: The display name of the node.

TaskName: The name of the human task. This name is used to link the task to a Form. It also represent the internal name of the Task that can be used for other purposes.

DataInputSet: all the input variables that the task will receive to work on. Usually you will be interested in copying variables from the scope of the process to the scope of the task.

DataOutputSet: all the output variables that will be generated by the execution of the task. Here you specify all the name of the variables in the context of the task that you are interested to copy to the context of the process.

Assignments: here you specify which process variable will be linked to each Data Input and Data Output mapping.

A User Task node contains the following extra properties:

Comment: A comment associated with the human task. Here you can use expressions.

Content: The data associated with this task.

Priority: An integer indicating the priority of the human task.

Skippable: Specifies whether the human task can be skipped, that is, whether the actor may decide not to execute the task.

On entry and on exit actions: Action scripts that are executed upon entry and exit of this node, respectively.

Apart from the above mentioned core and extra properties of user tasks, there are some additional generic user properties that are not exposed through the user interface. These properties are:

ActorId: The performer of the task to whom the task is assigned.

GroupId: The group to which the task performer belongs.

BusinessAdministratorId: The default business administrator responsible for the progress and the outcome of a task at the task definition level.

BusinessAdministratorGroupId : The group to which the administrator belongs.

ExcludedOwnerId: Anybody who has been excluded to perform the task and become an actual or potential owner.

RecipientId: A person who is the recipient of notifications related to the task. A notification may have more than one recipients.

To override the default values of these generic user properties, you must define a data input with the name of the property, and then set the desired value in the assignment section.

Data Mapping

Human tasks typically present some data related to the task that needs to be performed to the actor that is executing the task. Human tasks usually also request the actor to provide some result data related to the execution of the task. Task forms are typically used to present this data to the actor and request results.

You must specify the data that is used by the task when you define the user task in our process. In order to do that, you need to define which data must be copied from the process context to the task context. Notice that the data is copied, so it can be modified inside the task context but it will not affect the process variables unless we decide to copy back the value from the task to the process context.

Most of the times forms are used to display data to the end user. This allows them to generate or create new data to propagate to the process context to be used by future activities. In order to decide how the information flow from the process to a particular task and from the task to the process, you need to define which pieces of information must be automatically copied by the process engine.

Task Lifecycle

A human task is created when a user task node is encountered during the execution. The process leaves the user task node only when the associated human task is completed or aborted. The human task itself has a complete life cycle as well. The following diagram describes the human task life cycle.

Figure 12.1. Human Task Life Cycle

A newly created task starts in the Created stage. It then automatically comes into the Ready stage. The task then shows up on the task list of all the actors that are allowed to execute the task. The task stays in the Ready stage until one of these actors claims the task. When a user then eventually claims the task, the status changes to Reserved. Note that a task that only has one potential (specific) actor is automatically assigned to that actor upon creation of the task. When the user who has claimed the task starts executing it, the task status changes from Reserved to InProgress.

Once the user has performed and completed the task, the task status changes to Completed. In this step, the user can optionally specify the result data related to the task. If the task could not be completed, the user may indicate this by using a fault response, possibly including fault data, in which case the status changes to Failed.

While this life cycle explained above is the normal life cycle, the specification also describes a number of other life cycle methods, including:

Delegating or forwarding a task, so that the task is assigned to another actor.

Revoking a task, so that it is no longer claimed by one specific actor but is (re)available to all actors allowed to take it.

Temporarily suspending and resuming a task.

Stopping a task in progress.

Skipping a task (if the task has been marked as skippable), in which case the task will not be executed.

Task Permissions

Only users associated with a specific task are allowed to modify or retrieve information about the task. This allows users to create a Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite workflow with multiple tasks and yet still be assured of both the confidentiality and integrity of the task status and information associated with a task.

Some task operations end up throwing a org.jbpm.services.task.exception.PermissionDeniedException when used with information about an unauthorized user. For example, when a user is trying to directly modify the task (for example, by trying to claim or complete the task), the PermissionDeniedException is thrown if that user does not have the correct role for that operation. Also, users are not able to view or retrieve tasks in Business Central that they are not involved with.

Note

It is possible to allow an authenticated user to execute task operations on behalf of an unauthenticated user by setting the -Dorg.kie.task.insecure=true system property on the server side. For example, if you have a bot that executes task operations on behalf of other users, the bot can use a system account and does not need any credentials of the real users.

If you are using a remote Java client, you need to turn on insecure task operations on the client side as well. To do so, set the mentioned system property in your client or call the disableTaskSecurity method of the client builder.

Task Permissions Matrix

The task permissions matrix below summarizes the actions that specific user roles are allowed to do. The cells of the permissions matrix contain one of three possible characters, each of which indicate the user role permissions for that operation:

+ indicates that the user role can do the specified operation.

- indicates that the user role may not do the specified operation, or it is not an operation that matches the user’s role ("not applicable").

Table 12.1. Task Roles in Permissions Table

Role
Description

Potential Owner

The user who can claim the task before it has been claimed, or after it has been released or forwarded. Only tasks that have the status Ready may be claimed. A potential owner becomes the actual owner of a task by claiming the task.

Actual Owner

The user who has claimed the task and will progress the task to completion or failure.

Business Administrator

A super user who may modify the status or progress of a task at any point in a task’s lifecycle.

User roles are assigned to users by the definition of the task in the JBoss BPM Suite (BPMN2) process definition.

Permissions Matrices

The following matrix describes the authorizations for all operations which modify a task:

Table 12.2. Main Operations Permissions Matrix

Operation/Role
Potential Owner
Actual Owner
Business Administrator

activate

-

-

+

claim

+

-

+

complete

-

+

+

delegate

+

+

+

fail

-

+

+

forward

+

+

+

nominate

-

-

+

release

-

+

+

remove

-

-

+

resume

+

+

+

skip

+

+

+

start

+

+

+

stop

-

+

+

suspend

+

+

+

Task Service

Task Service and Process Engine

Human tasks are similar to any other external service that are invoked and implemented as a domain-specific service. As a human task is an example of such a domain-specific service, the process itself only contains a high-level, abstract description of the human task to be executed and a work item handler that is responsible for binding this (abstract) task to a specific implementation.

You can plug in any human task service implementation, such as the one that is provided by JBoss BPM Suite, or may register your own implementation. The Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite provides a default implementation of a human task service based on the WS-HumanTask specification. If you do not need to integrate JBoss BPM Suite with another existing implementation of a human task service, you can use this service. The Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite implementation manages the life cycle of the tasks (such as creation, claiming, completion) and stores the state of all the tasks, task lists, and other associated information. It also supports features like internationalization, calendar integration, different types of assignments, delegation, escalation and deadlines. You can find the code for the implementation in the jbpm-human-task module. The Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite task service implementation is based on the WS-HumanTask (WS-HT) specification. This specification defines (in detail) the model of the tasks, the life cycle, and many other features.

Task Service API

The human task service exposes a Java API for managing the life cycle of tasks. This allows clients to integrate (at a low level) with the human task service. Note that, the end users should probably not interact with this low-level API directly, but use one of the more user-friendly task clients instead. These clients offer a graphical user interface to request task lists, claim and complete tasks, and manage tasks in general. The task clients listed below use the Java API to internally interact with the human task service. Of course, the low-level API is also available so that developers can use it in their code to interact with the human task service directly.

A task service (interface org.kie.api.task.TaskService) offers the following methods for managing the life cycle of human tasks:

  ...
  void start( long taskId, String userId );

  void stop( long taskId, String userId );

  void release( long taskId, String userId );

  void suspend( long taskId, String userId );

  void resume( long taskId, String userId );

  void skip( long taskId, String userId );

  void delegate(long taskId, String userId, String targetUserId);

  void complete( long taskId, String userId, Map<String, Object> results );
  ...

The common arguments passed to these methods are:

taskId: The ID of the task that we are working with. This is usually extracted from the currently selected task in the user task list in the user interface.

userId: The ID of the user that is executing the action. This is usually the id of the user that is logged in into the application.

To make use of the methods provided by the internal interface InternalTaskService, you need to manually cast to InternalTaskService. One method that can be useful from this interface is getTaskContent():

Map<String, Object> getTaskContent( long taskId );

This method saves you from the complexity of getting the ContentMarshallerContext to unmarshall the serialized version of the task content. If you only want to use the stable or public API’s, you can use the following method:

Task taskById = taskQueryService.getTaskInstanceById(taskId);
Content contentById = taskContentService.getContentById
  (taskById.getTaskData().getDocumentContentId());
ContentMarshallerContext context = getMarshallerContext(taskById);
Object unmarshalledObject = ContentMarshallerHelper.unmarshall
  (contentById.getContent(), context.getEnvironment(), context.getClassloader());

if (!(unmarshalledObject instanceof Map)) {
  throw new IllegalStateException
    (" The Task Content Needs to be a Map in order to use this method and it was: "
    + unmarshalledObject.getClass());
}

Map<String, Object> content = (Map<String, Object>) unmarshalledObject;

return content;

Interacting with the Task Service

In order to get access to the Task Service API, it is recommended to let the Runtime Manager ensure that everything is setup correctly. From the API perspective, if you use the following approach, there is no need to register the Task Service with the Process Engine:

...
RuntimeEngine engine = runtimeManager.getRuntimeEngine(EmptyContext.get());
KieSession kieSession = engine.getKieSession();

// Start a process:
kieSession.startProcess("CustomersRelationship.customers", params);

// Do task operations:
TaskService taskService = engine.getTaskService();
List<TaskSummary> tasksAssignedAsPotentialOwner = taskService
  .getTasksAssignedAsPotentialOwner("mary", "en-UK");

// Claim task:
taskService.claim(taskSummary.getId(), "mary");

// Start task:
taskService.start(taskSummary.getId(), "mary");
...

The Runtime Manager registers the Task Service with the Process Engine automatically. If you do not use the Runtime Manager, you have to set the LocalHTWorkItemHandler in the session to get the Task Service notify the Process Engine once the task completes. In Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite, the Task Service runs locally to the Process and Rule Engine. This enables you to create multiple light clients for different Process and Rule Engine’s instances. All the clients can share the same database.

Accessing Task Variables Using TaskEventListener

Task variables can be accessed in the TaskEventListener for process instances.

Creating a CustomTaskEventListener

Create a CustomTaskEventListener class using your preferred IDE, such as Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio.

public class CustomTaskEventListener extends DefaultTaskEventListener {

	private static final Logger LOGGER = Logger.getLogger(CustomTaskEventListener.class.getName());

	@Override
	public void beforeTaskStartedEvent(TaskEvent event) {
		LOGGER.info("Starting task " + event.getTask().getId());
	}

}

Registering the CustomTaskEventListener

The listener can be registered at RuntimeManager level:

RuntimeEnvironment environment = RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder.getDefault()
            .persistence(true)
            .entityManagerFactory(emf)
            .userGroupCallback(userGroupCallback)
            .addAsset(ResourceFactory.newClassPathResource(process), ResourceType.BPMN2)
            .registerableItemsFactory(new DefaultRegisterableItemsFactory() {
                @Override
                public List<TaskLifeCycleEventListener> getTaskListeners() {
                    List<TaskLifeCycleEventListener> listeners = super.getTaskListeners();
                    listeners.add(new DefaultTaskEventListener() {

                        @Override
                        public void afterTaskAddedEvent(TaskEvent event) {
                            System.out.println("taskId = " + event.getTask().getId());
                        }

                    });
                    return listeners;
                }
            })
            .get();
    return RuntimeManagerFactory.Factory.get().newPerProcessInstanceRuntimeManager(environment);

Alternatively, it can be registered at Task Service level:

TaskService taskService = runtime.getTaskService();
((EventService<TaskLifeCycleEventListener>)taskService).registerTaskEventListener(new DefaultTaskEventListener() {
    @Override
    public void afterTaskAddedEvent(TaskEvent event) {
        System.out.println("taskId = " + event.getTask().getId());
    }
});

Loading Task Variables

The TaskEventListener can now obtain task variables using the loadTaskVariables method to populate both input and output variables of a given task.

event.getTaskContext().loadTaskVariables(event.getTask())

This populates both Input and Output tasks, which can be retrieved using the following:

Input

task.getTaskData().getTaskInputVariables()

Output

task.getTaskData().getTaskOutputVariables()

To improve performance, task variables are automatically set when they are available, and are usually given by the caller on Task Service. The loadTaskVariables method is "no op" where task variables are already set on a task. For example:

When created, a task usually has input variables, which are then set on Task instance. This applies to beforeTaskAdded and afterTaskAdded events handling.

When Task is completed, it usually has output variables, which are set on a task.

The loadTaskVariables method should be used to populate task variables in all other circumstances.

Note

Calling the loadTaskVariables method of the listener once (such as in beforeTask) makes it available to both beforeTask and afterTask methods.

Configuring the TaskEventListener

At the project level, TaskEventListener can be configured using the kie-deployment-descriptor.xml file. To configure TaskEventListener in Business Central, go to Deployment Descriptor Editor and add an entry under Task event listeners with the classname CustomProcessEventListener. The TaskEventListener appears in kie-deployment-descriptor.xml as:

<task-event-listeners>
   <task-event-listener>
    <resolver>reflection</resolver>
    <identifier>com.redhat.gss.sample.CustomTaskEventListener</identifier>
   </task-event-listener>
</task-event-listeners>

The TaskEventListener can also be registered in business-central.war/WEB-INF/classes/META-INF/kie-wb-deployment-descriptor.xml. This TaskEventListener is available for all projects that are deployed in Business Central.

Task Service Data Model

The task service data model is illustrated in the following image. In this section, each entity of the database model is described in detail.

Note

The I18NText table represents a text in a particular language. The language is stored in the language attribute, the unique ID of a text in the id attribute, the short attribute contains an abbreviated content and the text attribute contains the text itself.

Tasks

The Task table stores information about a particular task.

Table 12.3. Task Attributes

Attribute
Description

id

The unique ID of a task.

archived

Determines whether a task is archived. The value can be 1 (the task is archived) or 0 (the task is not archived).

allowedToDelegate

Determines whether a task can be delegated (assigned to another user). For more information about delegations, see the section called “Delegations”.

description

The description of a task. The maximum number of characters is 255.

formName

The name of a form attached to a task.

name

The name of a task.

priority

The priority of a task. The value ranges from 0 to 10, where 0 indicates the highest priority. The priority of a task can be set in Business Central.

subTaskStrategy

The default subtask strategy is NoAction. Other possible values are:

EndParentOnAllSubTasksEnd: The parent task is completed after all subtasks end.

SkipAllSubTasksOnParentSkip: If you skip a parent task, all subtasks of this task are skipped as well.

subject

The subject of a task.

activationTime

The time when a task is assigned to a user or when a user claims a task.

createdOn

The time when a process reaches a task and an instance of the task is created. The claim operation is either performed automatically or the task waits until it is assigned to a particular user.

deploymentId

The ID of a kJAR deployment in which a task was created.

expirationTime

The time until when a task is expected to be completed.

parentId

The ID of a parent task. If a task does not have any parent (and at the same time can be a parent of other tasks), the value is -1.

status

The status of a task. Possible values are (in this order): Created, Ready, Reserved, InProgress, Suspended, Completed, Failed, Error, Exited, and Obsolete.

previousStatus

The previous status of a task. The value is a number from 0 to 10, where the number corresponds with the order of possible values listed in the previous field.

processId

The ID of a process in which the task was created.

processInstanceId

The ID of a process instance in which the task was created.

processSessionId

The ID of a process session in which the task was created.

skipable

Determines whether a task can be skipped. Possible values are true and false.

workItemId

The ID of a task work item. Each task can be a certain type of a work item.

actualOwner_Id

The unique ID of the user who claimed a task.

createdBy_Id

The unique ID of the user who created a task.

The Task table stores also the information about an input and output task content in the following attributes:

Table 12.4. Input and Output Task Content

INPUT
OUTPUT
Description

documentAccessType

outputAccessType

The content access type: can be either inline (then the value of the attribute is 0) or a URL (1).

documentContentId

outputContentId

A content ID is the unique ID of a content stored in the Content table.

documentType

outputType

The type of a task content. If the access type is inline, then the content type is HashMap and can be found in the content column of the Content table stored as binary data.

The faultAccessType, faultContentId, faultName, and faultType attributes follow the same logic as the attributes described in the previous table, with the difference that they are used by failed tasks. While the completed tasks have an output document assigned (which can be for example a HashMap), the failed tasks return a fail document.

Task comments are stored in the task_comment table. See a list of task_comment attributes below:

Table 12.5. Task Comment Attributes

Attribute
Description

id

The unique ID of a comment.

addedAt

The time when a comment was added to a task.

text

The content of a comment.

addedBy_id

The unique ID of a user who created a comment. Based on the ID, you can find the user in the OrganizationalEntity table. See the section called “Entities and People Assignments” for more information.

TaskData_Comments_Id

The unique ID of a task to which a comment was added.

For more information about task data model, see the section called “Audit Log”.

Entities and People Assignments

Information about particular users and groups are stored in the OrganizationalEntity table. The attribute DTYPE determines whether it is a user or a group and id is the name of a user (for example bpmsAdmin) or a group (for example Administrators).

See a list of different types of people assignments below.

Table 12.6. People Assignments Tables

Table
Attributes
Description

PeopleAssignments_PotOwners

task_id, entity_id

Potential owners are users or groups who can claim a task and start the task. The attribute task_id is a unique ID of an assigned task and entity_id determines the unique ID of a user or a group.

PeopleAssignments_ExclOwners

task_id, entity_id

Excluded owners are users excluded from a group that has a specific task assigned. You can assign a task to a group and specify excluded owners. These users then cannot claim the assigned task. The attribute task_id is a unique ID of a task and entity_id determines the unique ID of an excluded user.

PeopleAssignments_BAs

task_id, entity_id

Business administrators have the rights to manage tasks, delegate tasks and perform similar operations. The attribute task_id is a unique ID of an assigned task and entity_id determines the unique ID of a user or a group.

PeopleAssignments_Stakeholders

task_id, entity_id

Not fully supported.

PeopleAssignments_Recipients

task_id, entity_id

Not fully supported.

Reassignments

It is possible to set a reassignment time for each task. If the task has not started or has not been completed before the set time, it is reassigned to a particular user or a group.

The reassignments are stored in the Reassignment_potentialOwners table, where task_id is a unique ID of a task and entity_id is a user or a group to which a task is assigned after the deadline.

The Escalation table contains the unique ID of an escalation (id), the ID of a deadline (Deadline_Escalation_Id), and the deadline name (name) which is generated by default and cannot be changed.

The Deadline table stores deadline information: the unique ID of a deadline (id) and the time and date of a deadline (deadline_date). The escalated attribute determines whether the reassignment have been performed (the value can be either 1 or 0). If a task is reassigned after it has not started until the set deadline, the Deadlines_StartDeadLine_Id attribute will be nonempty. If a task is reassigned after it has not been completed until the set deadline, Deadlines_EndDeadLine_Id attribute will be nonempty.

The Reassignment table refers to the Escalation table: the Escalation_Reassignments_Id attribute in Reassignments is equivalent to the id attribute in Escalation.

Notifications

If a task has not started or has not been completed before the deadline, a notification is sent to a subscribed user or a group of users (recipients). These notification are stored in the Notification table: id is the unique ID of a notification, DTYPE is the type of a notification (currently only an email notifications are supported), priority is set to 0 by default, and Escalation_Notifications_Id refers to the Escalation table, which then refers to the Deadline table. For example, if a task has not been completed before the deadline, then the Deadlines_EndDeadLine_Id attribute is nonempty and a notification is sent.

Recipients of a notification are stored in the Notification_Recipients table, where task_id is the unique ID of a task and entity_id is the ID of a subscribed user or a group.

The Notification_email_header stores the ID of a notification in the Notification_id attribute and the ID of an email that is sent in the emailHeader_id attribute. The email_header table contains the unique ID of an email (id), content of an email (body), the name of a user who is sending an email (fromAddress), the language of an email (language), the email address to which it is possible to reply (replyToAddress), and the subject of an email (subject).

Attachments

You can attach an attachment with an arbitrary type and content to each task. These attachments are stored in the Attachment table.

Table 12.7. Attachment Attributes

Attribute
Description

id

The unique ID of an attachment.

accessType

The way you can access an attachment. Can be either inline or a URL.

attachedAt

The time when an attachment was added to a task.

attachmentContentId

Refers to the Content table, which is described at the end of this section.

contentType

The type of an attachment (MIME).

name

The name of an attachment. Different attachments can have the same name.

attachment_size

The size of an attachment.

attachedBy_id

The unique ID of a user who attached an attachment to a task.

TaskData_Attachments_Id

The unique ID of a task that contains the attachment.

The Content table stores the actual binary content of an attachment. The content type is defined in the Attachment table. The maximum size of an attachment is 2 GB.

Delegations

Each task defines whether it can be escalated to another user or a group in the allowedToDelegate attribute of the Task table. The Delegation_delegates table stores the tasks that can be escalated (in the task_id attribute) and the users to which the tasks are escalated (entity_id).

Task Escalation

It is possible to implement Task Escalation for your Human Tasks to set up a timer within which certain task must be finished. To learn more about Task Escalation, see A.3.2. Escalation from Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite User Guide. Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite also supports custom implementation of the Email Notification Events in the Task Escalation service, which requires you to do the following:

Implement the NotificationListener interface.

Create org.jbpm.services.task.deadlines.NotificationListener file in META-INF/services/.

Add Fully Qualified Name (FQN) of your custom listener implementation into the org.jbpm.services.task.deadlines.NotificationListener file.

Package all classes and files from META-INF/services/org.jbpm.services.task.deadlines.NotificationListener into a JAR.

Deploy your JAR by copying the jar with any required external dependencies into $SERVER_HOME/standalone/kie-server.war/WEB-INF/lib or $SERVER_HOME/standalone/business-central.war/WEB-INF/lib.

Restart your server.

This will cause the Task Escalation Service to trigger your custom Email Notification Event. Note that this feature is based on broadcasting of notification, which enables all the notification handlers to handle the event. Use the following identification to choose desired handlers:

Task information, such as task ID, name, and description.

Process information, such as process instance ID, process ID, and deployment ID.

Retrieving Process and Task Information

There are two services which can be used when building list-based user interfaces: the RuntimeDataService and TaskQueryService.

The RuntimeDataService interface can be used as the main source of information, as it provides an interface for retrieving data associated with the runtime. It can list process definitions, process instances, tasks for given users, node instance information and other. The service should provide all required information and still be as efficient as possible.

See the following examples:

Example 12.1. Get All Process Definitions

Returns every available process definition.

Collection definitions = runtimeDataService.getProcesses(new QueryContext());

Example 12.2. Get Active Process Instances

Returns a list of all active process instance descriptions.

Collection<processInstanceDesc> activeInstances = runtimeDataService
  .getProcessInstances(new QueryContext());

Example 12.3. Get Active Nodes for Given Process Instance

Returns a trace of all active nodes for given process instance ID.

Collection<nodeInstanceDesc> activeNodes = runtimeDataService
  .getProcessInstanceHistoryActive(processInstanceId, new QueryContext());

Example 12.4. Get Tasks Assigned to Given User

Returns a list of tasks the given user is eligible for.

List<taskSummary> taskSummaries = runtimeDataService
  .getTasksAssignedAsPotentialOwner("john", new QueryFilter(0, 10));

Example 12.5. Get Tasks Assigned to Business Administrator

Returns a list of tasks assigned to the given business administrator user.

List<taskSummary> taskSummaries = runtimeDataService
  .getTasksAssignedAsBusinessAdministrator("john", new QueryFilter(0, 10));

The RuntimeDataService is mentioned also in Chapter 22, CDI Integration.

As you can notice, operations of the RuntimeDataService then support two important arguments:

QueryContext

QueryFilter (which is an extension of QueryContext)

These two classes provide capabilities for an efficient management and search results. The QueryContext allows you to set an offset (by using the offset argument), number of results (count), their order (orderBy) and ascending order (asc) as well.

Since the QueryFilter inherits all of the mentioned attributes, it provides the same features, as well as some others: for example, it is possible to set the language, single result, maximum number of results, or paging.

Moreover, additional filtering can be applied to the queries to provide more advanced options when searching for user tasks and processes.

Advanced Queries with QueryService

QueryService provides advanced search capabilities based on JBoss BPM Suite Dashbuilder datasets. You can retrieve data from the underlying data store by means of, for example, JPA entity tables, or custom database tables.

QueryService consists of two main parts:

Management operations, such as:

Register query definition.

Replace query definition.

Remove query definition.

Get query definition.

Get all registered query definitions.

Runtime operations:

Simple, with QueryParam as the filter provider.

Advanced, with QueryParamBuilder as the filter provider.

Following services are a part of QueryService:

QueryParamBuilder: represents dataset which consists of a unique name, SQL expression (the query), and source.

QueryParam: represents the condition query parameter that consists of:

Column name

Operator

Expected value(s)

QueryResultMapper: responsible for mapping raw datasets (rows and columns) to objects.

QueryParamBuilder: responsible for building query filters for the query invocation of the given query definition.

QueryResultMapper

QueryResultMapper maps data to an object. It is similar to other object-relational mapping (ORM) providers, such as hibernate, which maps tables to entities. Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite provides a number of mappers for various object types:

org.jbpm.kie.services.impl.query.mapper.ProcessInstanceQueryMapper

Registered with name ProcessInstances.

org.jbpm.kie.services.impl.query.mapper.ProcessInstanceWithVarsQueryMapper

Registered with name ProcessInstancesWithVariables.

org.jbpm.kie.services.impl.query.mapper.ProcessInstanceWithCustomVarsQueryMapper

Registered with name ProcessInstancesWithCustomVariables.

org.jbpm.kie.services.impl.query.mapper.UserTaskInstanceQueryMapper

Registered with name UserTasks.

org.jbpm.kie.services.impl.query.mapper.UserTaskInstanceWithVarsQueryMapper

Registered with name UserTasksWithVariables.

org.jbpm.kie.services.impl.query.mapper.UserTaskInstanceWithCustomVarsQueryMapper

Registered with name UserTasksWithCustomVariables.

org.jbpm.kie.services.impl.query.mapper.TaskSummaryQueryMapper

Registered with name TaskSummaries.

org.jbpm.kie.services.impl.query.mapper.RawListQueryMapper

Registered with name RawList.

Alternatively, you can build custom mappers. The name for each mapper serves as a reference that you can use instead of the class name. It is useful, for example, when you want to reduce the number of dependencies and you do not want to rely on implementation on the client side. To reference QueryResultMapper, use the mapper’s name, which is a part of jbpm-services-api. It acts as a (lazy) delegate as it will search for the mapper when the query is performed.

Following example references ProcessInstanceQueryMapper by name:

queryService.query("my query def", new NamedQueryMapper<Collection<ProcessInstanceDesc>>("ProcessInstances"), new QueryContext());

QueryParamBuilder

When you use the QueryService query method which accepts QueryParam instances, all of the parameters are joined by logical conjunction (AND) by default. Alternatively, use QueryParamBuilder to create custom builder which provides filters when the query is issued.

You can use a predefined builder, which includes a number of QueryParam methods based on core functions. Core functions are SQL-based conditions and include following conditions:

IS_NULL

NOT_NULL

EQUALS_TO

NOT_EQUALS_TO

LIKE_TO

GREATER_THAN

GREATER_OR_EQUALS_TO

LOWER_THAN

LOWER_OR_EQUALS_TO

BETWEEN

IN

NOT_IN

Implementing QueryParamBuilder

QueryParamBuilder is an interface that is invoked when its build method returns a non-null value before the query is performed. It allows you to build complex filter options that a QueryParam list cannot express.

Example 12.6. QueryParamBuilder Implementation Using DashBuilder Dataset API

public class TestQueryParamBuilder implements QueryParamBuilder<ColumnFilter> {

  private Map<String, Object> parameters;
  private boolean built = false;

  public TestQueryParamBuilder(Map<String, Object> parameters) {
    this.parameters = parameters;
  }

  @Override
  public ColumnFilter build() {

    // Return NULL if it was already invoked:
    if (built) {
      return null;
    }

    String columnName = "processInstanceId";

    ColumnFilter filter = FilterFactory.OR(
      FilterFactory.greaterOrEqualsTo((Long)parameters.get("min")),
      FilterFactory.lowerOrEqualsTo((Long)parameters.get("max")));

    filter.setColumnId(columnName);

    built = true;

    return filter;
  }
}

When you implement QueryParamBuilder, use its instance through QueryService:

queryService.query("my query def", ProcessInstanceQueryMapper.get(), new QueryContext(), paramBuilder);

QueryService in Embedded Mode

QueryService is a part of the jBPM Services API, a cross-framework API built to simplify embedding Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite. You can also use advanced querying through the Intelligent Process Server, described in the section called “Advanced Queries Through Intelligent Process Server”. When you use QueryService in embedded mode, follow these steps:

Define the dataset you want to work with:

SqlQueryDefinition query = new SqlQueryDefinition
  ("getAllProcessInstances", "java:jboss/datasources/ExampleDS");

query.setExpression("select * from processinstancelog");

The constructor of this query definition requires:

A unique name that serves as ID during runtime.

JDNI name of a data source for the query.

The expression is an SQL statement that creates a view that will be filtered when performing queries.

Register the query definition:

queryService.registerQuery(query);

You can now use the query definition. The following example does not use filtering:

Collection<ProcessInstanceDesc> instances = queryService.query("getAllProcessInstances", ProcessInstanceQueryMapper.get(), new QueryContext());

You can change the query context, that is paging and sorting of the query:

QueryContext ctx = new QueryContext(0, 100, "start_date", true);

Collection<ProcessInstanceDesc> instances = queryService.query
  ("getAllProcessInstances", ProcessInstanceQueryMapper.get(), ctx);

You can also use filtering:

// Single filter parameter:
Collection<ProcessInstanceDesc> instances = queryService.query
  ("getAllProcessInstances", ProcessInstanceQueryMapper.get(), new QueryContext(),
  QueryParam.likeTo(COLUMN_PROCESSID, true, "org.jbpm%"));

// Multiple filter parameters (AND):
Collection<ProcessInstanceDesc> instances = queryService.query
  ("getAllProcessInstances", ProcessInstanceQueryMapper.get(), new QueryContext(),

QueryParam.likeTo(COLUMN_PROCESSID, true, "org.jbpm%"),
QueryParam.in(COLUMN_STATUS, 1, 3));

Advanced Queries Through Intelligent Process Server

To use advanced queries, you need to deploy the Intelligent Process Server. See chapter The Intelligent Process Server from Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite User Guide to learn more about the Intelligent Process Server. Also, for a list of endpoints you can use, view chapter Advanced Queries for the Intelligent Process Server from the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite User Guide.

Through the Intelligent Process Server, users can:

Register query definitions.

Replace query definitions.

Remove query definitions.

Get a query or a list of queries.

Execute queries with:

Paging and sorting.

Filter parameters.

Custom parameter builders and mappers.

To use advanced queries through the Intelligent Process Server, you need to build your Intelligent Process Server to use query services:

KieServicesConfiguration configuration = KieServicesFactory
  .newRestConfiguration(serverUrl, user, password);

Set<Class<?>> extraClasses = new HashSet<Class<?>>();
extraClasses.add(Date.class); // for JSON only to properly map dates

configuration.setMarshallingFormat(MarshallingFormat.JSON);
configuration.addJaxbClasses(extraClasses);

KieServicesClient kieServicesClient =  KieServicesFactory
  .newKieServicesClient(configuration);

QueryServicesClient queryClient = kieServicesClient
  .getServicesClient(QueryServicesClient.class);

You can now list available queries on your system:

List<QueryDefinition> queryDefs = queryClient.getQueries(0, 10);
System.out.println(queryDefs);

To use advanced queries, register a new query definition:

QueryDefinition query = new QueryDefinition();
query.setName("getAllTaskInstancesWithCustomVariables");
query.setSource("java:jboss/datasources/ExampleDS");

query.setExpression("select ti.*,c.country,c.productCode,c.quantity,c.price,c.saleDate " +
  "from AuditTaskImpl ti " +
  "inner join (select mv.map_var_id, mv.taskid from MappedVariable mv) mv " +
  "on (mv.taskid = ti.taskId) " +
  "inner join ProductSale c " +
  "on (c.id = mv.map_var_id)");

queryClient.registerQuery(query);

Once registered, you can start with queries:

List<TaskInstance> tasks = queryClient.query
  ("getAllTaskInstancesWithCustomVariables", "UserTasks", 0, 10, TaskInstance.class);

System.out.println(tasks);

This query returns task instances from the defined dataset, and does not use filtering or UserTasks mapper.

Following example uses advanced querying:

SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd");

Date from = sdf.parse("2016-02-01");
Date to = sdf.parse("2016-03-01");

QueryFilterSpec spec = new QueryFilterSpecBuilder()
  .between("processInstanceId", 1000, 2000)
  .greaterThan("price", 800)
  .between("saleDate", from, to)
  .in("productCode", Arrays.asList("EAP", "WILDFLY"))
  .oderBy("saleDate, country", false)
  .addColumnMapping("COUNTRY", "string")
  .addColumnMapping("PRODUCTCODE", "string")
  .addColumnMapping("QUANTITY", "integer")
  .addColumnMapping("PRICE", "double")
  .addColumnMapping("SALEDATE", "date")
  .get();

List<TaskInstance> tasks = queryClient.query
  ("getAllTaskInstancesWithCustomVariables", "UserTasksWithCustomVariables",
  spec, 0, 10, TaskInstance.class);

System.out.println(tasks);

It searches for tasks which have following attributes:

The processInstanceId is between 1000 and 2000.

Price is greater than 800.

Sale date is between 2016-02-01 and 2016-03-01.

Sold product is in groups EAP or Wildfly.

The results will be ordered by sale date and country in descending order.

The query example uses QueryFilterSpec to specify query parameters and sorting options. It also allows to specify column mapping for custom elements to be set as variables, and combine it with default column mapping for task details. In the example, the UserTasksWithCustomVariables mapper was used.

When you use QueryFilterSpec, all the conditions are connected by logical conjunction (AND). You can build custom advanced filters with different behavior by implementing QueryParamBuilder. You need to include it in one of the following:

The Intelligent Process Server (for example, in WEB-INF/lib).

Inside a project, that is in a project kJAR.

As a project dependency.

To use QueryParamBuilder, you need to:

Implement QueryParamBuilder by an object that produces a new instance every time you request it with a map of parameters:

public class TestQueryParamBuilder implements QueryParamBuilder<ColumnFilter> {

  private Map<String, Object> parameters;
  private boolean built = false;

  public TestQueryParamBuilder(Map<String, Object> parameters) {
    this.parameters = parameters;
  }

  @Override
  public ColumnFilter build() {
    // Return NULL if it was already invoked:
    if (built) {
      return null;
    }

    String columnName = "processInstanceId";

    ColumnFilter filter = FilterFactory.OR(
      FilterFactory.greaterOrEqualsTo(((Number)parameters.get("min")).longValue()),
      FilterFactory.lowerOrEqualsTo(((Number)parameters.get("max")).longValue()));
    filter.setColumnId(columnName);

    built = true;

    return filter;
  }
}

This example will accept processInstanceId values that are either grater than min value or lower than max value.

Implement QueryParamBuilderFactory:

public class TestQueryParamBuilderFactory implements QueryParamBuilderFactory {

  @Override
  public boolean accept(String identifier) {
    if ("test".equalsIgnoreCase(identifier)) {
      return true;
    }

    return false;
  }

  @Override
  public QueryParamBuilder newInstance(Map<String, Object> parameters) {
    return new TestQueryParamBuilder(parameters);
  }
}

The factory interface returns new instances of the QueryParamBuilder only if the given identifier is accepted by the factory. The Identifier is a part of the query request. Only one query builder factory can be selected based on the identifier. In the example, use test identifier to use this factory, and the QueryParamBuilder.

Add a service file into META-INF/services/ of the JAR that will package these implementations. In the service file, specify fully qualified class name of the factory, for example:

org.jbpm.services.api.query.QueryParamBuilderFactory

You can now request your query builder:

Map<String, Object> params = new HashMaplt<String, Object>();
params.put("min", 10);
params.put("max", 20);

Listlt<TaskInstance> instances = queryClient.query
  ("getAllTaskInstancesWithCustomVariables", "UserTasksWithCustomVariables", "test",
  params, 0, 10, TaskInstance.class);

Similarly, to create a custom mapper, follow these steps:

Implement the mapper interface:

public class ProductSaleQueryMapper extends UserTaskInstanceWithCustomVarsQueryMapper {

  private static final long serialVersionUID = 3299692663640707607L;

  public ProductSaleQueryMapper() {
    super(getVariableMapping());
  }

  protected static Map<String, String> getVariableMapping() {
    Map<String, String> variablesMap = new HashMap<String, String>();

    variablesMap.put("COUNTRY", "string");
    variablesMap.put("PRODUCTCODE", "string");
    variablesMap.put("QUANTITY", "integer");
    variablesMap.put("PRICE", "double");
    variablesMap.put("SALEDATE", "date");

    return variablesMap;
  }

  @Override
  public String getName() {
    return "ProductSale";
  }
}

Add appropriate service file into META-INF/services/:

org.jbpm.services.api.query.QueryResultMapper

Reference it by the name, for example:

List<TaskInstance> tasks = queryClient.query
  ("getAllTaskInstancesWithCustomVariables", "ProductSale", 0, 10, TaskInstance.class);

System.out.println(tasks);

Process Instance Migration

The ProcessInstanceMigrationService service is a utility used to migrate given process instances from one deployment to another. Process or task variables are not affected by the migration. The ProcessInstanceMigrationService service enables you to change the process definition for the process engine.

We recommend you to let active process instance finish and start new process instances in the new deployment. If this approach is not suitable to your needs, consider the following before starting process instance migration:

Backward compatibility

Data change

Need for node mapping

The best practice is to create backward compatible processes whenever possible, such as extending process definitions. For example, removing specific nodes from the process definition breaks compatibility. In such case, you must provide new node mapping in case an active process instance is in a node that has been removed.

A node map contains source node IDs, from the old process definition, mapped to target node IDs in the new process definition. You can map nodes with the same type only, for example a user task to a user task.

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite offers several implementations of the migration service:

public interface ProcessInstanceMigrationService {
 /**
 * Migrates given process instance that belongs to source deployment, into target process id that belongs to target deployment.
 * Following rules are enforced:
 * <ul>
 * <li>source deployment id must be there</li>
 * <li>process instance id must point to existing and active process instance</li>
 * <li>target deployment must exist</li>
 * <li>target process id must exist in target deployment</li>
 * </ul>
 * Migration returns migration report regardless of migration being successful or not that needs to be examined for migration outcome.
 * @param sourceDeploymentId deployment that process instance to be migrated belongs to
 * @param processInstanceId id of the process instance to be migrated
 * @param targetDeploymentId id of deployment that target process belongs to
 * @param targetProcessId id of the process process instance should be migrated to
 * @return returns complete migration report
 */
 MigrationReport migrate(String sourceDeploymentId, Long processInstanceId, String targetDeploymentId, String targetProcessId);
 /**
 * Migrates given process instance (with node mapping) that belongs to source deployment, into target process id that belongs to target deployment.
 * Following rules are enforced:
 * <ul>
 * <li>source deployment id must be there</li>
 * <li>process instance id must point to existing and active process instance</li>
 * <li>target deployment must exist</li>
 * <li>target process id must exist in target deployment</li>
 * </ul>
 * Migration returns migration report regardless of migration being successful or not that needs to be examined for migration outcome.
 * @param sourceDeploymentId deployment that process instance to be migrated belongs to
 * @param processInstanceId id of the process instance to be migrated
 * @param targetDeploymentId id of deployment that target process belongs to
 * @param targetProcessId id of the process process instance should be migrated to
 * @param nodeMapping node mapping - source and target unique ids of nodes to be mapped - from process instance active nodes to new process nodes
 * @return returns complete migration report
 */
 MigrationReport migrate(String sourceDeploymentId, Long processInstanceId, String targetDeploymentId, String targetProcessId, Map<String, String> nodeMapping);
 /**
 * Migrates given process instances that belong to source deployment, into target process id that belongs to target deployment.
 * Following rules are enforced:
 * <ul>
 * <li>source deployment id must be there</li>
 * <li>process instance id must point to existing and active process instance</li>
 * <li>target deployment must exist</li>
 * <li>target process id must exist in target deployment</li>
 * </ul>
 * Migration returns list of migration report - one per process instance, regardless of migration being successful or not that needs to be examined for migration outcome.
 * @param sourceDeploymentId deployment that process instance to be migrated belongs to
 * @param processInstanceIds list of process instance id to be migrated
 * @param targetDeploymentId id of deployment that target process belongs to
 * @param targetProcessId id of the process process instance should be migrated to
 * @return returns complete migration report
 */
 List<MigrationReport> migrate(String sourceDeploymentId, List<Long> processInstanceIds, String targetDeploymentId, String targetProcessId);
 /**
 * Migrates given process instances (with node mapping) that belong to source deployment, into target process id that belongs to target deployment.
 * Following rules are enforced:
 * <ul>
 * <li>source deployment id must be there</li>
 * <li>process instance id must point to existing and active process instance</li>
 * <li>target deployment must exist</li>
 * <li>target process id must exist in target deployment</li>
 * </ul>
 * Migration returns list of migration report - one per process instance, regardless of migration being successful or not that needs to be examined for migration outcome.
 * @param sourceDeploymentId deployment that process instance to be migrated belongs to
 * @param processInstanceIds list of process instance id to be migrated
 * @param targetDeploymentId id of deployment that target process belongs to
 * @param targetProcessId id of the process process instance should be migrated to
 * @param nodeMapping node mapping - source and target unique ids of nodes to be mapped - from process instance active nodes to new process nodes
 * @return returns list of migration reports one per each process instance
 */
 List<MigrationReport> migrate(String sourceDeploymentId, List<Long> processInstanceIds, String targetDeploymentId, String targetProcessId, Map<String, String> nodeMapping);
}

You can migrate a single process instance, or multiple process instances at once. If you migrate multiple process instances, each instance will be migrated in a separate transaction to ensure that the migrations do not affect each other. Once migration is done, the migrate method returns MigrationReport.

Migration Report

A MigrationReport object is the return value of each migration. It contains:

Start and end dates of the migration

Migration outcome (success or failure)

Log entry

For example, INFO, WARN, or ERROR type. The ERROR message causes migration to be terminated.

Migration Example

protected static final String MIGRATION_ARTIFACT_ID = "test-migration";
protected static final String MIGRATION_GROUP_ID = "org.jbpm.test";
protected static final String MIGRATION_VERSION_V1 = "1.0.0";
protected static final String MIGRATION_VERSION_V2 = "2.0.0";

// First, deploy both versions
deploymentUnitV1 = new KModuleDeploymentUnit(MIGRATION_GROUP_ID, MIGRATION_ARTIFACT_ID, MIGRATION_VERSION_V1);
deploymentService.deploy(deploymentUnitV1);

// ... version 2
deploymentUnitV2 = new KModuleDeploymentUnit(MIGRATION_GROUP_ID, MIGRATION_ARTIFACT_ID, MIGRATION_VERSION_V2);
deploymentService.deploy(deploymentUnitV2);

// Next, start process instance in version 1.
long processInstanceId = processService.startProcess(deploymentUnitV1.getIdentifier(), "processID-V1");

// Once the instance is active it can be migrated.
MigrationReport report = migrationService.migrate(deploymentUnitV1.getIdentifier(), processInstanceId, deploymentUnitV2.getIdentifier(), "processID-V2");

// Check if the migration finished successfully.
report.isSuccessful()

Known Limitations

There are several limitations to the migration service:

You can migrate process instances only, not their data.

If you modify a task that is preceding the active task, the active task will not be affected by the change.

You cannot remove a currently active human task. You can replace a human task by mapping it onto a different human task.

You cannot add new branches parallel to the current active task. In such case, the new branch will not be activated and the workflow will not pass the AND gateway.

Changes in the active recurring timer events will not be persisted in the database.

You cannot update task inputs and outputs.

Node mapping updates task node name and description only. Other task fields will not be mapped and migrated.

Chapter 13. Persistence and Transactions

Process Instance State

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite allows persistent storage of information. For example, you can persistently store process runtime state to ensure that you will be able to resume your process instance in case of failure. While logs of current and previous process states are stored by default, you can store process definitions and logging information as well.

Runtime State

When you start a process, Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite creates a process instance, which represents the execution of the process in the specific context. For example, when you start a process that specifies how to process a sales order, Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite creates a process instance for each order. Process instances contain all the related information and minimal runtime state required to continue the execution at any time. However, it does not include process instance logs unless needed for execution of the process instance.

You can make the runtime state of an executing process persistent, for example, in a database. This allows you to restore the state of execution of all running processes in case of failure, or to temporarily remove running instances from memory and restore them later. Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite allows you to plug in different persistence strategies. Note that process instances are not persistent by default.

When you configure the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite engine to use persistence, it automatically stores the runtime state in a database without further prompting. When you invoke the engine, it ensures that all changes are stored at the end of that invocation. If you encounter a failure and restore the engine from the database, do not manually resume the execution. Process instances automatically resume execution if they are triggered.

Inexperienced users should not directly access and modify database tables containing runtime persistence data. Changes in the runtime state of process instances which are not done by the engine may have unexpected results. If you require information about the current execution state of a process instance, use the history log.

Binary Persistence

Binary persistence, or marshaling, converts the state of the process instance into a binary dataset. Binary persistence is a mechanism used to store and retrieve information persistently. The same mechanism is also applied to the session state and work item states.

When you enable persistence of a process instance:

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite transforms the process instance information into binary data. Custom serialization is used instead of Java serialization for performance reasons.

The binary data is stored together with other process instance metadata, such as process instance ID, process ID, and the process start date.

The session can also store other forms of state, such as the state of timer jobs, or data required for business rules evaluation. Session state is stored separately as a binary dataset along with the ID of the session and metadata. You can restore the session state by reloading a session with given ID. Use ksession.getId() to get the session ID.

Data Model Description

Each entity of the data model is described below.

Figure 13.1. Data Model

The SessionInfo entity contains the state of the (knowledge) session in which the process instance is running.

Table 13.1. SessionInfo

Field
Description
Nullable

id

The primary key.

NOT NULL

lastModificationDate

The last time that entity was saved to a database.

rulesByteArray

The state of a session.

NOT NULL

startDate

The session start time.

OPTLOCK

A version field containing a lock value.

The ProcessInstanceInfo entity contains the state of the process instance.

Table 13.2. ProcessInstanceInfo

Field
Description
Nullable

instanceId

The primary key.

NOT NULL

lastModificationDate

The last time that the entity was saved to a database.

lastReadDate

The last time that the entity was retrieved from the database.

processId

The ID of the process.

processInstanceByteArray

The state of a process instance in form of a binary dataset.

NOT NULL

startDate

The start time of the process.

state

An integer representing the state of a process instance.

NOT NULL

OPTLOCK

A version field containing a lock value.

The EventTypes entity contains information about events that a process instance will undergo or has undergone.

Table 13.3. EventTypes

Field
Description
Nullable

instanceId

A reference to the ProcessInstanceInfo primary key and foreign key constraint on this column.

NOT NULL

element

A finished event in the process.

The WorkItemInfo entity contains the state of a work item.

Table 13.4. WorkItemInfo

Field
Description
Nullable

workItemId

The primary key.

NOT NULL

name

The name of the work item.

processInstanceId

The (primary key) ID of the process. There is no foreign key constraint on this field.

NOT NULL

state

The state of a work item.

NOT NULL

OPTLOCK

A version field containing a lock value.

workitembytearay

The work item state in as a binary dataset.

NOT NULL

The CorrelationKeyInfo entity contains information about correlation keys assigned to the given process instance. This table is optional. Use it only when you require correlation capabilities.

Table 13.5. CorrelationKeyInfo

Field
Description
Nullable

keyId

The primary key.

NOT NULL

name

The assigned name of the correlation key.

processInstanceId

The ID of the process instance which is assigned to the correlation key.

NOT NULL

OPTLOCK

A version field containing a lock value.

The CorrelationPropertyInfo entity contains information about correlation properties for a correlation key assigned the process instance.

Table 13.6. CorrelationPropertyInfo

Field
Description
Nullable

propertyId

The primary key.

NOT NULL

name

The name of the property.

value

The value of the property.

NOT NULL

OPTLOCK

A version field containing a lock value.

correlationKey_keyId

A foreign key mapped to the correlation key.

NOT NULL

The ContextMappingInfo entity contains information about the contextual information mapped to a KieSession. This is an internal part of RuntimeManager and can be considered optional when RuntimeManager is not used.

Table 13.7. ContextMappingInfo

Field
Description
Nullable

mappingId

The primary key.

NOT NULL

CONTEXT_ID

The context identifier.

NOT NULL

KSESSION_ID

The KieSession identifier.

NOT NULL

OPTLOCK

A version field containing a lock value.

Safe Points

During the process engine execution, the state of a process instance is stored in safe points. When you execute a process instance, the engine continues the execution until there are no more actions to be performed. That is, the process instance has been completed, aborted, or is in the wait state in all of its paths. At that point, the engine has reached the next safe state, and the state of the process instance (and all other process instances that it affected) is stored persistently.

Audit Log

Storing information about the execution of process instances can be useful when you need to, for example:

Verify which actions have been executed in a particular process instance.

Monitor and analyze the efficiency of a particular process.

However, storing history information in the runtime database can result in the database rapidly increasing in size. Additionally, monitoring and analysis queries might influence the performance of your runtime engine. This is why process execution history logs are stored separately.

The Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite creates a history log of execution based on events generated by the process engine during execution. This is possible because the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite runtime engine provides a generic event listener. Thus you can easily retrieve and store any information from the events and store it in a database. You can also use filters to limit the scope of the logged information.

Audit Data Model

The jbpm-audit module contains an event listener that stores process-related information in a database using Java Persistence API (JPA). The data model contains the following entities:

The ProcessInstanceLog table contains the basic log information about a process instance.

The NodeInstanceLog table contains information about which nodes were actually executed inside each process instance. Whenever a node instance is entered from one of its incoming connections or is exited through one of its outgoing connections, that information is stored in this table.

The VariableInstanceLog table contains information about changes in variable instances. The execution engine generates log entries after a variable changes, by default. Alternatively, you can log entries before the variable value changes.

The AuditTaskImpl table contains information about tasks that can be used for queries.

The BAMTaskSummary table collects information about tasks. The Business Activity Monitor engine then uses the information to build charts and dashboards.

The TaskVariableImpl table contains information about task variable instances.

The TaskEvent table contains information about changes in task instances. It contains a timeline view of events (for example claim, start, or stop) for the given task.

Audit Data Model Description

All audit data model entities contain following elements:

Table 13.8. ProcessInstanceLog

Field
Description

id

The primary key and ID of the log entity. Cannot have the null value.

duration

The duration of a process instance since its start date.

end_date

The end date of a process instance when applicable.

externalId

An optional external identifier used to correlate various elements, for example deployment ID.

user_identity

An optional identifier of the user who started the process instance.

outcome

The outcome of a process instance, for example the error code.

parentProcessInstanceId

The process instance ID of the parent process instance.

processId

The ID of the executed process.

processInstanceId

The process instance ID. Cannot have the NULL value.

processname

The name of the process.

processversion

The version of the process.

start_date

The start date of the process instance.

status

The status of process instance that maps to process instance state.

Table 13.9. NodeInstanceLog

Field
Description

id

The primary key and ID of the log entity. Cannot have the NULL value.

connection

The identifier of the sequence flow that led to this node instance.

log_date

The event date.

externalId

An optional external identifier used to correlate various elements, for example deployment ID.

nodeid

The node ID of the corresponding node in the process definition.

nodeinstanceId

The instance ID of the node.

nodename

The name of the node.

nodetype

The type of the node.

processId

The ID of the executed process.

processInstanceId

The process instance ID.

type

The type of the event (0 = enter, 1 = exit). Cannot have the NULL value.

workItemId

An optional identifier of work items available only for certain node types.

Table 13.10. VariableInstanceLog

Field
Description

id

The primary key and ID of the log entity. Cannot have the NULL value.

externalId

An optional external identifier used to correlate various elements, for example deployment ID.

log_date

The date of the event.

processId

The ID of the executed process.

processInstanceId

The process instance ID.

oldvalue

The previous value of the variable at the time of recording of the log.

value

The value of the variable at the time of recording of the log.

variableid

The variable ID in the process definition.

variableinstanceId

The ID of the variable instance.

Table 13.11. AuditTaskImpl

Field
Description

id

The primary key and ID of the log entity.

activationTime

The time of the task activation.

actualOwner

The actual owner assigned to this task. This field is set only when a user claims the task.

createdBy

The user who created the task.

createdOn

The date of the task creation.

deploymentId

The deployment ID to which this task belongs.

description

The task description.

dueDate

The due date set on this task.

name

The name of the task.

parentId

The parent task ID.

priority

The priority of the task.

processId

The process definition ID to which this task belongs.

processInstanceId

The process instance ID with which this task is associated.

processSessionId

The KieSession ID used to create this task.

status

The current status of the task.

taskId

The identifier of task.

workItemId

The work item ID assigned to this task ID (on process side).

Table 13.12. BAMTaskSummary

Field
Description

id

The primary key and ID of the log entity. Cannot have the null value.

createdDate

The date of the task creation.

duration

Duration since the task was created.

endDate

The date when the task reached an end state (that is: complete, exit, fail, or skip).

processInstanceId

The process instance ID.

startDate

The date when the task was started.

status

The current status of the task.

taskId

The identifier of the task.

taskName

The name of the task.

userId

The user ID assigned to the task.

Table 13.13. TaskVariableImpl

Field
Description

id

The primary key and ID of the log entity. Cannot have the null value.

modificationDate

The last time when the variable was modified.

name

The name of the task.

processId

The ID of the process that the process instance is executing.

processInstanceId

The process instance ID.

taskId

The identifier of the task.

type

The type of the variable, that is input or output of the task.

value

The value of a variable.

Table 13.14. TaskEvent

Field
Description

id

The primary key and ID of the log entity. Cannot have the null value.

logTime

The date when this event was saved.

message

The log event message.

processInstanceId

The process instance ID.

taskId

The identifier of the task.

type

The type of the event, which corresponds to the life cycle phases of the task.

userId

The user ID assigned to the task.

workItemId

The identifier of the work item to which the task is assigned.

Storing Process Events in a Database

To log process history in a database, register a logger in your session:

EntityManagerFactory emf = ...;
StatefulKnowledgeSession ksession = ...;
AbstractAuditLogger auditLogger = AuditLoggerFactory.newJPAInstance(emf);
ksession.addProcessEventListener(auditLogger);

// Invoke methods on your session here.

Modify persistence.xml to specify a database. You need to include audit log classes as well (ProcessInstanceLog, NodeInstanceLog, and VariableInstanceLog). See the example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>

  <persistence
    version="2.0"
    xsi:schemaLocation="
      http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/persistence
      http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/persistence/persistence_2_0.xsd
      http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/persistence/orm
      http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/persistence/orm_2_0.xsd"
    xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/persistence"
    xmlns:orm="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/persistence/orm"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">

    <persistence-unit name="org.jbpm.persistence.jpa" transaction-type="JTA">
      <provider>org.hibernate.ejb.HibernatePersistence</provider>
      <jta-data-source>jdbc/jbpm-ds</jta-data-source>
      <mapping-file>META-INF/JBPMorm.xml</mapping-file>

      <class>org.drools.persistence.info.SessionInfo</class>
      <class>org.jbpm.persistence.processinstance.ProcessInstanceInfo</class>
      <class>org.drools.persistence.info.WorkItemInfo</class>
      <class>org.jbpm.persistence.correlation.CorrelationKeyInfo</class>
      <class>org.jbpm.persistence.correlation.CorrelationPropertyInfo</class>
      <class>org.jbpm.runtime.manager.impl.jpa.ContextMappingInfo</class>
      <class>org.jbpm.process.audit.ProcessInstanceLog</class>
      <class>org.jbpm.process.audit.NodeInstanceLog</class>
      <class>org.jbpm.process.audit.VariableInstanceLog</class>

      <properties>
        <property name="hibernate.dialect" value="org.hibernate.dialect.H2Dialect"/>
        <property name="hibernate.max_fetch_depth" value="3"/>
        <property name="hibernate.hbm2ddl.auto" value="update"/>
        <property name="hibernate.show_sql" value="true"/>
        <property name="hibernate.transaction.jta.platform"
                  value="org.hibernate.service.jta.platform.internal.BitronixJtaPlatform"/>
      </properties>
    </persistence-unit>
  </persistence>

Storing Process Events in a JMS Queue

Synchronous storing of history logs and runtime data in one database may be undesirable due to performance reasons. In that case, you can use JMS logger to send data into a JMS queue instead of directly storing it in a database. You can also configure it to be transactional in order to avoid issues with inconsistent data, for example when the process engine transaction is reversed.

Example configuration of JMS queue:

ConnectionFactory factory = ...;
Queue queue = ...;
StatefulKnowledgeSession ksession = ...;
Map<String, Object> jmsProps = new HashMap<String, Object>();

jmsProps.put("jbpm.audit.jms.transacted", true);
jmsProps.put("jbpm.audit.jms.connection.factory", factory);
jmsProps.put("jbpm.audit.jms.queue", queue);

AbstractAuditLogger auditLogger =
  AuditLoggerFactory.newInstance(Type.JMS, session, jmsProps);
ksession.addProcessEventListener(auditLogger);

// Invoke methods of your session here.

Auditing Variables

Process and task variables are stored as string (similar to variable.toString()) in audit tables by default. This is not always efficient, for example, when you need to query by the process or task instance variables:

public class Person implements Serializable {

  private static final long serialVersionUID = -5172443495317321032L;
  private String name;
  private int age;

  public Person(String name, int age) {
    this.name = name;
    this.age = age;
  }

  public String getName() {
    return name;
  }

  public void setName(String name) {
    this.name = name;
  }

  public int getAge() {
    return age;
  }

  public void setAge(int age) {
    this.age = age;
  }

  @Override
  public String toString() {
    return "Person [name=" + name + ", age=" + age + "]";
  }
}

In this example, when you want to query all the people with certain age, querying becomes inefficient.

Thus, variable audit is based on VariableIndexer, which extracts relevant parts of the variables that will be stored in audit log:

/**
* Variable indexer that allows to transform variable instance
* into other representation (usually String) to be able to use it for queries.
*
* @param <V> type of the object that will represent indexed variable
*/

public interface VariableIndexer<V> {

 /**
  * Tests if given variable shall be indexed by this indexer.
  *
  * NOTE: Only one indexer can be used for given variable.
  *
  * @param	variable  variable to be indexed
  * @return	true      if variable should be indexed with this indexer
  */

  boolean accept(Object variable);

 /**
  * Performs index/transform operation of the variable.
  * Result of this operation can be either single value
  * or list of values to support complex type separation.
  * For example, when variable is of type Person that has name,
  * address, and phone, indexer could build three entries
  * out of it to represent individual fields:
  *
  * person  = person.name
  * address = person.address.street
  * phone   = person.phone
  *
  * That will allow more advanced queries to be used to find
  * relevant entries.
  *
  * @param	name      name of the variable
  * @param	variable  actual variable value
  * @return
  */

  List<V> index(String name, Object variable);
}

The default indexer (that is indexer accepting toString()) produces a single audit entry for a single variable. However, you can create a custom indexer which indexes variables into separate audit entries:

public class PersonTaskVariablesIndexer implements TaskVariableIndexer {

  @Override
  public boolean accept(Object variable) {
    if (variable instanceof Person) {
      return true;
    }

    return false;
  }

  @Override
  public List<TaskVariable> index(String name, Object variable) {
    Person person = (Person) variable;
    List<TaskVariable> indexed = new ArrayList<TaskVariable>();

    TaskVariableImpl personNameVar = new TaskVariableImpl();
    personNameVar.setName("person.name");
    personNameVar.setValue(person.getName());

    indexed.add(personNameVar);

    TaskVariableImpl personAgeVar = new TaskVariableImpl();
    personAgeVar.setName("person.age");
    personAgeVar.setValue(person.getAge()+"");

    indexed.add(personAgeVar);

    return indexed;
  }
}

This allows you to search all the process instances or tasks that contain the person instance of age 34 by querying for:

Variable name: person.age

Variable value: 34

Building and Registering Custom Indexers

You can build indexers for both process and task variables. They are supported by different interfaces because they produce different type of objects representing audit view of the variable. To create a custom indexer, follow these steps:

Implement following interfaces to build custom indexers:

Process variables: org.kie.internal.process.ProcessVariableIndexer.

Task variables: org.kie.internal.task.api.TaskVariableIndexer.

Implement the following methods:

accept: indicates what types are handled by given indexer. Only one indexer can index any given variable. The first that accepts the variable will index it.

index: the method for indexing the variable.

Package the implementation into a jar file, including following files:

For process variables: META-INF/services/org.kie.internal.process.ProcessVariableIndexer with list of fully qualified class names that represent the process variable indexers (single class name per line).

For task variables: META-INF/services/org.kie.internal.task.api.TaskVariableIndexer with list of fully qualified class names that represent the task variable indexers (single class name per line).

The ServiceLoader service registers indexers. When you start indexing, all the registered indexers are examined. If no applicable indexer is found, the default indexer (toString() based) is used.

Transactions

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite engine supports Java Transaction API (JTA). The engine executes any method you invoke in a separate transaction unless you set transaction boundaries. Transaction boundaries allow you to combine multiple commands into one transaction.

Register a transaction manager before using user-defined transactions. The following sample code uses Bitronix transaction manager. It also uses JTA to specify transaction boundaries:

// Create the entity manager factory and register it in the environment:
EntityManagerFactory emf =
  Persistence.createEntityManagerFactory("org.jbpm.persistence.jpa");
Environment env = KnowledgeBaseFactory.newEnvironment();
env.set(EnvironmentName.ENTITY_MANAGER_FACTORY, emf);
env.set(EnvironmentName.TRANSACTION_MANAGER,
  TransactionManagerServices.getTransactionManager());

// Create a new knowledge session that uses JPA to store the runtime state:
StatefulKnowledgeSession ksession =
  JPAKnowledgeService.newStatefulKnowledgeSession(kbase, null, env);

// Start the transaction:
UserTransaction ut =
  (UserTransaction) new InitialContext().lookup("java:comp/UserTransaction");
ut.begin();

// Perform multiple commands inside one transaction:
ksession.insert(new Person("John Doe"));
ksession.startProcess("MyProcess");

// Commit the transaction:
ut.commit();

If you use Bitronix as the transaction manager, you must provide jndi.properties in your root classpath to register the Bitronix transaction manager in JNDI.

If you use the jbpm-test module, jndi.properties is included by default.

If you are not using jbpm-test module, create jndi.properties manually with the following content:

java.naming.factory.initial=bitronix.tm.jndi.BitronixInitialContextFactory

If you use a different JTA transaction manager, modify the transaction manager property in persistence.xml:

<property
  name  = "hibernate.transaction.jta.platform"
  value = "org.hibernate.transaction.JBossTransactionManagerLookup"
/>

Warning

Using the (runtime manager) Singleton strategy with JTA transactions (UserTransaction or CMT) is not recommended because of a race condition. It can result in an IllegalStateException with a message similar to "Process instance X is disconnected".

Avoid this condition by explicitly synchronizing around the KieSession instance when invoking the transaction in the user application code:

synchronized (ksession) {
  try {
    tx.begin();

    // use ksession application logic

    tx.commit();
  } catch (Exception e) {
    ...
  }
}

Implementing Container Managed Transaction

You can embed Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite inside an application that executes in Container Managed Transaction (CMT) mode, such as Enterprise Java Beans (EJB).

To configure the transaction manager, follow these steps:

Implement the dedicated transaction manager:

org.jbpm.persistence.jta.ContainerManagedTransactionManager

Insert the transaction manager and persistence context manager into the environment before you create or load your session:

Environment env = EnvironmentFactory.newEnvironment();

env.set(EnvironmentName.ENTITY_MANAGER_FACTORY, emf);
env.set(EnvironmentName.TRANSACTION_MANAGER,
  new ContainerManagedTransactionManager());
env.set(EnvironmentName.PERSISTENCE_CONTEXT_MANAGER,
  new JpaProcessPersistenceContextManager(env));
env.set(EnvironmentName.TASK_PERSISTENCE_CONTEXT_MANAGER,
  new JPATaskPersistenceContextManager(env));

Configure JPA provider (example Hibernate and WebSphere):

<property name="hibernate.transaction.factory_class"
          value="org.hibernate.transaction.CMTTransactionFactory"/>
<property name="hibernate.transaction.jta.platform"
          value="org.hibernate.service.jta.platform.internal.WebSphereJtaPlatform"/>

Note

To ensure that the container is aware of process instance execution exceptions, make sure that exceptions thrown by the engine are sent to the container to properly reverse the transaction.

Using the CMT Dispose KieSession Command

If you dispose of your KieSession directly when running in the CMT mode, you may generate exceptions, because Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite requires transaction synchronization. Use org.jbpm.persistence.jta.ContainerManagedTransactionDisposeCommand to dispose of your session.

Using Persistence

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite engine does not save runtime data persistently by default. To use persistence, you need to:

Add necessary dependencies.

Configure a datasource.

Configure the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite engine.

Adding Dependencies

To use persistence, add necessary dependencies to the classpath of your application. If you are using Red Hat JBoss Development Studio with Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite runtime default configuration, all necessary dependencies are already present for the default persistence configuration. Otherwise, ensure that the necessary JAR files are added to your Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite runtime directory.

Following is a list of dependencies for the default combination with Hibernate as the JPA persistence provider, an H2 in-memory database, and Bitronix for JTA-based transaction management. Dependencies needed for your project will vary depending on your solution configuration.

jbpm-persistence-jpa.jar file is necessary for saving the runtime state. Therefore, always make sure it is available in your project.

jbpm-persistence-jpa (org.jbpm)

drools-persistence-jpa (org.drools)

persistence-api (javax.persistence)

hibernate-entitymanager (org.hibernate)

hibernate-annotations (org.hibernate)

hibernate-commons-annotations (org.hibernate)

hibernate-core (org.hibernate)

commons-collections (commons-collections)

dom4j (dom4j)

jta (javax.transaction)

btm (org.codehaus.btm)

javassist (javassist)

slf4j-api (org.slf4j)

slf4j-jdk14 (org.slf4j)

h2 (com.h2database)

Manually Configuring Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Engine to Use Persistence

Use JPAKnowledgeService to create a knowledge session based on a knowledge base, a knowledge session configuration (if necessary), and the environment. Ensure that the environment contains a reference to your Entity Manager Factory. For example:

// Create the entity manager factory and register it in the environment:
EntityManagerFactory emf =
  Persistence.createEntityManagerFactory("org.jbpm.persistence.jpa");
Environment env = KnowledgeBaseFactory.newEnvironment();
env.set(EnvironmentName.ENTITY_MANAGER_FACTORY, emf);

// Create a new knowledge session that uses JPA to store the runtime state:
StatefulKnowledgeSession ksession =
  JPAKnowledgeService.newStatefulKnowledgeSession(kbase, null, env);
int sessionId = ksession.getId();

// Invoke methods on your session here:
ksession.startProcess("MyProcess");
ksession.dispose();

Additionally, you can use JPAKnowledgeService to recreate a session based on a specific session ID. For example:

// Recreate the session from database using the sessionId:

ksession = JPAKnowledgeService.loadStatefulKnowledgeSession(sessionId, kbase, null, env);

Note that only the minimal state that is required to continue execution of the process instance is saved. You cannot retrieve information related to already executed nodes if that information is no longer necessary. To search for history-related information, use the history log.

Add persistence.xml to META-INF to configure JPA. Following example uses Hibernate and H2 database:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<persistence
  version="2.0"
  xsi:schemaLocation="
    http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/persistence
    http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/persistence/persistence_2_0.xsd
    http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/persistence/orm
    http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/persistence/orm_2_0.xsd"
  xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/persistence"
  xmlns:orm="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/persistence/orm"
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">

  <persistence-unit name="org.jbpm.persistence.jpa" transaction-type="JTA">
    <provider>org.hibernate.ejb.HibernatePersistence</provider>
    <jta-data-source>jdbc/jbpm-ds</jta-data-source>
    <mapping-file>META-INF/JBPMorm.xml</mapping-file>

    <class>org.drools.persistence.info.SessionInfo</class>
    <class>org.jbpm.persistence.processinstance.ProcessInstanceInfo</class>
    <class>org.drools.persistence.info.WorkItemInfo</class>
    <class>org.jbpm.persistence.correlation.CorrelationKeyInfo</class>
    <class>org.jbpm.persistence.correlation.CorrelationPropertyInfo</class>
    <class>org.jbpm.runtime.manager.impl.jpa.ContextMappingInfo</class>

    <properties>
      <property name="hibernate.dialect" value="org.hibernate.dialect.H2Dialect"/>
      <property name="hibernate.max_fetch_depth" value="3"/>
      <property name="hibernate.hbm2ddl.auto" value="update"/>
      <property name="hibernate.show_sql" value="true"/>
      <property name="hibernate.transaction.jta.platform"
                value="org.hibernate.service.jta.platform.internal.BitronixJtaPlatform"/>
    </properties>
  </persistence-unit>
</persistence>

In this example, persistence.xml refers to a data source called jdbc/jbpm-ds. If you run your application in an application server, these containers typically allow you to use custom configure file for the data sources. See your application server documentation for further details.

Following example shows you how to set up a data source:

PoolingDataSource ds = new PoolingDataSource();

ds.setUniqueName("jdbc/jbpm-ds");
ds.setClassName("bitronix.tm.resource.jdbc.lrc.LrcXADataSource");
ds.setMaxPoolSize(3);
ds.setAllowLocalTransactions(true);
ds.getDriverProperties().put("user", "sa");
ds.getDriverProperties().put("password", "sasa");
ds.getDriverProperties().put("URL", "jdbc:h2:mem:jbpm-db");
ds.getDriverProperties().put("driverClassName", "org.h2.Driver");
ds.init();

Chapter 14. Using Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio to Create and Test Processes

The Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite plug-in provides an environment for editing and testing processes, and enables integration with your application. The following features are provided:

Wizards for creating Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite projects and BPMN2 processes.

A Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite perspective showing the most commonly used views in a predefined layout.

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Runtime

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Runtime

A Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite runtime is a collection of JAR files that represent one specific release of the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite project. Follow the steps described in the next section to create and configure a runtime. It is required to specify a default runtime for your Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio workspace, however, each project can override the default setting and therefore can have a specific runtime.

Setting the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Runtime

To use the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite plug-in with Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio, it is necessary to set up the runtime.

Download the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite 6.4.0 Core Engine archive from the Red Hat Customer Portal. The JAR files that form the runtime are located in the jboss-bpmsuite-VERSION-engine.zip archive.

Note

Make sure you have the JBoss Business Process and Rule Development feature installed before configuring the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite runtime. See chapter Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio of Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Getting Started Guide for more information.

Procedure: Configuring jBPM Runtime

In the Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio, click Window → Preferences.

Click jBPM → Installed jBPM Runtimes.

Click Add…​.

Provide a name for the new runtime and click Browse to navigate to the directory where the runtime is located. Click OK.

Select the new runtime and click OK.

Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio prompts you to update the runtime if you have any existing projects.

Configuring Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Server

Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio can be configured to run the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite server.

Procedure: Configuring Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Server

Click Window → Perspective → Open Perspective → Other…​ and select jBPM.

To add the Servers view, click Window → Show View → Other…​ and select Server → Servers.

Right click the empty space in the Servers view at the bottom of the Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio and choose New → Server.

Select the server type. Find Red Hat JBoss Middleware → Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7 and provide a name for the server and a server’s host name. Click Next.

Figure 14.1. Setting Server Type

In the Create a new Server Adapter step, choose Create new runtime (next page) and click Next.

Figure 14.2. Creating New Server Adapter

In the next step, set the Home Directory: click Browse…​ and select the Red Hat JBoss EAP directory which has Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite installed. Also, make sure that correct JRE is set. Red Hat JBoss EAP 7 requires Java 8, while earlier versions can use Java 7. Click Next.

Figure 14.3. Referencing JBoss Installation Directory

Click Finish.

Importing And Cloning Projects from Git Repository into Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio

Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio can be configured to connect to a central Git repository, which stores rules, models, functions, and processes.

You can either clone a remote Git repository or import a local Git repository.

Procedure: Cloning Remote Git Repository

In Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio, click File → Import…​ and select Git → Projects from Git. Click Next.

Select the repository source as Clone URI and click Next.

Enter the details of the Git repository. You can use both the HTTPS or SSH protocol. Click Next.

In the Branch Selection step, select the branch you want to import and click Next.

To define a local storage for this project, enter a non-empty directory, make any configuration changes necessary, and click Next.

Select Import as general project and click Next.

Name the project and click Finish.

Procedure: Importing Local Git Repository

In Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio, click File → Import…​ and select Git → Projects from Git. Click Next.

Select the repository source as Existing local repository and click Next.

From the list of available repositories, select the repository you want to import and click Next.

In the Select a wizard to use for importing projects step, select Import as general project and click Next.

Name the project and click Finish.

Components of Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Application

A Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite application consists of the following components:

A set of Java classes that become process variables or facts in rules.

A set of services accessed from service tasks in a business process model.

A business process model definition file in BPMN2 format.

Rules assets (optional).

A Java class that drives the application, including creation of a knowledge session, starting processes, and firing rules.

When you create a BPM Suite project in Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio, the following directories are generated:

src/main/java: stores class files (facts).

src/main/resources: stores .drl files (rules) and .bpmn files (processes).

Creating Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Project

Procedure: Creating a New Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite project in Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio

From the main menu, select File → New → Project.

Select jBPM → jBPM Project and click Next.

Enter a name for the project into the Project name: text box and click Next.

Note

Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio provides the option to add a sample HelloWorld rule file to the project. Accept this default by clicking Next to test the sample project in the following steps.

Select the jBPM runtime (or use the default).

Select generate code compatible with jBPM 6 or above, and click Finish.

To test the project, right click the Java file that contains the main method and select Run → Run as → Java Application.

The output will be displayed in the console tab.

Converting Existing Java Project to Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Project

To convert an existing Java project to a BPM Suite project:

Open the Java project in Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio.

Right-click the project and under the Configure category, select Convert to jBPM Project.

This converts your Java project to BPM Suite project and adds the jBPM Library to your project’s classpath.

Creating Process Using BPMN2 Process Wizard

Procedure: Creating New Process

To create a new process, select File → New → Other and then go to jBPM → BPMN2 Process.

Select the parent folder for the process.

Enter a name in the File name: dialogue box and click Finish.

This creates your new process containing just one start node. You can then open it in the BPMN2 Process Editor to add more nodes and connections to further build the process.

Building Process Using BPMN2 Process Editor

Procedure: Creating New Process

Create a new process using the BPMN2 Process Wizard in Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio.

Right click the process .bpmn file, select Open With and then click the radio button next to BPMN2 Process Editor.

Add nodes to the process by clicking on the required node in the palette and clicking on the canvas where the node should be placed.

Connect the nodes with sequence flows. Select Sequence Flow from the palette, then click the nodes to connect them.

To edit a node’s properties, click the node, open the Properties tab in the bottom panel of the Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio workspace, and click the values to be edited.

If the properties tab is not already open, right click the BPMN file in the package panel and select Show in → Properties.

Click the save icon to save the process.

Creating a Process Using BPMN Maven Process Wizard

Use can use the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Maven Project Wizard to set up an executable sample project to start using processes immediately by using Maven to define your project’s properties and dependencies. This wizard sets up a Maven project using a pom.xml, and includes a sample process and Java class to execute it.

Procedure: Create a New Process

To create a new project, select File → New → Project and then select jBPM → jBPM Project (Maven).

Enter a name for your project and click Finish.

This creates your Maven project with a sample process in the src/main/resources directory and a Java class that can be used to execute the sample process. In addition to that, the project contains:

A pom.xml file containing the following:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0
                             http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">

  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

  <groupId>com.sample</groupId>
  <artifactId>jbpm-example</artifactId>
  <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>

  <name>jBPM :: Sample Maven Project</name>
  <description>A sample jBPM Maven project</description>

  <properties>
    <jbpm.version>6.4.0.Final-redhat-3</jbpm.version>
  </properties>

  <repositories>
    <repository>
      <id>jboss-ga-repository</id>
      <name>Red Hat JBoss Maven Repository</name>
      <url>http://maven.repository.redhat.com/ga/</url>
      <releases>
        <enabled>true</enabled>
        <updatePolicy>never</updatePolicy>
      </releases>
      <snapshots>
        <enabled>true</enabled>
        <updatePolicy>daily</updatePolicy>
      </snapshots>
    </repository>
  </repositories>

  <dependencies>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.jbpm</groupId>
      <artifactId>jbpm-test</artifactId>
      <version>${jbpm.version}</version>
    </dependency>
  </dependencies>
</project>

A kmodule.xml configuration file under the META-INF folder. The kmodule.xml defines which resources (like processes, rules) are to be loaded as part of your project. In this case, it defines a knowledge base called kbase that loads all the resources in the com.sample directory as shown below:

<kmodule xmlns="http://www.drools.org/xsd/kmodule">
  <kbase name="kbase" packages="com.sample" />
</kmodule>

Update the project properties in the Properties tab and specify the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite version.

It adds the JBoss Nexus Maven repository (where all the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite JARs and their dependencies are located) to your project and configures the dependencies.

Note

By default, only the jbpm-test JAR is specified as a dependency, as this has transitive dependencies to almost all of the core dependencies you will need. You are free to update the dependencies section however to include only the dependencies you need.

Debugging Business Processes

Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio can validate and debug processes.

Validation

To validate a process, right click the .bpmn file and select Validate.

If validation completes successfully, a dialogue box will appear stating there are no errors or warning.

If validation is unsuccessful, the errors will display in the Problems tab. Fix the problems and rerun the validation.

Debug

To debug a process, right click the .bpmn file and select Debug As → Debug Configurations; make any required changes to the test configuration and click Debug.

If no errors are found, the process will execute.

If errors are encountered, they will be described in the bottom window of Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio. Fix the errors and rerun the debug process.

Using Debug Perspective

In the Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio with Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite plug-in, you can make use of the extended debugging feature (debugging allows you to visualize and inspect the current state of running process instances).

Note that breakpoints on process elements are currently not supported. However, you can define breakpoints inside any Java code in your process; that is, your application code that is invoking the engine or invoked by the engine, listeners, and others or inside rules that are evaluated in the context of a process.

Procedure: Debug Perspective

Open the Process Instance view Window → Show View → Other.

Select Process Instances and Process Instance under the Drools category.

Use a Java breakpoint to stop your application at a specific point (for example, after starting a new process instance).

In the Debug perspective, select the ksession you would like to inspect.

The Process Instances view will show the process instances that are currently active inside that ksession.

When double-clicking a process instance, the process instance viewer will graphically show the progress of that process instance.

Sometimes, when double-clicking a process instance, the process instance viewer complains that is cannot find the process. This means that the plug-in was not able to find the process definition of the selected process instance in the cache of parsed process definitions. To solve this, simply change the process definition in question and save again.

The screenshot below illustrates the running process instance with an ID of 1. This example process instance relies on a human actor to perform Task 1.

Figure 14.4. Process Instance in the Debugger

Active Process Instances

The process instances view shows the process instances currently active inside the selected ksession. When using persistence, process instances are not kept in memory inside the ksession; that is, they are stored in the database as soon as the command completes. Therefore, you will not be able to use the Process Instances view when using persistence. For example, when executing a JUnit test using the JbpmJUnitBaseTestCase, make sure to call super(true, false); in the constructor to create a runtime manager that is not using persistence.

The environment provides also other views that are related to rule execution like the working memory view, the agenda view, and others. For further information, see the Red Hat JBoss BRMS documentation.

Debugging Views in Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio

The Process Instances View

The process instances view shows the currently running process instances.

To open the process instances viewer, go to Window → Show View → Other and then select Drools → Process Instances.

The Sample Process Instances View below shows that there is currently one running process (instance), currently executing one node instance, for example business rule task. When double-clicking a process instance, the process instance viewer will graphically display the progress of the process instance.

Example 14.1. Sample Process Instances View

Audit View

The audit view shows the audit log, which is a log of all events that were logged from the session. To create a logger, use the KnowledgeRuntimeLoggerFactory to create a new logger and attach it to a session. Note that using a threaded file logger will save the audit log to the file system at regular intervals, and the audit viewer will then be able to show the latest state. The Threaded File Logger below shows an example with the audit log file and the interval (in milliseconds) specified.

Example 14.2. Threaded File Logger

KnowledgeRuntimeLogger logger = KnowledgeRuntimeLoggerFactory
  .newThreadedFileLogger(ksession, "logdir/mylogfile", 1000);

// Do something with the session here.

logger.close();

To open the audit view, select Window → Show View → Audit.

To open up an audit tree in the audit view, open the selected log file in the audit view or simply drag the file into the audit view. A tree-based view is generated based on the audit log. An event is shown as a sub node of another event if the child event is caused by (a direct consequence of) the parent event:

Synchronizing Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio Workspace with Business Central Repositories

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite allows you to synchronize your local workspace with one or more repositories that are managed inside Business Central with the help of Eclipse tooling for Git. Git is a popular distributed source code version control system. You can use any Git tool of your choice.

When you create and execute processes inside Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio, they get created on your local file system. Alternatively, you can import an existing repository from Business Central, apply changes and push these changes back into the Business Central repositories. This synchronization enables collaboration between developers using Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio and business analysts or end users using Business Central.

Importing Business Central Repository using EGit Import Wizard

Open Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio.

Navigate to File → Import …​ → Git → Projects from Git and click Next.

Select URI to connect to a repository that is managed by Business Central and click Next.

This opens a Import Project from Git dialog box.

Provide the URI of the repository you would like to import in the URI field.

Provide the following URI to connect to your Business Central repositories:

ssh://HOST_NAME:8001/REPOSITORY_NAME>

For example, if you are running the Business Central on your local host by using the jbpm-installer, you would use the following URI to import the jbpm-playground repository:

ssh://localhost:8001/jbpm-playground

You can change the port used by the server to provide ssh access to the Git repository if necessary, using the system property org.uberfire.nio.git.ssh.port.

Click Next.

Specify where on your local file system you would like this repository to be created in the Directory field.

Select the master branch in the Initial branch field and click Next.

Select Import as general project to import the repository you downloaded as a project in your Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio workspace and click Next.

Provide a name for the repository and click Finish.

This adds your repository to your workspace and you can now browse, open, and edit the various assets inside it.

Committing Changes to Business Central

To commit and push your local changes back to the Business Central repositories:

Open your repository project in Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio.

Right-click on your repository project and select Team → Commit …​.

A new dialog box open showing all the changes you have on your local file system.

Select the files you want to commit, provide an appropriate commit message, and click Commit.

You can double-click each file to get an overview of the changes you did for that file.

Right-click your project again, and select Team → Push to Upstream.

Retrieving Changes from Business Central Repository

To retrieve the latest changes from the Business Central repository:

Open your repository project in Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio.

Right-click your repository project and select Team → Fetch from Upstream.

This action fetches all the changes from the Business Central repository.

Right-click your project again and select Team → Merge.

A Merge 'master' dialog appears.

In the Merge 'master' dialog box, select origin/master branch under Remote Tracking.

Click Merge.

This merges all the changes from the original repository in Business Central.

Note

It is possible that you have committed and/or conflicting changes in your local version, you might have to resolve these conflicts and commit the merge results before you will be able to complete the merge successfully. It is recommended to update regularly, before you start updating a file locally, to avoid merge conflicts being detected when trying to commit changes.

Importing Individual Projects from Repository

When you import a repository, all the projects inside that repository are downloaded. It is however useful to mount one specific project as a separate Java project. Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio is then able to:

Interpret the information in the project’s pom.xml file.

Download and include any specified dependencies.

Compile any Java class located in the project.

To import a project as a separate Java project:

In the Package Explorer on the right side of Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio, right-click on one of the projects and click Import…​.

Select Maven → Existing Maven Projects and click Next.

The Import Maven Projects dialog window opens with the project’s pom.xml file displayed.

Click Finish.

Adding Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Libraries to Project Class Path

To ensure your project compiles and executes correctly, add the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite libraries to the project’s class path. To do so, right-click the project and select Configure → Convert to jBPM Project.

This converts the project into a Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite project and adds the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite library to the project’s class path.

Chapter 15. Case Management

Introduction

Business Process Management (BPM) is a management practice for automating tasks that are repeatable and have a common pattern. However, many applications in the real world cannot be described completely from start to finish (including all possible paths, deviations, and exceptions). Moreover, using a process-centric approach in certain cases may lead to complex solutions that are hard to maintain. Sometimes business users need more flexible and adaptive business processes, without the overly complex solutions. In such cases, human actors play an important role in solving complex problems. Case Management is for such tasks collaborative and dynamic tasks that require human actions. Case Management focuses on problem resolution for unpredictable process instances as opposed to the efficiency oriented approach of Business Process Management for routine predictable tasks.

Instead of trying to model a process from start to finish, the Case Management approach supports giving the end user the flexibility to decide what must happen at runtime. In its most extreme form for example, Case Management does not even require any process definition at all. Whenever a new case comes in, the end user can decide what to do next based on all the case data.

This does not necessarily mean that there is no role of BPM in Case Management. Even at its most extreme form where no process is modelled up front, you may still need a lot of the other features that the BPM system provides. For example, BPM features like audit logs, monitoring, coordinating various services, human interaction (such as using task forms), and analysis play a crucial role in Case Management as well. There can also be cases where a more structured business process evolves from Case Management. Thus, a flexible BPM system enables you to decide how and where you can apply it.

Use Cases

Here are some common use cases of Case Management:

Clinical decision support is a great use case for Case Management approach. Care plans are used to describe how patients must be treated in specific circumstances, but people like general practitioners still need to have the flexibility to add additional steps and deviate from the proposed plan, as each case is unique. A care plan with tasks to be performed when a patient who has high blood pressure can be designed with this approach. While a large part of the process is still well-structured, the general practitioner can decide which tasks must be performed as part of the sub-process. The practitioner also has the ability to add new tasks during that period, tasks that were not defined as part of the process, or repeat tasks multiple times. The process uses an ad-hoc sub-process to model this kind of flexibility, possibly augmented with rules or event processing to help in deciding which fragments to execute.

An internet provider can use this approach to handle internet connectivity cases. Instead of having a set process from start to end, the case worker can choose from a number of actions based on the problem at hand. The case worker is responsible for selecting what to do next and can even add new tasks dynamically.

Case Management in Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite provides a new wrapper API called casemgmt that focuses on exposing the Case Management concepts. These explain how Case Management can be mapped with the existing constructs inside Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite:

Case Definition

A case definition is a very flexible high level process synonymous to the Ad-Hoc process in Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite. You can define a default empty Ad-Hoc process for maximum flexibility to use when loaded in RuntimeManager. For a more complex case definition, you can define an Ad-Hoc process that may include milestones, predefined tasks to be accomplished and case roles to specify the roles of case participants.

Case Instance

In an Ad-Hoc process definition, a case instance is created that allows the involved roles to create new tasks. You can create a new case instance for an empty case as below:

ProcessInstance processInstance = caseMgmtService.startNewCase("CaseName");

During the start of a new case, the parameter Case Name is set as a process variable name.

Alternatively, you can create a case instance the same way as new process instance:

ProcessInstance processInstance =
  runtimeEngine.getKieSession().startProcess("CaseUserTask", params);

Case File

A case file contains all the information required for managing a case. A case file comprises several case file items each representing a piece of information.

Case Context

Case context is the audit and related information about a case execution. A case context can be identified based on the unique case id. The CaseMgmtUtil class is used to get active tasks, subprocesses, and nodes. The AuditService class is used to get a list of passed nodes, and anything that is possible to do with processes. And the getCaseData() and setCaseData() of case file are used to get and set the dynamic process variables.

Milestones

You can define milestones in a case definition and track a cases progress at runtime. A number of events can be captured from processes and tasks executions. Based on these events, you can define milestones in a case definition and track a case’s progress at runtime. The getAchievedMilestones() is used to get all achieved milestones. The task names of milestones must be Milestone.

Case Role

You can define roles for a case definition and keep track of which users participate with the case in which role at runtime. Case roles are defined in the case definitions as below:

<extensionElements>
  <tns:metaData name="customCaseRoles">
    <tns:metaValue>
      responsible:1,accountable,consulted,informed
    </tns:metaValue>
  </tns:metaData>
    <tns:metaData name="customDescription">
    <tns:metaValue>
      #{name}
    </tns:metaValue>
    </tns:metaData>
</extensionElements>

The number represents the maximum of users in this role. In the example above, only one user is assigned to role responsible. You can add users to case roles as follows:

caseMgmtService.addUserToRole(caseId, "responsible", responsiblePerson);

The case roles cannot be used as groups for Human Tasks. The Human Task has to be assigned to some user with the case role, hence a user is selected in the case role based on some heuristics (random):

public String getRandomUserInTheRole(long pid, String role) {

  String[] users = caseMgmtService.getCaseRoleInstanceNames(pid).get(role);
  Random rand = new Random();
  int n = 0;

  if (users.length > 1) {
    n = rand.nextInt(users.length - 1);
  }

  return users[n];
}

Dynamic Nodes

This involves creating dynamic process task, human task, and case task.

Human Task: The Human Task service inside Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite that implements the WS-HumanTask specification (defined by the OASIS group) already provides this functionality and can be fully integrate with. This service takes care of the task lifecycle and allows you to access the internal task events.

Process Task: You can use normal process definitions and instances to be executed as part of a case by correlating them with the case ID.

Case Task: Just like how you can provide business processes to be executed from another process, you can provide the same feature for executing cases from inside another case.

Work Task: The work task with defined work item handler.

Part IV. Intelligent Process Server and Realtime Decision Server

Note

For Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite, the server is called Intelligent Process Server. For Red Hat JBoss BRMS, the server is called Realtime Decision Server. In the following text, only Intelligent Process Server is used.

The Intelligent Process Server is a standalone, out-of-the-box component that can be used to instantiate and execute rules and processes. The Realtime Decision Server and the Intelligent Process Server are created as a WAR file that can be deployed on any web container. The current version of these servers are shipped with default extensions for both JBoss BRMS and Business Resource Planner, with Intelligent Process Server adding extensions for Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite.

This server has a low footprint with minimal memory consumption; therefore, it can be deployed easily on a cloud instance. Each instance of this server can open and instantiate multiple KIE containers, which allows you to execute multiple rules and processes in parallel.

Note

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite supports two execution servers for processes: Intelligent Process Server (kie-server) and Business Central (business-central), and has Remote APIs for both. The process engine in Business Central and its Remote API are supported for Red Hat JBoss BPMS 6.x releases only. However, the Intelligent Process Server is being enhanced over releases. Hence, Intelligent Process Server is recommended to instantiate and execute your processes.

This chapter describes the Intelligent Process Server APIs and extensions.

Chapter 16. The REST API for Intelligent Process Server Execution

You can communicate with the Intelligent Process Server through the REST API.

The base URL for sending requests is the endpoint defined earlier (http://SERVER:PORT/kie-server/services/rest/server/).

All requests require basic HTTP Authentication or token-based authentication for the role kie-server.

Following methods support three formats of the requests: JSON, JAXB, and XSTREAM. You must provide following HTTP headers:

Accept: application/json or application/xml.

When specifying more than one accepted content type in the Accept header, be sure to include the qualifiers of preference (qvalues as defined in the HTML 1.1 standard). If you do not, unexpected behaviour may occur. This is an example of a well-formed header with multiple accepted content types:

Accept: application/xml; q=0.5, application/json; q=0.9

Content-Type: application/json or application/xml

Note

JAXB is the default XML format used in the REST API calls. If you want to use XStream, set the custom header named X-KIE-ContentType to XSTREAM. Other allowed values are JSON and JAXB, depending on the format you specified in the required headers above.

To ensure both the request and the response are in the same format, always specify both the Content-Type and Accept HTTP headers in your application’s requests. If you do not do that, you may receive a marshalling-related error from the server.

The examples use the Curl utility. You can use any REST client. Curl commands use the following parameters:

-u: specifies username:password for the Intelligent Process Server authentication.

-H: specifies HTTP headers.

-X: specifies the HTTP method of the request, that is [GET], [POST], [PUT], or [DELETE].

Note

BRMS Commands endpoints will work only if your Intelligent Process Server has BRM capability. The rest of the endpoints will work only if your Intelligent Process Server has BPM capabilities. Check the following URI for capabilities of your Intelligent Process Server : http://SERVER:PORT/kie-server/services/rest/server.

BRMS Commands

Table 16.1. BRMS Commands Endpoints

URI
Method
Request Type
Response Type
Description

/containers/instances/{containerID}

POST

A single org.kie.api.command.Command command or multiples commands in BatchExecutionCommand wrapper.

org.kie.server.api.model.ServiceResponse<String>

Executes the commands sent to the specified containerId and returns the commands execution results. For more information, See supported commands below.

List of supported commands:

AgendaGroupSetFocusCommand

ClearActivationGroupCommand

ClearAgendaCommand

ClearAgendaGroupCommand

ClearRuleFlowGroupCommand

DeleteCommand

InsertObjectCommand

ModifyCommand

GetObjectCommand

InsertElementsCommand

FireAllRulesCommand

QueryCommand

SetGlobalCommand

GetGlobalCommand

GetObjectsCommand

BatchExecutionCommand

DisposeCommand

For more information about the commands, see the org.drools.core.command.runtime package. Alternatively, see Supported Red Hat JBoss BRMS Commands from the Red Hat JBoss Development Guide.

Example 16.1. [POST] Drools Commands Execution

Change into a directory of your choice and create commandsRequest.json :

{
      "lookup" : null,
      "commands" : [ {
        "insert" : {
          "object" : "testing",
          "disconnected" : false,
          "out-identifier" : null,
          "return-object" : true,
          "entry-point" : "DEFAULT"
        }

      }, {
        "fire-all-rules" : { }
      } ]
    }

Execute the following command:

$ curl -X POST -H 'X-KIE-ContentType: JSON' -H 'Content-type: application/json' -u 'kieserver:kieserver1!' --data @commandsRequest.json http://localhost:8080/kie-server/services/rest/server/containers/instances/myContainer

The command generates a request that sends the Insert Object and Fire All Rules commands to the server. Lookup specifies a ksession configured in your kjar. If you use a null lookup value, the default KIE session will be used.

An example response:

    {
      "type" : "SUCCESS",
      "msg" : "Container hello successfully called.",
      "result" : "{\n  \"results\" : [ ],\n  \"facts\" : [ ]\n}"
    }

Managing Processes

Use the following entry point: http://SERVER:PORT/kie-server/services/rest/server/containers/{containerId}/processes. See table Process Management Endpoints for a list of endpoints.

Table 16.2. Process Management Endpoints

URI
Method
Request Type
Response Type
Description

/instances

DELETE

N/A

N/A

Aborts multiple process instances specified by the query parameter instanceId.

/instances/{processInstanceId}/signals

GET

N/A

A list of Strings

Returns all the available signal names for processInstanceId as a list of Strings

/instances/{processInstanceId}/variable/{varName}

PUT

The variable marshalled value

N/A

Sets the value of variable varName for process instance processInstanceId. If successful, the return value is HTTP code 201.

/instances/{processInstanceId}/variable/{varName}

GET

N/A

The variable value

Returns the marshalled value of varName for processInstanceId.

/instances/{processInstanceId}/variables

POST

A map with variable names and values

N/A

Sets multiple processInstanceId variables. The request is a map, in which the key is the name of the variable and the value is the new value of the variable.

/instances/{processInstanceId}/variables

GET

N/A

A map with the variable names and values

Gets all variables for processInstanceId as a map, in which the key is the name of the variable and the value is the value of the variable

/instances/{processInstanceId}/workitems/

GET

N/A

A list of WorkItemInstance objects

Gets all the work items of the given processInstanceId.

/instances/{processInstanceId}/workitems/{workItemId}

GET

N/A

A WorkItemInstance object

Gets the workItemId work item of the given processInstanceId.

/instances/{processInstanceId}/workitems/{workItemId}/aborted

PUT

N/A

N/A

Aborts the workItemId work item of the given processInstanceId. If successful, the return value is HTTP code 201.

/instances/{processInstanceId}/workitems/{workItemId}/completed

PUT

N/A

N/A

Completes the workItemId work item of the given processInstanceId. If successful, the return value is HTTP code 201.

/{processId}/instances

POST

A map with variables used to start the process.

Plain text with the process instance id.

Creates a business process instance specified by processId. Accepted input is a map with the process variables and its values.

instances/signal/{signalName}

POST

A marshalled object

N/A

Signals multiple process instances of a query parameter instanceId with signal signalName. You can provide the signal payload marshalled in the request body.

instances/{processInstanceId}

DELETE

N/A

N/A

Aborts a process specified by processInstanceId. If successful, the return value is HTTP code 204.

instances/{processInstanceId}

GET

N/A

A ProcessInstance object

Returns the details of processInstanceId. You can request variable information by setting the withVars parameter as true.

instances/{processInstanceId}/signal/{signalName}

POST

A marshalled object

N/A

Signals the process instance processInstanceId with signal signalName. You can provide the signal payload marshalled in the request body.

{processId}/instances/correlation/{correlationKey}

POST

A map with variables used to start the process.

Plain text with the process instance id.

Creates a business process instance specified by the processId with the correlation key correlationKey. Accepted input is a map with the process variables and its values.

Example 16.2. Managing Processes

Create person.json:

{
  "p" : { "org.kieserver.test.Person": { "id" : 13, "name": "William" } }
}

Start a process using a custom object (Person) as a parameter:

$ curl -X POST  -u 'kieserver:kieserver1!' -H 'Content-type: application/json' -H 'X-KIE-ContentType: JSON' --data @person.json 'http://localhost:8080/kie-server/services/rest/server/containers/person/processes/proc-with-pojo.p-proc/instances'

Create a new process instance of process definition com.sample.rewards-basic with parameters:

$ curl -X POST  -u 'kieserver:kieserver1!' -H 'Content-type: application/json' -H 'X-KIE-ContentType: JSON' --data '{"employeeName": "William"}' 'http://localhost:8080/kie-server/services/rest/server/containers/rewards/processes/com.sample.rewards-basic/instances'

Returns process instance ID.

Get the variables of process instance 3

$ curl -u 'kieserver:kieserver1!' -H 'Accept: application/json' 'http://localhost:8080/kie-server/services/rest/server/containers/rewards/processes/instances/3/variables'

Example response:

{
  "employeeName" : "William"
}

Send a TEST signal to the process instance with ID 5

$ curl -X POST  -u 'kieserver:kieserver1!' -H 'Content-type: application/json' -H 'X-KIE-ContentType: JSON' --data '"SIGNAL DATA"' 'http://localhost:8080/kie-server/services/rest/server/containers/test/processes/instances/signal/TEST?instanceId=5'

Managing Process Definitions

Use the following entry point: http://SERVER:PORT/kie-server/services/rest/server/containers/{containerId}/processes/definitions. See table Process Queries Endpoints for a list of endpoints. To use pagination, use the page and pageSize parameters.

Table 16.3. Process Queries Endpoints

URI
Method
Request Type
Response Type
Description

/{processId}/variables

GET

N/A

A VariablesDefinition object

Returns a map of the variable definitions for processId. The map contains the name of the variable and its type.

/{processId}/tasks/service

GET

N/A

A ServiceTaskDefinition object

Returns all service tasks for processId. The return value is a map with the names and types of the service tasks. If no tasks are found, the return value is an empty list.

/{processId}/tasks/users

GET

N/A

A list of UserTaskDefinition objects

Returns all the user tasks for processId. The response also contains maps of the input and output parameters. The key is the name and the value is the type of a parameter.

/{processId}/subprocesses

GET

N/A

A SubProcessDefinition object

Returns a list of reusable sub-process IDs for processId.

/{processId}/entities

GET

N/A

An AssociatedEntitiesDefinition object

Returns a map with the entities associated with processId.

/{processId}/tasks/users/{taskName}/inputs

GET

N/A

A TaskInputsDefinition object

Returns a map with all the task input parameter definitions for taskName of processId. The key is the name of the input and the value is its type.

/{processId}/tasks/users/{taskName}/outputs

GET

N/A

A TaskOutputsDefinition object

Returns a map with all the task output parameter definitions for taskName of processId. The key is the name of the input and the value is its type.

Example 16.3. [GET] User Tasks for a Specified Process

The following command displays user tasks for the the com.sample.rewards-basic process in the rewards container:

$ curl -u 'kieserver:kieserver1!' -H 'accept: application/json' 'http://localhost:8080/kie-server/services/rest/server/containers/rewards/processes/definitions/com.sample.rewards-basic/tasks/users'

An example response:

{
  "task" : [ {
    "task-name" : "Approval by PM",
    "task-priority" : 0,
    "task-skippable" : false,
    "associated-entities" : [ "PM" ],
    "task-inputs" : {
      "Skippable" : "Object",
      "TaskName" : "java.lang.String",
      "GroupId" : "Object"
    },
    "task-outputs" : {
      "_approval" : "Boolean"
    }
  }, {
    "task-name" : "Approval by HR",
    "task-priority" : 0,
    "task-skippable" : false,
    "associated-entities" : [ "HR" ],
    "task-inputs" : {
      "Skippable" : "Object",
      "TaskName" : "java.lang.String",
      "GroupId" : "Object"
    },
    "task-outputs" : {
      "_approval" : "Boolean"
    }
  } ]
}

Example 16.4. [GET] Variable Definitions for Specified Process

The following command displays the variable definitions of the com.sample.rewards-basic process in the rewards container:

$ curl -u 'kieserver:kieserver1!' -H 'accept: application/json' 'http://localhost:8080/kie-server/services/rest/server/containers/rewards/processes/definitions/com.sample.rewards-basic/variables'

An example response:

{
  "variables" : {
    "result" : "String",
    "hrApproval" : "Boolean",
    "pmApproval" : "Boolean",
    "employeeName" : "String"
  }
}

Managing User Tasks

Managing Task Instances

Use this base URI: http://SERVER:PORT/kie-server/services/rest/server/containers/{containerId}/tasks/{taskId}/states/. If successful, the return value is HTTP code 201. See table Task Instance Endpoints for a list of endpoints.

Table 16.4. Task Instance Endpoints

URI
Method
Request Type
Response Type
Description

activated

PUT

N/A

N/A

Activates the taskId task.

claimed

PUT

N/A

N/A

Claims the taskId task.

started

PUT

N/A

N/A

Starts the taskId task.

stopped

PUT

N/A

N/A

Stops the taskId task.

completed

PUT

A map with the output parameters name/value

N/A

Completes the taskId task. You can provide the output parameters in form of a map, where the key is the parameter name and the value is the value of the output parameter. You can also use the auto-progress parameter. If set to true, it will claim, start, and complete a task at once.

delegated

PUT

N/A

N/A

Delegates the taskId task to a user provided by the targetUser query parameter.

exited

PUT

N/A

N/A

Exits the taskId task.

failed

PUT

N/A

N/A

Fails the taskId task.

forwarded

PUT

N/A

N/A

Forwards the taskId task to the user provided by the targetUser query parameter.

released

PUT

N/A

N/A

Releases the taskId task.

resumed

PUT

N/A

N/A

Resumes the taskId task.

skipped

PUT

N/A

N/A

Skips the taskId task.

suspended

PUT

N/A

N/A

Suspends the taskId task.

nominated

PUT

N/A

N/A

Nominates the taskId task to the potential owners by the potOwner query parameter. You can use the parameter multiple times (for example: potOwner=usr1&potOwner=usr2).

Example 16.5. Task Instances

Start task with taskId 4 in the container test:

$ curl -X PUT -u 'kieserver:kieserver1!' http://localhost:8080/kie-server/services/rest/server/containers/test/tasks/4/states/started

Complete the task 1 by passing an output parameter:

$ curl -X PUT -u 'kieserver:kieserver1!' -H 'Content-type: application/json' -H 'X-KIE-ContentType: JSON' --data '{ "_approval" : true }' 'http://localhost:8080/kie-server/services/rest/server/containers/test/tasks/1/states/completed'

Some operations are illegal, such as starting a completed task, or disallowed for security reasons, such as claiming a task for another user. Having different sets of users for authentication and task management can be a security concern. Making such requests will result in one of the following exceptions:

Unexpected error during processing User '[UserImpl:'{USER ID}']' does not have permissions to execute operation OPERATION on task id {$TASK_ID}

Unexpected error during processing: User '[UserImpl:'{USER ID}']' was unable to execute operation OPERATION on task id {$TASK_ID} due to a no 'current status' match

Ensure the operation you are executing is allowed for the current task status. You can disable the security settings by using the org.kie.server.bypass.auth.user property.

For example, on Red Hat JBoss EAP, open EAP_HOME/standalone/configuration/standalone.xml and enter the following:

<system-properties>
  ...
  <property name="org.kie.server.bypass.auth.user" value="true"/>
  ...
</system-properties>

Alternatively, use -Dorg.kie.server.bypass.auth.user=true to set the property. If you use the Intelligent Process Server Java client API, set the property on your client as well:

System.setProperty("org.kie.server.bypass.auth.user", "true");

When you turn on the security settings, you can provide a user with sufficient permissions to execute the operation using the query parameter ?user=$USER_NAME. If you do not use the parameter, the authenticated user will be used to perform the action.

If you disabled the security settings and still experience authentication issues, configure the Intelligent Process Server callback:

Configuring UserGroupCallback

Override the default JAAS UserGroupCallback on the server side:

<property name="org.jbpm.ht.callback" value="props"/>
<!-- If necessary, override the userinfo configuration as well. -->
<property name="org.jbpm.ht.userinfo" value="props"/>

See the source code for other possible values.

For the props value, specify the location of the application-roles.properties file:

<property name="jbpm.user.group.mapping" value="file:///EAP_HOME/standalone/configuration/application-roles.properties"/>
<!-- If no other file is specified, the business-central.war/WEB-INF/classes/userinfo.properties file is used.
You can specify a file with the following property:
<property name="jbpm.user.info.properties" value="file:///path" /> -->

You can also use a different callback object. The Human Task callback is instantiated by a CDI producer configured in EAP_HOME/standalone/business-central.war/WEB-INF/beans.xml:

<beans xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
       xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee http://docs.jboss.org/cdi/beans_1_0.xsd">
  <alternatives>
    <class>org.jbpm.services.cdi.producer.JAASUserGroupInfoProducer</class>
  </alternatives>
</beans>

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite provides out-of-the-box producer and callback objects you can use. See the source code for a list of additional setting required for each callback implementation:

DBUserGroupCallback:

DBUserGroupInfoProducer

DBUserGroupCallbackImpl

DBUserInfoImpl

LDAPUserGroupCallback:

LDAPUserGroupInfoProducer

LDAPUserGroupCallbackImpl

LDAPUserInfoImpl

MvelUserGroupCallbackImpl:

DefaultUserGroupInfoProducer

MvelUserGroupCallbackImpl

DefaultUserInfo

Managing Task Instance Data

Use this base URI: http://SERVER:PORT/kie-server/services/rest/server/containers/{containerId}/tasks/{taskId}. See table Task Instance Data Management Endpoints for a list of endpoints.

Table 16.5. Task Instance Data Management Endpoints

URI
Method
Request Type
Response Type
Description

/

GET

N/A

A TaskInstance object

Gets task instance details of a taskId task.

attachments

POST

The content of the attachment

N/A

Adds a new attachment for the task. The ID of the created content is returned in the response, which is HTTP code 201. The name of the attachment is set using the query parameter name. It is not an idempotent method, thus if you make multiples request, it will create multiple attachments.

attachments

GET

N/A

A list of TaskAttachment objects

Gets all task attachments for the task.

attachments/{attachmentId}

GET

N/A

A TaskAttachment object

Gets the attachmentId task attachment.

attachments/{attachmentId}

DELETE

N/A

N/A

Removes the attachmentId attachment.

attachments/{attachmentId}/content

GET

N/A

An attachment type object

Gets the attachmentId task attachment content.

comments

POST

A TaskComment object

Long

Adds a new comment for the task. The ID of the created content is returned in the response, which HTTP code is 201. It is not an idempotent method, thus if you make multiples request, it will create multiple comments.

comments

GET

N/A

A list of TaskComment objects

Gets all task comments for the task.

comments/{commentId}

GET

N/A

A TaskComment object

Gets a task comment identified by commentId.

comments/{commentId}

DELETE

N/A

N/A

Removes the commentId comment for the task.

contents/input

GET

N/A

A map with the input parameters name/value

Gets the task input content in form of a map, where the key is the parameter name and the value is the value of the output parameter.

contents/output

PUT

A map with the output parameters name/value

N/A

Updates the task output parameters and returns HTTP 201 if successful. You must provide the output parameters in form of a map, where the key is the parameter name and the value is the value of the output parameter.

contents/output

GET

N/A

A map with the output parameters name/value

Gets the task output content in form of a map, where the key is the parameter name and the value is the value of the output parameter.

contents/{contentId}

DELETE

N/A

N/A

Deletes the task contentId content and returns HTTP code 204.

description

PUT

Marshalled String value

N/A

Updates the task description and returns HTTP code 201 if successful. You must provide the new value for description in the request body.

expiration

PUT

Marshalled Date value

N/A

Updates the task expiration date and returns HTTP 201 if successful. You must provide the new value for the expiration date in the request body.

name

PUT

Marshalled String value

N/A

Updates the task name and returns HTTP code 201 if successful. You must provide the new value for name in the request body.

priority

PUT

Marshalled int value

N/A

Updates the task priority and returns HTTP code 201 if successful. You must provide the new value for priority in the request body.

skipable

PUT

Marshalled boolean value

N/A

Updates the task property skipable and returns HTTP 201 if successful. You must provide the new value for the skipable property in the request body.

Example 16.6. User Task Instance Data

Get a user task instance for container test:

$ curl -X GET -u 'kieserver:kieserver1!' 'http://localhost:8080/kie-server/services/rest/server/containers/test/tasks/1'

Example response:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<task-instance>
    <task-id>1</task-id>
    <task-priority>0</task-priority>
    <task-name>Approval by PM</task-name>
    <task-subject></task-subject>
    <task-description></task-description>
    <task-form>ApprovalbyPM</task-form>
    <task-status>Ready</task-status>
    <task-actual-owner></task-actual-owner>
    <task-created-by></task-created-by>
    <task-created-on>2016-02-15T13:31:10.624-02:00</task-created-on>
    <task-activation-time>2016-02-15T13:31:10.624-02:00</task-activation-time>
    <task-skippable>false</task-skippable>
    <task-workitem-id>1</task-workitem-id>
    <task-process-instance-id>1</task-process-instance-id>
    <task-parent-id>-1</task-parent-id>
    <task-process-id>com.sample.rewards-basic</task-process-id>
    <task-container-id>rewards</task-container-id>
</task-instance>

Set priority to 3 for task 1:

$ curl -X PUT -u 'kieserver:kieserver1!' -H 'Content-type: application/json' -H 'X-KIE-ContentType: JSON' --data '3' 'http://localhost:8080/kie-server/services/rest/server/containers/test/tasks/1/priority'

Add a comment to a task 2:

$ curl -X POST -u 'kieserver:kieserver1!' -H 'Content-type: application/json' -H 'X-KIE-ContentType: JSON' --data '{ "comment" : "One last comment", "comment-added-by": "kieserver"}' 'http://localhost:8080/kie-server/services/rest/server/containers/test/tasks/2/comments'

Get all task comments:

$ curl -u 'kieserver:kieserver1!' -H 'Accept: application/json' 'http://localhost:8080/kie-server/services/rest/server/containers/test/tasks/2/comments'

Example response:

{
  "task-comment" : [ {
    "comment-id" : 1,
    "comment" : "Some task comment",
    "comment-added-by" : "kieserver"
  }, {
    "comment-id" : 3,
    "comment" : "One last comment",
    "comment-added-by" : "kieserver"
  } ]
}

Querying Process Instances

Use the following entry point: http://SERVER:PORT/kie-server/services/rest/server/queries/. To use pagination, use the page and pageSize parameters.

[GET] processes/instances

Returns a list of process instances.

Additional parameters you can use: status, initiator, processName.

Server Response

<process-instance-list>
 <process-instance>
  <process-instance-id>4</process-instance-id>
  <process-id>evaluation</process-id>
  <process-name>Evaluation</process-name>
  <process-version>1</process-version>
  <process-instance-state>1</process-instance-state>
  <container-id>myContainer</container-id>
  <initiator>kiesu</initiator>
  <start-date>2016-04-05T09:23:29.428+02:00</start-date>
  <process-instance-desc>Evaluation</process-instance-desc>
  <correlation-key/>
  <parent-instance-id>-1</parent-instance-id>
 </process-instance>
 <process-instance>
 <process-instance-id>5</process-instance-id>
  <process-id>evaluation</process-id>
  <process-name>Evaluation</process-name>
  <process-version>1</process-version>
  <process-instance-state>1</process-instance-state>
  <container-id>myContainer</container-id>
  <initiator>kiesu</initiator>
  <start-date>2016-04-05T09:40:39.772+02:00</start-date>
  <process-instance-desc>Evaluation</process-instance-desc>
  <correlation-key/>
  <parent-instance-id>-1</parent-instance-id>
 </process-instance>
</process-instance-list>

[GET] processes/{processId}/instances

Returns a list of process instances for the specified process.

Additional parameters you can use: status, initiator.

Server Response

<process-instance-list>
 <process-instance>
 <process-instance-id>4</process-instance-id>
   <process-id>evaluation</process-id>
   <process-name>Evaluation</process-name>
   <process-version>1</process-version>
   <process-instance-state>1</process-instance-state>
   <container-id>myContainer</container-id>
   <initiator>kiesu</initiator>
   <start-date>2016-04-05T09:23:29.428+02:00</start-date>
   <process-instance-desc>Evaluation</process-instance-desc>
   <correlation-key/>
   <parent-instance-id>-1</parent-instance-id>
  </process-instance>
 </process-instance-list>

[GET] containers/{containerId}/process/instances

Returns a list of process instances for the specified container.

Additional parameters you can use: status.

Server Response

<process-instance-list>
 <process-instance>
  <process-instance-id>4</process-instance-id>
  <process-id>evaluation</process-id>
  <process-name>Evaluation</process-name>
  <process-version>1</process-version>
  <process-instance-state>1</process-instance-state>
  <container-id>myContainer</container-id>
  <initiator>kiesu</initiator>
  <start-date>2016-04-05T09:23:29.428+02:00</start-date>
  <process-instance-desc>Evaluation</process-instance-desc>
  <correlation-key/>
  <parent-instance-id>-1</parent-instance-id>
 </process-instance>
 <process-instance>
 <process-instance-id>5</process-instance-id>
  <process-id>evaluation</process-id>
  <process-name>Evaluation</process-name>
  <process-version>1</process-version>
  <process-instance-state>1</process-instance-state>
  <container-id>myContainer</container-id>
  <initiator>kiesu</initiator>
  <start-date>2016-04-05T09:40:39.772+02:00</start-date>
  <process-instance-desc>Evaluation</process-instance-desc>
  <correlation-key/>
  <parent-instance-id>-1</parent-instance-id>
 </process-instance>
</process-instance-list>

[GET] processes/instance/correlation/{correlationKey}

Returns an instance with the specified correlation key.

[GET] processes/instances/correlation/{correlationKey}

Returns a list of instances with the specified correlation key.

[GET] processes/instances/{processInstanceId}

Returns information about the specified process instance.

Additional parameters you can use: withVars.

Server Response

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<process-instance>
    <process-instance-id>5</process-instance-id>
    <process-id>evaluation</process-id>
    <process-name>Evaluation</process-name>
    <process-version>1</process-version>
    <process-instance-state>1</process-instance-state>
    <container-id>myContainer</container-id>
    <initiator>kiesu</initiator>
    <start-date>2016-04-05T09:40:39.772+02:00</start-date>
    <process-instance-desc>Evaluation</process-instance-desc>
    <correlation-key></correlation-key>
    <parent-instance-id>-1</parent-instance-id>
    <active-user-tasks>
        <task-summary>
            <task-id>5</task-id>
            <task-name>Self Evaluation</task-name>
            <task-description>Please perform a self-evalutation.</task-description>
            <task-priority>0</task-priority>
            <task-actual-owner>Kartik</task-actual-owner>
            <task-created-by>Kartik</task-created-by>
            <task-created-on>2016-04-05T09:40:39.778+02:00</task-created-on>
            <task-activation-time>2016-04-05T09:40:39.778+02:00</task-activation-time>
            <task-proc-inst-id>5</task-proc-inst-id>
            <task-proc-def-id>evaluation</task-proc-def-id>
            <task-container-id>myContainer</task-container-id>
        </task-summary>
    </active-user-tasks>
</process-instance>

[GET] processes/instances/variables/{variableName}

Returns process instance with the specified variable.

Additional parameters you can use: status, varValue.

Note that you can use wildcard characters with varValue, for example varValue=waiting% to list all the values that start with waiting.

Example Response

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<process-instance-list>
    <process-instance>
        <process-instance-id>4</process-instance-id>
        <process-id>evaluation</process-id>
        <process-name>Evaluation</process-name>
        <process-version>1</process-version>
        <process-instance-state>1</process-instance-state>
        <container-id>myContainer</container-id>
        <initiator>kiesu</initiator>
        <start-date>2016-04-05T09:23:29.428+02:00</start-date>
        <process-instance-desc>Evaluation</process-instance-desc>
        <correlation-key></correlation-key>
        <parent-instance-id>-1</parent-instance-id>
    </process-instance>
    <process-instance>
        <process-instance-id>5</process-instance-id>
        <process-id>evaluation</process-id>
        <process-name>Evaluation</process-name>
        <process-version>1</process-version>
        <process-instance-state>1</process-instance-state>
        <container-id>myContainer</container-id>
        <initiator>kiesu</initiator>
        <start-date>2016-04-05T09:40:39.772+02:00</start-date>
        <process-instance-desc>Evaluation</process-instance-desc>
        <correlation-key></correlation-key>
        <parent-instance-id>-1</parent-instance-id>
    </process-instance>
</process-instance-list>

[GET] containers/{containerId}/processes/definitions

Returns a list of process definitions available for the container.

Server Response

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<process-definitions>
    <processes>
        <process-id>evaluation</process-id>
        <process-name>Evaluation</process-name>
        <process-version>1</process-version>
        <package>Evaluation.src.main.resources</package>
        <container-id>myContainer</container-id>
    </processes>
</process-definitions>

[GET] processes/definitions

Returns list of process definitions.

Additional parameters you can use: filter.

Note that the filter parameter filters all the process definitions that contain the given substring.

Server Response

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<process-definitions>
    <processes>
        <process-id>evaluation</process-id>
        <process-name>Evaluation</process-name>
        <process-version>1</process-version>
        <package>Evaluation.src.main.resources</package>
        <container-id>myContainer</container-id>
    </processes>
</process-definitions>

[GET] containers/{containerId}/processes/definitions/{processId}

Returns process definition of the specified process instance in the specified container.

Server Response

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<process-definitions>
    <processes>
        <process-id>evaluation</process-id>
        <process-name>Evaluation</process-name>
        <process-version>1</process-version>
        <package>Evaluation.src.main.resources</package>
        <container-id>myContainer</container-id>
    </processes>
</process-definitions>

[GET] processes/definitions/{processId}

Returns a list of process definitions of the specified process instance.

Server Response

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<process-definitions>
    <processes>
        <process-id>evaluation</process-id>
        <process-name>Evaluation</process-name>
        <process-version>1</process-version>
        <package>Evaluation.src.main.resources</package>
        <container-id>myContainer</container-id>
    </processes>
</process-definitions>

[GET] processes/instances/{processInstanceId}/nodes/instances

Returns node instances for the specified process instance.

Additional parameters you can use: activeOnly, completedOnly.

Server Response

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<node-instance-list>
    <node-instance>
        <node-instance-id>0</node-instance-id>
        <node-name> </node-name>
        <process-instance-id>5</process-instance-id>
        <container-id>myContainer</container-id>
        <start-date>2016-04-05T09:40:39.797+02:00</start-date>
        <node-id>_ED165B85-E65D-42A6-B0EF-8A160356271E</node-id>
        <node-type>StartNode</node-type>
        <node-connection>_B8F3E49D-2C7A-4056-BF49-C61987044DB4</node-connection>
        <node-completed>true</node-completed>
    </node-instance>
    <node-instance>
        <node-instance-id>1</node-instance-id>
        <node-name>Self Evaluation</node-name>
        <process-instance-id>5</process-instance-id>
        <work-item-id>5</work-item-id>
        <container-id>myContainer</container-id>
        <start-date>2016-04-05T09:40:39.773+02:00</start-date>
        <node-id>_D3E17247-1D94-47D8-93AD-D645E317B736</node-id>
        <node-type>HumanTaskNode</node-type>
        <node-connection>_B8F3E49D-2C7A-4056-BF49-C61987044DB4</node-connection>
        <node-completed>false</node-completed>
    </node-instance>
    <node-instance>
        <node-instance-id>0</node-instance-id>
        <node-name> </node-name>
        <process-instance-id>5</process-instance-id>
        <container-id>myContainer</container-id>
        <start-date>2016-04-05T09:40:39.772+02:00</start-date>
        <node-id>_ED165B85-E65D-42A6-B0EF-8A160356271E</node-id>
        <node-type>StartNode</node-type>
        <node-completed>false</node-completed>
    </node-instance>
</node-instance-list>

[GET] processes/instances/{processInstanceId}/wi-nodes/instances/{workItemId}

Returns node instances for the specified work item in the specified process instance.

[GET] processes/instances/{processInstanceId}/variables/instances

Returns current variable values of the specified process instance.

Server Response

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<variable-instance-list>
    <variable-instance>
        <name>employee</name>
        <old-value></old-value>
        <value>Kartik</value>
        <process-instance-id>5</process-instance-id>
        <modification-date>2016-04-05T09:40:39.771+02:00</modification-date>
    </variable-instance>
    <variable-instance>
        <name>reason</name>
        <old-value></old-value>
        <value>Job Opening</value>
        <process-instance-id>5</process-instance-id>
        <modification-date>2016-04-05T09:40:39.771+02:00</modification-date>
    </variable-instance>
</variable-instance-list>

[GET] processes/instances/{processInstanceId}/variables/instances/{variableName}

Returns the value of the given variable in the specified process instance.

Server Response

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<variable-instance-list>
    <variable-instance>
        <name>employee</name>
        <old-value></old-value>
        <value>Kartik</value>
        <process-instance-id>5</process-instance-id>
        <modification-date>2016-04-05T09:40:39.771+02:00</modification-date>
    </variable-instance>
</variable-instance-list>

Querying Tasks

Use the following entry point: http://SERVER:PORT/kie-server/services/rest/server/queries/. To use pagination, use the page and pageSize parameters. The following list of endpoints contains additional parameters, if applicable:

[GET] tasks/instances/pot-owners

Returns a list of tasks where the actual user is defined as a potential owner.

Additional parameters you can use: status, groups, user.

Note that the user filter is applicable only when the request is sent without authentication.

Server Response

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<task-summary-list>
    <task-summary>
        <task-id>2</task-id>
        <task-name>Self Evaluation</task-name>
        <task-subject></task-subject>
        <task-description>Please perform a self-evalutation.</task-description>
        <task-status>Ready</task-status>
        <task-priority>0</task-priority>
        <task-is-skipable>false</task-is-skipable>
        <task-created-by>Kartik</task-created-by>
        <task-created-on>2016-04-05T15:09:14.206+02:00</task-created-on>
        <task-activation-time>2016-04-05T15:09:14.206+02:00</task-activation-time>
        <task-proc-inst-id>2</task-proc-inst-id>
        <task-proc-def-id>evaluation</task-proc-def-id>
        <task-container-id>myContainer</task-container-id>
        <task-parent-id>-1</task-parent-id>
    </task-summary>
    <task-summary>
        <task-id>1</task-id>
        <task-name>Self Evaluation</task-name>
        <task-subject></task-subject>
        <task-description>Please perform a self-evalutation.</task-description>
        <task-status>InProgress</task-status>
        <task-priority>0</task-priority>
        <task-is-skipable>false</task-is-skipable>
        <task-actual-owner>kiesu</task-actual-owner>
        <task-created-by>Kartik</task-created-by>
        <task-created-on>2016-04-05T15:05:06.508+02:00</task-created-on>
        <task-activation-time>2016-04-05T15:05:06.508+02:00</task-activation-time>
        <task-proc-inst-id>1</task-proc-inst-id>
        <task-proc-def-id>evaluation</task-proc-def-id>
        <task-container-id>myContainer</task-container-id>
        <task-parent-id>-1</task-parent-id>
    </task-summary>
</task-summary-list>

[GET] tasks/instances/admins

Returns a list of tasks assigned to the Business Administrator.

Additional parameters you can use: status, user.

[GET] tasks/instances/owners

Returns a list of tasks that the querying user owns.

Additional parameters you can use: status, user.

Server Response

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<task-summary-list>
    <task-summary>
        <task-id>1</task-id>
        <task-name>Self Evaluation</task-name>
        <task-subject></task-subject>
        <task-description>Please perform a self-evalutation.</task-description>
        <task-status>InProgress</task-status>
        <task-priority>0</task-priority>
        <task-is-skipable>false</task-is-skipable>
        <task-actual-owner>kiesu</task-actual-owner>
        <task-created-by>Kartik</task-created-by>
        <task-created-on>2016-04-05T15:05:06.508+02:00</task-created-on>
        <task-activation-time>2016-04-05T15:05:06.508+02:00</task-activation-time>
        <task-proc-inst-id>1</task-proc-inst-id>
        <task-proc-def-id>evaluation</task-proc-def-id>
        <task-container-id>myContainer</task-container-id>
        <task-parent-id>-1</task-parent-id>
    </task-summary>
</task-summary-list>

[GET] tasks/instances

Returns a list of instances available for the querying user.

Additional parameters you can use: user.

[GET] tasks/instances/{taskInstanceId}/events

Returns a list of events for the specified task instance.

Server Response

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<task-event-instance-list>
    <task-event-instance>
        <task-event-id>1</task-event-id>
        <task-id>1</task-id>
        <task-event-type>ADDED</task-event-type>
        <task-event-user>evaluation</task-event-user>
        <task-event-date>2016-04-05T15:05:06.655+02:00</task-event-date>
        <task-process-instance-id>1</task-process-instance-id>
        <task-work-item-id>1</task-work-item-id>
    </task-event-instance>
    <task-event-instance>
        <task-event-id>1</task-event-id>
        <task-id>1</task-id>
        <task-event-type>STARTED</task-event-type>
        <task-event-user>kiesu</task-event-user>
        <task-event-date>2016-04-05T15:13:35.062+02:00</task-event-date>
        <task-process-instance-id>1</task-process-instance-id>
        <task-work-item-id>1</task-work-item-id>
    </task-event-instance>
</task-event-instance-list>

[GET] tasks/instances/{taskInstanceId}

Returns information about the specified task instance.

Server Response

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<task-instance>
    <task-id>1</task-id>
    <task-priority>0</task-priority>
    <task-name>Self Evaluation</task-name>
    <task-description>Please perform a self-evalutation.</task-description>
    <task-status>InProgress</task-status>
    <task-actual-owner>kiesu</task-actual-owner>
    <task-created-by>Kartik</task-created-by>
    <task-created-on>2016-04-05T15:05:06.508+02:00</task-created-on>
    <task-activation-time>2016-04-05T15:05:06.508+02:00</task-activation-time>
    <task-process-instance-id>1</task-process-instance-id>
    <task-process-id>evaluation</task-process-id>
    <task-container-id>myContainer</task-container-id>
</task-instance>

[GET] tasks/instances/workitem/{workItemId}

Returns a list of task instances that use the specified work item.

[GET] tasks/instances/process/{processInstanceId}

Returns a list of tasks attached to the specified process instance.

Additional parameters you can use: status.

Server Response

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<task-summary-list>
    <task-summary>
        <task-id>1</task-id>
        <task-name>Self Evaluation</task-name>
        <task-subject></task-subject>
        <task-description>Please perform a self-evalutation.</task-description>
        <task-status>InProgress</task-status>
        <task-priority>0</task-priority>
        <task-is-skipable>false</task-is-skipable>
        <task-actual-owner>kiesu</task-actual-owner>
        <task-created-by>Kartik</task-created-by>
        <task-created-on>2016-04-05T15:05:06.508+02:00</task-created-on>
        <task-activation-time>2016-04-05T15:05:06.508+02:00</task-activation-time>
        <task-proc-inst-id>1</task-proc-inst-id>
        <task-proc-def-id>evaluation</task-proc-def-id>
        <task-container-id>myContainer</task-container-id>
        <task-parent-id>-1</task-parent-id>
    </task-summary>
</task-summary-list>

[GET] tasks/instances/variables/{varName}

Returns a list of tasks that use the specified variable.

Aditional parameters you can use: varValue, status, user.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<task-summary-list>
    <task-summary>
        <task-id>1</task-id>
        <task-name>Self Evaluation</task-name>
        <task-subject>Please perform a self-evalutation.</task-subject>
        <task-description>Please perform a self-evalutation.</task-description>
        <task-status>Ready</task-status>
        <task-priority>0</task-priority>
        <task-is-skipable>false</task-is-skipable>
        <task-created-by>Kartik</task-created-by>
        <task-created-on>2016-04-07T13:40:32.181+02:00</task-created-on>
        <task-activation-time>2016-04-07T13:40:32.181+02:00</task-activation-time>
        <task-proc-inst-id>1</task-proc-inst-id>
        <task-proc-def-id>evaluation</task-proc-def-id>
        <task-container-id>myContainer</task-container-id>
        <task-parent-id>-1</task-parent-id>
    </task-summary>
</task-summary-list>

Advanced Queries for the Intelligent Process Server

The Intelligent Process Server supports the following commands through the REST API. For more information about advanced queries for the Intelligent Process Server, see the section called “Advanced Queries with QueryService”. For more information about using advanced queries in the Java Client API, see the section called “QueryDefinition for Intelligent Process Server Using Java Client API”.

Use the following entry point: http://SERVER:PORT/kie-server/services/rest/server/queries/definitions.

For endpoints that include {mapperId}, you can use following default mappers:

org.jbpm.kie.services.impl.query.mapper.ProcessInstanceQueryMapper

registered with name - ProcessInstances

org.jbpm.kie.services.impl.query.mapper.ProcessInstanceWithVarsQueryMapper

registered with name - ProcessInstancesWithVariables

org.jbpm.kie.services.impl.query.mapper.ProcessInstanceWithCustomVarsQueryMapper

registered with name - ProcessInstancesWithCustomVariables

org.jbpm.kie.services.impl.query.mapper.UserTaskInstanceQueryMapper

registered with name - UserTasks

org.jbpm.kie.services.impl.query.mapper.UserTaskInstanceWithVarsQueryMapper

registered with name - UserTasksWithVariables

org.jbpm.kie.services.impl.query.mapper.UserTaskInstanceWithCustomVarsQueryMapper

registered with name - UserTasksWithCustomVariables

org.jbpm.kie.services.impl.query.mapper.TaskSummaryQueryMapper

registered with name - TaskSummaries

org.jbpm.kie.services.impl.query.mapper.RawListQueryMapper

registered with name - RawList

Advanced Queries Endpoints

[GET] /

Returns query definitions.

[GET] /{queryName}

Returns information about the specified query.

[POST] /{queryName}

Registers a query definition.

Request Body

 {
	  "query-name" : "getAllTaskInstancesWithCustomVariables1",
	  "query-source" : "java:jboss/datasources/ExampleDS",
	  "query-expression" : "select ti.*,  c.country, c.productCode, c.quantity, c.price, c.saleDate from AuditTaskImpl ti     inner join (select mv.map_var_id, mv.taskid from MappedVariable mv) mv       on (mv.taskid = ti.taskId)     inner join ProductSale c       on (c.id = mv.map_var_id)",
	  "query-target" : "CUSTOM"

	}

[PUT] /{queryName}

This endpoint updates a query definition.

Request Body

 {
	 "query-name" : "getAllTaskInstancesWithCustomVariables1",
	 "query-source" : "java:jboss/datasources/ExampleDS",
	 "query-expression" : "select ti.*,  c.country, c.productCode, c.quantity, c.price, c.saleDate from AuditTaskImpl ti     inner join (select mv.map_var_id, mv.taskid from MappedVariable mv) mv       on (mv.taskid = ti.taskId)     inner join ProductSale c       on (c.id = mv.map_var_id)",
	 "query-target" : "CUSTOM"

	}

[DELETE] /{queryName}

This endpoint deletes a query.

[GET] /{queryName}/data?mapper={mapperId}

This endpoint queries tasks with no filtering. You can use either default or custom mappers.

[POST] /{queryName}/filtered-data?mapper={mapperId}

This endpoint queries tasks with filters specified in the request body.

Request Body

 {
	  "order-by" : "saleDate, country",
	  "order-asc" : false,
	  "query-params" : [ {
	    "cond-column" : "processInstanceId",
	    "cond-operator" : "BETWEEN",
	    "cond-values" : [ 1000, 2000 ]
	  }, {
	    "cond-column" : "price",
	    "cond-operator" : "GREATER_THAN",
	    "cond-values" : [ 800 ]
	  }, {
	    "cond-column" : "saleDate",
	    "cond-operator" : "BETWEEN",
	    "cond-values" : [ {"java.util.Date":1454281200000}, {"java.util.Date":1456786800000} ]
	  }, {
	    "cond-column" : "productCode",
	    "cond-operator" : "IN",
	    "cond-values" : [ "EAP", "WILDFLY" ]
	  } ],
	  "result-column-mapping" : {
	    "PRICE" : "double",
	    "PRODUCTCODE" : "string",
	    "COUNTRY" : "string",
	    "SALEDATE" : "date",
	    "QUANTITY" : "integer"
	  }
	}

[POST] /{queryName}/filtered-data?mapper={mapperId}&builder={builderId}

This endpoint queries tasks with QueryParamBuilder. Pass the QueryParamBuilder variables in the request body.

Request Body

 {
	  "min" : 10,
	  "max" : 20
	}

To use advanced queries through the REST API:

Change into a directory of your choice and create an XML file with your query definition. For example:

<query-definition>
    <query-name>getAllTasks</query-name>
    <query-source>java:jboss/datasources/ExampleDS</query-source>
    <query-expression>select * from Task t</query-expression>
    <query-target>TASK</query-target>
</query-definition>

Send a POST request to register your query definition. For example:

$ curl -X POST -u 'kieserver:kieserver1!' -H 'Content-type: application/xml' --data @queryDefinition.xml 'http://localhost:8080/kie-server/services/rest/server/queries/definitions/getAllTasks'

To get the results of the query execution, send a GET request to queries/definitions/getAllTasks/data. For example:

 curl -u 'kieserver:kieserver1!' -H 'Accept: application/xml' 'http://localhost:8080/kie-server/services/rest/server/queries/definitions/getAllTasks/data?mapper=UserTasks&orderBy=&page=0&pageSize=100'

Server Response

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<task-instance-list>
    <task-instance>
        <task-priority>0</task-priority>
        <task-name>TEST_HT</task-name>
        <task-description></task-description>
        <task-status>Reserved</task-status>
        <task-created-on>2016-05-14T01:47:42.684-03:00</task-created-on>
        <task-activation-time>2016-05-14T01:47:42.684-03:00</task-activation-time>
        <task-process-instance-id>1</task-process-instance-id>
        <task-process-id>project1.proc_ht</task-process-id>
        <task-container-id>project1</task-container-id>
    </task-instance>
</task-instance-list>

Managing Job Execution

REST API allows you to access information about asynchronous jobs without using the Business Central directly. The Intelligent Process Server exposes a component for executing asynchronous tasks through REST and JMS. The exposed API then offers you an access to:

schedule a new job,

cancel an already scheduled job,

add a failed job to the queue again (giving the relevant jobId),

get a particular job (by its jobId),

query jobs scheduled to execute the same command (given as a parameter),

query jobs scheduled with the same given businessKey,

query jobs with the given status as a parameter.

To control job execution, use the URI http://SERVER_ADDRESS:PORT/kie-server/services/rest/server/jobs.

For example http://localhost:8080/kie-server/services/rest/server/jobs.

Job Execution Endpoints

See the list of available endpoints:

[GET] /

Response type: list of RequestInfoInstance objects

Description: Use this endpoint to query jobs in the server. Moreover, you can specify the parameters page, pageSize, and status; possible values for status are QUEUED, DONE, CANCELLED, ERROR, RETRYING, and RUNNING. Note that these values must be capitalized.

[POST] /

Request type: RequestInfoInstance object

Response type: created jobId

Description: Creates a new job request and returns its ID. It is possible to assign the job to a container by setting containerId.

[GET] /commands/{jobCommandName}

Response type: list of RequestInfoInstance objects

Description: Returns a list of jobs configured to run with the jobCommandName command class.

[GET] /{jobId}

Response type: RequestInfoInstance object

Description: Returns details of a job request with the provided jobId. You can specify the parameters withErrors (boolean) to include errors of an execution and withData to include the data associated with the job.

[DELETE] /{jobId}

Description: Cancels a job with the given jobId. If successful, returns HTTP code 204, otherwise HTTP code 500.

[PUT] /{jobId}

Request type: RequestInfoInstance object

Description: Requests unfinished or failed job request with the given jobId and reassigns it into the job queue.

[GET] /keys/{businessKey}

Response type: list of RequestInfoInstance objects

Description: Returns a list of jobs that match the given businessKey.

Example 16.7. [POST] New Job

Change into a directory of your choice and create a jobRequest.xml file with the following content:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<job-request-instance>
	<job-command>org.jbpm.executor.commands.PrintOutCommand</job-command>
	<scheduled-date>2016-02-11T00:00:00-02:00</scheduled-date>
	<data />
</job-request-instance>

Execute the following command:

$ curl -X POST --data @jobRequest.xml -u 'kieserver:kieserver1!' -H 'content-type: application/xml' 'http://localhost:8080/kie-server/services/rest/server/jobs/'

An example response:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<long-type>
	<value>4</value>
</long-type>

Example 16.8. [GET] List All Jobs

To list all jobs in the JSON format, execute the following command:

$ curl -u 'kieserver:kieserver1!' -H 'Accept: application/json' 'http://localhost:8080/kie-server/services/rest/server/jobs?status=QUEUED&status=DONE&status=CANCELLED&status=ERROR&status=RETRYING&status=RUNNING'

An example response:

{
 "request-info-instance" : [ {
    "request-instance-id"    :  3,
    "request-status"         : "CANCELLED",
    "request-message"        : "Ready to execute",
    "request-retries"        :  3,
    "request-executions"     :  0,
    "request-command"        : "org.jbpm.executor.commands.PrintOutCommand",
    "request-scheduled-date" :  1455156000000
 }, {
    "request-instance-id"    :  2,
    "request-status"         : "QUEUED",
    "request-message"        : "Ready to execute",
    "request-retries"        :  3,
    "request-executions"     :  0,
    "request-command"        : "org.jbpm.executor.commands.PrintOutCommand",
    "request-scheduled-date" :  1454983200000
 }, {
    "request-instance-id"    :  1,
    "request-status"         : "DONE",
    "request-message"        : "Ready to execute",
    "request-retries"        :  3,
    "request-executions"     :  0,
    "request-command"        : "org.jbpm.executor.commands.PrintOutCommand",
    "request-scheduled-date" :  1454918401190
 } ]
}

Chapter 17. The REST API for Intelligent Process Server Administration

This section provides information about the Rest API for both managed and unmanaged Intelligent Process Server environments. You must set correct HTTP headers for the servers. See REST API for Intelligent Process Server Execution section for further information about HTTP headers.

Managed Intelligent Process Server Environment

When you have a managed Intelligent Process Server setup, you need to manage Intelligent Process Server and containers through a controller. Usually, it is done through Business Central, but you may also use Controller REST API.

The controller base URL is provided by business-central war deployment, which is the same as org.kie.server.controller property (for example http://localhost:8080/business-central/rest/controller).

All requests require basic HTTP Authentication or token-based authentication for the role kie-server.

[GET] /management/servers

Returns a list of Intelligent Process Server templates.

Example Server Response

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<server-template-list>
    <server-template>
        <server-id>demo</server-id>
        <server-name>demo</server-name>
        <container-specs>
            <container-id>hr</container-id>
            <container-name>hr</container-name>
            <server-template-key>
                <server-id>demo</server-id>
            </server-template-key>
            <release-id>
                <artifact-id>HR</artifact-id>
                <group-id>org.jbpm</group-id>
                <version>1.0</version>
            </release-id>
            <configs>
                <entry>
                    <key>RULE</key>
                    <value xsi:type="ruleConfig" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
                        <scanner-status>STOPPED</scanner-status>
                    </value>
                </entry>
                <entry>
                    <key>PROCESS</key>
                    <value xsi:type="processConfig" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
                        <strategy>Singleton</strategy>
                        <kie-base-name></kie-base-name>
                        <kie-session-name></kie-session-name>
                        <merge-mode>Merge Collections</merge-mode>
                    </value>
                </entry>
            </configs>
            <status>STARTED</status>
        </container-specs>
        <configs/>
        <server-instances>
            <server-instance-id>demo@localhost:8230</server-instance-id>
            <server-name>demo@localhost:8230</server-name>
            <server-template-id>demo</server-template-id>
            <server-url>http://localhost:8230/kie-server/services/rest/server</server-url>
        </server-instances>
        <capabilities>RULE</capabilities>
        <capabilities>PROCESS</capabilities>
        <capabilities>PLANNING</capabilities>
    </server-template>
</server-template-list>

[GET] /management/servers/{id}

Returns an Intelligent Process Server template.

Server Response

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<server-template-details>
    <server-id>product-demo</server-id>
    <server-name>product-demo</server-name>
    <container-specs>
        <container-id>hr</container-id>
        <container-name>hr</container-name>
        <server-template-key>
            <server-id>demo</server-id>
        </server-template-key>
        <release-id>
            <artifact-id>HR</artifact-id>
            <group-id>org.jbpm</group-id>
            <version>1.0</version>
        </release-id>
        <configs>
            <entry>
                <key>RULE</key>
                <value xsi:type="ruleConfig" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
                    <scanner-status>STOPPED</scanner-status>
                </value>
            </entry>
            <entry>
                <key>PROCESS</key>
                <value xsi:type="processConfig" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
                    <strategy>Singleton</strategy>
                    <kie-base-name></kie-base-name>
                    <kie-session-name></kie-session-name>
                    <merge-mode>Merge Collections</merge-mode>
                </value>
            </entry>
        </configs>
        <status>STARTED</status>
    </container-specs>
    <configs/>
    <server-instances>
        <server-instance-id>demo@localhost:8230</server-instance-id>
        <server-name>demo@localhost:8230</server-name>
        <server-template-id>demo</server-template-id>
        <server-url>http://localhost:8230/kie-server/services/rest/server</server-url>
    </server-instances>
    <capabilities>RULE</capabilities>
    <capabilities>PROCESS</capabilities>
    <capabilities>PLANNING</capabilities>
</server-template-details>

[PUT] /management/servers/{id}

Creates a new Intelligent Process Server template with the specified id.

Example Request to Create a New Intelligent Process Server Instance

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<server-template-details>
    <server-id>test-demo</server-id>
    <server-name>test-demo</server-name>
    <configs/>
    <capabilities>RULE</capabilities>
    <capabilities>PROCESS</capabilities>
    <capabilities>PLANNING</capabilities>
</server-template-details>

[DELETE] /management/servers/{id}

Deletes an Intelligent Process Server template with the specified id.

[GET] /management/servers/{id}/containers

Returns all containers on given server.

Server Response

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<container-spec-list>
    <container-spec>
        <container-id>hr</container-id>
        <container-name>hr</container-name>
        <server-template-key>
            <server-id>demo</server-id>
        </server-template-key>
        <release-id>
            <artifact-id>HR</artifact-id>
            <group-id>org.jbpm</group-id>
            <version>1.0</version>
        </release-id>
        <configs>
            <entry>
                <key>RULE</key>
                <value xsi:type="ruleConfig" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
                    <scanner-status>STOPPED</scanner-status>
                </value>
            </entry>
            <entry>
                <key>PROCESS</key>
                <value xsi:type="processConfig" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
                    <strategy>Singleton</strategy>
                    <kie-base-name></kie-base-name>
                    <kie-session-name></kie-session-name>
                    <merge-mode>Merge Collections</merge-mode>
                </value>
            </entry>
        </configs>
        <status>STARTED</status>
    </container-spec>
</container-spec-list>

[GET] /management/servers/{id}/containers/{containerId}

Returns the container information including its release id and configuration.

Server Response

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<container-spec-details>
    <container-id>hr</container-id>
    <container-name>hr</container-name>
    <server-template-key>
        <server-id>demo</server-id>
    </server-template-key>
    <release-id>
        <artifact-id>HR</artifact-id>
        <group-id>org.jbpm</group-id>
        <version>1.0</version>
    </release-id>
    <configs>
        <entry>
            <key>PROCESS</key>
            <value xsi:type="processConfig" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
                <strategy>Singleton</strategy>
                <kie-base-name></kie-base-name>
                <kie-session-name></kie-session-name>
                <merge-mode>Merge Collections</merge-mode>
            </value>
        </entry>
        <entry>
            <key>RULE</key>
            <value xsi:type="ruleConfig" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
                <scanner-status>STOPPED</scanner-status>
            </value>
        </entry>
    </configs>
    <status>STARTED</status>
</container-spec-details>

[PUT] /management/servers/{id}/containers/{containerId}

Creates a new container with the specified containerId, release id and configuration.

Server Request

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<container-spec-details>
    <container-id>hr</container-id>
    <container-name>hr</container-name>
    <server-template-key>
        <server-id>demo</server-id>
    </server-template-key>
    <release-id>
        <artifact-id>HR</artifact-id>
        <group-id>org.jbpm</group-id>
        <version>1.0</version>
    </release-id>
    <configs>
        <entry>
            <key>PROCESS</key>
            <value xsi:type="processConfig" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
                <strategy>Singleton</strategy>
                <kie-base-name></kie-base-name>
                <kie-session-name></kie-session-name>
                <merge-mode>Merge Collections</merge-mode>
            </value>
        </entry>
        <entry>
            <key>RULE</key>
            <value xsi:type="ruleConfig" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
                <scanner-status>STOPPED</scanner-status>
            </value>
        </entry>
    </configs>
    <status>STARTED</status>
</container-spec-details>

[DELETE] /management/servers/{id}/containers/{containerId}

Disposes a container with the specified containerId.

[POST] /management/servers/{id}/containers/{containerId}/status/started

Starts the container. No request body required.

[POST] /management/servers/{id}/containers/{containerId}/status/stopped

Stops the Container. No request body required.

Unmanaged Intelligent Process Server Environment

The unmanaged Intelligent Process Server supports commands described in this section through the REST API. Note that before using these commands:

The base URL for these remains as the endpoint defined earlier: http://SERVER:PORT/kie-server/services/rest/server/.

All requests require basic HTTP authentication for the kie-server role.

The commands are as follows:

[GET] /

Returns the execution server information.

Server Response

<response type="SUCCESS" msg="KIE Server info">
  <kie-server-info>
    <version>6.4.0.redhat-1</version>
  </kie-server-info>
</response>

[POST] /config

This POST HTTP method allows you to execute various commands on the execution server at once, for example create-container, list-containers, dispose-container, and call-container. Supported commands are:

GetServerInfoCommand

CreateContainerCommand

GetContainerInfoCommand

ListContainersCommand

DisposeContainerCommand

GetScannerInfoCommand

UpdateScannerCommand

UpdateReleaseIdCommand

CallContainerCommand

DescriptorCommand

GetServerStateCommand

This endpoint accepts a script-like request with a list of commands to be executed in a single invocation. The following example request contains the create-container, call-container, and dispose-container commands:

Sample Request to Create a Container

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<script>
  <create-container>
    <container container-id="command-script-container">
      <release-id>
        <artifact-id>baz</artifact-id>
        <group-id>foo.bar</group-id>
        <version>2.1.0.GA</version>
      </release-id>
    </container>
  </create-container>
  <call-container container-id="command-script-container">
    <payload><?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
      <batch-execution lookup="defaultKieSession">
        <insert out-identifier="message" return-object="true" entry-point="DEFAULT" disconnected="false">
          <object xsi:type="message" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <text>HelloWorld</text>
          </object>
        </insert>
        <fire-all-rules max="-1"/>
      </batch-execution>
    </payload>
  </call-container>
  <dispose-container container-id="command-script-container"/>
</script>

[GET] /containers

Returns a list of containers on the server.

Server Response

<response type="SUCCESS" msg="List of created containers">
  <kie-containers>
    <kie-container container-id="MyProjectContainer" status="STARTED">
      <release-id>
        <artifact-id>Project1</artifact-id>
        <group-id>com.redhat</group-id>
        <version>1.0</version>
      </release-id>
      <resolved-release-id>
        <artifact-id>Project1</artifact-id>
        <group-id>com.redhat</group-id>
        <version>1.0</version>
      </resolved-release-id>
    </kie-container>
  </kie-containers>
</response>

Starting with Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite version 6.4, you can filter the containers by adding any of the following Maven Artifact coordinates to the query:

groupId

artifactId

version

Example 17.1. Filtering Containers by Maven Properties

Issuing the following call lists containers with Group ID org.example, Artifact ID artifact, and version 1.0.0.Final:

curl -u 'kieserver:kieserver1!' -H 'Accept: application/json' 'http://localhost:8080/kie-server/services/rest/server/containers?groupId=org.example&artifactId=artifact&version=1.0.0.Final'

To filter by container status, specify the status attribute. Multiple values are separated with a comma.

Example 17.2. Example Filtering Containers by Status

Issuing the following call lists only failed and stopped containers:

curl -u 'kieserver:kieserver1!' -H 'Accept: application/json' 'http://localhost:8080/kie-server/services/rest/server/containers?status=FAILED,STOPPED'

⁠[GET] /containers/{id}

Returns the status and information about a specified container.

Server Response

⁠<response type="SUCCESS" msg="Info for container MyProjectContainer">
  <kie-container container-id="MyProjectContainer" status="STARTED">
    <release-id>
      <artifact-id>Project1</artifact-id>
      <group-id>com.redhat</group-id>
      <version>1.0</version>
    </release-id>
    <resolved-release-id>
      <artifact-id>Project1</artifact-id>
      <group-id>com.redhat</group-id>
      <version>1.0</version>
    </resolved-release-id>
  </kie-container>
</response>

[PUT] /containers/{id}

Allows you to create a new container on the execution server.

Request to Create a Container

<kie-container container-id="MyRESTContainer">
  <release-id>
    <artifact-id>Project1</artifact-id>
    <group-id>com.redhat</group-id>
    <version>1.0</version>
  </release-id>
</kie-container>

Example Server Response When Creating a Container

<response type="SUCCESS" msg="Container MyRESTContainer successfully deployed with module com.redhat:Project1:1.0">
  <kie-container container-id="MyProjectContainer" status="STARTED">
    <release-id>
      <artifact-id>Project1</artifact-id>
      <group-id>com.redhat</group-id>
      <version>1.0</version>
    </release-id>
    <resolved-release-id>
      <artifact-id>Project1</artifact-id>
      <group-id>com.redhat</group-id>
      <version>1.0</version>
    </resolved-release-id>
  </kie-container>
</response>

[DELETE] /containers/{id}

⁠Disposes of a container specified by the ID.

Server Response Disposing a Container

<response type="SUCCESS" msg="Container MyProjectContainer successfully disposed."/>

[GET] /containers/{id}/release-id

Returns a full release ID for a specified container.

Server Response

⁠<response type="SUCCESS" msg="ReleaseId for container MyProjectContainer">
  <release-id>
    <artifact-id>Project1</artifact-id>
    <group-id>com.redhat</group-id>
    <version>1.0</version>
  </release-id>
</response>

[POST] /containers/{id}/release-id

Allows you to update the release ID of a container.

Sample Server Request

<release-id>
  <artifact-id>Project1</artifact-id>
  <group-id>com.redhat</group-id>
  <version>1.1</version>
</release-id>

The server responds with a success or error message, such as:⁠

Sample Server Response

<response type="SUCCESS" msg="Release id successfully updated.">
  <release-id>
    <artifact-id>Project1</artifact-id>
    <group-id>com.redhat</group-id>
    <version>1.0</version>
  </release-id>
</response>

[GET] /containers/{id}/scanner

Returns information about the scanner for container’s automatic updates.

Server Response

<response type="SUCCESS" msg="Scanner info successfully retrieved">
  <kie-scanner status="DISPOSED"/>
</response>

[POST] /containers/{id}/scanner

Allows you to start or stop a scanner that controls polling for updated container deployments.

Example Server Request to Start the Scanner

<kie-scanner status="STARTED" poll-interval="20"/>

Server Response

<response type="SUCCESS" msg="Kie scanner successfully created.">
  <kie-scanner status="STARTED"/>
</response>

To stop the scanner, replace the status with DISPOSED and remove the poll-interval attribute.

Chapter 18. Intelligent Process Server UI Extension

The Intelligent Process Server is focused on execution and contains no UI for interaction. To simplify creating custom UI, Intelligent Process Server is capable of providing:

Process form structures.

Task form structures.

SVG image of the process definition diagram.

Annotated SVG image of the process definition diagram.

Business Central, the authoring environment, allows users to build assets, such as rules, decision tables, forms, and others. In Business Central, Form Modeler generates forms that are well integrated with process and task variables, and provides binding between the inputs and outputs.

The Intelligent Process Server expects data to be mapped onto correct process and task variables. By generating form structures, you are able to create custom UI that will properly map the input data onto process and task variables.

Using the Intelligent Process Server UI Extension

The Intelligent Process Server UI Extension supports the following commands through the REST API. Note the following before using these commands:

The base URL for these will remain as the endpoint defined earlier (http://_SERVER:PORT/kie-server/services/rest/server/_).

All requests require basic HTTP Authentication for the role kie-server.

You need to enable SVG image storing in order to be able to retrieve it through REST API. To do that, follow these steps:

Change into $SERVER_HOME/standalone/deployments/business-central.war/org.kie.workbench.KIEWebapp/profiles/.

In jbpm.xml, find <storesvgonsave enabled="false"/>.

Change it to <storesvgonsave enabled="true"/>

Restart your server.

Modify your business process and save it. This step is necessary, otherwise you will receive an empty SVG image.

Build and deploy your project.

The default form structure of the Intelligent Process Server is XML. You can change the format to JSON by providing HTTP header Accept: application/json.

Note

Start the process through Intelligent Process Server (for example, through REST API). Otherwise, following endpoints will not work.

[GET] /containers/{containerID}/forms/processes/{processID}

Server Response

<form id="1634631252">
  <property name="subject" value=""/>
  <property name="name" value="com.sample.evaluation-taskform"/>
  <property name="displayMode" value="default"/>
  <property name="labelMode" value="undefined"/>
  <property name="status" value="0"/>
  <field id="301394101" name="301394101" position="0" type="InputText">
    <property name="fieldRequired" value="true"/>
    <property name="groupWithPrevious" value="false"/>
    <property name="labelCSSClass" value=""/>
    <property name="labelCSSStyle" value=""/>
    <property name="label" value=""/>
    <property name="errorMessage" value=""/>
    <property name="title" value=""/>
    <property name="disabled" value="false"/>
    <property name="readonly" value="false"/>
    <property name="size" value=""/>
    <property name="formula" value=""/>
    <property name="rangeFormula" value=""/>
    <property name="pattern" value=""/>
    <property name="styleclass" value=""/>
    <property name="cssStyle" value=""/>
    <property name="isHTML" value="false"/>
    <property name="hideContent" value="false"/>
    <property name="defaultValueFormula" value=""/>
    <property name="inputBinding" value=""/>
    <property name="outputBinding" value="employee"/>
  </field>
  <field id="1698224711" name="1698224711" position="1" type="InputTextArea">
    <property name="fieldRequired" value="true"/>
    <property name="groupWithPrevious" value="false"/>
    <property name="height" value="3"/>
    <property name="labelCSSClass" value=""/>
    <property name="labelCSSStyle" value=""/>
    <property name="label" value=""/>
    <property name="errorMessage" value=""/>
    <property name="title" value=""/>
    <property name="disabled" value="false"/>
    <property name="readonly" value="false"/>
    <property name="size" value=""/>
    <property name="formula" value=""/>
    <property name="rangeFormula" value=""/>
    <property name="pattern" value=""/>
    <property name="styleclass" value=""/>
    <property name="cssStyle" value=""/>
    <property name="defaultValueFormula" value=""/>
    <property name="inputBinding" value=""/>
    <property name="outputBinding" value="reason"/>
  </field>
</form>

The XML response maps the following form:

Figure 18.1. Form Mapped to XML

[GET] /containers/{containerID}/forms/tasks/{taskID}

Server Response

<form id="1635016860">
  <property name="name" value="PerformanceEvaluation-taskform"/>
  <property name="displayMode" value="default"/>
  <property name="status" value="0"/>
  <field id="822358072" name="822358072" position="0" type="InputTextArea">
    <property name="fieldRequired" value="false"/>
    <property name="groupWithPrevious" value="false"/>
    <property name="label" value="Reason"/>
    <property name="errorMessage" value=""/>
    <property name="title" value=""/>
    <property name="readonly" value="true"/>
    <property name="inputBinding" value="reason"/>
    <property name="fieldClass" value="java.lang.String"/>
  </field>
  <field id="348604726" name="348604726" position="1" type="InputText">
    <property name="fieldRequired" value="true"/>
    <property name="groupWithPrevious" value="false"/>
    <property name="label" value="Performance"/>
    <property name="errorMessage" value=""/>
    <property name="title" value=""/>
    <property name="readonly" value="false"/>
    <property name="isHTML" value="false"/>
    <property name="hideContent" value="false"/>
    <property name="inputBinding" value="performance"/>
    <property name="outputBinding" value="performance"/>
    <property name="fieldClass" value="java.lang.String"/>
  </field>
  <field id="1048590899" name="initiator" position="2" type="InputText">
    <property name="fieldRequired" value="false"/>
    <property name="label" value="BusinessAdministratorId (initiator)"/>
    <property name="readonly" value="false"/>
    <property name="inputBinding" value="BusinessAdministratorId"/>
    <property name="fieldClass" value="java.lang.String"/>
  </field>
  <dataHolder id="initiator" inputId="BusinessAdministratorId" name="#9BCAFA" outId="" type="basicType" value="java.lang.String"/>
  <dataHolder id="performance" inputId="" name="#BBBBBB" outId="performance" type="basicType" value="java.lang.String"/>
  <dataHolder id="reason" inputId="reason" name="#FF54A7" outId="" type="basicType" value="java.lang.String"/>
</form>

The XML response maps the following form:

Figure 18.2. Form Mapped to XML

[GET] /containers/{containerID}/images/processes/{processID}

Returns an SVG image of the process definition diagram.

Example 18.1. Server Response

[GET] /containers/{containerID}/images/processes/instances/{processInstanceID}

Returns an annotated SVG image of the process definition diagram.

Example 18.2. Server Response

Chapter 19. Intelligent Process Server Java Client API Overview

This section further explains:

Client Configuration

Server Response

Inserting and Executing Commands

Server Capabilities

Containers

Handling Containers

Available Intelligent Process Server Clients

List of Available Business Processes

QueryDefinition

Client Configuration

You need to declare a configuration object and set server communication aspects, such as the protocol (REST or JMS), credentials and the payload format (XStream, JAXB or JSON). For additional example, follow the Hello World project.

Client Configuration

import org.kie.server.api.marshalling.MarshallingFormat;
import org.kie.server.client.KieServicesClient;
import org.kie.server.client.KieServicesConfiguration;
import org.kie.server.client.KieServicesFactory;

public class DecisionServerTest {

  private static final String URL = "http://localhost:8080/kie-server/services/rest/server";
  private static final String USER = "kieserver";
  private static final String PASSWORD = "kieserver1!";

  private static final MarshallingFormat FORMAT = MarshallingFormat.JSON;

  private KieServicesConfiguration conf;
  private KieServicesClient kieServicesClient;

  @Before
  public void initialize() {
    conf = KieServicesFactory.newRestConfiguration(URL, USER, PASSWORD);
    conf.setMarshallingFormat(FORMAT);
    kieServicesClient = KieServicesFactory.newKieServicesClient(conf);
  }
}

JMS Client Configuration

import java.util.Properties;

import javax.jms.ConnectionFactory;
import javax.jms.Queue;
import javax.naming.Context;
import javax.naming.InitialContext;

import org.junit.Test;
import org.kie.server.client.KieServicesClient;
import org.kie.server.client.KieServicesConfiguration;
import org.kie.server.client.KieServicesFactory;

public class DecisionServerTest {

  private static final String REMOTING_URL = new String("remote://localhost:4447");

  private static final String USER = "kieserver";
  private static final String PASSWORD = "kieserver1!";

  private static final String INITIAL_CONTEXT_FACTORY = new String("org.jboss.naming.remote.client.InitialContextFactory");
  private static final String CONNECTION_FACTORY = new String("jms/RemoteConnectionFactory");
  private static final String REQUEST_QUEUE_JNDI = new String("jms/queue/KIE.SERVER.REQUEST");
  private static final String RESPONSE_QUEUE_JNDI = new String("jms/queue/KIE.SERVER.RESPONSE");

  private KieServicesConfiguration conf;
  private KieServicesClient kieServicesClient;

  @Test
  public void testJms() throws Exception {
    final Properties env = new Properties();
    env.put(Context.INITIAL_CONTEXT_FACTORY, INITIAL_CONTEXT_FACTORY);
    env.put(Context.PROVIDER_URL, REMOTING_URL);
    env.put(Context.SECURITY_PRINCIPAL, USER);
    env.put(Context.SECURITY_CREDENTIALS, PASSWORD);
    InitialContext context = new InitialContext(env);

    Queue requestQueue = (Queue) context.lookup(REQUEST_QUEUE_JNDI);
    Queue responseQueue = (Queue) context.lookup(RESPONSE_QUEUE_JNDI);
    ConnectionFactory connectionFactory = (ConnectionFactory) context.lookup(CONNECTION_FACTORY);

    conf = KieServicesFactory.newJMSConfiguration(connectionFactory, requestQueue, responseQueue, USER, PASSWORD);

    kieServicesClient = KieServicesFactory.newKieServicesClient(conf);
  }
}

Note that you must assign the the guest role to the user kieserver. Additionally, you must declare JMS dependency:

<dependency>
  <groupId>org.jboss.as</groupId>
  <artifactId>jboss-as-jms-client-bom</artifactId>
  <version>7.5.7.Final-redhat-3</version>
  <type>pom</type>
</dependency>

JMS Interaction Patterns

Since version 6.4 of Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite, Intelligent Process Server Client integration with JMS has been enhanced by several interaction patterns. Available interaction patterns are:

Request reply: the default option that blocks the client until a response is received, making the JMS integration synchronous. Request reply is not suitable for a JMS transactional delivery.

Fire and forget: an option for one-way integration. Suitable, for example, for notifications invoked by integration with the Intelligent Process Server. Fire and forget is convenient for a transactional JMS delivery. Messages are delivered to the server only if the transaction that invoked the server client was committed successfully.

Asynchronous with callback: with this option, the client is not blocked after sending a message to Intelligent Process Server. Responses can be received asynchronously. This option can be used for the transactional JMS delivery.

You can set the response handlers either globally (when a KieServicesConfiguration is created) or individually on different client instances (such as RuleServiceClient, ProcessServicesClient, and others) during runtime.

Whereas fire and forget and request reply patterns do not require any additional configuration, you need to configure the callback if you use the asynchronous pattern. The Intelligent Process Server client includes a built-in callback (BlockingResponseCallback) that provides support using a blocking queue. The callback is configured to receive a single message at a time by default. Therefore, each client interaction contains a single message (request) and a single response. You can change the size of the queue to make it possible to receive multiple messages.

To create a custom callback, implement the org.kie.server.client.jms.ResponseCallback interface.

Note

Intelligent Process Server client is not thread-safe when switching response handlers. Change of a handler can affect all the threads which are using the same client instance. It is recommended to use separate client instances in case of dynamic changes of the handler. You can maintain a set of clients where each client uses a dedicated response handler. Depending on which handler is required, choose a respective client.

For example, having two clients, the first client (with the fire and forget pattern) can be used for starting processes and the second client (with the request reply pattern) can be used for querying user tasks.

Example 19.1. Global JMS Configuration

InitialContext context = ...;
Queue requestQueue = (Queue) context.lookup("jms/queue/KIE.SERVER.REQUEST");
Queue responseQueue = (Queue) context.lookup("jms/queue/KIE.SERVER.RESPONSE");
ConnectionFactory connectionFactory = (ConnectionFactory) context.lookup("jms/RemoteConnectionFactory");
KieServicesConfiguration jmsConfiguration = KieServicesFactory.newJMSConfiguration(connectionFactory, requestQueue, responseQueue, "user", "password");
// Set your response handler globally here.
jmsConfiguration.setResponseHandler(new FireAndForgetResponseHandler());

Example 19.2. Per Client JMS Configuration

ProcessServiceClient processClient = client.getServicesClient(ProcessServicesClient.class);
// Change response handler for processClient. The other clients are not affected.
processClient.setResponseHandler(new FireAndForgetResponseHandler());

In case you are using asynchronous or fire and forget response handlers, you can turn on JMS transactions in KieServicesConfiguration. If you do so, use a transaction-aware connection factory: XAConnectionFactory.

Warning

JMS transactions are supported only on Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform. JMS transactions are not tested on Oracle WebLogic Server and IBM WebSphere Application Server.

Server Response

Service responses are represented by the org.kie.server.api.model.ServiceResponse<T> object, where T represents the payload type. It has the following attributes:

String message: returns the response message.

ResponseType type: returns either SUCCESS or FAILURE.

T result: returns the requested object.

Example 19.3. Hello World Server Response

import org.kie.server.api.model.ServiceResponse;
import org.kie.server.client.RuleServicesClient;

RuleServicesClient ruleClient = client.getServicesClient(RuleServicesClient.class);
ServiceResponse<String> response = ruleClient.executeCommands(container, batchCommand);
System.out.println(response.getResult());

Note

A service response is retrieved only if you are using the request reply response handler. In case of asynchronous or fire and forget response handlers, all remote calls always return null.

Inserting and Executing Commands

To insert commands, use the org.kie.api.command.KieCommands class. To instantiate the KieCommands class, use org.kie.api.KieServices.get().getCommands(). If you want to add multiple commands, use the BatchExecutionCommand wrapper.

Example 19.4. Inserting and Executing Commands

public void executeCommands() {

  String containerId = "hello";
  System.out.println("== Sending commands to the server ==");
  RuleServicesClient rulesClient = kieServicesClient.getServicesClient(RuleServicesClient.class);
  KieCommands commandsFactory = KieServices.Factory.get().getCommands();

  Command<?> insert = commandsFactory.newInsert("Some String OBJ");
  Command<?> fireAllRules = commandsFactory.newFireAllRules();
  Command<?> batchCommand = commandsFactory.newBatchExecution(Arrays.asList(insert, fireAllRules));

  ServiceResponse<String> executeResponse = rulesClient.executeCommands(containerId, batchCommand);

  if(executeResponse.getType() == ResponseType.SUCCESS) {
    System.out.println("Commands executed with success! Response: ");
    System.out.println(executeResponse.getResult());
  } else {
    System.out.println("Error executing rules. Message: ");
    System.out.println(executeResponse.getMsg());
  }
}

Add the org.drools:drools-compiler dependency into your pom.xml file. See the Supported Components Versions section of Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Installation Guide to add a correct version.

<dependency>
  <groupId>org.drools-redhat</groupId>
  <artifactId>drools-compiler</artifactId>
  <version>6.5.0.Final-redhat-2</version>
</dependency>

Server Capabilities

From version 6.2, Intelligent Process Server supports the business process execution. To find out server capabilities, use the org.kie.server.api.model.KieServerInfo object.

KieServicesClient requires the server capability information to correctly produce service clients (see the section called “Available Intelligent Process Server Clients”). You can specify the capabilities globally in KieServicesConfiguration, otherwise they are automatically retrieved from the server.

Important

Regardless of which response handler is globally specified, KieServicesClient uses synchronous request response handler to retrieve the server capabilities. However, you cannot make synchronous calls when JMS transactions are enabled. To do so, you need to set the server capabilities in KieServicesConfiguration.

Example 19.5. Server Capabilities

public void listCapabilities() {

  KieServerInfo serverInfo = kieServicesClient.getServerInfo().getResult();
  System.out.print("Server capabilities:");

  for (String capability : serverInfo.getCapabilities()) {
    System.out.print(" " + capability);
  }

  System.out.println();
}

Containers

Containers are represented by the org.kie.server.api.model.KieContainerResource object. The list of resources is represented by the org.kie.server.api.model.KieContainerResourceList object.

Example 19.6. Print a List of Containers

public void listContainers() {
    KieContainerResourceList containersList = kieServicesClient.listContainers().getResult();
    List<KieContainerResource> kieContainers = containersList.getContainers();
    System.out.println("Available containers: ");
    for (KieContainerResource container : kieContainers) {
        System.out.println("\t" + container.getContainerId() + " (" + container.getReleaseId() + ")");
    }
}

When obtaining the list of containers, you can optionally filter the result using an instance of the org.kie.server.api.model.KieContainerResourceFilter class, which is passed to the org.kie.server.client.KieServicesClient.listContainers() method.

Example 19.7. Filter Containers in Java Client API

public void listContainersWithFilter() {

    // The following filter will match only containers with the ReleaseId
    // "org.example:container:1.0.0.Final" and status FAILED
    KieContainerResourceFilter filter = new KieContainerResourceFilter.Builder()
            .releaseId("org.example", "container", "1.0.0.Final")
            .status(KieContainerStatus.FAILED)
            .build();

    // using previously created KieServicesClient....
    KieContainerResourceList containersList = kieServicesClient.listContainers(filter).getResult();
    List<KieContainerResource> kieContainers = containersList.getContainers();

    System.out.println("Available containers: ");

    for (KieContainerResource container : kieContainers) {
        System.out.println("\t" + container.getContainerId() + " (" + container.getReleaseId() + ")");
    }
}

Handling Containers

You can use the Intelligent Process Server Java client to create and dispose containers. If you dispose a container, ServiceResponse will be returned with void payload. If you create a container, KieContainerResource object will be returned.

Dispose and Create a Container

public void disposeAndCreateContainer() {
    System.out.println("== Disposing and creating containers ==");
    List<KieContainerResource> kieContainers = kieServicesClient.listContainers().getResult().getContainers();
    if (kieContainers.size() == 0) {
        System.out.println("No containers available...");
        return;
    }
    KieContainerResource container = kieContainers.get(0);
    String containerId = container.getContainerId();
    ServiceResponse<Void> responseDispose = kieServicesClient.disposeContainer(containerId);
    if (responseDispose.getType() == ResponseType.FAILURE) {
        System.out.println("Error disposing " + containerId + ". Message: ");
        System.out.println(responseDispose.getMsg());
        return;
    }
    System.out.println("Success Disposing container " + containerId);
    System.out.println("Trying to recreate the container...");
    ServiceResponse<KieContainerResource> createResponse = kieServicesClient.createContainer(containerId, container);
    if(createResponse.getType() == ResponseType.FAILURE) {
        System.out.println("Error creating " + containerId + ". Message: ");
        System.out.println(responseDispose.getMsg());
        return;
    }
    System.out.println("Container recreated with success!");
}

Note

A conversation between a client and a specific Intelligent Process Server container in a clustered environment is secured by a unique conversationID. The conversationID is transferred using the X-KIE-ConversationId REST header. If you update the container, unset the previous conversationID. Use KieServiesClient.completeConversation() to unset the conversationID for Java API.

Available Intelligent Process Server Clients

KieServicesClient serves also as an entry point for other clients with the ability to perform various operations, such as Red Hat JBoss BRMS commands and manage processes. Following services are available in the org.kie.server.client package:

JobServicesClient is used to schedule, cancel, requeue, and get job requests.

ProcessServicesClient is used to start, signal, and abort processes or work items.

QueryServicesClient is used to query processes, process nodes, and process variables.

RuleServicesClient is used to send commands to the server to perform rule-related operations (for example insert objects into the working memory, fire rules, …​).

UserTaskServicesClient is used to perform all user-task operations (start, claim, cancel a task) and query tasks by specified field (process instances id, user, …​)

The getServicesClient method provides access to any of these clients:

RuleServicesClient rulesClient = kieServicesClient.getServicesClient(RuleServicesClient.class);

List of Available Business Processes

Use QueryClient to list available process definitions. QueryClient methods use pagination, therefore in addition to the query you make, you must provide the current page and the number of results per page. In the provided example, the query starts on page 0 and lists the first 1000 results.

List Processes

public void listProcesses() {
    System.out.println("== Listing Business Processes ==");
    QueryServicesClient queryClient = kieServicesClient.getServicesClient(QueryServicesClient.class);
    List<ProcessDefinition> findProcessesByContainerId = queryClient.findProcessesByContainerId("rewards", 0, 1000);
    for (ProcessDefinition def : findProcessesByContainerId) {
        System.out.println(def.getName() + " - " + def.getId() + " v" + def.getVersion());
    }
}

QueryDefinition for Intelligent Process Server Using Java Client API

QueryDefinition is a feature used to execute advanced queries. For more information about advanced queries, see the section called “Advanced Queries for the Intelligent Process Server”. To register and execute query definitions using the Java Client API, see the following example:

Registering and Executing Query Definitions with QueryServicesClient

// client setup
KieServicesConfiguration conf = KieServicesFactory.newRestConfiguration(SERVER_URL, LOGIN, PASSWORD);
KieServicesClient client = KieServicesFactory.newKieServicesClient(conf);

// get the query services client
QueryServicesClient queryClient = client.getServicesClient(QueryServicesClient.class);

// building the query
QueryDefinition queryDefinition = QueryDefinition.builder().name(QUERY_NAME)
        .expression("select * from Task t")
        .source("java:jboss/datasources/ExampleDS")
        .target("TASK").build();

// two queries cannot have the same name
queryClient.unregisterQuery(QUERY_NAME);

// register the query
queryClient.registerQuery(queryDefinition);

// execute the query with parameters: query name, mapping type (to map the fields to an object), page number, page size and return type
List<TaskInstance> query = queryClient.query(QUERY_NAME, QueryServicesClient.QUERY_MAP_TASK, 0, 100, TaskInstance.class);

// read the result
for (TaskInstance taskInstance : query) {
    System.out.println(taskInstance);
}

Note that target instructs QueryService to apply default filters. Alternatively, you can set filter parameters manually. Target has the following values:

public enum Target {
    PROCESS,
    TASK,
    BA_TASK,
    PO_TASK,
    JOBS,
    CUSTOM;
}

Part V. KIE

Chapter 20. KIE API

The KIE (Knowledge Is Everything) API is all you need to load and execute your processes. To interact with the process engine (for example, to start a process), you need to set up a session. This session is used to communicate with the process engine. A session must have a reference to a knowledge base, which contains a reference to all the relevant process definitions. This knowledge base is used to look up the process definitions whenever necessary. To create a session, you first need to create a knowledge base, load all the necessary process definitions (this can be from various sources, like from classpath, file system, or process repository) and then instantiate a session.

Once you have set up a session, you can use it to start executing processes. Whenever a process is started, a new process instance is created (for that process definition) that maintains the state of that specific instance of the process. For example, imagine you are writing an application to process sales orders. You can then define one or more process definitions that define how the order must be processed. When starting up your application, you first need to create a knowledge base that contains those process definitions. You can then create a session based on this knowledge base so that, whenever a new sales order comes in, a new process instance is started for that sales order. That process instance contains the state of the process for that specific sales request.

A knowledge base can be shared across sessions and usually is only created once, at the start of the application. Knowledge bases can be dynamically changed so that you can add or remove processes at runtime.

You can create sessions based on a knowledge base. These are used to execute processes and interact with the engine. You can create many independent sessions or multiple sessions. For example, if you want all processes from one customer to be completely independent from processes for another customer, you can create an independent session for each customer. At the same time, you may need multiple sessions for scalability reasons. If you do not know what to do, you can start by having one knowledge base that contains all your process definitions and create one session that you then use to execute all your processes.

The Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite project has a clear separation between the API the users interact with and the actual implementation classes. The public API exposes most of the features that users can safely use. Expert users can still access internal classes but must be aware that the internal API may change in the future.

KIE

KIE (Knowledge Is Everything) replaces the knowledge keywords used as a knowledge solution for Red Hat JBoss BRMS and Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite. KIE is also used for the generic parts of unified API such as building, deploying, and loading.

The following lifecycle stages represent different aspects of working with KIE system:

Author

Includes authoring of knowledge using a UI metaphor, such as DRL, BPMN2, decision table, and class models.

Build

Includes building the authored knowledge into deployable units. For KIE, this unit is a JAR.

Test

Includes testing KIE knowledge before it is deployed to the application.

Deploy

Includes deploying the unit to a location where applications may utilize (consume) them. KIE uses Maven style repository.

Utilize

Includes loading of a JAR to provide a KIE session (KieSession), for the application to interact with. KIE exposes the JAR at runtime using a KIE container (KieContainer). KieSessions, for the runtimes to interact with, are created from the KieContainer.

Run

Includes system interaction with the KieSession, using API.

Work

Includes user interaction with the KieSession through command line or UI.

Manage

Includes managing any KieSession or KieContainer.

KIE Framework

KIE Systems

The various aspects, or life cycles, of KIE systems in the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite environment can typically be broken down into the following labels:

Author

Knowledge author using UI metaphors such as DRL, BPMN2, decision tables, and class models.

Build

Builds the authored knowledge into deployable units.

For KIE this unit is a JAR.

Test

Test KIE knowledge before it is deployed to the application.

Deploy

Deploys the unit to a location where applications may use them.

KIE uses Maven style repository.

Utilize

The loading of a JAR to provide a KIE session (KieSession), for which the application can interact with.

KIE exposes the JAR at runtime via a KIE container (KieContainer).

KieSessions, for the runtimes to interact with, are created from the KieContainer.

Run

System interaction with the KieSession, using API.

Work

User interaction with the KieSession, using command line or UI.

Manage

Manage any KieSession or KieContainer.

KieBase

The Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite API enables you to create a knowledge base that includes all the process definitions that may need to be executed by that session. To create a knowledge base, use KieHelper to load processes from various resources (for example, from the class path or from the file system), and then create a new knowledge base from that helper. The following code snippet shows how to create a knowledge base consisting of only one process definition, using a resource from the class path:

KieHelper kHelper = new KieHelper();

KieBase kBase = kieHelper
  .addResource(ResourceFactory.newClassPathResource("MyProcess.bpmn")).build();

This is a manual method that can be used to create a simple knowledge base. It uses KieHelper and ResourceFactory that are a part of the internal APIs org.kie.internal.io.ResourceFactory and org.kie.internal.utils.KieHelper. Using RuntimeManager is a recommended way to create a knowledge base and a knowledge session.

Note

The classes belonging to the internal API (org.kie.internal) are not supported as they are subject to change.

KieBase is a repository of all the application’s knowledge definitions. It contains rules, processes, functions, and type models. KieBase itself does not contain data; instead, sessions are created from KieBase into which data can be inserted, and, ultimately, process instances can be started. Creating KieBase can be quite heavy, whereas session creation is very light; therefore, it is recommended that KieBase be cached where possible to allow for repeated session creation. Accordingly, the caching mechanism is automatically provided by KieContainer.

Table 20.1. KieBase Attributes

Attribute Name
Default Value
Admitted Values
Description

name

none

any

The name which retrieves KieBase from KieContainer. This is the only mandatory attribute.

includes

none

any comma-separated list

A comma-separated list of other KieBases contained in this kmodule. The KieBases' artifacts are included as well.

The KieBases can be contained in multiple kmodules, provided they are declared as dependencies in kmodule's pom.xml.

packages

all

any comma-separated list

By default, all Red Hat JBoss BRMS artifacts (DRLs, DSLs, and so on) under the resources folder are included into KieBase. This attribute enables you to limit the number of compiled artifacts. Only the packages belonging to the list specified in this attribute are compiled.

default

false

true, false

Defines whether a KieBase is the default for a module, and therefore it can be created from KieContainer without passing any name to it. There can be at most one default KieBase in each module.

scope

javax.enterprise.context.ApplicationScoped

A name of an interface in the javax.enterprise.context package representing a valid CDI bean scope.

The CDI bean scope that is set for the CDI bean representing the KieBase, for example ApplicationScoped, SessionScoped, or RequestScoped. See the CDI specification for more information about the CDI scope definition.

The scope can be specified in two ways: for example, as javax.enterprise.context.INTERFACE or just as INTERFACE. The javax.enterprise.context package is added automatically if no package is specified.

equalsBehavior

identity

identity, equality

Defines the behavior of Red Hat JBoss BRMS when a new fact is inserted into the working memory. If set to identity, a new FactHandle is always created unless the same object is already present in the working memory. If set to equality, a new FactHandle is created only if the newly inserted object is not equal, according to its equals() method, to an existing fact.

eventProcessingMode

cloud

cloud, stream

If set to cloud, KieBase treats events as normal facts. If set to stream, temporal reasoning on events is allowed. See the section called “Temporal Operations” for more information.

declarativeAgenda

disabled

disabled, enabled

Disables or enables the declarative agenda. The declarative agenda allows you to use rules to control which other rules can fire and when.

Warning

The declarative agenda is an experimental feature and it is not supported.

KieSession

Once the knowledge base is loaded, create a session to interact with the engine. The session can then be used to start new processes and signal events. The following code snippet shows how to create a session:

KieSession ksession = kbase.newKieSession();

ProcessInstance processInstance = ksession.startProcess("com.sample.MyProcess");

Add the following import statement to get access to the process instance:

import org.kie.api.runtime.process.ProcessRuntime;

KieSession stores and executes runtime data. It is created from KieBase, or, more easily, directly from KieContainer if it has been defined in the kmodule.xml file.

Note

In cases where the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite engine is managed within a Container-Managed Transaction (CMT) environment and the transactions are out of control of the engine, concurrent access to the same session instance may lead to errors. To handle this situation, an interceptor is provided that locks KieSession for a single thread until the transaction completes. This enables to safely use KieSession in a CMT environment.

To enable this interceptor, set the system property org.kie.tx.lock.enabled and the environment entry TRANSACTION_LOCK_ENABLED to true. The default value of these properties is false.

Table 20.2. KieSession Attributes

Attribute Name
Default Value
Admitted Values
Description

name

none

any

A unique name of the KieSession used to fetch KieSession from KieContainer. This is the only mandatory attribute.

type

stateful

stateful, stateless

A session set to stateful allows you to iteratively work with the working memory, while a session set to stateless is used for a one-off execution of rules only.

A stateless session stores a knowledge state. Therefore, a state is changed every time a new fact is added, updated, or deleted, as well as every time a rule is fired. An execution in a stateless session has no information about previous actions, for example rule fires.

default

false

true, false

Defines whether a KieSession is the default one for a module, and therefore it can be created from KieContainer without passing any name to it. There can be at most one default KieSession of each type in a module.

clockType

realtime

realtime, pseudo

Defines whether event time stamps are determined by the system clock or by a pseudo clock controlled by the application. This clock is especially useful for unit testing temporal rules.

beliefSystem

simple

simple, jtms, defeasible

Defines a type of a belief system used by KieSession. A belief system is a truth maintenance system. For more information, see the section called “Truth Maintenance”.

A belief system tries to deduce the truth from knowledge (facts). For example, if a new fact is inserted based on another fact which is later removed from the engine, the system can determine that the newly inserted fact should be removed as well.

The ProcessRuntime Interface

The ProcessRuntime interface defines methods for interacting with processes as shown below.

/**
 * Start a new process instance.  The process (definition) that should
 * be used is referenced by the given process ID.
 *
 * @param processId The ID of the process that should be started
 * @return the ProcessInstance that represents the instance
 * of the process that was started
 */

ProcessInstance startProcess(String processId);

/**
 * Start a new process instance.  The process (definition) that should
 * be used is referenced by the given process id.  Parameters can be passed
 * to the process instance (as name-value pairs), and these will be set
 * as variables of the process instance.
 *
 * @param processId  the ID of the process that should be started
 * @param parameters  the process variables that should be set when
 * starting the process instance
 * @return the ProcessInstance that represents the instance
 * of the process that was started
 */

ProcessInstance startProcess(String processId, Map<String, Object> parameters);

/**
 * Signals the engine that an event has occurred. The type parameter defines
 * which type of event and the event parameter can contain additional information
 * related to the event.  All process instances that are listening to this type
 * of (external) event will be notified.  For performance reasons, this type of event
 * signaling should only be used if one process instance should be able to notify
 * other process instances. For internal event within one process instance, use the
 * signalEvent method that also include the processInstanceId of the process instance
 * in question.
 *
 * @param type the type of event
 * @param event the data associated with this event
 */

void signalEvent(String type, Object event);

/**
 * Signals the process instance that an event has occurred. The type parameter defines
 * which type of event and the event parameter can contain additional information
 * related to the event.  All node instances inside the given process instance that
 * are listening to this type of (internal) event will be notified.  Note that the event
 * will only be processed inside the given process instance.  All other process instances
 * waiting for this type of event will not be notified.
 *
 * @param type the type of event
 * @param event the data associated with this event
 * @param processInstanceId the id of the process instance that should be signaled
 */

void signalEvent(String type, Object event, long processInstanceId);

/**
 * Returns a collection of currently active process instances.  Note that only process
 * instances that are currently loaded and active inside the engine will be returned.
 * When using persistence, it is likely not all running process instances will be loaded
 * as their state will be stored persistently.  It is recommended not to use this
 * method to collect information about the state of your process instances but to use
 * a history log for that purpose.
 *
 * @return a collection of process instances currently active in the session
 */

Collection<ProcessInstance> getProcessInstances();

/**
 * Returns the process instance with the given id.  Note that only active process instances
 * will be returned.  If a process instance has been completed already,
 * this method will return null.
 *
 * @param id the id of the process instance
 * @return the process instance with the given id or null if it cannot be found
 */

ProcessInstance getProcessInstance(long processInstanceId);

/**
 * Aborts the process instance with the given id.  If the process instance has been completed
 * (or aborted), or the process instance cannot be found, this method will throw an
 * IllegalArgumentException.
 *
 * @param id the id of the process instance
 */

void abortProcessInstance(long processInstanceId);

/**
 * Returns the WorkItemManager related to this session.  This can be used to
 * register new WorkItemHandlers or to complete (or abort) WorkItems.
 *
 * @return the WorkItemManager related to this session
 */

WorkItemManager getWorkItemManager();

Event Listeners

The session provides methods for registering and removing listeners. You can use a ProcessEventListener class to listen to process-related events, such as starting or completing a process and entering and leaving a node. An event object provides access to related information, like the process instance and node instance linked to the event. You can use this API to register your own event listeners. Here is a list of methods of the ProcessEventListener class:

public interface ProcessEventListener {

  void beforeProcessStarted( ProcessStartedEvent event );
  void afterProcessStarted( ProcessStartedEvent event );
  void beforeProcessCompleted( ProcessCompletedEvent event );
  void afterProcessCompleted( ProcessCompletedEvent event );
  void beforeNodeTriggered( ProcessNodeTriggeredEvent event );
  void afterNodeTriggered( ProcessNodeTriggeredEvent event );
  void beforeNodeLeft( ProcessNodeLeftEvent event );
  void afterNodeLeft( ProcessNodeLeftEvent event );
  void beforeVariableChanged(ProcessVariableChangedEvent event);
  void afterVariableChanged(ProcessVariableChangedEvent event);
}

You need to add the following import statement to get access to the ProcessEventListener class:

import org.kie.api.event.process.ProcessEventListener;

Before and After Events

The before and after events behave like a stack. It means that any events that occur as a direct result of the previous event, it occurs between the before and the after of that event. For example, if a subsequent node is triggered as result of leaving a node, the node triggered events occur in between the beforeNodeLeftEvent and the afterNodeLeftEvent of the node that is left (as the triggering of the second node is a direct result of leaving the first node). This enables you to derive cause relationships between events more easily. Similarly, all node triggered and node left events that are the direct result of starting a process, occur between the beforeProcessStarted and afterProcessStarted events. In general, if you just want to be notified when a particular event occurs, you must check for the before events only (as they occur immediately before the event actually occurs). If you are only looking at the after events, you may get an impression of events firing in the wrong order. As the after events are triggered as a stack, they only fire when all events that were triggered as a result of this event have already fired. Use the after events only if you want to ensure that all processing related to this has ended. For example, when you want to be notified when starting of a particular process instance has ended.

Not all nodes always generate node triggered or node left events. Depending on the type of node, some nodes might only generate node left events, and others might only generate node triggered events. Catching intermediate events is like generating left events, as they are not really triggered by another node, rather activated from outside. Similarly, throwing intermediate events are not generating left events. They are only generating triggered events, as they are not really left, as they have no outgoing connection.

Correlation Keys

When working with processes, you may require to assign a given process instance some sort of business identifier to reference later without knowing the actual (generated) ID of the process instance. To provide such capabilities, Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite allows you to use CorrelationKey that is composed of CorrelationProperties. CorrelationKey can have either a single property describing it or can be represented as multi valued properties set. The correlation feature, generally used for long running processes, requires you to enable persistence in order to permanently store correlation information. Note that, a CorrelationKey is a unique identifier for an active process instance, and does not get passed on to the subprocesses.

Correlation is usually used with long running processes and thus require persistence to be enabled in order to permanently store correlation information. Correlation capabilities are provided as part of the CorrelationAwareProcessRuntime interface. This interface that exposes following methods:

/**
 * Start a new process instance.  The process (definition) that should
 * be used is referenced by the given process id.  Parameters can be passed
 * to the process instance (as name-value pairs), and these will be set
 * as variables of the process instance.
 *
 * @param processId  the id of the process that should be started
 * @param correlationKey custom correlation key that can be used to identify process instance
 * @param parameters  the process variables that should be set
 *                    when starting the process instance
 * @return the ProcessInstance that represents the instance of the process that was started
 */

ProcessInstance startProcess(String processId, CorrelationKey correlationKey, Map<String, Object> parameters);

/**
 * Creates a new process instance (but does not yet start it).  The process
 * (definition) that should be used is referenced by the given process id.
 * Parameters can be passed to the process instance (as name-value pairs),
 * and these will be set as variables of the process instance.  You should only
 * use this method if you need a reference to the process instance before actually
 * starting it.  Otherwise, use startProcess.
 *
 * @param processId  the id of the process that should be started
 * @param correlationKey custom correlation key that can be used to identify process instance
 * @param parameters  the process variables that should be set
 *                    when creating the process instance
 * @return the ProcessInstance that represents the instance of the process
 *         that was created (but not yet started)
 */

ProcessInstance createProcessInstance(String processId, CorrelationKey correlationKey, Map<String, Object> parameters);

/**
 * Returns the process instance with the given correlationKey.
 * Note that only active process instances will be returned.
 * If a process instance has been completed already, this method will return null.
 *
 * @param correlationKey the custom correlation key assigned
 *                       when process instance was created
 * @return the process instance with the given id or null if it cannot be found
 */

ProcessInstance getProcessInstance(CorrelationKey correlationKey);

Add the following import statement to get access to CorrelationAwareProcessRuntime:

import org.kie.internal.process.CorrelationAwareProcessRuntime;

Threads

Multi-threading can be classified into technical and logical multi-threading. Technical multi-threading occurs when multiple threads or processes are started on a computer. Logical multi-threading occurs in a BPM process, say after a process reaches a parallel gateway. The original process then splits into two processes that are executed in parallel.

The Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite engine supports logical multi-threading. The logical multi-threading is implemented using one thread, which is a Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite process that includes logical multi-threading. This process is executed in only one technical thread. The reason behind this implementation is that multiple technical threads need to be able to communicate state information with each other, if they are working on the same process. While multi-threading provides performance benefits, the extra logic used to ensure the different threads work together well, means that this is not guaranteed. There is an additional overhead of avoiding race conditions and deadlocks.

In general, the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite engine executes actions in serial. For example, when the engine encounters a script task in a process, it synchronously executes that script and waits for it to complete before continuing execution. Similarly, if a process encounters a parallel gateway, it sequentially triggers each of the outgoing branches, one after the other. This is possible since execution is almost always instantaneous. As a result, you may not even notice this. Similarly, action scripts in a process are also synchronously executed, and the engine waits for them to finish before continuing the process. For example, doing a Thread.sleep(…​) as part of a script does not make the engine continue execution elsewhere, but blocks the engine thread during that period. The same principle applies to service tasks. When a service task is reached in a process, the engine invokes the handler of this service synchronously. The engine waits for the completeWorkItem(…​) method to return before continuing execution. It is important that your service handler executes your service asynchronously if its execution is not instantaneous. An example of this is a service task that invokes an external service. Since the delay in invoking this service remotely and waiting for the results may take too long, invoking this service asynchronously is advised. This means that the handler only invokes the service and notifies the engine later when the results are available. In the mean time, the process engine then continues execution of the process.

Human tasks are a typical example of a service that needs to be invoked asynchronously, as the engine does not have to wait until a human actor responds to the request. The human task handler only creates a new task when the human task node is triggered. The engine then is able to continue execution on the rest of the process (if necessary) and the handler notifies the engine asynchronously when the user completes the task.

Partial Correlation Keys

You can create and use a correlation key with single or multiple properties. In case of correlation keys with multiple properties, it is not necessary that you know all parts of the correlation key in order to search for a process instance. Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite allows you to set some properties of the correlation key and get a list of entities that match those properties. That is, you can search for process instances even with partial correlation keys.

For example, consider a scenario when you have a unique identifier customerId per customer where each customer can have many applications (process instances) running simultaneously. Now, in order to retrieve a list of all the currently running applications and choose to continue any one of them, it would be beneficial if you use a correlation key with multiple properties (such as customerId and applicationId) and use only customerId to retrieve the entire list.

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite runtime provides the operations to find single process instance by complete correlation key and many process instances by partial correlation key:

/**
 * Returns active process instance description found for given correlation key
 * if found otherwise null. At the same time it will
 * fetch all active tasks (in status: Ready, Reserved, InProgress) to provide
 * information what user task is keeping instance and who owns them
 * (if were already claimed).
 *
 * @param correlationKey correlation key assigned to process instance
 * @return Process instance information, in the form of
 *         a {@link ProcessInstanceDesc} instance.
 */

ProcessInstanceDesc getProcessInstanceByCorrelationKey(CorrelationKey correlationKey);

/**
 * Returns process instances descriptions (regardless of their states)
 * found for given correlation key if found otherwise empty list.
 * This query uses 'like' to match correlation key so it allows to pass only partial keys,
 * though matching is done based on 'starts with'.
 *
 * @param correlationKey correlation key assigned to process instance
 * @return A list of {@link ProcessInstanceDesc} instances representing the process
 *         instances that match the given correlation key
 */

Collection<ProcessInstanceDesc> getProcessInstancesByCorrelationKey
  (CorrelationKey correlationKey);

KieFileSystem

It is also possible to define the KieBase s and KieSession s belonging to a KieModule programmatically instead of the declarative definition in the kmodule.xml file. The same programmatic API also allows in explicitly adding the file containing the Kie artifacts instead of automatically read them from the resources folder of your project. To do that it is necessary to create a KieFileSystem, a sort of virtual file system, and add all the resources contained in your project to it.

Like all other KIE core components you can obtain an instance of the KieFileSystem from the KieServices. The kmodule.xml configuration file must be added to the filesystem. This is a mandatory step. KIE also provides a convenient fluent API, implemented by the KieModuleModel, to programmatically create this file.

To do this in practice it is necessary to create a KieModuleModel from the KieServices, configure it with the desired KieBase s and KieSession s, convert it in XML and add the XML to the KieFileSystem. This process is shown by the following example:

Example 20.1. Creating kmodule.xml Programmatically and Adding It to KieFileSystem

import org.kie.api.KieServices;
import org.kie.api.builder.model.KieModuleModel;
import org.kie.api.builder.model.KieBaseModel;
import org.kie.api.builder.model.KieSessionModel;
import org.kie.api.builder.KieFileSystem;

KieServices kieServices = KieServices.Factory.get();
KieModuleModel kieModuleModel = kieServices.newKieModuleModel();

KieBaseModel kieBaseModel1 = kieModuleModel.newKieBaseModel("KBase1")
  .setDefault(true)
  .setEqualsBehavior(EqualityBehaviorOption.EQUALITY)
  .setEventProcessingMode(EventProcessingOption.STREAM);

KieSessionModel ksessionModel1 = kieBaseModel1.newKieSessionModel("KSession1")
  .setDefault(true)
  .setType(KieSessionModel.KieSessionType.STATEFUL)
  .setClockType(ClockTypeOption.get("realtime"));

KieFileSystem kfs = kieServices.newKieFileSystem();

At this point it is also necessary to add to the KieFileSystem, through its fluent API, all others KIE artifacts composing your project. These artifacts have to be added in the same position of a corresponding usual Maven project.

KieResources

Example 20.2. Adding Kie Artifacts to KieFileSystem

import org.kie.api.builder.KieFileSystem;

KieFileSystem kfs = ...
kfs.write("src/main/resources/KBase1/ruleSet1.drl", stringContainingAValidDRL)
  .write("src/main/resources/dtable.xls",
    kieServices.getResources().newInputStreamResource(dtableFileStream));

This example shows that it is possible to add the Kie artifacts both as plain Strings and as Resource s. In the latter case the Resource s can be created by the KieResources factory, also provided by the KieServices. The KieResources provides many convenient factory methods to convert an InputStream, a URL, a File, or a String representing a path of your file system to a Resource that can be managed by the KieFileSystem.

Normally the type of a Resource can be inferred from the extension of the name used to add it to the KieFileSystem. However it also possible to not follow the Kie conventions about file extensions and explicitly assign a specific ResourceType to a Resource as shown below:

Example 20.3. Creating and Adding Resource with Explicit Type

import org.kie.api.builder.KieFileSystem;

KieFileSystem kfs = ...
kfs.write("src/main/resources/myDrl.txt",
  kieServices.getResources().newInputStreamResource(drlStream)
    .setResourceType(ResourceType.DRL));

Add all the resources to the KieFileSystem and build it by passing the KieFileSystem to a KieBuilder.

When the contents of a KieFileSystem are successfully built, the resulting KieModule is automatically added to the KieRepository. The KieRepository is a singleton acting as a repository for all the available KieModule s.

Building with Maven

The kmodule

Red Hat JBoss BRMS 6.0 introduces a new configuration and convention approach to building knowledge bases instead of using the programmatic builder approach in 5.X. The builder is still available, as it is used for the tooling integration.

Building now uses Maven and aligns with Maven practices. A KIE project or module is a Maven Java project or module; with an additional metadata file META-INF/kmodule.xml. The kmodule.xml file is the descriptor that selects resources to knowledge bases and configures those knowledge bases and sessions. There is also alternative XML support through Spring and OSGi BluePrints.

While standard Maven can build and package KIE resources, it does not provide validation at build time. There is a Maven plug-in which is recommended to use to get build time validation. The plug-in also generates many classes, making the runtime loading faster.

KIE uses defaults to minimize the amount of configuration, with an empty kmodule.xml being the simplest configuration. There must always be a kmodule.xml file, even if empty, as it is used for discovery of the JAR and its contents.

Maven can use the following commands:

mvn install to deploy a KieModule to the local machine, where all other applications on the local machine use it.

mvn deploy to push the KieModule to a remote Maven repository. Building the application will pull in the KieModule and populate the local Maven repository in the process.

JARs can be deployed in one of two ways. Either added to the class path, like any other JAR in a Maven dependency listing, or they can be dynamically loaded at runtime. KIE will scan the class path to find all the JARs with kmodule.xml in it. Each found JAR is represented by the KieModule interface. The terms class path KieModule and dynamic KieModule are used to refer to the two loading approaches. While dynamic modules supports side by side versioning, class path modules do not. Further once a module is on the class path, no other version may be loaded dynamically.

The kmodule.xml file allows to define and configure one or more KieBases. Additionally, from each KieBase, one or more KieSessions can be created, as shown in the following example. For more information about the KieBase attributes, see the section called “KieBase”. For more information about the KieSession attributes, see the section called “KieSession”.

Example 20.4. Sample kmodule.xml File

<kmodule xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns="http://www.drools.org/xsd/kmodule">
  <kbase name="KBase1" default="true" eventProcessingMode="cloud" equalsBehavior="equality" declarativeAgenda="enabled" packages="org.domain.pkg1">
    <ksession name="KSession1_1" type="stateful" default="true" />
    <ksession name="KSession1_2" type="stateless" default="false" beliefSystem="jtms" />
  </kbase>
  <kbase name="KBase2" default="false" eventProcessingMode="stream" equalsBehavior="equality" declarativeAgenda="enabled" packages="org.domain.pkg2, org.domain.pkg3" includes="KBase1">
    <ksession name="KSession2_1" type="stateful" default="false" clockType="realtime">
      <fileLogger file="debugInfo" threaded="true" interval="10" />
      <workItemHandlers>
        <workItemHandler name="name" type="new org.domain.WorkItemHandler()" />
      </workItemHandlers>
      <listeners>
        <ruleRuntimeEventListener type="org.domain.RuleRuntimeListener" />
        <agendaEventListener type="org.domain.FirstAgendaListener" />
        <agendaEventListener type="org.domain.SecondAgendaListener" />
        <processEventListener type="org.domain.ProcessListener" />
      </listeners>
    </ksession>
  </kbase>
</kmodule>

The example above defines two KieBases. It is possible to instantiate a different number of KieSessions from each KieBase. In this example, two KieSessions are instantiated from the first KieBase, while only one KieSession from the second KieBase.

The kmodule.xml file enables you to specify properties in the <configuration> element:

<kmodule>
  ...
  <configuration>
    <property key="drools.dialect.default" value="java"/>
    ...
  </configuration>
  ...
</kmodule>

See the list of supported properties:

Table 20.3. kmodule Configuration Properties

Key
Description

drools.dialect.default

Sets the default Drools dialect. Possible values are java and mvel.

drools.accumulate.function.FUNCTION

Links a class that implements an accumulate function to a specified function name, which allows to add custom accumulate functions into the engine.

For example:

<property key="drools.accumulate.function.hyperMax" value="org.drools.custom.HyperMaxAccumulate"/>

drools.evaluator.EVALUATION

Links a class that implements an evaluator definition to a specified evaluator name, which allows to add custom evaluators into the engine. Evaluator is similar to a custom operator.

For example:

<property key="drools.evaluator.soundslike" value="org.drools.core.base.evaluators.SoundslikeEvaluatorsDefinition"/>

drools.dump.dir

Sets a path to the Drools dump/log directory.

drools.defaultPackageName

Sets the default package.

drools.parser.processStringEscapes

Sets the String escape function. Possible values are true and false. If set to false, the \n character will not be interpreted as the newline character. The default value is true.

drools.kbuilder.severity.SEVERITY

Sets the severity of problems in a knowledge definition. Possible severities are duplicateRule, duplicateProcess, and duplicateFunction. Possible values are for example ERROR and WARNING. The default value is INFO.

When KieBase is built, it uses this setting for reporting found problems. For example, if there are two function definitions in a DRL file with the same name and the property is set to

<property key="drools.kbuilder.severity.duplicateFunction" value="ERROR"/>

then building KieBase throws en error.

drools.propertySpecific

Sets the property reactivity of the engine. Possible values are DISABLED, ALLOWED, and ALWAYS.

drools.lang.level

Sets the DRL language level. Possible values are DRL5, DRL6, and DRL6_STRICT. The default value is DRL6_STRICT.

For more information about the kmodule.xml file, download the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite 6.4.0 Source Distribution ZIP file from the Red Hat Customer Portal and see the kmodule XML schema (kmodule.xsd) located at FILE_HOME/jboss-bpmsuite-6.4.0.GA-sources/kie-api-parent-6.5.0.Final-redhat-2/kie-api/src/main/resources/org/kie/api/.

Creating KIE Project

A KIE Project has the structure of a normal Maven project with the only peculiarity of including a kmodule.xml file defining in a declaratively way the KieBase s and KieSession s that can be created from it. This file has to be placed in the resources/META-INF folder of the Maven project while all the other Kie artifacts, such as DRL or a Excel files, must be stored in the resources folder or in any other subfolder under it.

Since meaningful defaults have been provided for all configuration aspects, the simplest kmodule.xml file can contain just an empty kmodule tag like the following:

Example 20.5. Empty kmodule.xml File

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<kmodule xmlns="http://www.drools.org/xsd/kmodule"/>

In this way the kmodule will contain one single default KieBase. All KIE assets stored under the resources folder, or any of its subfolders, will be compiled and added to it. To trigger the building of these artifacts it is enough to create a KieContainer for them.

Creating KIE Container

Illustrated below is a simple case example on how to create a KieContainer that reads files built from the classpath:

Example 20.6. Creating KieContainer From Classpath

import org.kie.api.KieServices;
import org.kie.api.runtime.KieContainer;

KieServices kieServices = KieServices.Factory.get();
KieContainer kContainer = kieServices.getKieClasspathContainer();

After defining a kmodule.xml, it is possible to simply retrieve the KieBase s and KieSession s from the KieContainer using their names.

Example 20.7. Retrieving KieBases and KieSessions from KieContainer

import org.kie.api.KieServices;
import org.kie.api.runtime.KieContainer;
import org.kie.api.KieBase;
import org.kie.api.runtime.KieSession;
import org.kie.api.runtime.StatelessKieSession;

KieServices kieServices = KieServices.Factory.get();
KieContainer kContainer = kieServices.getKieClasspathContainer();

KieBase kBase1 = kContainer.getKieBase("KBase1");
KieSession kieSession1 = kContainer.newKieSession("KSession2_1");
StatelessKieSession kieSession2 = kContainer.newStatelessKieSession("KSession2_2");

It has to be noted that since KSession2_1 and KSession2_2 are of two different types (the first is stateful, while the second is stateless) it is necessary to invoke 2 different methods on the KieContainer according to their declared type. If the type of the KieSession requested to the KieContainer doesn’t correspond with the one declared in the kmodule.xml file the KieContainer will throw a RuntimeException. Also since a KieBase and a KieSession have been flagged as default is it possible to get them from the KieContainer without passing any name.

Example 20.8. Retrieving Default KieBases and KieSessions from KieContainer

import org.kie.api.runtime.KieContainer;
import org.kie.api.KieBase;
import org.kie.api.runtime.KieSession;

KieContainer kContainer = ...

KieBase kBase1 = kContainer.getKieBase(); // returns KBase1
KieSession kieSession1 = kContainer.newKieSession(); // returns KSession2_1

Since a KIE project is also a Maven project the groupId, artifactId and version declared in the pom.xml file are used to generate a ReleaseId that uniquely identifies this project inside your application. This allows creation of a new KieContainer from the project by simply passing its ReleaseId to the KieServices.

Example 20.9. Creating KieContainer of Existing Project by ReleaseId

import org.kie.api.KieServices;
import org.kie.api.builder.ReleaseId;
import org.kie.api.runtime.KieContainer;

KieServices kieServices = KieServices.Factory.get();
ReleaseId releaseId = kieServices.newReleaseId("org.acme", "myartifact", "1.0");
KieContainer kieContainer = kieServices.newKieContainer( releaseId );

KieServices

KieServices is the interface from where it possible to access all the KIE building and runtime facilities:

In this way all the Java sources and the Kie resources are compiled and deployed into the KieContainer which makes its contents available for use at runtime.

KIE Plug-in

The KIE plug-in for Maven ensures that artifact resources are validated and pre-compiled. It is recommended that this is used at all times. To use the plug-in, add it to the build section of the Maven pom.xml as shown below:

Example 20.10. Adding KIE Plug-in to Maven pom.xml

<build>
  <plugins>
    <plugin>
      <groupId>org.kie</groupId>
      <artifactId>kie-maven-plugin</artifactId>
      <version>${project.version}</version>
      <extensions>true</extensions>
    </plugin>
  </plugins>
</build>

For the supported Maven artifact version, see Supported Component Versions of the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Installation Guide.

Note

The kie-maven-plugin requires Maven version 3.1.1 or above due to the migration of sonatype-aether to eclipse-aether. Aether implementation on Sonatype is no longer maintained and supported. As the eclipse-aether requires Maven version 3.1.1 or above, the kie-maven-plugin requires it too.

Building a KIE module without the Maven plug-in copies all the resources, as is, into the resulting JAR. When that JAR is loaded by the runtime, it attempts to build all the resources then. If there are compilation issues, it returns a null KieContainer. It also pushes the compilation overhead to the runtime. Hence it is recommended that you must use the Maven plug-in.

Note

For compiling decision tables and processes, appropriate dependencies must be added either to project dependencies (as compile scope) or as plug-in dependencies. For decision tables the dependency is org.drools:drools-decisiontables and for processes org.jbpm:jbpm-bpmn2.

KIE Deployment

KieRepository

When the contents of a KieFileSystem are successfully built, the resulting KieModule is automatically added to the KieRepository. The KieRepository is a singleton acting as a repository for all the available KieModule s.

After this it is possible to create through the KieServices a new KieContainer for that KieModule using its ReleaseId. However, since in this case the KieFileSystem do not contain any pom.xml file (it is possible to add one using the KieFileSystem.writePomXML method), Kie cannot determine the ReleaseId of the KieModule and assign to it a default one. This default ReleaseId can be obtained from the KieRepository and used to identify the KieModule inside the KieRepository itself. The following example shows this whole process.

Example 20.11. Building Contents of KieFileSystem and Creating KieContainer

import org.kie.api.KieServices;
import org.kie.api.KieServices.Factory;
import org.kie.api.builder.KieFileSystem;
import org.kie.api.builder.KieBuilder;
import org.kie.api.runtime.KieContainer;

KieServices kieServices = KieServices.Factory.get();
KieFileSystem kfs = ...
kieServices.newKieBuilder( kfs ).buildAll();
KieContainer kieContainer = kieServices
  .newKieContainer(kieServices.getRepository().getDefaultReleaseId());

At this point it is possible to get KieBase s and create new KieSession s from this KieContainer exactly in the same way as in the case of a KieContainer created directly from the classpath.

It is a best practice to check the compilation results. The KieBuilder reports compilation results of three different severities: ERROR, WARNING and INFO. An ERROR indicates that the compilation of the project failed and in the case no KieModule is produced and nothing is added to the KieRepository. WARNING and INFO results can be ignored, but are available for inspection.

Example 20.12. Checking that Compilation Did Not Produce Any Error

import org.kie.api.builder.KieBuilder;
import org.kie.api.KieServices;

KieBuilder kieBuilder = kieServices.newKieBuilder( kfs ).buildAll();
assertEquals(0, kieBuilder.getResults().getMessages(Message.Level.ERROR).size());

Session Modification

The KieBase is a repository of all the application’s knowledge definitions. It will contain rules, processes, functions, and type models. The KieBase itself does not contain data; instead, sessions are created from the KieBase into which data can be inserted and from which process instances may be started. The KieBase can be obtained from the KieContainer containing the KieModule where the KieBase has been defined.

Sometimes, for instance in a OSGi environment, the KieBase needs to resolve types that are not in the default class loader. In this case it will be necessary to create a KieBaseConfiguration with an additional class loader and pass it to KieContainer when creating a new KieBase from it.

Example 20.13. Creating New KieBase with Custom ClassLoader

import org.kie.api.KieServices;
import org.kie.api.KieServices.Factory;
import org.kie.api.KieBaseConfiguration;
import org.kie.api.KieBase;
import org.kie.api.runtime.KieContainer;

KieServices kieServices = KieServices.Factory.get();
KieBaseConfiguration kbaseConf = kieServices
  .newKieBaseConfiguration( null, MyType.class.getClassLoader());
KieBase kbase = kieContainer.newKieBase(kbaseConf);

The KieBase creates and returns KieSession objects, and it may optionally keep references to those. When KieBase modifications occur those modifications are applied against the data in the sessions. This reference is a weak reference and it is also optional, which is controlled by a boolean flag.

Note

If you are using the WebLogic Server, then you need to be aware of how the WebLogic Server finds and loads application class files at run time. When using a non-exploded WAR deployment, WebLogic packs the contents of WEB-INF/classes into WEB-INF/lib/_wl_cls_gen.jar. So when you use KIE-Spring to create KieBase and KieSession from resources stored under WEB-INF/classes, KIE-Spring fails to locate these resources. For this reason, the recommended deployment method in WebLogic, is to use the exploded archives contained within the product’s ZIP file.

KieScanner

The KieScanner allows continuous monitoring of your Maven repository to check whether a new release of a KIE project has been installed. A new release is deployed in the KieContainer wrapping that project. The use of the KieScanner requires kie-ci.jar to be on the classpath.

A KieScanner can be registered on a KieContainer as in the following example.

Example 20.14. Registering and Starting KieScanner on KieContainer

import org.kie.api.KieServices;
import org.kie.api.builder.ReleaseId;
import org.kie.api.runtime.KieContainer;
import org.kie.api.builder.KieScanner;

...

KieServices kieServices = KieServices.Factory.get();
ReleaseId releaseId = kieServices
  .newReleaseId("org.acme", "myartifact", "1.0-SNAPSHOT");
KieContainer kContainer = kieServices.newKieContainer(releaseId);
KieScanner kScanner = kieServices.newKieScanner(kContainer);

// Start the KieScanner polling the Maven repository every 10 seconds:
kScanner.start(10000L);

In this example the KieScanner is configured to run with a fixed time interval, but it is also possible to run it on demand by invoking the scanNow() method on it. If the KieScanner finds in the Maven repository an updated version of the KIE project used by that KieContainer it automatically downloads the new version and triggers an incremental build of the new project. From this moment all the new KieBase s and KieSession s created from that KieContainer will use the new project version.

Maven Settings

Since KieScanner relies on Maven, Maven should be configured with the correct updatePolicy of always as shown in the following example:

<profile>
  <id>guvnor-m2-repo</id>
  <repositories>
    <repository>
      <id>guvnor-m2-repo</id>
      <name>BRMS Repository</name>
      <url>http://10.10.10.10:8080/business-central/maven2/</url>
      <layout>default</layout>
      <releases>
        <enabled>true</enabled>
        <updatePolicy>always</updatePolicy>
      </releases>
      <snapshots>
        <enabled>true</enabled>
        <updatePolicy>always</updatePolicy>
      </snapshots>
    </repository>
  </repositories>
</profile>

Running in KIE

KieRuntime

The KieRuntime provides methods that are applicable to both rules and processes, such as setting globals and registering channels. Exit point is an obsolete synonym for channel.

Globals in KIE

Globals are named objects that are made visible to the rule engine, but in a way that is fundamentally different from the one for facts: changes in the object backing a global do not trigger reevaluation of rules. Still, globals are useful for providing static information, as an object offering services that are used in the RHS of a rule, or as a means to return objects from the rule engine. When you use a global on the LHS of a rule, make sure it is immutable, or, at least, do not expect changes to have any effect on the behavior of your rules.

A global must be declared in a rules file, and then it needs to be backed up with a Java object.

global java.util.List list

With the Knowledge Base now aware of the global identifier and its type, it is now possible to call ksession.setGlobal() with the global’s name and an object, for any session, to associate the object with the global. Failure to declare the global type and identifier in DRL code will result in an exception being thrown from this call.

List list = new ArrayList();
ksession.setGlobal("list", list);

Make sure to set any global before it is used in the evaluation of a rule. Failure to do so results in a NullPointerException.

Event Packages

The event package provides means to be notified of rule engine events, including rules firing, objects being asserted, and others. This allows separation of logging and auditing activities from the main part of your application (and the rules).

The KieRuntimeEventManager interface is implemented by the KieRuntime which provides two interfaces, RuleRuntimeEventManager and ProcessEventManager. We will only cover the RuleRuntimeEventManager here.

The RuleRuntimeEventManager allows for listeners to be added and removed, so that events for the working memory and the agenda can be listened to.

The following code snippet shows how a simple agenda listener is declared and attached to a session. It will print matches after they have fired.

Example 20.15. Adding AgendaEventListener

import org.kie.api.runtime.process.EventListener;

ksession.addEventListener(new DefaultAgendaEventListener() {

  public void afterMatchFired(AfterMatchFiredEvent event) {
    super.afterMatchFired(event);
    System.out.println(event);
  }

});

Red Hat JBoss BRMS also provides DebugRuleRuntimeEventListener and DebugAgendaEventListener which implement each method with a debug print statement. To print all Working Memory events, you add a listener like this:

Example 20.16. Adding DebugRuleRuntimeEventListener

ksession.addEventListener(new DebugRuleRuntimeEventListener());

All emitted events implement the KieRuntimeEvent interface which can be used to retrieve the actual KnowlegeRuntime the event originated from.

The events currently supported are:

MatchCreatedEvent

MatchCancelledEvent

BeforeMatchFiredEvent

AfterMatchFiredEvent

AgendaGroupPushedEvent

AgendaGroupPoppedEvent

ObjectInsertEvent

ObjectDeletedEvent

ObjectUpdatedEvent

ProcessCompletedEvent

ProcessNodeLeftEvent

ProcessNodeTriggeredEvent

ProcessStartEvent

Logger Implementations

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite provides a listener for creating an audit log to the console or the a file on the file system. You can use these logs for debugging purposes as it contains all the events occurring at runtime. Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite provides the following logger implementations:

Console logger: This logger writes out all the events to the console. The KieServices provides you a KieRuntimeLogger that you can add to your session. When you create a console logger, pass the knowledge session as an argument.

File logger: This logger writes out all the events to a file using an XML representation. You can use this log file in your IDE to generate a tree-based visualization of the events that occurs during execution. For the file logger, you need to provide name.

Threaded file logger: As a file logger writes the events to disk only when closing the logger or when the number of events in the logger reaches a predefined level, you can not use it when debugging processes at runtime. A threaded file logger writes the events to a file after a specified time interval, making it possible to use the logger to visualize the progress in real-time, while debugging processes. For the threaded file logger, you need to provide the interval (in milliseconds) after which the events must be saved. You must always close the logger at the end of your application.

Here is an example of using FileLogger:

Example 20.17. FileLogger

import org.kie.api.KieServices;
import org.kie.api.logger.KieRuntimeLogger;

...
KieRuntimeLogger logger = KieServices.Factory
  .get().getLoggers().newFileLogger(ksession, "test");

// Add invocations to the process engine here,
// for example ksession.startProcess(processId);

...

logger.close();

The KieRuntimeLogger uses the comprehensive event system in Red Hat JBoss BRMS to create an audit log that can be used to log the execution of an application for later inspection, using tools such as the Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio audit viewer.

CommandExecutor Interface

KIE has the concept of stateful or stateless sessions. Stateful sessions have already been covered, which use the standard KieRuntime, and can be worked with iteratively over time. Stateless is a one-off execution of a KieRuntime with a provided data set. It may return some results, with the session being disposed at the end, prohibiting further iterative interactions. You can think of stateless as treating an engine like a function call with optional return results.

The foundation for this is the CommandExecutor interface, which both the stateful and stateless interfaces extend. This returns an ExecutionResults.

The CommandExecutor allows for commands to be executed on those sessions, the only difference being that the StatelessKieSession executes fireAllRules() at the end before disposing the session. The commands can be created using the CommandExecutor .The Javadocs provide the full list of the allowed commands using the CommandExecutor.

setGlobal and getGlobal are two commands relevant to BRMS.

Set Global calls setGlobal underneath. The optional boolean indicates whether the command should return the global’s value as part of the ExecutionResults. If true it uses the same name as the global name. A String can be used instead of the boolean, if an alternative name is desired.

Example 20.18. Set Global Command

import org.kie.api.runtime.StatelessKieSession;
import org.kie.api.runtime.ExecutionResults;

StatelessKieSession ksession = kbase.newStatelessKieSession();
ExecutionResults bresults = ksession.execute
  (CommandFactory.newSetGlobal("stilton", new Cheese("stilton"), true));
Cheese stilton = bresults.getValue("stilton");

Allows an existing global to be returned. The second optional String argument allows for an alternative return name.

Example 20.19. Get Global Command

import org.kie.api.runtime.StatelessKieSession;
import org.kie.api.runtime.ExecutionResults;

StatelessKieSession ksession = kbase.newStatelessKieSession();
ExecutionResults bresults =
    ksession.execute(CommandFactory.getGlobal("stilton"));
Cheese stilton = bresults.getValue("stilton");

All the above examples execute single commands. The BatchExecution represents a composite command, created from a list of commands. It will iterate over the list and execute each command in turn. This means you can insert some objects, start a process, call fireAllRules and execute a query, all in a single execute(…​) call, which is quite powerful.

The StatelessKieSession will execute fireAllRules() automatically at the end. However the keen-eyed reader probably has already noticed the FireAllRules command and wondered how that works with a StatelessKieSession. The FireAllRules command is allowed, and using it will disable the automatic execution at the end; think of using it as a sort of manual override function.

Any command, in the batch, that has an out identifier set will add its results to the returned ExecutionResults instance.

Example 20.20. BatchExecution Command

import org.kie.api.runtime.StatelessKieSession;
import org.kie.api.runtime.ExecutionResults;

StatelessKieSession ksession = kbase.newStatelessKieSession();

List cmds = new ArrayList();

cmds.add(CommandFactory.newInsertObject(new Cheese("stilton", 1), "stilton"));
cmds.add(CommandFactory.newStartProcess("process cheeses"));
cmds.add(CommandFactory.newQuery("cheeses"));

ExecutionResults bresults = ksession.execute(CommandFactory.newBatchExecution(cmds));
Cheese stilton = (Cheese) bresults.getValue("stilton");
QueryResults qresults = (QueryResults) bresults.getValue("cheeses");

In the above example multiple commands are executed, two of which populate the ExecutionResults. The query command defaults to use the same identifier as the query name, but it can also be mapped to a different identifier.

All commands support XML and jSON marshalling using XStream, as well as JAXB marshalling. This is covered in the Rule Commands, the section called “Available API”.

Available API

XML marshalling and unmarshalling of the Jboss BRMS Commands requires the use of special classes. This section describes these classes.

The following urls show sample script examples for JAXB, XStream and jSON marshalling using:

http://fisheye.jboss.org/browse/JBossRules/trunk/drools-camel/src/test/resources/org/drools/camel/component/jaxb.mvt?r=HEAD

http://fisheye.jboss.org/browse/JBossRules/trunk/drools-camel/src/test/resources/org/drools/camel/component/jaxb.mvt?r=HEAD

http://fisheye.jboss.org/browse/JBossRules/trunk/drools-camel/src/test/resources/org/drools/camel/component/xstream.mvt?r=HEAD

XStream

To use the XStream commands marshaller, you need to use the DroolsHelperProvider to obtain an XStream instance. It is required because it has the commands converters registered. Also ensure that the drools-compiler library is present on the classpath.

Marshalling

BatchExecutionHelper.newXStreamMarshaller().toXML(command);

Unmarshalling

BatchExecutionHelper.newXStreamMarshaller().fromXML(xml);

The fully-qualified class name of the BatchExecutionHelper class is org.kie.internal.runtime.helper.BatchExecutionHelper.

JSON

JSON API to marshalling/unmarshalling is similar to XStream API:

Marshalling

BatchExecutionHelper.newJSonMarshaller().toXML(command);

Unmarshalling

BatchExecutionHelper.newJSonMarshaller().fromXML(xml);

JAXB

There are two options for using JAXB. You can define your model in an XSD file or have a POJO model. In both cases you have to declare your model inside JAXBContext. In order to do this, you need to use Drools Helper classes. Once you have the JAXBContext, you need to create the Unmarshaller/Marshaller as needed.

Using XSD File to Define Model

With your model defined in a XSD file, you need to have a KBase that has your XSD model added as a resource.

To do this, add the XSD file as a XSD ResourceType into the KBase. Finally you can create the JAXBContext using the KBase (created with the KnowledgeBuilder). Ensure that the drools-compiler and jaxb-xjc libraries are present on the classpath.

import org.kie.api.conf.Option;
import org.kie.api.KieBase;

Options xjcOpts = new Options();
xjcOpts.setSchemaLanguage(Language.XMLSCHEMA);
JaxbConfiguration jaxbConfiguration =
  KnowledgeBuilderFactory.newJaxbConfiguration( xjcOpts, "xsd");
kbuilder.add
  (ResourceFactory.newClassPathResource
    ("person.xsd", getClass()), ResourceType.XSD, jaxbConfiguration);
KieBase kbase = kbuilder.newKnowledgeBase();

List<String> classesName = new ArrayList<String>();
classesName.add("org.drools.compiler.test.Person");

JAXBContext jaxbContext = KnowledgeBuilderHelper
  .newJAXBContext(classesName.toArray(new String[classesName.size()]), kbase);

Using POJO model

In this case you need to use DroolsJaxbHelperProviderImpl to create the JAXBContext. This class has two parameters:

classNames: A list with the canonical name of the classes that you want to use in the marshalling/unmarshalling process.

properties: JAXB custom properties.

List<String> classNames = new ArrayList<String>();
classNames.add("org.drools.compiler.test.Person");

JAXBContext jaxbContext = DroolsJaxbHelperProviderImpl
  .createDroolsJaxbContext(classNames, null);
Marshaller marshaller = jaxbContext.createMarshaller();

Ensure that the drools-compiler and jaxb-xjc libraries are present on the classpath. The fully-qualified class name of the DroolsJaxbHelperProviderImpl class is org.drools.compiler.runtime.pipeline.impl.DroolsJaxbHelperProviderImpl.

Supported Red Hat JBoss BRMS Commands

Red Hat JBoss BRMS supports the following list of commands:

BatchExecutionCommand

InsertObjectCommand

RetractCommand

ModifyCommand

GetObjectCommand

InsertElementsCommand

FireAllRulesCommand

StartProcessCommand

SignalEventCommand

CompleteWorkItemCommand

AbortWorkItemCommand

QueryCommand

SetGlobalCommand

GetGlobalCommand

GetObjectsCommand

Note

The code snippets provided in the examples for these commands use a POJO org.drools.compiler.test.Person with the following fields:

name: String

age: Integer

BatchExecutionCommand

The BatchExecutionCommand command contains a list of commands that are sent to the Intelligent Process Server and executed. It has the following attributes:

Table 20.4. BatchExecutionCommand Attributes

Name
Description
Required

lookup

Sets the knowledge session ID on which the commands are going to be executed.

true

commands

List of commands to be executed.

false

Creating BatchExecutionCommand

BatchExecutionCommand command = new BatchExecutionCommand();
command.setLookup("ksession1");

InsertObjectCommand insertObjectCommand = new InsertObjectCommand(new Person("john", 25));
FireAllRulesCommand fireAllRulesCommand = new FireAllRulesCommand();

command.getCommands().add(insertObjectCommand);
command.getCommands().add(fireAllRulesCommand);

XML Output

XStream:

<batch-execution lookup="ksession1">
  <insert>
    <org.drools.compiler.test.Person>
      <name>john</name>
      <age>25</age>
    </org.drools.compiler.test.Person>
  </insert>
  <fire-all-rules/>
</batch-execution>

JSON:

{"batch-execution":{"lookup":"ksession1","commands":[{"insert":{"object":{"org.drools.compiler.test.Person":{"name":"john","age":25}}}},{"fire-all-rules":""}]}}

JAXB:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<batch-execution lookup="ksession1">
  <insert>
    <object xsi:type="person" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
      <age>25</age>
      <name>john</name>
    </object>
  </insert>
  <fire-all-rules max="-1"/>
</batch-execution>

InsertObjectCommand

The InsertObjectCommand command is used to insert an object in the knowledge session. It has the following attributes:

Table 20.5. InsertObjectCommand Attributes

Name
Description
Required

object

The object to be inserted.

true

outIdentifier

ID to identify the FactHandle created in the object insertion and added to the execution results.

false

returnObject

Boolean to establish if the object must be returned in the execution results. Default value is true.

false

entryPoint

Entrypoint for the insertion.

false

Creating InsertObjectCommand

List<Command> cmds = ArrayList<Command>();

Command insertObjectCommand =
  CommandFactory.newInsert(new Person("john", 25), "john", false, null);
cmds.add(insertObjectCommand);

BatchExecutionCommand command = CommandFactory.createBatchExecution(cmds, "ksession1");

XML Output

XStream:

<batch-execution lookup="ksession1">
  <insert out-identifier="john" entry-point="my stream" return-object="false">
    <org.drools.compiler.test.Person>
      <name>john</name>
      <age>25</age>
    </org.drools.compiler.test.Person>
  </insert>
</batch-execution>

JSON:

{"batch-execution":{"lookup":"ksession1","commands":{"insert":{"entry-point":"my stream", "out-identifier":"john","return-object":false,"object":{"org.drools.compiler.test.Person":{"name":"john","age":25}}}}}}

JAXB:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<batch-execution lookup="ksession1">
  <insert out-identifier="john" entry-point="my stream" >
    <object xsi:type="person" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
      <age>25</age>
      <name>john</name>
    </object>
  </insert>
</batch-execution>

RetractCommand

The RetractCommand command is used to retract an object from the knowledge session. It has the following attributes:

Table 20.6. RetractCommand Attributes

Name
Description
Required

handle

The FactHandle associated to the object to be retracted.

true

Creating RetractCommand

There are two ways to create RetractCommand. You can either create the Fact Handle from a string, with the same output result as shown below:

BatchExecutionCommand command = new BatchExecutionCommand();
command.setLookup("ksession1");

RetractCommand retractCommand = new RetractCommand();
retractCommand.setFactHandleFromString("123:234:345:456:567");
command.getCommands().add(retractCommand);

Or set the Fact Handle that you received when the object was inserted, as shown below:

BatchExecutionCommand command = new BatchExecutionCommand();
command.setLookup("ksession1");

RetractCommand retractCommand = new RetractCommand(factHandle);
command.getCommands().add(retractCommand);

XML Output

XStream:

<batch-execution lookup="ksession1">
  <retract fact-handle="0:234:345:456:567"/>
</batch-execution>

JSON:

{"batch-execution":{"lookup":"ksession1","commands":{"retract":{"fact-handle":"0:234:345:456:567"}}}}

JAXB:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<batch-execution lookup="ksession1">
  <retract fact-handle="0:234:345:456:567"/>
</batch-execution>

ModifyCommand

The ModifyCommand command allows you to modify a previously inserted object in the knowledge session. It has the following attributes:

Table 20.7. ModifyCommand Attributes

Name
Description
Required

handle

The FactHandle associated to the object to be retracted.

true

setters

List of setters object’s modifications.

true

Creating ModifyCommand

BatchExecutionCommand command = new BatchExecutionCommand();
command.setLookup("ksession1");

ModifyCommand modifyCommand = new ModifyCommand();
modifyCommand.setFactHandleFromString("123:234:345:456:567");

List<Setter> setters = new ArrayList<Setter>();
setters.add(new SetterImpl("age", "30"));

modifyCommand.setSetters(setters);
command.getCommands().add(modifyCommand);

XML Output

XStream:

<batch-execution lookup="ksession1">
  <modify fact-handle="0:234:345:456:567">
    <set accessor="age" value="30"/>
  </modify>
</batch-execution>

JSON:

{"batch-execution":{"lookup":"ksession1","commands":{"modify":{"fact-handle":"0:234:345:456:567","setters":{"accessor":"age","value":30}}}}}

JAXB:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<batch-execution lookup="ksession1">
  <modify fact-handle="0:234:345:456:567">
    <set value="30" accessor="age"/>
  </modify>
</batch-execution>

GetObjectCommand

The GetObjectCommand command is used to get an object from a knowledge session. It has the following attributes:

Table 20.8. GetObjectCommand Attributes

Name
Description
Required

factHandle

The FactHandle associated to the object to be retracted.

true

outIdentifier

ID to identify the FactHandle created in the object insertion and added to the execution results.

false

Creating GetObjectCommand

BatchExecutionCommand command = new BatchExecutionCommand();
command.setLookup("ksession1");

GetObjectCommand getObjectCommand = new GetObjectCommand();
getObjectCommand.setFactHandleFromString("123:234:345:456:567");
getObjectCommand.setOutIdentifier("john");

command.getCommands().add(getObjectCommand);

XML Output

XStream:

<batch-execution lookup="ksession1">
  <get-object fact-handle="0:234:345:456:567" out-identifier="john"/>
</batch-execution>

JSON:

{"batch-execution":{"lookup":"ksession1","commands":{"get-object":{"fact-handle":"0:234:345:456:567","out-identifier":"john"}}}}

JAXB:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<batch-execution lookup="ksession1">
  <get-object out-identifier="john" fact-handle="0:234:345:456:567"/>
</batch-execution>

InsertElementsCommand

The InsertElementsCommand command is used to insert a list of objects. It has the following attributes:

Table 20.9. InsertElementsCommand Attributes

Name
Description
Required

objects

The list of objects to be inserted on the knowledge session.

true

outIdentifier

ID to identify the FactHandle created in the object insertion and added to the execution results.

false

returnObject

Boolean to establish if the object must be returned in the execution results. Default value: true.

false

entryPoint

Entrypoint for the insertion.

false

Creating InsertElementsCommand

List<Command> cmds = ArrayList<Command>();

List<Object> objects = new ArrayList<Object>();
objects.add(new Person("john", 25));
objects.add(new Person("sarah", 35));

Command insertElementsCommand = CommandFactory.newInsertElements(objects);
cmds.add(insertElementsCommand);

BatchExecutionCommand command = CommandFactory.createBatchExecution(cmds, "ksession1");

XML Output

XStream:

<batch-execution lookup="ksession1">
  <insert-elements>
    <org.drools.compiler.test.Person>
      <name>john</name>
      <age>25</age>
    </org.drools.compiler.test.Person>
    <org.drools.compiler.test.Person>
      <name>sarah</name>
      <age>35</age>
    </org.drools.compiler.test.Person>
  </insert-elements>
</batch-execution>

JSON:

{"batch-execution":{"lookup":"ksession1","commands":{"insert-elements":{"objects":[{"containedObject":{"@class":"org.drools.compiler.test.Person","name":"john","age":25}},{"containedObject":{"@class":"Person","name":"sarah","age":35}}]}}}}

JAXB:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<batch-execution lookup="ksession1">
  <insert-elements return-objects="true">
    <list>
      <element xsi:type="person" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
        <age>25</age>
        <name>john</name>
      </element>
      <element xsi:type="person" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
        <age>35</age>
        <name>sarah</name>
      </element>
    <list>
  </insert-elements>
</batch-execution>

FireAllRulesCommand

The FireAllRulesCommand command is used to allow execution of the rules activations created. It has the following attributes:

Table 20.10. FireAllRulesCommand Attributes

Name
Description
Required

max

The max number of rules activations to be executed. default is -1 and will not put any restriction on execution.

false

outIdentifier

Add the number of rules activations fired on the execution results.

false

agendaFilter

Allow the rules execution using an Agenda Filter.

false

Creating FireAllRulesCommand

BatchExecutionCommand command = new BatchExecutionCommand();
command.setLookup("ksession1");

FireAllRulesCommand fireAllRulesCommand = new FireAllRulesCommand();
fireAllRulesCommand.setMax(10);
fireAllRulesCommand.setOutIdentifier("firedActivations");

command.getCommands().add(fireAllRulesCommand);

XML Output

XStream:

<batch-execution lookup="ksession1">
  <fire-all-rules max="10" out-identifier="firedActivations"/>
</batch-execution>

JSON:

{"batch-execution":{"lookup":"ksession1","commands":{"fire-all-rules":{"max":10,"out-identifier":"firedActivations"}}}}

JAXB:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<batch-execution lookup="ksession1">
  <fire-all-rules out-identifier="firedActivations" max="10"/>
</batch-execution>

StartProcessCommand

The StartProcessCommand command allows you to start a process using the ID. Additionally, you can pass parameters and initial data to be inserted. It has the following attributes:

Table 20.11. StartProcessCommand Attributes

Name
Description
Required

processId

The ID of the process to be started.

true

parameters

A Map <String>, <Object> to pass parameters in the process startup.

false

data

A list of objects to be inserted in the knowledge session before the process startup.

false

Creating StartProcessCommand

BatchExecutionCommand command = new BatchExecutionCommand();
command.setLookup("ksession1");

StartProcessCommand startProcessCommand = new StartProcessCommand();
startProcessCommand.setProcessId("org.drools.task.processOne");

command.getCommands().add(startProcessCommand);

XML Output

XStream:

<batch-execution lookup="ksession1">
  <start-process processId="org.drools.task.processOne"/>
</batch-execution>

JSON:

{"batch-execution":{"lookup":"ksession1","commands":{"start-process":{"process-id":"org.drools.task.processOne"}}}}

JAXB:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<batch-execution lookup="ksession1">
  <start-process processId="org.drools.task.processOne">
    <parameter/>
  </start-process>
</batch-execution>

SignalEventCommand

The SignalEventCommand command is used to send a signal event. It has the following attributes:

Table 20.12. SignalEventCommand Attributes

Name
Description
Required

event-type

The type of the incoming event.

true

processInstanceId

The ID of the process instance to be started.

false

event

The name of the incoming event.

false

Creating SignalEventCommand

BatchExecutionCommand command = new BatchExecutionCommand();
command.setLookup("ksession1");

SignalEventCommand signalEventCommand = new SignalEventCommand();
signalEventCommand.setProcessInstanceId(1001);
signalEventCommand.setEventType("start");
signalEventCommand.setEvent(new Person("john", 25));

command.getCommands().add(signalEventCommand);

XML Output

XStream:

<batch-execution lookup="ksession1">
  <signal-event process-instance-id="1001" event-type="start">
    <org.drools.pipeline.camel.Person>
      <name>john</name>
      <age>25</age>
    </org.drools.pipeline.camel.Person>
  </signal-event>
</batch-execution>

JSON:

{"batch-execution":{"lookup":"ksession1","commands":{"signal-event":{"process-instance-id":1001,"@event-type":"start","event-type":"start","object":{"org.drools.pipeline.camel.Person":{"name":"john","age":25}}}}}}

JAXB:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<batch-execution lookup="ksession1">
  <signal-event event-type="start" process-instance-id="1001">
    <event xsi:type="person" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
      <age>25</age>
      <name>john</name>
    </event>
  </signal-event>
</batch-execution>

CompleteWorkItemCommand

The CompleteWorkItemCommand command allows you to complete a WorkItem. It has the following attributes:

Table 20.13. CompleteWorkItemCommand Attributes

Name
Description
Required

workItemId

The ID of the WorkItem to be completed.

true

results

The result of the WorkItem.

false

Creating CompleteWorkItemCommand

BatchExecutionCommand command = new BatchExecutionCommand();
command.setLookup("ksession1");

CompleteWorkItemCommand completeWorkItemCommand = new CompleteWorkItemCommand();
completeWorkItemCommand.setWorkItemId(1001);
command.getCommands().add(completeWorkItemCommand);

XML Output

XStream:

<batch-execution lookup="ksession1">
  <complete-work-item id="1001"/>
</batch-execution>

JSON:

{"batch-execution":{"lookup":"ksession1","commands":{"complete-work-item":{"id":1001}}}}

JAXB:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<batch-execution lookup="ksession1">
  <complete-work-item id="1001"/>
</batch-execution>

AbortWorkItemCommand

The AbortWorkItemCommand command allows you abort a WorkItem (same as session.getWorkItemManager().abortWorkItem(workItemId)) It has the following attributes:

Table 20.14. AbortWorkItemCommand Attributes

Name
Description
Required

workItemId

The ID of the WorkItem to be completed.

true

Creating AbortWorkItemCommand

BatchExecutionCommand command = new BatchExecutionCommand();
command.setLookup("ksession1");

AbortWorkItemCommand abortWorkItemCommand = new AbortWorkItemCommand();
abortWorkItemCommand.setWorkItemId(1001);

command.getCommands().add(abortWorkItemCommand);

XML Output

XStream:

<batch-execution lookup="ksession1">
  <abort-work-item id="1001"/>
</batch-execution>

JSON:

{"batch-execution":{"lookup":"ksession1","commands":{"abort-work-item":{"id":1001}}}}

JAXB:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<batch-execution lookup="ksession1">
  <abort-work-item id="1001"/>
</batch-execution>

QueryCommand

The QueryCommand command executes a query defined in knowledge base. It has the following attributes:

Table 20.15. QueryCommand Attributes

Name
Description
Required

name

The query name.

true

outIdentifier

The identifier of the query results. The query results are going to be added in the execution results with this identifier.

false

arguments

A list of objects to be passed as a query parameter.

false

Creating QueryCommand

BatchExecutionCommand command = new BatchExecutionCommand();
command.setLookup("ksession1");

QueryCommand queryCommand = new QueryCommand();
queryCommand.setName("persons");
queryCommand.setOutIdentifier("persons");

command.getCommands().add(queryCommand);

XML Output

XStream:

<batch-execution lookup="ksession1">
  <query out-identifier="persons" name="persons"/>
</batch-execution>

JSON:

{"batch-execution":{"lookup":"ksession1","commands":{"query":{"out-identifier":"persons","name":"persons"}}}}

JAXB:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<batch-execution lookup="ksession1">
  <query name="persons" out-identifier="persons"/>
</batch-execution>

SetGlobalCommand

The SetGlobalCommand command allows you to set an object to global state. It has the following attributes:

Table 20.16. SetGlobalCommand Attributes

Name
Description
Required

identifier

The identifier of the global defined in the knowledge base.

true

object

The object to be set into the global.

false

out

A boolean to add, or not, the set global result into the execution results.

false

outIdentifier

The identifier of the global execution result.

false

Creating SetGlobalCommand

BatchExecutionCommand command = new BatchExecutionCommand();
command.setLookup("ksession1");

SetGlobalCommand setGlobalCommand = new SetGlobalCommand();
setGlobalCommand.setIdentifier("helper");
setGlobalCommand.setObject(new Person("kyle", 30));
setGlobalCommand.setOut(true);
setGlobalCommand.setOutIdentifier("output");

command.getCommands().add(setGlobalCommand);

XML Output

XStream:

<batch-execution lookup="ksession1">
  <set-global identifier="helper" out-identifier="output">
    <org.drools.compiler.test.Person>
      <name>kyle</name>
      <age>30</age>
    </org.drools.compiler.test.Person>
  </set-global>
</batch-execution>

JSON:

{"batch-execution":{"lookup":"ksession1","commands":{"set-global":{"identifier":"helper","out-identifier":"output","object":{"org.drools.compiler.test.Person":{"name":"kyle","age":30}}}}}}

JAXB:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<batch-execution lookup="ksession1">
  <set-global out="true" out-identifier="output" identifier="helper">
    <object xsi:type="person" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
      <age>30</age>
      <name>kyle</name>
    </object>
  </set-global>
</batch-execution>

GetGlobalCommand

The GetGlobalCommand command allows you to get a previously defined global object. It has the following attributes:

Table 20.17. GetGlobalCommand Attributes

Name
Description
Required

identifier

The identifier of the global defined in the knowledge base.

true

outIdentifier

The identifier to be used in the execution results.

false

Creating GetGlobalCommand

BatchExecutionCommand command = new BatchExecutionCommand();
command.setLookup("ksession1");

GetGlobalCommand getGlobalCommand = new GetGlobalCommand();
getGlobalCommand.setIdentifier("helper");
getGlobalCommand.setOutIdentifier("helperOutput");

command.getCommands().add(getGlobalCommand);

XML Output

XStream:

<batch-execution lookup="ksession1">
  <get-global identifier="helper" out-identifier="helperOutput"/>
</batch-execution>

JSON:

{"batch-execution":{"lookup":"ksession1","commands":{"get-global":{"identifier":"helper","out-identifier":"helperOutput"}}}}

JAXB:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<batch-execution lookup="ksession1">
  <get-global out-identifier="helperOutput" identifier="helper"/>
</batch-execution>

GetObjectsCommand

The GetObjectsCommand command returns all the objects from the current session as a Collection. It has the following attributes:

Table 20.18. GetObjectsCommand Attributes

Name
Description
Required

objectFilter

An ObjectFilter to filter the objects returned from the current session.

false

outIdentifier

The identifier to be used in the execution results.

false

Creating GetObjectsCommand

BatchExecutionCommand command = new BatchExecutionCommand();
command.setLookup("ksession1");

GetObjectsCommand getObjectsCommand = new GetObjectsCommand();
getObjectsCommand.setOutIdentifier("objects");

command.getCommands().add(getObjectsCommand);

XML Output

XStream:

<batch-execution lookup="ksession1">
  <get-objects out-identifier="objects"/>
</batch-execution>

JSON:

{"batch-execution":{"lookup":"ksession1","commands":{"get-objects":{"out-identifier":"objects"}}}}

JAXB:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<batch-execution lookup="ksession1">
  <get-objects out-identifier="objects"/>
</batch-execution>

KIE Configuration

Build Result Severity

In some cases, it is possible to change the default severity of a type of build result. For instance, when a new rule with the same name of an existing rule is added to a package, the default behavior is to replace the old rule by the new rule and report it as an INFO. This is probably ideal for most use cases, but in some deployments the user might want to prevent the rule update and report it as an error.

Changing the default severity for a result type, configured like any other option in BRMS, can be done by API calls, system properties or configuration files. As of this version, BRMS supports configurable result severity for rule updates and function updates. To configure it using system properties or configuration files, the user has to use the following properties:

Example 20.21. Setting the severity using properties

// Sets the severity of rule updates:
drools.kbuilder.severity.duplicateRule = <INFO|WARNING|ERROR>

// Sets the severity of function updates:
drools.kbuilder.severity.duplicateFunction = <INFO|WARNING|ERROR>

StatelessKieSession

The StatelessKieSession wraps the KieSession, instead of extending it. Its main focus is on the decision service type scenarios. It avoids the need to call dispose(). Stateless sessions do not support iterative insertions and the method call fireAllRules() from Java code; the act of calling execute() is a single-shot method that will internally instantiate a KieSession, add all the user data and execute user commands, call fireAllRules(), and then call dispose(). While the main way to work with this class is via the BatchExecution (a subinterface of Command) as supported by the CommandExecutor interface, two convenience methods are provided for when simple object insertion is all that’s required. The CommandExecutor and BatchExecution are talked about in detail in their own section.

Our simple example shows a stateless session executing a given collection of Java objects using the convenience API. It will iterate the collection, inserting each element in turn.

Example 20.22. Simple StatelessKieSession Execution with Collection

import org.kie.api.runtime.StatelessKieSession;

StatelessKieSession ksession = kbase.newStatelessKieSession();
ksession.execute(collection);

If this was done as a single command it would be as follows:

Example 20.23. Simple StatelessKieSession Execution with InsertElements Command

ksession.execute(CommandFactory.newInsertElements(collection));

If you wanted to insert the collection itself, and the collection’s individual elements, then CommandFactory.newInsert(collection) would do the job.

Methods of the CommandFactory create the supported commands, all of which can be marshalled using XStream and the BatchExecutionHelper. BatchExecutionHelper provides details on the XML format as well as how to use BRMS Pipeline to automate the marshalling of BatchExecution and ExecutionResults.

StatelessKieSession supports globals, scoped in a number of ways. We cover the non-command way first, as commands are scoped to a specific execution call. Globals can be resolved in three ways.

The StatelessKieSession method getGlobals() returns a Globals instance which provides access to the session’s globals. These are shared for all execution calls. Exercise caution regarding mutable globals because execution calls can be executing simultaneously in different threads.

Example 20.24. Session Scoped Global

import org.kie.api.runtime.StatelessKieSession;

StatelessKieSession ksession = kbase.newStatelessKieSession();

// Set a global hbnSession, that can be used for DB interactions in the rules.

ksession.setGlobal("hbnSession", hibernateSession);
// Execute while being able to resolve the "hbnSession" identifier.
ksession.execute(collection);

Using a delegate is another way of global resolution. Assigning a value to a global (with setGlobal(String, Object)) results in the value being stored in an internal collection mapping identifiers to values. Identifiers in this internal collection will have priority over any supplied delegate. Only if an identifier cannot be found in this internal collection, the delegate global (if any) will be used.

The third way of resolving globals is to have execution scoped globals. Here, a Command to set a global is passed to the CommandExecutor.

The CommandExecutor interface also offers the ability to export data through "out" parameters. Inserted facts, globals and query results can all be returned.

Example 20.25. Out Identifiers

import org.kie.api.runtime.ExecutionResults;

// Set up a list of commands:
List cmds = new ArrayList();
cmds.add(CommandFactory.newSetGlobal("list1", new ArrayList(), true));
cmds.add(CommandFactory.newInsert(new Person("jon", 102), "person"));
cmds.add(CommandFactory.newQuery("Get People" "getPeople"));

// Execute the list:
ExecutionResults results = ksession.execute(CommandFactory.newBatchExecution(cmds));

// Retrieve the ArrayList:
results.getValue("list1");
// Retrieve the inserted Person fact:
results.getValue("person");
// Retrieve the query as a QueryResults instance:
results.getValue("Get People");

Marshalling

The KieMarshallers are used to marshal and unmarshal KieSessions.

An instance of the KieMarshallers can be retrieved from the KieServices. A simple example is shown below:

Example 20.26. Simple Marshaller Example

import org.kie.api.runtime.KieSession;
import org.kie.api.KieBase;
import org.kie.api.marshalling.Marshaller;

// ksession is the KieSession
// kbase is the KieBase
ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
Marshaller marshaller = KieServices.Factory.get().getMarshallers().newMarshaller(kbase);
marshaller.marshall( baos, ksession );
baos.close();

However, with marshalling, you will need more flexibility when dealing with referenced user data. To achieve this use the ObjectMarshallingStrategy interface. Two implementations are provided, but users can implement their own. The two supplied strategies are IdentityMarshallingStrategy and SerializeMarshallingStrategy. SerializeMarshallingStrategy is the default, as shown in the example above, and it just calls the Serializable or Externalizable methods on a user instance. IdentityMarshallingStrategy creates an integer id for each user object and stores them in a Map, while the id is written to the stream. When unmarshalling it accesses the IdentityMarshallingStrategy map to retrieve the instance. This means that if you use the IdentityMarshallingStrategy, it is stateful for the life of the Marshaller instance and will create ids and keep references to all objects that it attempts to marshal. Below is the code to use an Identity Marshalling Strategy.

Example 20.27. IdentityMarshallingStrategy

import org.kie.api.marshalling.KieMarshallers;
import org.kie.api.marshalling.ObjectMarshallingStrategy;
import org.kie.api.marshalling.Marshaller;

ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
KieMarshallers kMarshallers = KieServices.Factory.get().getMarshallers()
ObjectMarshallingStrategy oms = kMarshallers.newIdentityMarshallingStrategy()

Marshaller marshaller =
  kMarshallers.newMarshaller(kbase, new ObjectMarshallingStrategy[]{ oms });
marshaller.marshall(baos, ksession);
baos.close();

In most cases, a single strategy is insufficient. For added flexibility, the ObjectMarshallingStrategyAcceptor interface can be used. This Marshaller has a chain of strategies, and while reading or writing a user object it iterates the strategies asking if they accept responsibility for marshalling the user object. One of the provided implementations is ClassFilterAcceptor. This allows strings and wild cards to be used to match class names. The default is ., so in the above example the Identity Marshalling Strategy is used which has a default . acceptor.

Assuming that we want to serialize all classes except for one given package, where we will use identity lookup, we could do the following:

Example 20.28. IdentityMarshallingStrategy with Acceptor

import org.kie.api.marshalling.KieMarshallers;
import org.kie.api.marshalling.ObjectMarshallingStrategy;
import org.kie.api.marshalling.Marshaller;

ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
KieMarshallers kMarshallers = KieServices.Factory.get().getMarshallers()

ObjectMarshallingStrategyAcceptor identityAcceptor =
  kMarshallers.newClassFilterAcceptor(new String[] { "org.domain.pkg1.*" });
ObjectMarshallingStrategy identityStrategy =
  kMarshallers.newIdentityMarshallingStrategy(identityAcceptor);
ObjectMarshallingStrategy sms = kMarshallers.newSerializeMarshallingStrategy();

Marshaller marshaller =
  kMarshallers.newMarshaller
    (kbase, new ObjectMarshallingStrategy[]{ identityStrategy, sms });
marshaller.marshall( baos, ksession );

baos.close();

Note that the acceptance checking order is in the natural order of the supplied elements.

Also note that if you are using scheduled matches (for example some of your rules use timers or calendars) they are marshallable only if, before you use it, you configure your KieSession to use a trackable timer job factory manager as follows:

Example 20.29. Configuring a trackable timer job factory manager

import org.kie.api.runtime.KieSessionConfiguration;
import org.kie.api.KieServices.Factory;
import org.kie.api.runtime.conf.TimerJobFactoryOption;

KieSessionConfiguration ksconf = KieServices.Factory.get().newKieSessionConfiguration();
ksconf.setOption(TimerJobFactoryOption.get("trackable"));
KSession ksession = kbase.newKieSession(ksconf, null);

KIE Persistence

Longterm out of the box persistence with Java Persistence API (JPA) is possible with BRMS. It is necessary to have some implementation of the Java Transaction API (JTA) installed. For development purposes the Bitronix Transaction Manager is suggested, as it’s simple to set up and works embedded, but for production use JBoss Transactions is recommended.

Example 20.30. Simple example using transactions

import org.kie.api.KieServices;
import org.kie.api.runtime.Environment;
import org.kie.api.runtime.EnvironmentName;
import org.kie.api.runtime.KieSessionConfiguration;

KieServices kieServices = KieServices.Factory.get();
Environment env = kieServices.newEnvironment();
env.set(EnvironmentName.ENTITY_MANAGER_FACTORY,
  Persistence.createEntityManagerFactory("emf-name"));
env.set(EnvironmentName.TRANSACTION_MANAGER,
  TransactionManagerServices.getTransactionManager());

// KieSessionConfiguration may be null, and a default will be used:
KieSession ksession =
  kieServices.getStoreServices().newKieSession(kbase, null, env);
int sessionId = ksession.getId();

UserTransaction ut =
  (UserTransaction) new InitialContext().lookup("java:comp/UserTransaction");

ut.begin();
ksession.insert(data1);
ksession.insert(data2);
ksession.startProcess("process1");
ut.commit();

To use a JPA, the Environment must be set with both the EntityManagerFactory and the TransactionManager. If rollback occurs the ksession state is also rolled back, hence it is possible to continue to use it after a rollback. To load a previously persisted KieSession you’ll need the id, as shown below:

Example 20.31. Loading a KieSession

import org.kie.api.runtime.KieSession;

KieSession ksession =
  kieServices.getStoreServices().loadKieSession(sessionId, kbase, null, env);

To enable persistence several classes must be added to your persistence.xml, as in the example below:

Example 20.32. Configuring JPA

<persistence-unit name="org.drools.persistence.jpa" transaction-type="JTA">
  <provider>org.hibernate.ejb.HibernatePersistence</provider>
  <jta-data-source>jdbc/BitronixJTADataSource</jta-data-source>
  <class>org.drools.persistence.info.SessionInfo</class>
  <class>org.drools.persistence.info.WorkItemInfo</class>
  <properties>
    <property name="hibernate.dialect" value="org.hibernate.dialect.H2Dialect"/>
    <property name="hibernate.max_fetch_depth" value="3"/>
    <property name="hibernate.hbm2ddl.auto" value="update" />
    <property name="hibernate.show_sql" value="true" />
    <property name="hibernate.transaction.manager_lookup_class"
              value="org.hibernate.transaction.BTMTransactionManagerLookup" />
  </properties>
</persistence-unit>

The JDBC JTA data source would have to be configured first. Bitronix provides a number of ways of doing this, and its documentation should be consulted for details. For a quick start, here is the programmatic approach:

Example 20.33. Configuring JTA DataSource

PoolingDataSource ds = new PoolingDataSource();

ds.setUniqueName("jdbc/BitronixJTADataSource");
ds.setClassName("org.h2.jdbcx.JdbcDataSource");
ds.setMaxPoolSize(3);
ds.setAllowLocalTransactions(true);
ds.getDriverProperties().put("user", "sa");
ds.getDriverProperties().put("password", "sasa");
ds.getDriverProperties().put("URL", "jdbc:h2:mem:mydb");
ds.init();

Bitronix also provides a simple embedded JNDI service, ideal for testing. To use it, add a jndi.properties file to your META-INF folder and add the following line to it:

Example 20.34. JNDI Properties

java.naming.factory.initial=bitronix.tm.jndi.BitronixInitialContextFactory

KIE Sessions

Stateless KIE Sessions

A stateless KIE session is a session without inference. A stateless session can be called like a function in that you can use it to pass data and then receive the result back.

Stateless KIE sessions are useful in situations requiring validation, calculation, routing, and filtering.

Configuring Rules in Stateless Session

Create a data model like the driver’s license example below:

public class Applicant {
  private String name;
  private int age;
  private boolean valid;
  // getter and setter methods here
}

Write the first rule. In this example, a rule is added to disqualify any applicant younger than 18:

package com.company.license

rule "Is of valid age"
when
  $a : Applicant(age < 18)
then
  $a.setValid(false);
end

When the Applicant object is inserted into the rule engine, each rule’s constraints evaluate it and search for a match. There is always an implied constraint of "object type" after which there can be any number of explicit field constraints.

$a is a binding variable. It exists to make possible a reference to the matched object in the rule’s consequence (from which place the object’s properties can be updated).

Note

Use of the dollar sign ($) is optional. It helps to differentiate between variable names and field names.

In the Is of valid age rule there are two constraints:

The fact being matched must be of type Applicant.

The value of age must be less than eighteen.

To use this rule, save it in a file with .drl extension (for example, licenseApplication.drl), and store it in a KIE Project. A KIE Project has the structure of a normal Maven project with an additional kmodule.xml file defining the KieBases and KieSessions. Place this file in the resources/META-INF folder of the Maven project. Store all the other artifacts, such as the licenseApplication.drl containing any former rule, in the resources folder or in any other subfolder under it.

Create a KieContainer that reads the files to be built, from the classpath:

KieServices kieServices = KieServices.Factory.get();

KieContainer kContainer = kieServices.getKieClasspathContainer();

This compiles all the rule files found on the classpath and put the result of this compilation, a KieModule, in the KieContainer.

If there are no errors, you can go ahead and create your session from the KieContainer and execute against some data:

StatelessKieSession kSession = kContainer.newStatelessKieSession();

Applicant applicant = new Applicant("Mr John Smith", 16);

assertTrue(applicant.isValid());

ksession.execute(applicant);

assertFalse(applicant.isValid());

Here, since the applicant is under the age of eighteen, their application will be marked as invalid.

Result

The preceding code executes the data against the rules. Since the applicant is under the age of 18, the application is marked as invalid.

Configuring Rules with Multiple Objects

To execute rules against any object-implementing iterable (such as a collection), add another class as shown in the example code below:

public class Applicant {
  private String name;
  private int age;
  // getter and setter methods here
}

public class Application {
  private Date dateApplied;
  private boolean valid;
  // getter and setter methods here
}

In order to check that the application was made within a legitimate time-frame, add this rule:

package com.company.license

rule "Is of valid age"
when
  Applicant(age < 18)
  $a : Application()
then
  $a.setValid(false);
end

rule "Application was made this year"
when
  $a : Application(dateApplied > "01-jan-2009")
then
  $a.setValid(false);
end

Use the JDK converter to implement the iterable interface. This method commences with the line Arrays.asList(…​). The code shown below executes rules against an iterable list. Every collection element is inserted before any matched rules are fired:

StatelessKieSession ksession = kbase.newStatelessKnowledgeSession();
Applicant applicant = new Applicant("Mr John Smith", 16);
Application application = new Application();

assertTrue(application.isValid());
ksession.execute(Arrays.asList(new Object[] { application, applicant }));
assertFalse(application.isValid());

Note

The execute(Object object) and execute(Iterable objects) methods are actually "wrappers" around a further method called execute(Command command) which comes from the BatchExecutor interface.

Use the CommandFactory to create instructions, so that the following is equivalent to execute(Iterable it):

ksession.execute
  (CommandFactory.newInsertIterable(new Object[] { application, applicant }));

Use the BatchExecutor and CommandFactory when working with many different commands or result output identifiers:

List<Command> cmds = new ArrayList<Command>();
cmds.add(CommandFactory.newInsert(new Person("Mr John Smith"), "mrSmith"));
cmds.add(CommandFactory.newInsert(new Person("Mr John Doe"), "mrDoe"));

BatchExecutionResults results = ksession.execute(CommandFactory.newBatchExecution(cmds));
assertEquals(new Person("Mr John Smith"), results.getValue("mrSmith"));

Note

CommandFactory supports many other commands that can be used in the BatchExecutor. Some of these are StartProcess, Query and SetGlobal.

Stateful KIE Sessions

A stateful session allow you to make iterative changes to facts over time. As with the StatelessKnowledgeSession, the StatefulKnowledgeSession supports the BatchExecutor interface. The only difference is the FireAllRules command is not automatically called at the end.

Warning

Ensure that the dispose() method is called after running a stateful session. This is to ensure that there are no memory leaks. This is due to the fact that knowledge bases will obtain references to stateful knowledge sessions when they are created.

Common Use Cases for Stateful Sessions

Monitoring

For example, you can monitor a stock market and automate the buying process.

Diagnostics

Stateful sessions can be used to run fault-finding processes. They could also be used for medical diagnostic processes.

Logistical

For example, they could be applied to problems involving parcel tracking and delivery provisioning.

Ensuring compliance

For example, to validate the legality of market trades.

Stateful Session Monitoring Example

Create a model of what you want to monitor. In this example involving fire alarms, the rooms in a house have been listed. Each has one sprinkler. A fire can start in any of the rooms:

public class Room {
  private String name;
  // getter and setter methods here
}

public class Sprinkler {
  private Room room;
  private boolean on;
  // getter and setter methods here
}

public class Fire {
  private Room room;
  // getter and setter methods here
}

public class Alarm { }

The rules must express the relationships between multiple objects (to define things such as the presence of a sprinkler in a certain room). To do this, use a binding variable as a constraint in a pattern. This results in a cross-product.

Create an instance of the Fire class and insert it into the session.

The rule below adds a binding to Fire object’s room field to constrain matches. This so that only the sprinkler for that room is checked. When this rule fires and the consequence executes, the sprinkler activates:

rule "When there is a fire turn on the sprinkler"
when
  Fire($room : room)
  $sprinkler : Sprinkler(room == $room, on == false)
then
  modify($sprinkler) { setOn(true) };
  System.out.println("Turn on the sprinkler for room "+$room.getName());
end

Whereas the stateless session employed standard Java syntax to modify a field, the rule above uses the modify statement. It acts much like a with statement.

Runtime Manager

The RuntimeManager Interface

The RuntimeManager interface enables and simplifies the usage of knowledge API within the processes. The interface provides configurable strategies that control actual runtime execution. The strategies are as follows:

Singleton: the runtime manager maintains a single KieSession regardless of the number of processes available.

Per Request: the runtime manager delivers a new KieSession for every request.

Per Process Instance: the runtime manager maintains mapping between a process instance and a KieSession and always provides the same KieSession when working with the original process instance.

See the RuntimeManager interface with further comments below:

package org.kie.api.runtime.manager;

public interface RuntimeManager {

  /**
   * Returns a fully initialized RuntimeEngine instance:
   * KieSession is created or loaded depending on the strategy.
   * TaskService is initialized and attached to a ksession
   * (using a listener).
   * WorkItemHandlers are initialized and registered on the ksession.
   * EventListeners (Process, Agenda, WorkingMemory) are initialized
   * and added to the ksession.
   *
   * @param context: a concrete implementation of a context
   *        supported by the given RuntimeManager
   * @return an instance of the RuntimeEngine
   */
  RuntimeEngine getRuntimeEngine(Context<?> context);

  /**
   * A unique identifier of the RuntimeManager.
   */
  String getIdentifier();

  /**
   * Disposes a RuntimeEngine and notifies all the listeners.
   * Always use this method to dispose a RuntimeEngine.
   * Do not use ksession.dispose() with the RuntimeManager
   * as it breaks the internal mechanisms of the manager
   * responsible for a clear and efficient disposal. Do not dispose
   * if a RuntimeEngine was obtained within an active JTA transaction
   * (if the getRuntimeEngine method was invoked during an active
   * JTA transaction, the dispose of the runtime engine happens
   * automatically during the transaction completion).
   *
   * @param runtime
   */
  void disposeRuntimeEngine(RuntimeEngine runtime);

  /**
   * Closes the RuntimeManager and releases its resources.
   * Call every time the runtime manager is not needed anymore, otherwise
   * it will still be active and operational.
   */
  void close();
}

The runtime manager is responsible for managing and delivering instances of RuntimeEngine to the caller. The RuntimeEngine interface contains two important parts of the process engine, KieSession and TaskService:

public interface RuntimeEngine {

  /**
   * Returns KieSession configured for this RuntimeEngine.
   * @return
   */
  KieSession getKieSession();

  /**
   * Returns TaskService configured for this RuntimeEngine.
   * @return
   */
  TaskService getTaskService();
}

Both these components are configured to work with each other without any additional changes from an end user, and it is therefore not required to register a human task handler and keep track of its connection to the service. Regardless of a strategy, the runtime manager provides the same capabilities when initializing and configuring RuntimeEngine:

KieSession is loaded with the same factories, either in memory or JPA-based.

Work item handlers are registered on each KieSession, either loaded from a database or newly created, as well as event listeners: Process, Agenda, and WorkingMemory.

TaskService is configured with:

The JTA transaction manager.

The same entity manager factory as a KieSession.

UserGroupCallback from the environment.

Additionally, the runtime manager provides dedicated methods to dispose RuntimeEngine when it is no longer required to release any resources it might have acquired.

The Runtime Manager Identifier

During runtime execution, the identifier of the runtime manager is deploymentId. If a task is persisted, the identifier of the task is persisted as deploymentId as well. The deploymentId of the task is then used to identify the runtime manager after the task is completed and its process instance is resumed. The deploymentId is also persisted as externalId in a history log.

If the identifier is not specified during a creation of the runtime manager, a default value is used. Therefore, the same deployment is used during the application’s lifecycle. It is possible to maintain multiple runtime managers in one application, however, it is required to specify their identifiers. For example, Deployment Service (see the section called “Deployment Service”) maintains more runtime managers with identifiers based on the kJAR’s GAV. The Business Central web application depends on Deployment Service, so it has multiple runtime managers as well.

The RuntimeEngine Interface

The RuntimeEngine interface provides the following methods access the engine components:

public interface RuntimeEngine {

  /**
   * Returns KieSession configured for this RuntimeEngine.
   */

  KieSession getKieSession();

  /**
   * Returns TaskService configured for this RuntimeEngine.
   */

  TaskService getTaskService();

}

Strategies

Singleton Strategy

This instructs the RuntimeManager to maintain single instance of RuntimeEngine and in turn single instance of KieSession and TaskService. Access to the RuntimeEngine is synchronized and the thread is safe although it comes with a performance penalty due to synchronization. This strategy is similar to what was available by default in JBoss Enterprise BRMS Platform version 5.x and it is considered the easiest strategy and recommended to start with. It has the following characteristics:

Small memory footprint, that is a single instance of runtime engine and task service.

Simple and compact in design and usage.

Good fit for low to medium load on process engine due to synchronized access.

Due to single KieSession instance, all state objects (such as facts) are directly visible to all process instances and vice versa.

Not contextual, that is when retrieving instances of RuntimeEngine from singleton RuntimeManager, Context instance is not important and usually the EmptyContext.get() method is used, although null argument is acceptable as well.

Keeps track of the ID of the KieSession used between RuntimeManager restarts, to ensure it uses the same session. This ID is stored as serialized file on disc in a temporary location that depends on the environment.

Per Request Strategy

This instructs the RuntimeManager to provide new instance of RuntimeEngine for every request. As the RuntimeManager request considers one or more invocations within single transaction. It must return same instance of RuntimeEngine within single transaction to ensure correctness of state as otherwise the operation in one call would not be visible in the other. This is sort of a stateless strategy that provides only request scope state. Once the request is completed, the RuntimeEngine is permanently destroyed. The KieSession informationis thene removed from the database in case you used persistence. It has following characteristics:

Completely isolated process engine and task service operations for every request.

Completely stateless, storing facts makes sense only for the duration of the request.

A good fit for high load, stateless processes (no facts or timers involved that shall be preserved between requests).

KieSession is only available during life time of request and at the end is destroyed

Not contextual, that is when retrieving instances of RuntimeEngine from per request RuntimeManager, Context instance is not important and usually the EmptyContext.get() method is used, although NULL argument is acceptable as well.

Per Process Instance Strategy

This instructs the RuntimeManager to maintain a strict relationship between KieSession and ProcessInstance. That means that the KieSession will be available as long as the ProcessInstance that it belongs to is active. This strategy provides the most flexible approach to use advanced capabilities of the engine like rule evaluation in isolation (for given process instance only). It provides maximum performance and reduction of potential bottlenecks introduced by synchronization. Additionally, it reduces number of KieSessions to the actual number of process instances, rather than number of requests (in contrast to per request strategy). It has the following characteristics:

Most advanced strategy to provide isolation to given process instance only.

Maintains strict relationship between KieSession and ProcessInstance to ensure it will always deliver same KieSession for given ProcessInstance.

Merges life cycle of KieSession with ProcessInstance making both to be disposed on process instance completion (complete or abort).

Allows to maintain data (such as facts, timers) in scope of process instance, that is, only process instance will have access to that data.

Introduces a bit of overhead due to need to look up and load KieSession for process instance.

Validates usage of KieSession, so it can not be used for other process instances. In such cases, an exception is thrown.

Is contextual. It accepts EmptyContext, ProcessInstanceIdContext, and CorrelationKeyContext context instances.

Usage Scenario for RuntimeManager Interface

Regular usage scenario for RuntimeManager is:

At application startup:

Build the RuntimeManager and keep it for entire life time of the application. It is thread safe and you can access it concurrently.

At request:

Get RuntimeEngine from RuntimeManager using proper context instance dedicated to strategy of RuntimeManager.

Get KieSession or TaskService from RuntimeEngine.

Perform operations on KieSession or TaskService such as startProcess and completeTask.

Once done with processing, dispose RuntimeEngine using the RuntimeManager.disposeRuntimeEngine method.

At application shutdown:

Close RuntimeManager.

Note

When the RuntimeEngine is obtained from RuntimeManager within an active JTA transaction, then there is no need to dispose RuntimeEngine at the end, as it automatically disposes the RuntimeEngine on transaction completion (regardless of the completion status commit or rollback).

Building RuntimeManager

Here is how you can build RuntimeManager and get RuntimeEngine (that encapsulates KieSession and TaskService) from it:

// First, configure environment that will be used by RuntimeManager:

RuntimeEnvironment environment = RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder.Factory.get()
  .newDefaultInMemoryBuilder()
  .addAsset(ResourceFactory.newClassPathResource
    ("BPMN2-ScriptTask.bpmn2"), ResourceType.BPMN2)
  .get();

// Next, create RuntimeManager - in this case singleton strategy is chosen:
RuntimeManager manager = RuntimeManagerFactory
  .Factory.get().newSingletonRuntimeManager(environment);

// Then, get RuntimeEngine out of manager - using empty context as singleton
// does not keep track of runtime engine as there is only one:
RuntimeEngine runtime = manager.getRuntimeEngine(EmptyContext.get());

// Get KieSession from runtime runtimeEngine - already initialized with all handlers,
// listeners, and others, that were configured on the environment:
KieSession ksession = runtimeEngine.getKieSession();

// Add invocations to the process engine here,
// for example ksession.startProcess(processId);
// and last dispose the runtime engine:
manager.disposeRuntimeEngine(runtimeEngine);

RuntimeEnvironment Configuration

The complexity of knowing when to create, dispose, and register handlers is taken away from the end user and moved to the runtime manager that knows when and how to perform such operations. But it still allows to have a fine grained control over this process by providing comprehensive configuration of the RuntimeEnvironment.

public interface RuntimeEnvironment {

  /**
   * Returns KieBase that shall be used by the manager.
   */

  KieBase getKieBase();

  /**
   * KieSession environment that shall be used to create instances of KieSession.
   */

  Environment getEnvironment();

  /**
   * KieSession configuration that shall be used to create instances of KieSession.
   */

  KieSessionConfiguration getConfiguration();

  /**
   * Indicates if persistence shall be used for the KieSession instances.
   */

  boolean usePersistence();

  /**
   * Delivers concrete implementation of RegisterableItemsFactory to obtain
   * handlers and listeners that shall be registered on instances of KieSession.
   */

  RegisterableItemsFactory getRegisterableItemsFactory();

  /**
   * Delivers concrete implementation of UserGroupCallback that shall be registered
   * on instances of TaskService for managing users and groups.
   */

  UserGroupCallback getUserGroupCallback();

  /**
   * Delivers custom class loader that shall be used by the process engine
   * and task service instances.
   */

  ClassLoader getClassLoader();

  /**
   * Closes the environment allowing to close all depending components,
   * such as ksession factories, and others.
   */

  void close();
}

Building RuntimeEnvironment

The RuntimeEnvironment interface provides access to the data kept as part of the environment. You can use the builder style class that provides fluent API to configure RuntimeEnvironment with predefined settings:

package org.kie.api.runtime.manager;

public interface RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder {

  public RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder persistence(boolean persistenceEnabled);
  public RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder entityManagerFactory(Object emf);
  public RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder addAsset(Resource asset, ResourceType type);
  public RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder addEnvironmentEntry(String name, Object value);
  public RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder addConfiguration(String name, String value);
  public RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder knowledgeBase(KieBase kbase);
  public RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder userGroupCallback(UserGroupCallback callback);
  public RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder registerableItemsFactory(RegisterableItemsFactory factory);
  public RuntimeEnvironment get();
  public RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder classLoader(ClassLoader cl);
  public RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder schedulerService(Object globalScheduler);

}

You can obtain instances of the RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder through RuntimeEnvironmentBuilderFactory that provides preconfigured sets of builder to simplify and help you build the environment for the RuntimeManager.

public interface RuntimeEnvironmentBuilderFactory {

  /**
   * Provides completely empty RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder instance that allows to manually
   * set all required components instead of relying on any defaults.
   *
   * @return new instance of RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder
   */

  public RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder newEmptyBuilder();

  /**
   * Provides default configuration of RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder that is based on
   * DefaultRuntimeEnvironment.
   *
   * @return new instance of RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder that is already
   *         preconfigured with defaults
   * @see DefaultRuntimeEnvironment
   */

  public RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder newDefaultBuilder();

  /**
   * Provides default configuration of RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder that is based on
   * DefaultRuntimeEnvironment, but it does not have persistence
   * for process engine configured so it will only store process instances in memory.
   *
   * @return new instance of RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder that is already
   *         preconfigured with defaults
   * @see DefaultRuntimeEnvironment
   */

  public RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder newDefaultInMemoryBuilder();

  /**
   * Provides default configuration of RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder that is based on
   * DefaultRuntimeEnvironment.
   * This one is tailored to works smoothly with kJARs as the notion of kbase and ksessions.
   *
   * @param groupId groupid of kjar
   * @param artifactId artifact id of kjar
   * @param version version number of kjar
   * @return new instance of RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder that is already
   *         preconfigured with defaults
   * @see DefaultRuntimeEnvironment
   */

  public RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder newDefaultBuilder(String groupId,
    String artifactId, String version);

  /**
   * Provides default configuration of RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder that is based on
   * DefaultRuntimeEnvironment.
   * This one is tailored to works smoothly with kJARs as the notion of kbase and ksessions.
   *
   * @param groupId group id of kjar
   * @param artifactId artifact id of kjar
   * @param version version number of kjar
   * @param kbaseName name of the kbase defined in kmodule.xml stored in kjar
   * @param ksessionName name of the ksession define in kmodule.xml stored in kjar
   * @return new instance of RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder that is already
   *         preconfigured with defaults
   * @see DefaultRuntimeEnvironment
   */

  public RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder newDefaultBuilder(String groupId, String artifactId,
    String version, String kbaseName, String ksessionName);

  /**
   * Provides default configuration of RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder that is based on
   * DefaultRuntimeEnvironment.
   * This one is tailored to works smoothly with kJARs as the notion of kbase and ksessions.
   *
   * @param releaseId ReleaseId that described the kjar
   * @return new instance of RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder that is already
   *         preconfigured with defaults
   * @see DefaultRuntimeEnvironment
   */

  public RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder newDefaultBuilder(ReleaseId releaseId);

  /**
   * Provides default configuration of RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder that is based on
   * DefaultRuntimeEnvironment.
   * This one is tailored to works smoothly with kJARs as the notion of kbase and ksessions
   *
   * @param releaseId ReleaseId that described the kjar
   * @param kbaseName name of the kbase defined in kmodule.xml stored in kjar
   * @param ksessionName name of the ksession define in kmodule.xml stored in kjar
   * @return new instance of RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder that is already
   *         preconfigured with defaults
   * @see DefaultRuntimeEnvironment
   */

  public RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder newDefaultBuilder(ReleaseId releaseId,
    String kbaseName, String ksessionName);

  /**
   * Provides default configuration of RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder that is based on
   * DefaultRuntimeEnvironment.
   * It relies on KieClasspathContainer that requires to have kmodule.xml present
   * in META-INF folder which defines the kjar itself.
   * Expects to use default kbase and ksession from kmodule.
   *
   * @return new instance of RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder that is already
   *         preconfigured with defaults
   * @see DefaultRuntimeEnvironment
   */

  public RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder newClasspathKmoduleDefaultBuilder();

  /**
   * Provides default configuration of RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder that is based on
   * DefaultRuntimeEnvironment.
   * It relies on KieClasspathContainer that requires to have kmodule.xml
   * present in META-INF folder which defines the kjar itself.
   *
   * @param kbaseName name of the kbase defined in kmodule.xml
   * @param ksessionName name of the ksession define in kmodule.xml
   * @return new instance of RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder that is already
   *         preconfigured with defaults
   * @see DefaultRuntimeEnvironment
   */

  public RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder newClasspathKmoduleDefaultBuilder(String kbaseName,
    String ksessionName);
}

Besides KieSession, Runtime Manager also provides access to TaskService. The default builder comes with predefined set of elements that consists of:

Persistence unit name: It is set to org.jbpm.persistence.jpa (for both process engine and task service).

Human Task handler: This is automatically registered on the KieSession.

JPA based history log event listener: This is automatically registered on the KieSession.

Event listener to trigger rule task evaluation (fireAllRules): This is automatically registered on the KieSession.

Warning

The MVELUserGroupCallback class fails to initialize in an OSGi environment. Do not use or include MVELUserGroupCallback as it is not designed for production purposes.

Registering Handlers and Listeners Through RegisterableItemsFactory

The implementation of RegisterableItemsFactory provides you a dedicated mechanism to create your own handlers or listeners.

/**
 * Returns new instances of WorkItemHandler that will be registered on RuntimeEngine.
 *
 * @param runtime provides RuntimeEngine in case handler need to make use of it internally
 * @return map of handlers to be registered - in case of no handlers
 *         empty map shall be returned
 */

Map<String, WorkItemHandler> getWorkItemHandlers(RuntimeEngine runtime);

/**
 * Returns new instances of ProcessEventListener that will be registered on RuntimeEngine.
 *
 * @param runtime provides RuntimeEngine in case listeners need to make use of it internally
 * @return list of listeners to be registered - in case of no listeners
 *         empty list shall be returned
 */

List<ProcessEventListener> getProcessEventListeners(RuntimeEngine runtime);

/**
 * Returns new instances of AgendaEventListener that will be registered on RuntimeEngine.
 *
 * @param runtime provides RuntimeEngine in case listeners need to make use of it internally
 * @return list of listeners to be registered - in case of no listeners
 *         empty list shall be returned
 */

List<AgendaEventListener> getAgendaEventListeners(RuntimeEngine runtime);

/**
 * Returns new instances of WorkingMemoryEventListener that will be registered
 * on RuntimeEngine.
 *
 * @param runtime provides RuntimeEngine in case listeners need to make use of it internally
 * @return list of listeners to be registered - in case of no listeners
 *         empty list shall be returned
 */

List<WorkingMemoryEventListener> getWorkingMemoryEventListeners(RuntimeEngine runtime);

Extending out-of-the-box implementation and adding your own is a good practice. You may not always need extensions, as the default implementations of RegisterableItemsFactory provides a mechanism to define custom handlers and listeners. Following is a list of available implementations ordered in the hierarchy of inheritance:

org.jbpm.runtime.manager.impl.SimpleRegisterableItemsFactory: This is the simplest possible implementation that comes empty and is based on a reflection to produce instances of handlers and listeners based on given class names.

org.jbpm.runtime.manager.impl.DefaultRegisterableItemsFactory: This is an extension of the simple implementation(org.jbpm.runtime.manager.impl.SimpleRegisterableItemsFactory) that introduces defaults described above and still provides same capabilities as the org.jbpm.runtime.manager.impl.SimpleRegisterableItemsFactory implementation.

org.jbpm.runtime.manager.impl.KModuleRegisterableItemsFactory: This is an extension of the default implementation (org.jbpm.runtime.manager.impl.DefaultRegisterableItemsFactory) that provides specific capabilities for kmodule and still provides same capabilities as the Simple implementation (org.jbpm.runtime.manager.impl.SimpleRegisterableItemsFactory).

org.jbpm.runtime.manager.impl.cdi.InjectableRegisterableItemsFactory: This is an extension of the default implementation (org.jbpm.runtime.manager.impl.DefaultRegisterableItemsFactory) that is tailored for CDI environments and provides CDI style approach to finding handlers and listeners through producers.

Registering Handlers Through Configuration Files

Alternatively, you may also register simple (stateless or requiring only KieSession) work item handlers by defining them as part of CustomWorkItem.conf file and update the class path. To use this approach do the following:

Create a file called drools.session.conf inside META-INF of the root of the class path (WEB-INF/classes/META-INF for web applications).

Add the following line to the drools.session.conf file:

drools.workItemHandlers = CustomWorkItemHandlers.conf

Create a file called CustomWorkItemHandlers.conf inside META-INF of the root of the class path (WEB-INF/classes/META-INF for web applications).

Define custom work item handlers in MVEL format inside the CustomWorkItemHandlers.conf file:

[
"Log": new org.jbpm.process.instance.impl.demo.SystemOutWorkItemHandler(),
"WebService": new org.jbpm.process.workitem.webservice.WebServiceWorkItemHandler(ksession),
"Rest": new org.jbpm.process.workitem.rest.RESTWorkItemHandler(),
"Service Task" : new org.jbpm.process.workitem.bpmn2.ServiceTaskHandler(ksession)
]

These steps register the work item handlers for any KieSession created by the application, regardless of it using the RuntimeManager or not.

Registering Handlers and Listeners in CDI Environment

When you are using RuntimeManager in a CDI environment, you can use the dedicated interfaces to provide custom WorkItemHandlers and EventListeners to the RuntimeEngine.

public interface WorkItemHandlerProducer {

  /**
   * Returns map of (key = work item name, value work item handler instance)
   * of work items to be registered on KieSession.
   * Parameters that might be given are as follows:
   * ksessiontaskService
   * runtimeManager
   *
   * @param identifier - identifier of the owner - usually RuntimeManager that allows
   *                     the producer to filter out and provide valid instances
   *                     for given owner
   * @param params - owner might provide some parameters, usually KieSession,
   *                 TaskService, RuntimeManager instances
   * @return map of work item handler instances (recommendation is to always
   *         return new instances when this method is invoked)
   */

  Map<String, WorkItemHandler> getWorkItemHandlers(String identifier,
    Map<String, Object> params);
}

The Event listener producer is annotated with proper qualifier to indicate what type of listeners they provide. You can select one of following to indicate the type:

@Process for ProcessEventListener

@Agenda for AgendaEventListener

@WorkingMemory for WorkingMemoryEventListener

public interface EventListenerProducer<T> {

  /**
   * Returns list of instances for given (T) type of listeners.
   * Parameters that might be given are as follows:
   * ksession
   * taskServiceruntimeManager
   *
   * @param identifier - identifier of the owner - usually RuntimeManager that allows
   *                     the producer to filter out and provide valid instances
   *                     for given owner
   * @param params - owner might provide some parameters, usually KieSession,
   *                 TaskService, RuntimeManager instances
   * @return list of listener instances (recommendation is to always return new
   *         instances when this method is invoked)
   */

  List<T> getEventListeners(String identifier, Map<String, Object>  params);

}

Package these interface implementations as bean archive that includes beans.xml inside META-INF folder and update the application classpath (for example, WEB-INF/lib for web application). This enables the CDI based RuntimeManager to discover them and register on every KieSession that is created or loaded from the data store.

All the components (KieSession, TaskService, and RuntimeManager) are provided to the producers to allow handlers or listeners to be more stateful and be able to do more advanced things with the engine. You can also apply filtering based on the identifier (that is given as argument to the methods) to decide if the given RuntimeManager can receive handlers or listeners or not.

Note

Whenever there is a need to interact with the process engine or task service from within handler or listener, recommended approach is to use RuntimeManager and retrieve RuntimeEngine (and then KieSession or TaskService) from it as that ensures a proper state.

Control Parameters to Alter Default Engine Behavior

The following control parameters available to alter engine default behavior:

Table 20.19. Engine Behavior Bootstrap Switches

Name
Possible Values
Default Value
Description

jbpm.ut.jndi.lookup

String

Alternative JNDI name to be used when there is no access to the default one (java:comp/UserTransaction).

jbpm.enable.multi.con

true, false

false

Enables multiple incoming/outgoing sequence flows support for activities.

jbpm.business.calendar.properties

String

/jbpm.business.calendar.properties

Allows to provide alternative classpath location of business calendar configuration file.

jbpm.overdue.timer.delay

Long

2000

Specifies delay for overdue timers to allow proper initialization, in milliseconds.

jbpm.process.name.comparator

String

Allows to provide alternative comparator class to empower start process by name feature. If not set, NumberVersionComparator is used.

jbpm.loop.level.disabled

true, false

true

Allows to enable or disable loop iteration tracking, to allow advanced loop support when using XOR gateways.

org.kie.mail.session

String

mail/jbpmMailSession

Allows to provide alternative JNDI name for mail session used by Task Deadlines.

jbpm.usergroup.callback.properties

String

/jbpm.usergroup.callback.properties

Allows to provide alternative classpath location for user group callback implementation (LDAP, DB).

jbpm.user.group.mapping

String

${jboss.server.config.dir}/roles.properties

Allows to provide alternative classpath location of user info configuration (used by LDAPUserInfoImpl).

jbpm.user.info.properties

String

/jbpm.user.info.properties

Allows to provide alternative classpath location for user group callback implementation (LDAP, DB).

org.jbpm.ht.user.separator

String

,

Allows to provide alternative separator of actors and groups for user tasks, default is comma: ,.

org.quartz.properties

String

Allows to provide location of the quartz config file to activate quartz based timer service.

jbpm.data.dir

String

${jboss.server.data.dir} is available otherwise ${java.io.tmpdir}

Allows to provide location where data files produced by Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite must be stored.

org.kie.executor.pool.size

Integer

1

Allows to provide thread pool size for Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite executor.

org.kie.executor.retry.count

Integer

3

Allows to provide number of retries attempted in case of error by Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite executor.

org.kie.executor.interval

Integer

3

Allows to provide frequency used to check for pending jobs by Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite executor, in seconds.

org.kie.executor.disabled

true, false

true

Enables or disable JBoss BPM Suite executor.

These allows you to fine tune the execution for the environment needs and actual requirements. All of these parameters are set as JVM system properties, usually with -D when starting a program such as an application server.

Storing Process Variables Without Serialization

Objects in Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite that are used as process variables must be serializable. That is, they must implement the java.io.Serializable interface. Objects that are not serializable can be used as process variables but for these you must implement and use a marshaling strategy and register it. The default strategy will not convert these variables into bytes. By default all objects need to be serializable.

For internal objects, which are modified only by the engine, it is sufficient if java.io.Serializable is implemented. The variable will be transformed into a byte stream and stored in a database.

For external data that can be modified by external systems and people (like documents from a CMS, or other database entities), other strategies need to be implemented.

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite uses what is known as the pluggable Variable Persistence Strategy — that is, it uses serialization for objects that do implement the java.io.Serializable interface but uses the Java Persistence Architecture (JPA) based JPAPlaceholderResolverStrategy class to work on objects that are entities (not implementing the java.io.Serializable interface).

Configuring Variable Persistence Strategy

To use this strategy, configure it by placing it in your Runtime Environment used for creating your Knowledge Sessions. This strategy should be set as the first one and the serialization based strategy as the last, default one. An example on how to set this is shown here:

// Create entity manager factory:
EntityManagerFactory emf = Persistence.createEntityManagerFactory("com.redhat.sample");

RuntimeEnvironment environment = RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder.Factory.get().newDefaultBuilder()
  .entityManagerFactory(emf)
  .addEnvironmentEntry(EnvironmentName.OBJECT_MARSHALLING_STRATEGIES,
    new ObjectMarshallingStrategy[] {
// Set the entity manager factory to JPA strategy so it knows how to store and read entities:
      new JPAPlaceholderResolverStrategy(emf),
// Set the serialization-based strategy as last one to deal with non entity classes:
      new SerializablePlaceholderResolverStrategy(ClassObjectMarshallingStrategyAcceptor.DEFAULT)})
  .addAsset(ResourceFactory.newClassPathResource("example.bpmn"), ResourceType.BPMN2)
  .get();

// Now create the runtime manager and start using entities as part of your process:
RuntimeManager manager = RuntimeManagerFactory.Factory
  .get().newSingletonRuntimeManager(environment);

Note

Make sure to add your entity classes into persistence.xml configuration file that will be used by the JPA strategy.

How Does the JPA Strategy Work?

At runtime, process variables that need persisting are evaluated using the available strategy. It is up to the strategy to accept or reject the variable. If the variable is rejected by the first strategy, it is passed on till it reaches the default strategy.

A JPA based strategy will only accept classes that declare a field with the @Id annotation (javax.persistence.Id) This is the unique id that is used to retrieve the variable. On the other hand, a serialization based strategy simply accepts all variables by default.

Once the variable has been accepted, a JPA marshalling operation to store the variable is performed by the marshal() method, while the unmarshal() method will retrieve the variable from the storage.

Creating Your Own Persistence Strategy

The previous section alluded to the two methods that are used to marshal() and unmarshal() objects. These methods are part of the org.kie.api.marshalling.ObjectMarshallingStrategy interface and you can implement this interface to create a custom persistence strategy.

public interface ObjectMarshallingStrategy {

  public boolean accept(Object object);

  public void write(ObjectOutputStream os, Object object) throws IOException;

  public Object read(ObjectInputStream os) throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException;

  public byte[] marshal(Context context, ObjectOutputStream os, Object object)
    throws IOException;

  public Object unmarshal(Context context, ObjectInputStream is, byte[] object,
    ClassLoader classloader) throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException;

  public Context createContext();
}

The methods read() and write() are for backwards compatibility. Use the methods accept(), marshal() and unmarshal() to create your strategy.

Chapter 21. Remote API

REST API

Representational State Transfer (REST) is a style of software architecture of distributed systems (applications). It allows for a highly abstract client-server communication: clients initiate requests to servers to a particular URL with parameters if needed and servers process the requests and return appropriate responses based on the requested URL. The requests and responses are built around the transfer of representations of resources. A resource can be any coherent and meaningful concept that may be addressed (such as a repository, a Process, a Rule, etc.).

Warning

The REST services are unavailable when you deploy Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite on Oracle WebLogic 12.2.

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite and Red Hat JBoss BRMS provide REST API for individual application components. The REST API implementations differ slightly:

Knowledge Store (Artifact Repository) REST API calls are calls to the static data (definitions) and are asynchronous, that is, they continue running after the call as a job. These calls return a job ID, which can be used after the REST API call was performed to request the job status and verify whether the job finished successfully. Parameters of these calls are provided in the form of JSON entities.

The following two API’s are only available in Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite.

Deployment REST API calls are asynchronous or synchronous, depending on the operation performed. These calls perform actions on the deployments or retrieve information about one ore more deployments.

Runtime REST API calls are calls to the Execution Server and to the Process Execution Engine, Task Execution Engine, and Business Rule Engine. They are synchronous and return the requested data as JAXB objects.

All REST API calls use the following URL with the request body: http://SERVER_ADDRESS:_PORT_/business-central/rest/REQUEST_BODY

Calls on Resources Not Supported

Note that it is not possible to issue REST API calls over project resources, such as, rules files, work item definitions, process definition files, and others are not supported. Perform operation over such files with Git and its REST API directly.

Knowledge Store REST API

REST API calls to Knowledge Store allow you to manage the Knowledge Store content and manipulate the static data in the repositories of the Knowledge Store.

The calls are asynchronous; that is, they continue their execution after the call was performed as a job. All POST and DELETE return details of the request as a well as a job ID that can be used to request the job status and verify whether the job finished successfully. The GET operations return information about repositories, projects and organizational units.

Parameters and results of these calls are provided in the form of JSON entities.

Job Calls

Most Knowledge Store REST calls return a job ID after it is sent. This is necessary as the calls are asynchronous and you need to be able to reference the job to check its status as it goes through the lifecycle. During this lifecycle, the job can have the following statuses:

Table 21.1. Job Statuses

Status
Description

ACCEPTED

The job was accepted and is being processed.

BAD_REQUEST

The request was not accepted as it contained incorrect content.

RESOURCE_NOT_EXIST

The requested resource (path) does not exist.

DUPLICATE_RESOURCE

The resource already exists.

SERVER_ERROR

An error on the server side occurred.

SUCCESS

The job finished successfully.

FAIL

The job failed.

APPROVED

The job was approved.

DENIED

The job was denied.

GONE

The job ID could not be found. A job can be GONE in the following cases:

The job was explicitly removed.

The job finished and has been deleted from the status cache (the job is removed from status cache after the cache has reached its maximum capacity).

The job never existed.

The following job calls are provided:

[GET]   /jobs/{jobID}

Returns a status of the given job.

Example 21.1. Formatted Response to GET Job Call on Repository Clone Request

{
  "status"         : "SUCCESS",
  "jobId"          : "1377770574783-27",
  "result"         : "Alias: testInstallAndDeployProject,
                      Scheme: git,
                      Uri: git://testInstallAndDeployProject",
  "lastModified"   : 1377770578194,
  "detailedResult" : null
}

[DELETE]   /jobs/{jobID}

Removes a job with the given jobId. If the job is not being processed yet, the call will remove it from the job queue. However, this call will not cancel or stop an ongoing job.

Both of these job calls return a JobResult instance.

Repository Calls

Repository calls are calls to the Knowledge Store that allow you to manage its Git repositories and their projects.

The following repositories calls are provided:

[GET]   /repositories

Returns a list of the repositories in the Knowledge Store as a JSON entity.

Example 21.2. Response of Repositories Call

[{"name":"bpms-assets","description":"generic assets","userName":null,"password":null,"requestType":null,"gitURL":"git://bpms-assets"},{"name":"loanProject","description":"Loan processes and rules","userName":null,"password":null,"requestType":null,"gitURL":"git://loansProject"}]

[GET]   /repositories/{repositoryName}

Returns information on a specific repository.

[DELETE]   /repositories/{repositoryName}

Deletes the repository.

[POST]   /repositories/

Creates or clones the repository defined by the JSON entity.

Example 21.3. JSON Entity with Details of Repository to Be Cloned

{"name":"myClonedRepository", "organizationalUnitName":"example", "description":"", "userName":"", "password":"", "requestType":"clone", "gitURL":"git://localhost/example-repository"}

Example 21.4. JSON Entity with Details of Repository to Be Created

{"name":"myNewRepository", "organizationalUnitName":"example", "description":"", "userName:"", "password":"", "requestType":"new", gitURL":"git://localhost/example-repository"}

Important

Make sure you always include the organizationalUnitName key-value pair in your query and that the specified organization unit exists before you create or clone the repository.

[GET]   /repositories/{repositoryName}/projects/

Returns a list of the projects in a specific repository as a JSON entity.

Example 21.5. JSON Entity with Details of Existing Projects

[ {
  "name" : "my-project-name",
  "description" : "Project to illustrate REST output",
  "groupId" : "com.acme",
  "version" : "1.0"
}, {
  "name" : "yet-another-project-name",
  "description" : "Yet Another Project to illustrate REST output",
  "groupId" : "com.acme",
  "version" : "2.2.1"
} ]

[POST]   /repositories/{repositoryName}/projects/

Creates a project in the repository.

Example 21.6. Request Body That Defines Project to Be Created

{
  "name" : "NewProject",
  "description" : "Description of the New Project.",
  "groupId" : "org.redhat.test",
  "version" : "1.0.0"
}

[DELETE]   /repositories/{repositoryName}/projects/{projectName}

Deletes the project in the repository.

Organizational Unit Calls

Organizational unit calls are calls to the Knowledge Store that allow you to manage its organizational units.

The following organizationalUnits calls are provided:

[GET]   /organizationalunits/

Returns a list of all the organizational units.

Example 21.7. Organizational Unit List in JSON

[ {
  "name" : "EmployeeWage",
  "description" : null,
  "owner" : "Employee",
  "defaultGroupId" : "org.bpms",
  "repositories" : [ "EmployeeRepo", "OtherRepo" ]
}, {
  "name" : "OrgUnitName",
  "description" : null,
  "owner" : "OrgUnitOwner",
  "defaultGroupId" : "org.group.id",
  "repositories" : [ "repository-name-1", "repository-name-2" ]
} ]

[GET]   /organizationalunits/{organizationalUnitName}

Returns a JSON entity with info about a specific organizational unit.

[POST]   /organizationalunits/

Creates an organizational unit in the Knowledge Store. The organizational unit is defined as a JSON entity. This consumes an OrganizationalUnit instance and returns a CreateOrganizationalUnitRequest instance.

Example 21.8. Organizational Unit in JSON

{
  "name" : "testgroup",
  "description" : "",
  "owner" : "tester",
  "repositories" : ["testGroupRepository"]
}

[POST]   /organizationalunits/{organizationalUnitName}

Updates the details of an existing organizational unit.

Both the name and owner fields in the consumed UpdateOrganizationalUnit instance can be left empty. Both the description field and the repository association can not be updated using this operation.

Example 21.9. Update Organizational Unit Input in JSON

{
  "owner" : "NewOwner",
  "defaultGroupId" : "org.new.default.group.id"
}

[DELETE]   /organizationalunits/{organizationalUnitName}

Deletes an organizational unit.

[POST]   /organizationalunits/{organizationalUnitName}/repositories/{repositoryName}

Adds the repository to the organizational unit.

[DELETE]   /organizationalunits/{organizationalUnitName}/repositories/{repositoryName}

Removes a repository from the organizational unit.

Maven Calls

Maven calls are calls to a Project in the Knowledge Store that allow you to compile and deploy the Project resources.

The following maven calls are provided below:

[POST]   /repositories/{repositoryName}/projects/{projectName}/maven/compile/

Compiles the project (equivalent to mvn compile). Returns a CompileProjectRequest instance.

[POST]   /repositories/{repositoryName}/projects/{projectName}/maven/install/

Installs the project (equivalent to mvn install). Returns a InstallProjectRequest instance.

[POST]   /repositories/{repositoryName}/projects/{projectName}/maven/test/

Compiles and runs the tests (equivalent to mvn test). Returns a TestProjectRequest instance.

[POST]   /repositories/{repositoryName}/projects/{projectName}/maven/deploy/

Deploys the project (equivalent to mvn deploy). Returns a DeployProjectRequest instance.

Deployment REST API

The KIE module JAR files can be deployed or undeployed using the UI or the REST API calls. In this section, details about the REST API deployment calls and their components are provided.

Starting with the 6.1 release, the activate and deactivate operations are available. When a project is deployed, it is activated by default: new process instances can be started using the process definitions and other information in the deployment. However, at later point in time, users may want to make sure that a deployment is no longer used without necessarily aborting or stopping the existing (running) process instances. In order to do this, the deployment can first be deactivated before it is removed at a later date.

Warning

In version 6.4 of the product, start timer events keep starting new process instances after a deployment is deactivated. This is a known issue.

Note

Configuration options such as the runtime strategy should be defined before deploying the JAR files and cannot be changed post deployment.

A standard regular expression for a deployment call is:

[\w\.-]+(:[\w\.-]+){2,2}(:[\w\.-]*){0,2}

Where the \w refers to a character set that can contain the following:

[A-Z]

[a-z]

[0-9]

_ (underscore)

. (period)

- (hyphen)

Elements of a deployment ID are listed below. They are separated from each other by a (:) (colon) character.

Group ID

Artifact ID

Version

KIE base ID (optional)

KIE session ID (optional)

Deployment Calls

The following deployment calls are provided:

[GET] /deployment/

Returns a list of all the available deployed instances in the JaxbDeploymentUnitList instance.

[GET] /deployment/processes

Returns a list of all the available deployed process definitions in the JaxbProcessDefinitionList instance.

[GET] /deployment/{deploymentId}

Returns a JaxbDeploymentUnit instance containing the information (including the configuration) of the deployment unit.

[POST] /deployment/{deploymentId}/deploy

Deploys the deployment unit referenced by deploymentID. The call returns a JaxbDeploymentJobResult instance with a status of the request.

To override the session strategy specified in the deployment descriptor, use the strategy query parameter. The following values (case insensitive) are supported:

SINGLETON

PER_REQUEST

PER_PROCESS_INSTANCE

For example:

[POST] /deployment/{deploymentId}/deploy?strategy=PER_REQUEST

To use a specfic merge mode in the deployment request, specify the mergemode query parameter. The following values (case insensitive) are supported:

KEEP_ALL

OVERRIDE_ALL

OVERRIDE_EMPTY

MERGE_COLLECTIONS

The deploy operation is asynchronous. Use the described GET calls to get the status of the deployment.

It is possible to post a deployment descriptor or its fragment with the deployment request, which allows to override other deployment descriptors. To do so, set the content type of the request to application/xml and make sure the request body is a valid deployment descriptor content, for example:

<deployment-descriptor xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.jboss.org/jbpm deployment-descriptor.xsd" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  <audit-mode>JMS</audit-mode>
</deployment-descriptor>

Warning

To avoid the Unsupported Media Type error on Oracle WebLogic Server, make sure the deployment-descriptor is always provided, even as an empty-element tag, and the header is specified as Content-Type. See the example call:

curl -v -H 'Content-Type: application/xml' -u bpmsAdmin --data "<deployment-descriptor/>" -X POST 'ldapj:7001/business-central/rest/deployment/com.sample:bpmstest:1.1:process:ksession-process/deploy'

[POST] /deployment/{deploymentId}/undeploy

Undeploys the deploymentID deployment unit and returns a JaxbDeploymentJobResult instance with a status of the request.

The undeploy operation is asynchronous. Use the described GET calls to get the status of the deployment.

Note

The deploy and undeploy operations can fail if one of the following is true:

An identical job has already been submitted to the queue and has not yet completed.

The amount of (deploy/undeploy) jobs submitted but not yet processed exceeds the job cache size.

[POST] /deployment/{deploymentId}/activate

Activates a deployment. Returns a JaxbDeploymentJobResult instance with a status of the request.

The activate operation is asynchronous.

[POST] /deployment/{deploymentId}/deactivate

Deactivates a deployment. Returns a JaxbDeploymentJobResult instance with a status of the request.

The deactivate operation is asynchronous.

[GET] /deployment/{deploymentId}/processes

Returns a list of all the available deploymentID deployed process definitions in a JaxbProcessDefinitionList instance.

Note

The deactivate operation ensures that no new process instances can be started with the existing deployment.

If it is decided that a deactivated deployment should be reactivated instead of deleted, the activate operation should be used to reactivate the deployment. A deployment is always activated by default when it is initially deployed.

Asynchronous Calls

The following deployment calls described in the previous section are asynchronous REST operations:

/deployment/{deploymentId}/deploy

/deployment/{deploymentId}/undeploy

/deployment/{deploymentId}/activate

/deployment/{deploymentId}/deactivate

Asynchronous calls allow a user to issue a request and continue to the next task before the previous task in the queue is finished. Therefore, the information received after posting a call does not reflect the actual state or eventual status of the operation. This returns a status 202 upon the completion of the request: "The request has been accepted for processing, but the processing has not been completed."

This means that:

The POST request has been successfully queued, but the result of the actual operation (deploying or undeploying the deployment unit) cannot be determined from this code. Interrogate the JaxbDeploymentUnit object returned by the GET /deployment/{deploymentId} call to obtain that state.

The JaxbDeploymentUnit object returned using the GET request is only valid for the point in time which it was checked. Its status may change after the GET request has completed.

Runtime REST API

Runtime REST API are calls to the Execution Server and to the Process Execution Engine, Task Execution Engine, and Business Rule Engine. As such they allow you to request and manipulate runtime data.

Except the Execute calls, all other REST calls can either use JAXB or JSON

The calls are synchronous and return the requested data as JAXB objects.

While using JSON, the JSON media type ("application/json") should be added to the ACCEPT header of the REST Call.

Their parameters are defined as query string parameters. To add a query string parameter to a runtime REST API call, add the ? symbol to the URL and the parameter with the parameter value; for example, http://localhost:8080/business-central/rest/task/query?workItemId=393 returns a TaskSummary list of all tasks based on the work item with ID 393. Note that parameters and their values are case-sensitive.

Some runtime REST API calls can use a Map parameter, which means that you can submit key-value pairs to the operation using a query parameter prefixed with the keyword map_ keyword; for example,

map_age=5000

is translated as

{ "age" => Long.parseLong("5000") }

Example 21.10. GET Call That Returns All Tasks to Locally Running Application Using curl

curl -v -H 'Accept: application/json' -u eko 'localhost:8080/kie/rest/tasks/'

To perform runtime REST calls from your Java application you need to create a RemoteRestSessionFactory object and request a newRuntimeEngine() object from the RemoteRestSessionFactory. The RuntimeEngine can be then used to create a KieSession.

Example 21.11. GET Call That Returns Task Details to Locally Running Application in Java with Direct Tasks/TASKID Request

package rest;

import java.io.InputStream;
import java.net.URL;

import javax.xml.bind.JAXBContext;
import javax.xml.transform.stream.StreamSource;

import org.apache.http.auth.AuthScope;
import org.apache.http.auth.UsernamePasswordCredentials;
import org.apache.http.client.CredentialsProvider;
import org.apache.http.client.HttpClient;
import org.apache.http.impl.client.BasicCredentialsProvider;
import org.apache.http.impl.client.HttpClientBuilder;
import org.jboss.resteasy.client.ClientExecutor;
import org.jboss.resteasy.client.ClientRequest;
import org.jboss.resteasy.client.ClientRequestFactory;
import org.jboss.resteasy.client.ClientResponse;
import org.jboss.resteasy.client.core.executors.ApacheHttpClient4Executor;
import org.jboss.resteasy.spi.ResteasyProviderFactory;
import org.kie.remote.client.jaxb.JaxbTaskResponse;
import org.kie.remote.jaxb.gen.Task;

public class RestExamle {
  private final String APP_URL = "http://localhost:8080/business-central/rest";
  private final String USER = "user";
  private final String PASSWORD = "PASSWORD";

  public Task getTaskInstanceInfo(long taskId) throws Exception {
    URL address = new URL(APP_URL + "/task/" + taskId);
    ClientRequest restRequest = createRequest(address);

    ClientResponse<JaxbTaskResponse> responseObj = restRequest.get(JaxbTaskResponse.class);

    InputStream taskResponse = responseObj.getEntity(InputStream.class);
    JAXBContext jaxbTaskContext = JAXBContext.newInstance(JaxbTaskResponse.class);
    StreamSource source  = new StreamSource(taskResponse);

    return jaxbTaskContext.createUnmarshaller().unmarshal(source, JaxbTaskResponse.class).getValue();
  }

  private ClientRequest createRequest(URL address) {
    return getClientRequestFactory().createRequest(address.toExternalForm());
  }

  private ClientRequestFactory getClientRequestFactory() {
    CredentialsProvider credentialsProvider = new BasicCredentialsProvider();
    credentialsProvider.setCredentials(
      new AuthScope(AuthScope.ANY_HOST, AuthScope.ANY_PORT, AuthScope.ANY_REALM),
      new UsernamePasswordCredentials(USER, PASSWORD)
    );

    HttpClient httpClient = HttpClientBuilder.create().setDefaultCredentialsProvider(credentialsProvider).build();
    ClientExecutor clientExecutor = new ApacheHttpClient4Executor(httpClient);
    return new ClientRequestFactory(clientExecutor, ResteasyProviderFactory.getInstance());
  }
}

Note that if you want to send multiple commands to an entity, in this case a task, consider using the execute call (see the section called “Execute Operations”).

While interacting with the Remote API, some classes are to be included in the deployment to enable a user to pass instances of their own classes as parameters to certain operations. REST calls that start with /task often do not contain any information about the associated deployment. In such a case and extra query parameter (deploymentId) is added to the REST call allowing the server to find the appropriate deployment class and deserialize the information passed with the call.

Usage Information

Pagination

The pagination parameters allow you to define pagination of the results a REST call returns. The following pagination parameters are available:

page or p

Number of the page to be returned (by default set to 1, that is, page number 1 is returned).

pageSize or s

Number of items per page (default value 10).

If both, the long option and the short option, are included in a URL, the longer version of the parameter takes precedence. When no pagination parameters are included, the returned results are not paginated.

Pagination parameters can be applied to the following REST requests:

/task/query
/history/instances
/history/instance/{id: [0-9]+}
/history/instance/{id: [0-9]+}/child
/history/instance/{id: [0-9]+}/node
/history/instance/{id: [0-9]+}/node/{id: [a-zA-Z0-9-:\\.]+}
/history/instance/{id: [0-9]+}/variable/
/history/instance/{id: [0-9]+}/variable/{id: [a-zA-Z0-9-:\\.]+}
/history/process/{id: [a-zA-Z0-9-:\\.]+}

Example 21.12. REST Request Body with Pagination Parameter

/history/instances?page=3&pageSize=20
/history/instances?p=3&s=20

Object Data Type Parameters

By default, any object parameters provided in a REST call are considered to be Strings. If you need to explicitly define the data type of a parameter of a call, you can do so by adding one of the following values to the parameter:

\d+i: Integer

\d+l: Long

Example 21.13. REST Request Body with Integer mySignal Parameter

/rest/runtime/business-central/process/org.jbpm.test/start?map_var1=1234i

Note that the intended use of these object parameters is to define data types of send signal and process variable values (consider for example the use in the startProcess command in the execute call; see the section called “Execute Operations”).

Runtime Calls

Runtime REST calls allow you to acquire and manage data related to the runtime environment; you can provide direct REST calls to the Process Engine and Task Engine of the Process Server (see the Components section of the Administration and Configuration Guide.

To send calls to other Execution Engine components or issue calls that are not available as direct REST calls, use the generic execute call to runtime (/execute/{CommandObject}; see the section called “Execute Operations”).

Process Calls

The /runtime/{deploymentId}/process/ calls are send to the Process Execution Engine. Note that:

processDefId must match the following format: [_a-zA-Z0-9-:\.]+.

procInstanceID must match the following format: [0-9]+.

The following process calls are provided:

[POST] /runtime/{deploymentId}/process/{processDefId}/start

Starts the processDefID process and returns a JaxbProcessInstanceResponse instance with process instance information.

This operation accepts query map parameters. If you want to pass custom classes, use Java Remote API.

[POST] /runtime/{deploymentId}/process/{processDefId}/startform

If the processDefId process exists, returns a URL to show the form in a JaxbProcessInstanceFormResponse instance.

[GET] /runtime/{deploymentId}/process/instance/{procInstanceID}

Returns the details of the given process instance in a JaxbProcessInstanceResponse instance.

[POST] /runtime/{deploymentId}/process/instance/{procInstanceID}/signal

Sends a signal event to the given process instance. Returns a JaxbGenericResponse instance.

The call accepts query map parameter.

Example 21.14. Local Signal Invocation and Its REST Version

ksession.signalEvent("MySignal", "value", 23l);

curl -v -u admin 'localhost:8080/business-central/rest/runtime/myDeployment/process/instance/23/signal?signal=MySignal&event=value'

[POST] /runtime/{deploymentId}/process/instance/{procInstanceID}/abort

Aborts the process instance. Returns a JaxbGenericResponse indicating success or failure of the operation.

[GET] /runtime/{deploymentId}/process/instance/{procInstanceID}/variable/{varName}

Returns the varName variable in the procInstanceID process instance. If the variable is primitive, the variable value is returned.

Signal Calls

The signal calls send a signal defined by the provided query map parameters either to the deployment or to a particular process instance.

The following signal calls are provided:

[POST] /runtime/{deploymentId}/process/instance/{procInstanceID}/signal

Sends a signal to the given process instance.

See the previous subsection for an example of this call.

[POST] /runtime/{deploymentId}/signal

Signals the KieSesson. Returns a JaxbGenericResponse instance with the status of the operation.

This call is equivalent to the ksession.signal("signalName", eventValue) method.

The signal parameter value is used as the name of the signal. This parameter is required.

The event parameter value is used as the value of the event. This value can use the number query parameter syntax described earlier.

Example 21.15. Signal Call Example

/runtime/{deploymentId}/signal?signal={signalCode}

Work Item Calls

The /runtime/{deploymentId}/workitem/ calls allow you to complete or abort a particular work item. Note that:

workItemID must match the following format: [0-9]+.

The following task calls are provided:

[GET] /runtime/{deploymentId}/workitem/{workItemID}

Returns a JaxbWorkItem instance specified by workItemID.

[POST] /runtime/{deploymentId}/workitem/{workItemID}/complete

Completes the given work item.

The call accepts query map parameters containing information about the results.

Example 21.16. Local Invocation and Its REST Version

Map<String, Object> results = new HashMap<String, Object>();

results.put("one", "done");
results.put("two", 2);

kieSession.getWorkItemManager().completeWorkItem(23l, results);

curl -v -u admin 'localhost:8080/business-central/rest/runtime/myDeployment/workitem/23/complete?map_one=done&map_two=2i'

[POST] /runtime/{deploymentId}/workitem/{workItemID}/abort

Aborts given work item.

History Calls

The /history/ calls administer logs of process instances, their nodes, and process variables.

Note

While the /history/ calls specified in 6.0.0.GA of Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite are still available, as of 6.0.1.GA, the /history/ calls have been made independent of any deployment, which is also reflected in the URLs used.

The following history calls are provided:

[POST] /history/clear

Clears all process, variable, and node logs.

[GET] /history/instances

Returns logs of all process instance logs.

[GET] /history/instance/{procInstanceID}

Returns all logs of the given process instance, including child logs.

[GET] /history/instance/{procInstanceID}/child

Returns logs of subprocesses specified by procInstanceID.

[GET] /history/instance/{procInstanceID}/node

Returns logs of all nodes of the process instance specified by procInstanceID.

[GET] /history/instance/{procInstanceID}/node/{nodeID}

Returns logs of the node of the process instance.

[GET] /history/instance/{procInstanceID}/variable

Returns variables and their values of the given process instance.

[GET] /history/instance/{procInstanceID}/variable/{variableID}

Returns the variableID variable log for the process instance.

[GET] /history/process/{procInstanceID}

Returns the logs of the process instance excluding logs of its nodes and variables.

History Calls That Search by Variable ID

The following REST calls can be used using variables to search process instance, variables, and their values.

The calls below also accept an optional activeProcesses parameter that limits the selection to information from active process instances.

[GET] /history/variable/{varId}

Returns variable logs specified by the variable ID.

[GET] /history/variable/{varId}/instances

Returns the process instance logs for processes that contain the specified process variable.

[GET] /history/variable/{varId}/value/{value}

Returns the variable logs for specified process variable with the specified value.

Example 21.17. Local Invocation and Its REST Version

auditLogService.findVariableInstancesByNameAndValue("countVar", "three", true);

curl -v -u admin 'localhost:8080/business-central/rest/history/variable/countVar/value/three?activeProcesses=true'

[GET] /history/variable/{varId}/value/{value}/instances

Returns the process instance logs for process instances that contain the specified process variable with the specified value.

Calls to Process Variables

The /runtime/{deploymentId}/withvars/ calls allow you to work with process variables. Note that all variable values are returned as strings in the JaxbVariablesResponse object. Note that:

procDefinitionID must match the following format: [_a-zA-Z0-9-:\.]+.

procInstanceID must match the following format: [0-9]+.

The following withvars calls are provided:

[POST] /runtime/{deploymentId}/withvars/process/{procDefinitionID}/start

Creates and starts a process instance specified by procDefinitionID. Returns a JaxbProcessInstanceWithVariablesResponse instance which contains:

Information about the process instance

A key-value list of process instance variables

[GET] /runtime/{deploymentId}/withvars/process/instance/{procInstanceID}

Returns a JaxbProcessInstanceWithVariablesResponse instance with the process instance variables.

[POST] /runtime/{deploymentId}/withvars/process/instance/{procInstanceID}/signal

Signals a process instance and returns a JaxbProcessInstanceWithVariablesResponse instance.

Takes a signal and event query parameters:

signal: name of the signal. This value is required.

event: value of the event.

Task Calls

The task calls are send to the Task Execution Engine.

The following task calls are provided:

[GET] /task/{taskId}

Returns the task in JAXB format.

Further call paths are provided to perform other actions on tasks; see the section called “Task ID Operations”).

[GET] /task/query

Returns a TaskSummary list returned.

Further call paths are provided to perform other actions on task/query; see the section called “Query Operations”).

[GET] /task/content/{contentId}

Returns the task content in the JAXB format.

For further information, see the section called “Content Operations”).

Task ID Operations

The task/{taskId}/ACTION calls allow you to execute an action on the given task (if no action is defined, the call is a GET call that returns the JAXB representation of the task).

The following actions can be invoked on a task using the call:

Table 21.2. Task Actions

Task
Action

activate

Activate task (taskId as query param).

claim

Claim task [POST] (the user used in the authentication of the REST url call claims it).

claimnextavailable

Claim next available task [POST] (this operation claims the next available task assigned to the user).

complete

Complete task [POST] (accepts "query map parameters").

delegate

Delegate task [POST] (requires a targetEntityId parameter, which identifies the user to which the task is delegated).

exit

Exit task [POST].

Note

The exit operation can be performed by any user or group specified as the administrator of a human task. If the task does not specify any values, the system automatically adds user Administrator and group Administrators to a task.

fail

Fail task [POST].

forward

Forward task [POST].

release

Release task [POST].

resume

Resume task [POST].

skip

Skip task [POST].

start

Start task [POST].

stop

Stop task [POST].

suspend

Suspend task [POST].

nominate

Nominate task [POST] (requires at least one of either the user or group query parameter, which identify the user(s) or group(s) that are nominated for the task).

Content Operations

The task/content/{contentId} and task/{taskId}/content operations return the serialized content associated with the given task.

The content associated with a task is stored in the human-task database schema in serialized form either as a string with XML content or a map with several different key-value pairs. The content is serialized using the protobuf based algorithm. This serialization process is normally carried out by the static methods in the org.jbpm.services.task.utils.ContentMarshallerHelper class.

If the client that call the REST operation do not have access to the org.jbpm.services.task.utils.ContentMarshallerHelper class, they cannot deserialize the task content. When using the REST call to obtain task content, the content is first deserialized using the ContentMarshallerHelper class and then serialized with the common Java serialization mechanism.

Due to restrictions of REST operations, only the objects for which the following is true can be returned to the task content operations:

The requested objects are instances of a class that implements the Serializable interface. In the case of Map objects, they only contain values that implement the Serializable interface.

The objects are not instances of a local class, an anonymous class or arrays of a local or anonymous class.

The object classes are present on the classpath of the server.

Query Operations

The /task/query call is a GET call that returns a TaskSummary list of the tasks that meet the criteria defined in the call parameters. Note that you can use the pagination feature to define the amount of data to be return.

Parameters

The following parameters can be used with the task/query call:

workItemId: returns only tasks based on the work item.

taskId: returns only the task with the particular ID.

businessAdministrator: returns task with an identified business administrator.

potentialOwner: returns tasks that can be claimed by the potentialOwner user.

status: returns tasks that are in the given status (Created, Ready, Reserved, InProgress, Completed or Failed);

taskOwner: returns tasks assigned to the particular user (Created, Ready, Reserved, InProgress, Suspended, Completed, Failed, Error, Exited, or Obsolete).

processInstanceId: returns tasks generated by the process instance.

union: specifies whether the query should query the union or intersection of the parameters.

At the moment, although the name of a parameter is interpreted regardless of case, please make sure use the appropriate case for the values of the parameters.

Example 21.18. Query Usage

This call retrieves the task summaries of all tasks that have a work item id of 3, 4, or 5. If you specify the same parameter multiple times, the query will select tasks that match any of that parameter.

http://server:port/rest/task/query?workItemId=3&workItemId=4&workItemId=5

The next call will retrieve any task summaries for which the task id is 27 and for which the work item id is 11. Specifying different parameters will result in a set of tasks that match both (all) parameters.

http://server:port/rest/task/query?workItemId=11&taskId=27

The next call will retrieve any task summaries for which the task id is 27 or the work item id is 11. While these are different parameters, the union parameter is being used here so that the union of the two queries (the work item id query and the task id query) is returned.

http://server:port/rest/task/query?workItemId=11&taskId=27&union=true

The next call will retrieve any task summaries for which the status is Created and the potential owner of the task is Bob. Note that the letter case for the status parameter value is case-insensitve.

http://server:port/rest/task/query?status=creAted&potentialOwner=Bob

The next call will return any task summaries for which the status is Created and the potential owner of the task is bob. Note that the potential owner parameter is case-sensitive. bob is not the same user id as Bob!

http://server:port/rest/task/query?status=created&potentialOwner=bob

The next call will return the intersection of the set of task summaries for which the process instance is 201, the potential owner is bob and for which the status is Created or Ready.

http://server:port/rest/task/query?status=created&status=ready&potentialOwner=bob&processInstanceId=201

That means that the task summaries that have the following characteristics would be included:

process instance ID 201, potential owner bob, status Ready

process instance ID 201, potential owner bob, status Created

And that following task summaries will not be included:

process instance ID 183, potential owner bob, status Created

process instance ID 201, potential owner mary, status Ready

process instance ID 201, potential owner bob, status Complete

Usage

The parameters can be used by themselves or in certain combinations. If an unsupported parameter combination is used, the system returns an empty list.

You can use certain parameters multiple times with different values: the returned result will contain the union of the entities that met at least one of the defined parameter value. This applies to the workItemId, taskId, businessAdministrator, potentialOwner, taskOwner, and processInstanceId. If entering the status parameter multiple times, the intersection of tasks that have any of the status values and union of tasks that satisfy the other criteria.

Note that the language parameter is required and if not defined the en-UK value is used. The parameter can be defined only once.

The REST Query API

The REST Query API allows developers to richly query tasks, variables and process instances.

The results for both operations are organized around the process instance. For example, when querying tasks, the results will be organized so that the variables and tasks returned are grouped by which process instance they belong to.

URL Layout

The rich query operations can be reached using the following URLs:

http://server.address:port/{application-id}/rest/query/
 runtime
 task            * [GET] rich query for task summaries and process variables
 process         * [GET] rich query for process instances and process variables

Both URL’s take a number of different query parameters. See the next section for a description of these.

Query Parameters

In the documentation below,

"query parameters" are strings like processInstanceId, taskId and tid. The case (lowercase or uppercase) of these parameters does not matter, except when the query parameter also specifies the name of a user-defined variable.

"parameters" are the values that are passed with some query parameters. These are values like org.process.frombulator, 29 and harry.

When you submit a REST call to the query operation, your URL will look something like this:

http://localhost:8080/business-central/rest/query/runtime/process?processId=org.process.frombulator&piid=29

A query containing multiple different query parameters will search for the intersection of the given parameters.

However, many of the query parameters described below can be entered multiple times: when multiple values are given for the same query parameter, the query will then search for any results that match one or more of the values entered.

Example 21.19. Repeated Query Parameters

The following process instance query:

processId=org.example.process&processInstanceId=27&processInstanceId=29

will return a result that

only contains information about process instances with the org.example.process process definition;

only contains information about process instances that have an id of 27 or 29.

Warning

When running Business Central on WebSphere application server, if you make REST Query API calls with a parameter without value (for example, http://localhost:9080/business-central/rest/query/runtime/process?vv=john&all), the server ignores the API call. However, the server accepts the call if you specify an empty value for the parameter (for example, http://localhost:9080/business-central/rest/query/runtime/process?vv=john&all=).

Range and Regular Expression Parameters

Some query criteria can be given in ranges while for others, a simple regular expression language can be used to describe the value.

Query parameters that

can be given in ranges have an X in the min/max column in the table below.

use regular expressions have an X in the regex column below.

Range Query Parameters

In order to pass the lower end or start of a range, add _min to end of the parameter name. In order to pass the upper end or end of a range, add _max to end of the parameter name.

Range ends are inclusive.

Only passing one end of the range (the lower or upper end), results in querying on an open ended range.

Example 21.20. Range Parameters

The following task query:

processId=org.example.process&taskId_min=50&taskId_max=53

will return a result that:

Contains only information about tasks associated with the org.example.process process definition.

Contains only information about tasks that have a task id between 50 and 53, inclusive.

While the following task query:

processId=org.example.process&taskId_min=52

will return a result that

Contains only information about tasks associated with the org.example.process process definition.

Contains only information about tasks that have a task id that is larger than or equal to 52.

Regular Expression Query Parameters

In order to apply regular expressions to a query parameter, add _re to the end of the parameter name.

The regular expression language contains two special characters:

* means 0 or more characters

. means 1 character

The slash character (\) is not interpreted.

Example 21.21. Regular Expression Parameters

The following process instance query

processId_re=org.example.*&processVersion=2.0

will return a result that

only contains information about process instances associated with a process definition whose name matches the regular expression org.example.*. This includes:

org.example.process

org.example.process.definition.example.long.name

orgXexampleX

only contains information about process instances that have a process (definition) version of 2.0.

Parameter Table

The Task or process column describes whether or not a query parameter can be used with the task and/or the process instance query operations.

Table 21.3. Query Parameters

Parameter
Short Form
Description
Regex
min / max
Task or process

processinstanceid

piid

Process instance ID.

X

T, P

processid

pid

Process ID.

X

T, P

workitemid

wid

Work item ID.

T, P

deploymentid

did

Deployment ID.

X

T, P

taskid

tid

Task ID.

X

T

initiator

init

Task initiator/creator.

X

T

potentialowner

po

Task potential owner.

X

T

taskowner

to

Task owner.

X

T

businessadmin

ba

Task business admin.

X

T

taskstatus

tst

Task status

T

processinstancestatus

pist

Process instance status.

T, P

processversion

pv

Process version.

X

T, P

startdate

stdt

Process instance start date¹.

X

T, P

enddate

edt

Process instance end date¹.

X

T, P

varid

vid

Variable ID.

X

T, P

varvalue

vv

Variable value.

X

T, P

var

var

Variable ID and value².

T, P

varregex

vr

Variable ID and value³.

X

T, P

all

all

Which variable history logs⁴.

T, P

[1] The date operations take strings with a specific date format as their values: yy-MM-dd_HH:mm:ss. However, users can also submit only part of the date:

Submitting only the date (yy-MM-dd) means that a time of 00:00:00 is used (the beginning of the day).

Submitting only the time (HH:mm:ss) means that the current date is used.

Table 21.4. Example Date Strings

Date String
Actual Meaning

15-05-29_13:40:12

May 29th, 2015, 13:40:12 (1:40:12 PM)

14-11-20

November 20th, 2014, 00:00:00

9:30:00

Today, 9:30:00 (AM)

For the format used, see the SimpleDateFormat documentation.

[2] The var query parameter is used differently than other parameters. If you want to specify both the variable ID and value of a variable (as opposed to just the variable ID), then you can do it by using the var query parameter. The syntax is var_<variable-id>=<variable-value>.

Example 21.22. var_X=Y

The query parameter and parameter pair var_myVar=value3 queries for process instances with variables⁴ that are called myVar and that have the value value3.

[3] The varreggex (or shortened version vr) parameter works similarly to the var query parameter. However, the value part of the query parameter can be a regular expression.

[4] By default, only the information from most recent (last) variable instance logs is retrieved. However, users can also retrieve all variable instance logs (that match the given criteria) by using this parameter.

Parameter Examples

Table 21.5. Query parameters examples

Parameter
Short Form
Example

processinstanceid

piid

piid=23

processid

pid

processid=com.acme.example

workitemid

wid

wid_max=11

deploymentid

did

did_re=com.willy.loompa.*

taskid

tid

taskid=4

initiator

init

init_re=Davi*

stakeholder

stho

stho=theBoss&stho=theBossesAssistant

potentialowner

po

potentialowner=sara

taskowner

to

taskowner_re=*anderson

businessadmin

ba

ba=admin

taskstatus

tst

tst=Reserved

processinstancestatus

pist

pist=3&pist=4

processversion

pv

processVersion_re=4.2*

startdate

stdt

stdt_min=00:00:00

enddate

edt

edt_max=15-01-01

varid

vid

varid=numCars

varvalue

vv

vv=abracadabra

var

var

var_numCars=10

varregex

vr

vr_nameCar=chitty*

all

all

all

Query Output Format

The process instance query returns a JaxbQueryProcessInstanceResult instance.

The task query returns a JaxbQueryTaskResult instance.

Results are structured as follows:

a list of process instance info (JaxbQueryProcessInstanceInfo) objects

or a list of task instance info (JaxbQueryTaskInfo) objects.

A JaxbQueryProcessInstanceInfo object contains:

a process instance object;

a list of 0 or more variable objects.

A JaxbQueryTaskInfo info object contains:

the process instance ID;

a list of 0 or more task summary objects;

a list of 0 or more variable objects.

Execute Operations

For remote communication, we recommend you to use Java Remote API, which can be obtained from the class org.kie.remote.client.api.RemoteRuntimeEngineFactory and is shipped with Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite.

For performing runtime operations (such as starting a process instance with process variables, or completing a task with task variables) that involves passing a custom Java object used in the process, you can use the approach mentioned in the section called “Custom Model Objects and Remote API”.

If using the Java Remote API is not possible or if your requirement is to use the Rest API, you may consider using the execute operation. However, the Rest API accepts only String or Integer values as parameters. The execute operation enables you to send complex Java objects to perform JBoss BPM Suite runtime operations.

The execute operations are created in order to support the Java Remote Runtime API. Use the execute operations only in exceptional circumstances such as:

When you need to pass complex objects as parameters.

When it is not possible to use /runtime or /task endpoints.

Additionally, you can consider using the execute operations in cases when you are running any other client besides Java.

Let us consider an example, where we are passing a complex object org.MyPOJO as a parameter to start a process:

package com.redhat.gss.jbpm;

import java.io.StringReader;
import java.io.StringWriter;
import java.net.URL;
import java.nio.charset.Charset;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

import javax.ws.rs.core.MediaType;
import javax.xml.bind.JAXBContext;
import javax.xml.bind.JAXBException;
import javax.xml.bind.Marshaller;
import javax.xml.bind.Unmarshaller;

import org.MyPOJO;
import org.apache.commons.codec.binary.Base64;
import org.jboss.resteasy.client.ClientRequest;
import org.jboss.resteasy.client.ClientRequestFactory;
import org.jboss.resteasy.client.ClientResponse;
import org.kie.api.command.Command;
import org.kie.remote.client.jaxb.JaxbCommandsRequest;
import org.kie.remote.client.jaxb.JaxbCommandsResponse;
import org.kie.remote.jaxb.gen.JaxbStringObjectPairArray;
import org.kie.remote.jaxb.gen.StartProcessCommand;
import org.kie.remote.jaxb.gen.util.JaxbStringObjectPair;
import org.kie.services.client.serialization.JaxbSerializationProvider;
import org.kie.services.client.serialization.jaxb.impl.JaxbCommandResponse;

public class StartProcessWithPOJO {

  /*
   * Set the parameters according your installation:
   */
  private static final String DEPLOYMENT_ID = "org.kie.example:project1:3.0";
  private static final String PROCESS_ID = "project1.proc_start";
  private static final String PROCESS_PARAM_NAME = "myPOJO";
  private static final String APP_URL = "http://localhost:8080/business-central/rest";
  private static final String USER = "jesuino";
  private static final String PASSWORD = "redhat2014!";

  public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
    // List of commands to be executed:
    List<Command> commands = new ArrayList<>();

    // A sample command to start a process:
    StartProcessCommand startProcessCommand = new StartProcessCommand();
    JaxbStringObjectPairArray params = new JaxbStringObjectPairArray();
    params.getItems()
      .add(new JaxbStringObjectPair(PROCESS_PARAM_NAME, new MyPOJO("My POJO TESTING")));
    startProcessCommand.setProcessId(PROCESS_ID);
    startProcessCommand.setParameter(params);
    commands.add(startProcessCommand);
    List<JaxbCommandResponse<?>> response = executeCommand(DEPLOYMENT_ID, commands);
    System.out.printf("Command %s executed.\n", response.toString());
    System.out.println("commands1" + commands);
  }

  private static List<JaxbCommandResponse<?>> executeCommand(String deploymentId,
   List<Command> commands) throws Exception {

    URL address = new URL(APP_URL + "/execute");
    ClientRequest request = createRequest(address);

    request.header(JaxbSerializationProvider
      .EXECUTE_DEPLOYMENT_ID_HEADER, DEPLOYMENT_ID);
    JaxbCommandsRequest commandMessage = new JaxbCommandsRequest();
    commandMessage.setCommands(commands);
    commandMessage.setDeploymentId(DEPLOYMENT_ID);
    String body = convertJaxbObjectToString(commandMessage);
    request.body(MediaType.APPLICATION_XML, body);
    ClientResponse<String> responseObj = request.post(String.class);
    String strResponse = responseObj.getEntity();
    System.out.println("RESPONSE FROM THE SERVER: \n" + strResponse);
    JaxbCommandsResponse cmdsResp = convertStringToJaxbObject(strResponse);

    return cmdsResp.getResponses();
  }

  private static ClientRequest createRequest(URL address) {
    return new ClientRequestFactory().createRequest(address
      .toExternalForm()).header("Authorization", getAuthHeader());
  }

  private static String getAuthHeader() {
    String auth = USER + ":" + PASSWORD;
    byte[] encodedAuth = Base64.encodeBase64(auth.getBytes(Charset.forName("US-ASCII")));

    return "Basic " + new String(encodedAuth);
  }

  private static String convertJaxbObjectToString(Object object) throws JAXBException {
    // Add your classes here.

    Class<?>[] classesToBeBound = { JaxbCommandsRequest.class, MyPOJO.class };
    Marshaller marshaller = JAXBContext.newInstance(classesToBeBound).createMarshaller();
    marshaller.setProperty(Marshaller.JAXB_FORMATTED_OUTPUT, Boolean.TRUE);
    StringWriter stringWriter = new StringWriter();
    marshaller.marshal(object, stringWriter);
    String output = stringWriter.toString();
    System.out.println("REQUEST CONTENT: \n" + output);

    return output;
  }

  private static JaxbCommandsResponse convertStringToJaxbObject(String str)
    throws JAXBException {
      Unmarshaller unmarshaller = JAXBContext.newInstance(
        JaxbCommandsResponse.class).createUnmarshaller();

      return (JaxbCommandsResponse) unmarshaller.unmarshal(new StringReader(str));
    }
}

In this example, the org.kie.remote.jaxb.gen package classes are used for the client, which are in present the org.kie.remote:kie-remote-client artifact. The deployment ID is set using a new HTTP header Kie-Deployment-Id that is also available using the Java constant JaxbSerializationProvider.EXECUTE_DEPLOYMENT_ID_HEADER.

The /execute call takes the JaxbCommandsRequest object as its parameter. The JaxbCommandsRequest object contains a list of org.kie.api.command.Command objects. The commands are stored in the JaxbCommandsRequest object, which are converted to String representation and sent to the execute REST call. The JaxbCommandsRequest parameters are deploymentId and a Command object.

When you send a command to /execute, you use Java code to convert the Command (which is a Java object) to String (which is in the XML format). Once you generate the XML, you can use any Java or non-Java client to send it to a Rest endpoint exposed by Business Central.

Note that it is important that the org.MyPOJO class is the same on both your client code as well as the server side. One way of achieving this is by sharing it through the maven dependency. You can create the org.MyPOJO class using the data modeler tool of Business Central and in your Rest client, import the dependency of the business-central project, which includes this org.MyPOJO class. Here is an example of the pom.xml file with the Business Central project dependency (that contains the org.MyPOJO class) and other required dependencies:

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0
                             http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
  <groupId>com.redhat.gss.jbpm</groupId>
  <artifactId>bpms-start-process</artifactId>
  <version>1.0</version>
  <name>Start process using execute</name>
  <properties>

    <version.org.jboss.bom.eap>6.4.7.GA</version.org.jboss.bom.eap>

    <version.org.jboss.bom.brms>6.4.0.GA-redhat-2</version.org.jboss.bom.brms>
    <maven.compiler.target>1.7</maven.compiler.target>
    <maven.compiler.source>1.7</maven.compiler.source>
  </properties>
  <dependencyManagement>
    <dependencies>
      <dependency>
        <groupId>org.jboss.bom.brms</groupId>
        <artifactId>jboss-brms-bpmsuite-platform-bom</artifactId>
        <type>pom</type>
        <version>${version.org.jboss.bom.brms}</version>
        <scope>import</scope>
      </dependency>
      <dependency>
        <groupId>org.jboss.bom.eap</groupId>
        <artifactId>jboss-javaee-6.0-with-tools</artifactId>
        <version>${version.org.jboss.bom.eap}</version>
        <type>pom</type>
        <scope>import</scope>
      </dependency>
      <dependency>
        <groupId>org.jboss.bom.brms</groupId>
        <artifactId>jboss-javaee-6.0-with-brms-bpmsuite</artifactId>
        <version>${version.org.jboss.bom.brms}</version>
        <type>pom</type>
        <scope>import</scope>
      </dependency>
    </dependencies>
  </dependencyManagement>
  <dependencies>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.kie.remote</groupId>
      <artifactId>kie-remote-client</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.drools</groupId>
      <artifactId>drools-core</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.jboss.resteasy</groupId>
      <artifactId>resteasy-jaxrs</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
      <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>commons-codec</groupId>
      <artifactId>commons-codec</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <!-- A Business Central project dependency which contains the POJO. -->
    <dependency>
      <artifactId>remote-process-start-with-bean</artifactId>
      <groupId>com.redhat.gss</groupId>
      <version>1.0</version>
    </dependency>
  </dependencies>
</project>

See the supported Red Hat JBoss EAP version in the Supported Platforms chapter of the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Installation Guide.

See the current version in the Supported Component Versions chapter of the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Installation Guide.

Here, the com.redhat.gss:remote-process-start-with-bean:1.0 is the kJAR created by Business Central. This kJAR includes the org.MyPOJO class. Therefore by sharing the dependency, you ensure that your org.MyPOJO class on the server matches with that on the client.

Another way to achieve this is to create data model using JBoss Developer Studio, export the JAR file, and add it as a dependency of both Business Central kJAR and your Rest client.

Execute Operation Commands

The following is a list of commands that the execute operation accepts. See the constructor and set methods on the actual command classes for further information about which parameters these commands accept.

The following is the list of accepted commands used to interact with the process engine:

AbortWorkItemCommand

CompleteWorkItemCommand

GetWorkItemCommand

AbortProcessInstanceCommand

GetProcessIdsCommand

GetProcessInstanceByCorrelationKeyCommand

GetProcessInstanceCommand

GetProcessInstancesCommand

SetProcessInstanceVariablesCommand

SignalEventCommand

StartCorrelatedProcessCommand

StartProcessCommand

GetVariableCommand

GetFactCountCommand

GetGlobalCommand

GetIdCommand

FireAllRulesCommand

The following is the list of accepted commands that interact with task instances:

ActivateTaskCommand

AddTaskCommand

CancelDeadlineCommand

ClaimNextAvailableTaskCommand

ClaimTaskCommand

CompleteTaskCommand

CompositeCommand

DelegateTaskCommand

ExecuteTaskRulesCommand

ExitTaskCommand

FailTaskCommand

ForwardTaskCommand

GetAttachmentCommand

GetContentCommand

GetTaskAssignedAsBusinessAdminCommand

GetTaskAssignedAsPotentialOwnerCommand

GetTaskByWorkItemIdCommand

GetTaskCommand

GetTasksByProcessInstanceIdCommand

GetTasksByStatusByProcessInstanceIdCommand

GetTasksOwnedCommand

NominateTaskCommand

ProcessSubTaskCommand

ReleaseTaskCommand

ResumeTaskCommand

SkipTaskCommand

StartTaskCommand

StopTaskCommand

SuspendTaskCommand

The following is the list of accepted commands for managing and retrieving historical (audit) information:

ClearHistoryLogsCommand

FindActiveProcessInstancesCommand

FindNodeInstancesCommand

FindProcessInstanceCommand

FindProcessInstancesCommand

FindSubProcessInstancesCommand

FindSubProcessInstancesCommand

FindVariableInstancesByNameCommand

FindVariableInstancesCommand

Simple Call Example

An example of /rest/execute operation for:

processID: evaluation

deploymentID: org.jbpm:Evaluation:1.0

Parameters to start the process:

employee

reason

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<command-request>
  <deployment-id>org.jbpm:Evaluation:1.0</deployment-id>
  <ver>6.2.0.1</ver>
  <user>krisv</user>
  <start-process processId="evaluation">
    <parameter>
      <item key="reason">
        <value xsi:type="xs:string" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
               xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">Yearly performance evaluation</value>
      </item>
      <item key="employee">
        <value xsi:type="xs:string" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
               xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">krisv</value>
      </item>
    </parameter>
  </start-process>
</command-request>

Include the following HTTP headers in your request:

The Content-Type header: application/xml.

The Authorization header with basic authentication information, as specificed by RFC2616.

An example response:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
  <command-response>
    <deployment-id>org.jbpm:Evaluation:1.0</deployment-id>
    <ver>6.2.0.1</ver>
    <process-instance index="0">
    <process-id>evaluation</process-id>
    <id>15</id>
    <state>1</state>
    <parentProcessInstanceId>0</parentProcessInstanceId>
    <command-name>StartProcessCommand</command-name>
  </process-instance>
</command-response>

Custom Data Type Call Example

The /execute operation supports sending user-defined class instances as parameters in the command, which requires JAXB for serialization and deserialization. To be able to deserialize the custom class on the server side, include the Kie-Deployment-Id header.

The following request starts a process which contains a custom TestObject class (with two fields) as a parameter:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<command-request>
  <deployment-id>demo:testproject:1.0</deployment-id>
  <ver>6.2.0.1</ver>
  <user>krisv</user>
  <start-process processId="testproject.testprocess">
    <parameter>
      <item key="testobject">
        <value xsi:type="testObject" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
          <field1>1</field1>
          <field2>2</field2>
        </value>
      </item>
    </parameter>
  </start-process>
</command-request>

Include the following HTTP headers in your request:

The Content-Type header: application/xml.

The Authorization header with basic authentication information, as specificed by RFC2616.

The Kie-Deployment-Id header with deploymentID that contains the definition of the custom class.

REST Summary

The URL templates in the table below are relative to the following URL:

http://server:port/business-central/rest

Table 21.6. Knowledge Store REST Calls

URL Template
Type
Description

/jobs/{jobID}

GET

Return the job status.

/jobs/{jobID}

DELETE

Remove the job.

/organizationalunits

GET

Return a list of organizational units.

/organizationalunits/{organizationalUnitName}

GET

Return a single organizational unit.

/organizationalunits

POST

Create an organizational unit.

/organizationalunits/{organizationalUnitName}

POST

Update the organizational unit.

/organizationalunits/{organizationalUnitName}

DELETE

Delete the organizational unit.

/organizationalunits/{organizationalUnitName}/repositories/{repositoryName}

POST

Add the repository to the organizational unit.

/organizationalunits/{organizationalUnitName}/repositories/{repositoryName}

DELETE

Remove the repository from the organizational unit.

/repositories

GET

Return a list of repositories.

/repositories/{repositoryName}

GET

Return a single repository.

/repositories

POST

Create or clone the repository.

/repositories/{repositoryName}

DELETE

Remove the repository.

/repositories/{repositoryName}/projects

GET

Get a list of projects in the repository.

/repositories/{repositoryName}/projects

POST

Create a project in the repository.

/repositories/{repositoryName}/projects/{projectName}

DELETE

Delete the project in the repository.

/repositories/{repositoryName}/projects/{projectName}/maven/compile

POST

Compile the project.

/repositories/{repositoryName}/projects/{projectName}/maven/test

POST

Test the project.

/repositories/{repositoryName}/projects/{projectName}/maven/install

POST

Install the project.

/repositories/{repositoryName}/projects/{projectName}/maven/deploy

POST

Deploy the project.

Table 21.7. Runtime REST Calls

URL Template
Type
Description

/runtime/{deploymentId}/process/{procDefID}/start

POST

Start a process instance based on the process definition (accepts query map parameters).

/runtime/{deploymentId}/process/instance/{procInstanceID}

GET

Return a process instance details.

/runtime/{deploymentId}/process/instance/{procInstanceID}/abort

POST

Abort the process instance.

/runtime/{deploymentId}/process/instance/{procInstanceID}/signal

POST

Send a signal event to process instance (accepts query map parameters).

/runtime/{deploymentId}/process/instance/{procInstanceID}/variable/{varId}

GET

Return a variable from a process instance.

/runtime/{deploymentId}/signal/{signalCode}

POST

Send a signal event to deployment.

/runtime/{deploymentId}/workitem/{workItemID}/complete

POST

Complete a work item (accepts query map parameters).

/runtime/{deploymentId}/workitem/{workItemID}/abort

POST

Abort a work item.

/runtime/{deploymentId}/withvars/process/{procDefinitionID}/start

POST

Start a process instance and return the process instance with its variables.

Note that even if a passed variable is not defined in the underlying process definition, it is created and initialized with the passed value.

/runtime/{deploymentId}/withvars/process/instance/{procInstanceID}/

GET

Return a process instance with its variables.

/runtime/{deploymentId}/withvars/process/instance/{procInstanceID}/signal

POST

Send a signal event to the process instance (accepts query map parameters).

The following query parameters are accepted:

The signal parameter specifies the name of the signal to be sent.

The event parameter specifies the (optional) value of the signal to be sent.

Table 21.8. Task REST Calls

URL Template
Type
Description

/task/query

GET

Return a TaskSummary list.

/task/content/{contentID}

GET

Returns the content of a task.

/task/{taskID}

GET

Return the task.

/task/{taskID}/activate

POST

Activate the task.

/task/{taskID}/claim

POST

Claim the task.

/task/{taskID}/claimnextavailable

POST

Claim the next available task.

/task/{taskID}/complete

POST

Complete the task (accepts query map parameters).

/task/{taskID}/delegate

POST

Delegate the task.

/task/{taskID}/exit

POST

Exit the task.

/task/{taskID}/fail

POST

Fail the task.

/task/{taskID}/forward

POST

Forward the task.

/task/{taskID}/nominate

POST

Nominate the task.

/task/{taskID}/release

POST

Release the task.

/task/{taskID}/resume

POST

Resume the task (after suspending).

/task/{taskID}/skip

POST

Skip the task.

/task/{taskID}/start

POST

Start the task.

/task/{taskID}/stop

POST

Stop the task.

/task/{taskID}/suspend

POST

Suspend the task.

/task/{taskID}/showTaskForm

GET

Generates a URL to show the task form on a remote application as a JaxbTaskFormResponse instance.

/task/{taskID}/content

GET

Returns the content of a task.

Table 21.9. History REST Calls

URL Template
Type
Description

/history/clear/

POST

Delete all process, node, and history records.

/history/instances

GET

Return the list of all process instance history records.

/history/instance/{procInstId}

GET

Return a list of process instance history records for a process instance.

/history/instance/{procInstId}/child

GET

Return a list of process instance history records for the subprocesses of the process instance.

/history/instance/{procInstId}/node

GET

Return a list of node history records for a process instance.

/history/instance/{procInstId}/node/{nodeId}

GET

Return a list of node history records for a node in a process instance.

/history/instance/{procInstId}/variable

GET

Return a list of variable history records for a process instance.

/history/instance/{procInstId}/variable/{variableId}

GET

Return a list of variable history records for a variable in a process instance.

/history/process/{procDefId}

GET

Return a list of process instance history records for process instances using a given process definition.

/history/variable/{varId}

GET

Return a list of variable history records for a variable

/history/variable/{varId}/instances

GET

Return a list of process instance history records for process instances that contain a variable with the given variable ID.

/history/variable/{varId}/value/{value}

GET

Return a list of variable history records for variable(s) with the given variable ID and given value.

/history/variable/{varId}/value/{value}/instances

GET

Return a list of process instance history records for process instances with the specified variable that contains the specified variable value.

Table 21.10. Deployment REST Calls

URL Template
Type
Description

/deployment

GET

Return a list of (deployed) deployments.

/deployment/{deploymentId}

GET

Return the status and information about the deployment.

/deployment/{deploymentId}/deploy

POST

Submit a request to deploy a deployment.

/deployment/{deploymentId}/undeploy

POST

Submit a request to undeploy a deployment.

/deployment/{deploymentId}/deactivate

POST

Deactivate a deployment.

/deployment/{deploymentId}/activate

POST

Activate a deployment.

Table 21.11. Query REST Calls

URL Template
Type
Description

/query/runtime/process

GET

Query for process instances and process variables. Returns a JaxbQueryProcessInstanceResult object.

/query/runtime/task

GET

Query for task summaries and process variables. Returns a JaxbQueryTaskResult object.

/query/task

GET

Query for tasks. Returns a JaxbTaskSummaryListResponse object.

Supported query parameters are workItemId, taskId, businessAdministrator, potentialOwner, status, taskOwner, processInstanceId, language, and union.

Note

None of these REST endpoints has an equivalent Java client. Return values are examples of classes that can be used when you retrieve responses of calls made from your Java application. Each response is either in an XML or JSON format.

Control of REST API

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite provides a way to control access when using the REST API by introducing access-restricting user roles. This feature is enabled by default. You can disable it in web.xml.

You can use following roles:

Table 21.12. Available Roles, Their Type and Scope of Access

Name
Type
Scope of access

rest-all

GET, POST, DELETE

All direct REST calls (excluding remote client).

rest-project

GET, POST, DELETE

Knowledge store REST calls

rest-deployment

GET, POST

Deployment unit REST calls.

rest-process

GET, POST

Runtime and history REST calls.

rest-process-read-only

GET

Runtime and history REST calls.

rest-task

GET, POST

Task REST calls.

rest-task-read-only

GET

Task REST calls.

rest-query

GET

REST query API calls.

rest-client

POST

Remote client calls.

JMS

The Java Message Service (JMS) is an API that allows Java Enterprise components to communicate with each other asynchronously and reliably.

Operations on the runtime engine and tasks can be done through the JMS API exposed by Business Central. However, it is not possible to manage deployments or the knowledge base via this JMS API.

Unlike the REST API, it is possible to send a batch of commands to the JMS API that will all be processed in one request after which the responses to the commands will be collected and return in one response message.

JMS Queue Setup

When you deploy Business Central on the WebSphere application server or EAP server, it automatically creates three queues:

jms/queue/KIE.SESSION

jms/queue/KIE.TASK

jms/queue/KIE.RESPONSE

The KIE.SESSION and KIE.TASK queues should be used to send request messages to the JMS API. Command response messages will be then placed on the KIE.RESPONSE queues. Command request messages that involve starting and managing business processes should be sent to the KIE.SESSION and command request messages that involve managing human tasks, should be sent to the KIE.TASK queue.

Although there are two different input queues, KIE.SESSION and KIE.TASK, this is only in order to provide multiple input queues so as to optimize processing: command request messages will be processed in the same manner regardless of which queue they are sent to. However, in some cases, users may send many more requests involving human tasks than requests involving business processes, but then not want the processing of business process-related request messages to be delayed by the human task messages. By sending the appropriate command request messages to the appropriate queues, this problem can be avoided.

The term command request message used above refers to a JMS byte message that contains a serialized JaxbCommandsRequest object. At the moment, only XML serialization (as opposed to, JSON or protobuf, for example) is supported.

Example JMS Usage

The following is an example that shows how to use the JMS API. The numbers (callouts) along the side of the example refer to notes below that explain particular parts of the example. It is supplied for those advanced users that do not wish to use the JBoss BPM Suite Remote Java API.

The Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Remote Java API, described here, will otherwise take care of all of the logic shown below.

// Normal Java imports skipped.

import org.drools.core.command.runtime.process.StartProcessCommand;
import org.jbpm.services.task.commands.GetTaskAssignedAsPotentialOwnerCommand;
import org.kie.api.command.Command;
import org.kie.api.runtime.process.ProcessInstance;
import org.kie.api.task.model.TaskSummary;
// 1
import org.kie.services.client.api.command.exception.RemoteCommunicationException;
import org.kie.services.client.serialization.JaxbSerializationProvider;
import org.kie.services.client.serialization.SerializationConstants;
import org.kie.services.client.serialization.SerializationException;
import org.kie.services.client.serialization.jaxb.impl.JaxbCommandResponse;
import org.kie.services.client.serialization.jaxb.impl.JaxbCommandsRequest;
import org.kie.services.client.serialization.jaxb.impl.JaxbCommandsResponse;
import org.kie.services.client.serialization.jaxb.rest.JaxbExceptionResponse;

import org.slf4j.Logger;
import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;

public class DocumentationJmsExamples {

  protected static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory
    .getLogger(DocumentationJmsExamples.class);

  public void sendAndReceiveJmsMessage() {

    String USER = "charlie";
    String PASSWORD = "ch0c0licious";

    String DEPLOYMENT_ID = "test-project";
    String PROCESS_ID_1 = "oompa-processing";
    URL serverUrl;
    try {
      serverUrl = new URL("http://localhost:8080/business-central/");
    } catch (MalformedURLException murle) {
      logger.error("Malformed URL for the server instance!", murle);
      return;
    }

    // Create JaxbCommandsRequest instance and add commands:
    Command<?> cmd = new StartProcessCommand(PROCESS_ID_1);
    int oompaProcessingResultIndex = 0;

    //5

    JaxbCommandsRequest req = new JaxbCommandsRequest(DEPLOYMENT_ID, cmd);

    //2

    req.getCommands().add(new GetTaskAssignedAsPotentialOwnerCommand(USER, "en-UK"));
    int loompaMonitoringResultIndex = 1;

    //5

    // Get JNDI context from server:
    InitialContext context = getRemoteJbossInitialContext(serverUrl, USER, PASSWORD);

    // Create JMS connection:
    ConnectionFactory connectionFactory;
    try {
      connectionFactory = (ConnectionFactory) context.lookup("jms/RemoteConnectionFactory");
    } catch (NamingException ne) {
      throw new RuntimeException("Unable to lookup JMS connection factory.", ne);
    }

    // Set up queues:
    Queue sendQueue, responseQueue;
    try {
      sendQueue = (Queue) context.lookup("jms/queue/KIE.SESSION");
      responseQueue = (Queue) context.lookup("jms/queue/KIE.RESPONSE");
    } catch (NamingException ne) {
      throw new RuntimeException("Unable to lookup send or response queue", ne);
    }

    // Send command request:
    Long processInstanceId = null; // needed if you're doing an operation on a PER_PROCESS_INSTANCE deployment
    String humanTaskUser = USER;
    JaxbCommandsResponse cmdResponse = sendJmsCommands(
        DEPLOYMENT_ID, processInstanceId, humanTaskUser, req,
        connectionFactory, sendQueue, responseQueue,
        USER, PASSWORD, 5);

    // Retrieve results:
    ProcessInstance oompaProcInst = null;
    List<TaskSummary> charliesTasks = null;

    //6

    for (JaxbCommandResponse<?> response : cmdResponse.getResponses()) {
      if (response instanceof JaxbExceptionResponse) {
        // Something went wrong on the server side:
        JaxbExceptionResponse exceptionResponse = (JaxbExceptionResponse) response;
        throw new RuntimeException(exceptionResponse.getMessage());
      }

      //5

      if (response.getIndex() == oompaProcessingResultIndex) {
        oompaProcInst = (ProcessInstance) response.getResult();

      //6

      } else if (response.getIndex() == loompaMonitoringResultIndex) {

    	//5

        charliesTasks = (List<TaskSummary>) response.getResult();

      //6

      }
    }
  }

  private JaxbCommandsResponse sendJmsCommands(String deploymentId,
    Long processInstanceId, String user, JaxbCommandsRequest req,
    ConnectionFactory factory, Queue sendQueue, Queue responseQueue,
    String jmsUser, String jmsPassword, int timeout) {

    req.setProcessInstanceId(processInstanceId);
    req.setUser(user);

    Connection connection = null;
    Session session = null;
    String corrId = UUID.randomUUID().toString();
    String selector = "JMSCorrelationID = '" + corrId + "'";
    JaxbCommandsResponse cmdResponses = null;
    try {

      // Setup:
      MessageProducer producer;
      MessageConsumer consumer;
      try {
        if (jmsPassword != null) {
          connection = factory.createConnection(jmsUser, jmsPassword);
        } else {
          connection = factory.createConnection();
        }
        session = connection.createSession(false, Session.AUTO_ACKNOWLEDGE);

        producer = session.createProducer(sendQueue);
        consumer = session.createConsumer(responseQueue, selector);

        connection.start();
      } catch (JMSException jmse) {
        throw new RemoteCommunicationException("Unable to setup a JMS connection.", jmse);
      }

      JaxbSerializationProvider serializationProvider = new JaxbSerializationProvider();
      // if necessary, add user-created classes here:
      // xmlSerializer.addJaxbClasses(MyType.class, AnotherJaxbAnnotatedType.class);

      // Create msg
      BytesMessage msg;
      try {
        msg = session.createBytesMessage();

        //3

        // Set properties:
        msg.setJMSCorrelationID(corrId);

      //3

        msg.setIntProperty(SerializationConstants.SERIALIZATION_TYPE_PROPERTY_NAME,
          JaxbSerializationProvider.JMS_SERIALIZATION_TYPE);

      //3

        Collection<Class<?>> extraJaxbClasses = serializationProvider.getExtraJaxbClasses();
        if (!extraJaxbClasses.isEmpty()) {
          String extraJaxbClassesPropertyValue = JaxbSerializationProvider
            .classSetToCommaSeperatedString(extraJaxbClasses);
          msg.setStringProperty(SerializationConstants
            .EXTRA_JAXB_CLASSES_PROPERTY_NAME, extraJaxbClassesPropertyValue);
          msg.setStringProperty(SerializationConstants
            .DEPLOYMENT_ID_PROPERTY_NAME, deploymentId);
        }

        // Serialize request:
        String xmlStr = serializationProvider.serialize(req);
        msg.writeUTF(xmlStr);

      //3

      } catch (JMSException jmse) {
        throw new RemoteCommunicationException("Unable to create and fill a JMS message.",
          jmse);
      } catch (SerializationException se) {
        throw new RemoteCommunicationException("Unable to deserialze JMS message.",
          se.getCause());
      }

      // Send:
      try {
        producer.send(msg);
      } catch (JMSException jmse) {
        throw new RemoteCommunicationException("Unable to send a JMS message.", jmse);
      }

      // Receive:
      Message response;

      //4

      try {
        response = consumer.receive(timeout);
      } catch (JMSException jmse) {
        throw new RemoteCommunicationException("Unable to receive or
          retrieve the JMS response.", jmse);
      }

      if (response == null) {
        logger.warn("Response is empty, leaving");
        return null;
      }
      // extract response
      assert response != null : "Response is empty.";
      try {
        String xmlStr = ((BytesMessage) response).readUTF();
        cmdResponses = (JaxbCommandsResponse) serializationProvider.deserialize(xmlStr);
      } catch (JMSException jmse) {
        throw new RemoteCommunicationException("Unable to extract "
          + JaxbCommandsResponse.class.getSimpleName()
          + " instance from JMS response.", jmse);
      } catch (SerializationException se) {
        throw new RemoteCommunicationException("Unable to extract "
          + JaxbCommandsResponse.class.getSimpleName()
          + " instance from JMS response.", se.getCause());
      }
      assert cmdResponses != null : "Jaxb Cmd Response was null!";
    } finally {
      if (connection != null) {
        try {
          connection.close();
          session.close();
        } catch (JMSException jmse) {
          logger.warn("Unable to close connection or session!", jmse);
        }
      }
    }
    return cmdResponses;
  }

  private InitialContext getRemoteJbossInitialContext(URL url, String user, String password) {

    Properties initialProps = new Properties();
    initialProps.setProperty(InitialContext.INITIAL_CONTEXT_FACTORY,
      "org.jboss.naming.remote.client.InitialContextFactory");
    String jbossServerHostName = url.getHost();
    initialProps.setProperty(InitialContext.PROVIDER_URL,
      "remote://"+ jbossServerHostName + ":4447");
    initialProps.setProperty(InitialContext.SECURITY_PRINCIPAL, user);
    initialProps.setProperty(InitialContext.SECURITY_CREDENTIALS, password);

    for (Object keyObj : initialProps.keySet()) {
      String key = (String) keyObj;
      System.setProperty(key, (String) initialProps.get(key));
    }
    try {
      return new InitialContext(initialProps);
    } catch (NamingException e) {
      throw new RemoteCommunicationException("Unable to create "
        + InitialContext.class.getSimpleName(), e);
    }
  }
}

These classes can all be found in the kie-services-client and the kie-services-jaxb JAR.

The JaxbCommandsRequest instance is the "holder" object in which you can place all of the commands you want to execute in a particular request. By using the JaxbCommandsRequest.getCommands() method, you can retrieve the list of commands in order to add more commands to the request.

A deployment ID is required for command request messages that deal with business processes. Command request messages that only contain human task-related commands do not require a deployment ID.

Note that the JMS message sent to the remote JMS API must be constructed as follows:

It must be a JMS byte message.

It must have a filled JMS Correlation ID property.

It must have an int property with the name of "serialization" set to an acceptable value (only 0 at the moment).

It must contain a serialized instance of a JaxbCommandsRequest, added to the message as a UTF string.

The same serialization mechanism used to serialize the request message will be used to serialize the response message.

In order to match the response to a command, to the initial command, use the index field of the returned JaxbCommandResponse instances. This index field will match the index of the initial command. Because not all commands will return a result, it is possible to send 3 commands with a command request message, and then receive a command response message that only includes one JaxbCommandResponse message with an index value of 1. That 1 then identifies it as the response to the second command.

Since many of the results returned by various commands are not serializable, the jBPM JMS Remote API converts these results into JAXB equivalents, all of which implement the JaxbCommandResponse interface. The JaxbCommandResponse.getResult() method then returns the JAXB equivalent to the actual result, which will conform to the interface of the result.

For example, in the code above, the StartProcessCommand returns a ProcessInstance. In order to return this object to the requester, the ProcessInstance is converted to a JaxbProcessInstanceResponse and then added as a JaxbCommandResponse to the command response message. The same applies to the List<TaskSummary> that is returned by the GetTaskAssignedAsPotentialOwnerCommand.

However, not all methods that can be called on a normal ProcessInstance can be called on the JaxbProcessInstanceResponse because the JaxbProcessInstanceResponse is simply a representation of a ProcessInstance object. This applies to various other command response as well. In particular, methods which require an active (backing) KieSession, such as ProcessInstance.getProess() or ProcessInstance.signalEvent(String type, Object event) will throw an UnsupportedOperationException.

EJB Interface

Starting with version 6.1, the BPM Suite execution engine supports an EJB interface for accessing KieSession and TaskService remotely. This allows for close transaction integration between the execution engine and remote customer applications.

The implementation of this interface is a single, framework independent and container agnostic API that can be used with framework specific code. The services are exposed using the jbpm.services.api and the org.jbpm.services.ejb package and described in the next section. There is also support for CDI via the org.jbpm.services.cdi package.

The implementation does not support a RuleService at this time, but the ProcessService class exposes an execute method that allows you to use various rule related commands, like InsertCommand and FireAllRulesCommand.

Deployment of EJB Client

The EJB interface is currently only supported on Red Hat JBoss EAP. An implementation client in the form of a WAR file is available and can be extracted from the Maven Repository for Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite from the Customer Portal. This EJB client is present in the Maven Repository in the form of a JAR file: jbpm-services-ejb-client-VERSION-redhat-MINOR.jar.

Note that the inclusion of EJB does not mean that CDI based services will be replaced. CDI And EJB can be used together but this is not recommended. Since EJB’s are not available by default in Business Central, the package kie-services must always be present in the classpath. The EJB services are suitable for embedded use cases.

EJB Interface Methods

There are five main service interfaces that can be used by remote EJB clients. These methods are present in the following packages:

org.jbpm.services.ejb.api: the extension to the Services API for EJB needs.

org.jbpm.services.ejb.impl: EJB wrappers on top of the core service implementation.

org.jbpm.services.ejb.client: The EJB remote client implementation that works on JBoss EAP only.

Service interfaces:

DefinitionService: Use this interface to gather information about processes (id, name and version), process variables (name and type), defined reusable subprocesses, domain specific service and user tasks and user task input and outputs.

DeploymentService: Use this interface to initiate deployments and un-deployments. Methods include deploy, undeploy, getRuntimeManager, getDeployedUnits, isDeployed, activate, deactivate and getDeployedUnit. Calling the deploy method with an instance of DeploymentUnit deploys it into the runtime engine by building RuntimeManager instance for the deployed unit. Upon successful deployment an instance of DeployedUnit instance is created and cached for further usage.

These methods only work if the artifact/project is already installed in a Maven repository.

ProcessService: Use this interface to control the lifecycle of one or more Processes and Work Items.

RuntimeDataService: Use this interface to retrieve data about the runtime: process instances, process definitions, node instance information and variable information. It includes several convenience methods for gathering task information based on owner, status and time.

UserTaskService: Use this interface to control the lifecycle of a user task. Methods include all the usual ones: activate, start, stop, execute amongst others.

A synchronization service that syncs information between Business Central and the EJBs is also available. The synchronization interval can be set with the org.jbpm.deploy.sync.int system property.

Note

You must wait for the synchronization service to finish its synchronization of information before trying to access this updated information using REST. Until this synchronization is finished the EJBs will not see changes done through REST.

Generating EJB Services WAR

This example shows you how to create an EJB Services WAR using the new EJB Interface.

Update the persistence.xml file in Business Central. Edit the property hibernate.hbm2ddl.auto and set its value to update (instead of create).

Register the Human Task CallBack using a startup class:

@Singleton
@Startup
public class StartupBean {

  @PostConstruct
  public void init()
  { System.setProperty("org.jbpm.ht.callback", "jaas"); }

}

Generate the WAR file: mvn assembly:assembly.

Deploy the generated war file (sample-war-ejb-app.war) in the Red Hat JBoss EAP instance that Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite is running in.

Note

If deploying on a Red Hat JBoss EAP container separate from the one where Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite is running:

You need to configure your application/app server to invoke a remote EJB.

You need to configure your application/app server to propagate the security context.

Warning

When you deploy your EJB WAR on the same instance of JBoss EAP, avoid using the Singleton strategy for your runtime sessions. If you use the Singleton strategy, both applications will load the same ksession instance from the underlying file system and cause optimistic lock exceptions.

To test, create a simple web application and inject the EJB Services:

@EJB(lookup = "ejb:/sample-war-ejb-app/ProcessServiceEJBImpl!org.jbpm.services.ejb.api.ProcessServiceEJBRemote")
private ProcessServiceEJBRemote processService;

@EJB(lookup = "ejb:/sample-war-ejb-app/UserTaskServiceEJBImpl!org.jbpm.services.ejb.api.UserTaskServiceEJBRemote")
private UserTaskServiceEJBRemote userTaskService;

@EJB(lookup = "ejb:/sample-war-ejb-app/RuntimeDataServiceEJBImpl!org.jbpm.services.ejb.api.RuntimeDataServiceEJBRemote")
private RuntimeDataServiceEJBRemote runtimeDataService;

Remote Java API

The Remote Java API provides KieSession, TaskService and AuditService interfaces to the JMS and REST APIs.

The interface implementations provided by the Remote Java API take care of the underlying logic needed to communicate with the JMS or REST APIs. In other words, these implementations allow you to interact with Business Central through known interfaces such as the KieSession or TaskService interface, without having to deal with the underlying transport and serialization details.

The Remote Java API Provides Clients, Not Instances

While the KieSession, TaskService and AuditService instances provided by the Remote Java API may "look" and "feel" like local instances of the same interfaces, make sure to remember that these instances are only wrappers around a REST or JMS client that interacts with a remote REST or JMS API.

This means that if a requested operation fails on the server, the Remote Java API client instance on the client side will throw a RuntimeException indicating that the REST call failed. This is different from the behavior of a "real" (or local) instance of a KieSession, TaskService and AuditService instance because the exception the local instances will throw will relate to how the operation failed. Also, while local instances require different handling (such as having to dispose of a KieSession), client instances provided by the Remote Java API hold no state and thus do not require any special handling.

Lastly, operations on a Remote Java API client instance that would normally throw other exceptions (such as the TaskService.claim(taskId, userId) operation when called by a user who is not a potential owner), will now throw a RuntimeException instead when the requested operation fails on the server.

The very first step in interacting with the remote runtime is to create the RemoteRuntimeEngine instance. The recommended way is to use RemoteRestRuntimeEngineBuilder or RemoteJmsRuntimeEngineBuilder. There are a number of different methods for both the JMS and REST client builders that allow the configuration of parameters such as the base URL of the REST API, JMS queue location or timeout while waiting for responses.

Procedure: Creating RemoteRuntimeEngine Instance

Instantiate the RemoteRestRuntimeEngineBuilder or RemoteJmsRuntimeEngineBuilder by calling either RemoteRuntimeEngineFactory.newRestBuilder() or RemoteRuntimeEngineFactory.newJmsBuilder().

Set the required parameters.

Finally, call the build() method.

Detailed examples can be found in the section called “The REST Remote Java RuntimeEngine Factory”, the section called “Calling Tasks Without Deployment ID”, and the section called “Custom Model Objects and Remote API”.

Once the RemoteRuntimeEngine instance has been created, there are a couple of methods that can be used to instantiate the client classes you want to use:

Remote Java API Methods

KieSession RemoteRuntimeEngine.getKieSession()

This method instantiates a new (client) KieSession instance.

TaskService RemoteRuntimeEngine.getTaskService()

This method instantiates a new (client) TaskService instance.

AuditService RemoteRuntimeEngine.getAuditService()

This method instantiates a new (client) AuditService instance.

Starting Project: Adding Dependencies

To start your own project, it is important to specify the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite BOM in the project’s pom.xml file. Also, make sure you add the kie-remote-client dependency. See the following example:

<dependencyManagement>
  <dependencies>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.jboss.bom.brms</groupId>
      <artifactId>jboss-brms-bpmsuite-bom</artifactId>
      <version>6.4.0.GA-redhat-2</version>
      <type>pom</type>
      <scope>import</scope>
    </dependency>
  </dependencies>
</dependencyManagement>

<dependencies>
  <dependency>
    <groupId>org.kie.remote</groupId>
    <artifactId>kie-remote-client</artifactId>
  </dependency>
</dependencies>

For the supported Maven BOM version, see Supported Component Versions of the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Installation Guide.

The REST Remote Java RuntimeEngine Factory

The RemoteRuntimeEngineFactory class is the starting point for building and configuring a new RemoteRuntimeEngine instance that can interact with the remote API. This class creates an instance of a REST client builder using the newRestBuilder() method. This builder is then used to create a RemoteRuntimeEngine instance that acts as a client to the remote REST API. The RemoteRestRuntimeEngineBuilder exposes the following properties for configuration:

Table 21.13. RemoteRestRuntimeEngineBuilder Methods

Method Name
Parameter Type
Description

Url

java.net.URL

URL of the deployed Business Central. For example: http://localhost:8080/business-central/.

UserName

java.lang.String

The user name to access the REST API.

Password

java.lang.String

The password to access the REST API.

DeploymentId

java.lang.String

The name (id) of the deployment the RuntimeEngine must interact with. This can be an empty String in case you are only interested in task operations.

Timeout

int

The maximum number of seconds the engine must wait for a response from the server.

ProcessInstanceId

long

The method that adds the process instance id, which may be necessary when interacting with deployments that employ the per process instance runtime strategy.

ExtraJaxbClasses

class

The method that adds extra classes to the classpath available to the serialization mechanisms. When passing instances of user-defined classes in a Remote Java API call, it is important to have added the classes using this method first so that the class instances can be serialized correctly.

Once you have configured all the necessary properties, call build() to get access to the RemoteRuntimeEngine.

Important

If the REST API access control is turned on, which is done by default, the given user who wants to use the RemoteRuntimeEngine calls has to have the rest-client and rest-all roles assigned.

Example Usage

The following example illustrates how the Remote Java API can be used with the REST API.

package org.kie.remote.client.documentation;

import java.net.URL;
import java.util.List;

import org.kie.api.runtime.KieSession;
import org.kie.api.runtime.manager.RuntimeEngine;
import org.kie.api.runtime.process.ProcessInstance;
import org.kie.api.task.TaskService;
import org.kie.api.task.model.TaskSummary;
import org.kie.remote.client.api.RemoteRuntimeEngineFactory;

public class DocumentationRestExamples {

 public void javaRemoteApiRestExample(
   URL baseUrl, String deploymentId, String user, String password) {

   // The baseUrl should contain a URL similar to
   // "http://localhost:8080/business-central/".

   // RuntimeEngine instance with the necessary information to communicate
   // with the REST services.

   // Select a user with the rest-all role.

   RuntimeEngine engine = RemoteRuntimeEngineFactory.newRestBuilder()
       .addDeploymentId(deploymentId)
       .addUrl(baseUrl)
       .addUserName(user)
       .addPassword(password)
       .build();

       // Create KieSession and TaskService instances and use them
       KieSession ksession = engine.getKieSession();
       TaskService taskService = engine.getTaskService();

       // Each operation on a KieSession, TaskService or AuditLogService (client) instance
       // sends a request for the operation to the server side and waits for the response
       // If something goes wrong on the server side, the client will throw an exception.
       ProcessInstance processInstance
           = ksession.startProcess("com.burns.reactor.maintenance.cycle");
       long procId = processInstance.getId();

       String taskUserId = user;
       taskService = engine.getTaskService();
       List<TaskSummary> tasks = taskService.getTasksAssignedAsPotentialOwner(user, "en-UK");

       long taskId = -1;
       for (TaskSummary task : tasks) {
           if (task.getProcessInstanceId() == procId) {
               taskId = task.getId();
           }
       }

       if (taskId == -1) {
           throw new IllegalStateException("Unable to find task for " + user + " in process instance " + procId);
       }

       taskService.start(taskId, taskUserId);
   }

 }

}

Retrieving Potential Owners of Human Task

To guarantee high performance, the getPotentialOwners() method of the TaskSummary class does not return the list of potential owners of a task.

Instead, you should retrieve information about owners on an individual task basis. In the following example, the mentioned Task is from the org.kie.api.task.model.Task package. Also notice that the method getTaskById() uses the task ID as a parameter.

import org.kie.api.task.model.OrganizationalEntity;
import org.kie.api.task.model.Task;

Task task = taskService.getTaskById(TASK_ID);
List<OrganizationalEntity> org = task.getPeopleAssignments().getPotentialOwners();

for (OrganizationalEntity ent : org) {
  System.out.println("org: " + ent.getId());
}

Further, actual owners and users created by them can be retrieved using the getActualOwnerId() and getCreatedById() methods.

Calling Tasks Without Deployment ID

The addDeploymentId() method called on the RemoteRestRuntimeEngineBuilder requires the calling application to pass the deploymentId parameter to connect to Business Central. The deploymentId is the ID of the deployment with which the RuntimeEngine interacts. However, there may be applications that require working with human tasks and dealing with processes across multiple deployments. In such cases, where providing deploymentId parameters for multiple deployments to connect to Business Central is not feasible, it is possible to skip the parameter when using the fluent API of the RemoteRestRuntimeEngineBuilder.

This API does not require the calling application to pass the deploymentId parameter. If a request requires the deploymentId parameter, but does not have it configured, an exception is thrown.

Here is an example to show this in action:

RuntimeEngine engine = RemoteRuntimeEngineFactory
  .newRestBuilder()
  .addUrl(instanceUrl)
  .addUserName(user)
  .addPassword(password)
  .build();

  // This call does not require the deployment ID and ends successfully:

  engine.getTaskService().claim(23l, "user");

  // This code throws a "MissingRequiredInfoException" because the
  // deployment ID is required:

  engine.getKieSession().startProcess("org.test.process");

Custom Model Objects and Remote API

Usage of custom model objects from a client application using the Remote API is supported in Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite. Custom model objects are the model objects that you create using the Data Modeler within Business Central. Once built and deployed successfully into a project, these objects are part of the project in the local Maven repository.

Note

Reuse model objects instead of recreating them locally in the client application.

The process to access and manipulate these objects from the client application is detailed here:

Procedure: Accessing Custom Model Objects Using Remote API

Ensure that the custom model objects have been installed into the local Maven repository of the project that they are a part of. To achieve that, the project has to be built successfully.

If your client application is a Maven based project include the custom model objects project as a Maven dependency in the pom.xml configuration file of the client application.

<dependency>
  <groupId>${groupid}</groupId>
  <artifactId>${artifactid}</artifactId>
  <version>${version}</version>
</dependency>

For the supported Maven artifact version, see Supported Component Versions of the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Installation Guide.

The value of these fields can be found in your Project Editor within Business Central: Authoring → Project Authoring in the main menu and then Tools → Project Editor from the perspective menu.

If the client application is not a Maven-based project, download the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite project, which includes the model classes, from Business Central by clicking on Authoring → Artifact Repository. Add this JAR file of the project on the build path of your client application so that the model object classes can be found and used.

You can now use the custom model objects within your client application and invoke methods on them using the Remote API. The following listing shows an example of this, where Person is a custom model object.

RuntimeEngine engine = RemoteRuntimeEngineFactory
  .newRestBuilder()
  .addUrl(instanceUrl)
  .addUserName(user)
  .addPassword(password)
  .addExtraJaxbClasses(Person.class)
  .addDeploymentId(deploymentId)
  .build();

KieSession kSession = engine.getKieSession();

Map<String, Object> params = new HashMap<>();
Person person = new Person();
person.setName("anton");
params.put("pVar", person);
ProcessInstance pi = kSession.startProcess(PROCESS2_ID, params);
System.out.println("Process Started: " + pi.getId());

Ensure that your client application has imported the correct Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite libraries for the example to work.

If you are creating a data object, make sure that the class has the @org.kie.api.remote.Remotable annotation. The @org.kie.api.remote.Remotable annotation makes the entity available for use with JBoss BPM Suite remote services such as REST, JMS, and WS.

There are two ways to add the annotation:

On the Drools & jBPM screen of the data object in Business Central, select the Remotable check box.

You can also add the annotation manually. On the right side of the Data Object editor screen in Business Central, choose the Advanced tab and click add annotation. In the Add new annotation dialog window, define the annotation class name as org.kie.api.remote.Remotable and click the search button.

It is also possible to edit the source of the class directly. See the following example:

package org.bpms.helloworld;

@org.kie.api.remote.Remotable

public class Person implements java.io.Serializable {
  ...
}

JMS Remote Java RuntimeEngine Factory

The RemoteRuntimeEngineFactory works similarly to the REST variation in that it is a starting point for building and configuring a new RemoteRuntimeEngine instance that can interact with the remote JMS API. The main use for this class is to create a builder instance of JMS using the newJmsBuilder() method. This builder is then used to create a RemoteRuntimeEngine instance that will act as a client to the remote JMS API. Illustrated in the table below are the various methods available for the RemoteJmsRuntimeEngineBuilder:

Table 21.14. RemoteJmsRuntimeEngineBuilder Methods

Method Name
Parameter Type
Description

addDeploymentId

java.lang.String

Name (ID) of the deployment the RuntimeEngine should interact with.

addProcessInstanceId

long

Name (ID) of the process the RuntimeEngine should interact with.

addUserName

java.lang.String

User name needed to access the JMS queues (in your application server configuration).

addPassword

java.lang.String

Password needed to access the JMS queues (in your application server configuration).

addTimeout

int

Maximum number of seconds allowed when waiting for a response from the server.

addExtraJaxbClasses

class

Adds extra classes to the classpath available to serialization mechanisms.

addRemoteInitialContext

javax.jms.InitialContext

Remote InitialContext instance (created using JNDI) from the server.

addConnectionFactory

javax.jms.ConnectionFactory

ConnectionFactory instance used to connect to the ksessionQueue or taskQueue.

addKieSessionQueue

javax.jms.Queue

Instance of the Queue for requests related to a process instance.

addTaskServiceQueue

javax.jms.Queue

Instance of the Queue for requests related to the task service usage.

addResponseQueue

javax.jms.Queue

Instance of the Queue used for receiving responses.

addJbossServerUrl

java.net.URL

URL for the JBoss Server and Websphere.

addJbossServerHostName

java.lang.String

Host name for the JBoss Server.

addHostName

java.lang.String

Host name of the JMS queues.

addJmsConnectorPort

int

Port for the JMS Connector.

addKeystorePassword

java.lang.String

JMS Keystore password.

addKeystoreLocation

java.lang.String

JMS Keystore location.

addTruststorePassword

java.lang.String

JMS Truststore password.

addTruststoreLocation

java.lang.String

JMS Truststore location.

useKeystoreAsTruststore

 — 

Should be used if the Keystore and Truststore are both located in the same file. Configures the client to use the file for both Keystore and Truststore.

useSsl

boolean

Sets whether this client instance uses secured connection.

disableTaskSecurity

 — 

Suitable only if you do not want to use SSL while communicating with Business Central.

Example Usage

The following example illustrates how the Remote Java API can be used with the JMS API.

import java.net.URL;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Map;

import org.kie.api.runtime.KieSession;
import org.kie.api.runtime.manager.RuntimeEngine;
import org.kie.api.runtime.process.ProcessInstance;
import org.kie.api.task.TaskService;
import org.kie.api.task.model.TaskSummary;
import org.kie.remote.client.api.RemoteRuntimeEngineFactory;
import org.kie.services.client.builder.objects.MyType;

public class DocumentationApiExamples {

    public void startProcessAndTaskViaJmsRemoteJavaAPI (
      URL serverUrl, String deploymentId, String user, String password) {
      // The serverURL should contain a URL similar to "http://localhost:8080/business-central".
      // Select a user with the rest-all role.

      // Setup remote JMS runtime engine factory
      RuntimeEngine engine = RemoteRuntimeEngineFactory.newJmsBuilder()
            .addDeploymentId(deploymentId)
            .addJbossServerHostName(serverUrl.getHost())
            .addUserName(user)
            .addPassword(password)
            .build();

        // Interface with JMS api
        KieSession ksession = engine.getKieSession();

        Map<String, Object> params = new HashMap<String, Object>();
        params.put("paramName", new MyType("name", 23));
        ProcessInstance processInstance = ksession.startProcess("com.burns.reactor.maintenance.cycle", params);
        long procId = processInstance.getId();
        TaskService taskService = engine.getTaskService();
        List<Long> tasks = taskService.getTasksByProcessInstanceId(procId);
        taskService.start(tasks.get(0), user);
    }
}

Configuration Using InitialContext Instance

When configuring the RemoteJmsRuntimeEngineBuilder with an InitialContext instance as a parameter for Red Hat JBoss EAP 6, it is necessary to retrieve the (remote) InitialContext instance first from the remote server. See the following example:

private InitialContext getRemoteJbossInitialContext(URL url, String user, String password) {

  Properties initialProps = new Properties();
  initialProps.setProperty
    (InitialContext.INITIAL_CONTEXT_FACTORY,
    "org.jboss.naming.remote.client.InitialContextFactory");
  String jbossServerHostName = url.getHost();
  initialProps.setProperty
    (InitialContext.PROVIDER_URL, "remote://"+ jbossServerHostName + ":4447");
  initialProps.setProperty(InitialContext.SECURITY_PRINCIPAL, user);
  initialProps.setProperty(InitialContext.SECURITY_CREDENTIALS, password);

  for (Object keyObj : initialProps.keySet()) {
    String key = (String) keyObj;
    System.setProperty(key, (String) initialProps.get(key));
  }

  try {
    return new InitialContext(initialProps);
  } catch (NamingException e) {
      throw new RemoteCommunicationException
        ("Unable to create " + InitialContext.class.getSimpleName(), e);
  }
}

You can work with JMS queues directly without using the RemoteRuntimeEngine. For more information, see the How to Use JMS Queues Without the RemoteRuntimeEngine in Red Hat JBoss BPMS article. However, this approach is not a recommended way to use the provided JMS interface.

Remote REST API for Accessing Process Status Diagram

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite allows you to get a diagram of your process in Business Central through remote REST API. In order to get the diagram you need to generate the image based on the SVG source first, which is done automatically by the process designer when you save a process definition. To ensure that the process is saved in the process designer as SVG and is added to the kJAR, set <storesvgonsave enabled="true"/> in the /org.kie.workbench.KIEWebapp/profiles/jbpm.xml file in your workbench war. SVGImageProcessor adds further annotations based on the audit log data. You can extend the SVGImageProcessor further for more advanced visualizations.

The image is provided by the following REST operation URLs:

The following URL provides an image of the process definition:

http://SERVER:PORT/business-central/rest/runtime/{deploymentId}/process/{processDefId}/image

The deploymentId URL parameter corresponds to the deployment ID, while the processDefId parameter corresponds to the process (definition) ID.

The following URL provides an image of the process definition, with the active nodes marked to correspond to the process instance URL parameter passed:

http://SERVER:PORT/business-central/rest/runtime/{deploymentId}/process/{processDefId}/image/{procInstId}

The deploymentId URL parameter corresponds to the deployment ID, the processDefId parameter corresponds to the process (definition) ID, and the procInstId URL parameter corresponds to the process instance ID.

Supported Methods

The Remote Java API provides client-like instances of the RuntimeEngine, KieSession, TaskService and AuditService interfaces. This means that while many of the methods in those interfaces are available, some are not. The following tables list the available methods. Methods not listed in the tables below throw an UnsupportedOperationException explaining that the called method is not available.

Table 21.15. Available Process-Related KieSession Methods

Returns
Method Signature
Description

void

abortProcessInstance(long processInstanceId)

Abort the process instance.

ProcessInstance

getProcessInstance(long processInstanceId)

Return the process instance.

ProcessInstance

getProcessInstance(long processInstanceId, boolean readonly)

Return the process instance.

Collection<ProcessInstance>

getProcessInstances()

Return all (active) process instances.

void

signalEvent(String type, Object event)

Signal all (active) process instances.

void

signalEvent(String type, Object event, long processInstanceId)

Signal the process instance.

ProcessInstance

startProcess(String processId)

Start a new process and return the process instance (if the process instance has not immediately completed).

ProcessInstance

startProcess(String processId, Map<String, Object> parameters);

Start a new process and return the process instance (if the process instance has not immediately completed).

Table 21.16. Available Rules-Related KieSession Methods

Returns
Method Signature
Description

Long

getFactCount()

Return the total fact count.

Object

getGlobal(String identifier)

Return a global fact.

void

setGlobal(String identifier, Object value)

Set a global fact.

Table 21.17. Available WorkItemManager Methods

Returns
Method Signature
Description

void

abortWorkItem(long id)

Abort the work item.

void

completeWorkItem(long id, Map<String, Object> results)

Complete the work item.

WorkItem

getWorkItem(long workItemId)

Return the work item.

Table 21.18. Available Task Operation TaskService Methods

Returns
Method Signature
Description

Long

addTask(Task task, Map<String, Object> params)

Add a new task.

void

activate(long taskId, String userId)

Activate a task.

void

claim(long taskId, String userId)

Claim a task.

void

claimNextAvailable(String userId, String language)

Claim the next available task for a user.

void

complete(long taskId, String userId, Map<String, Object> data)

Complete a task.

void

delegate(long taskId, String userId, String targetUserId)

Delegate a task.

void

exit(long taskId, String userId)

Exit a task.

void

fail(long taskId, String userId, Map<String, Object> faultData)

Fail a task.

void

forward(long taskId, String userId, String targetEntityId)

Forward a task.

void

nominate(long taskId, String userId, List<OrganizationalEntity> potentialOwners)

Nominate a task.

void

release(long taskId, String userId)

Release a task.

void

resume(long taskId, String userId)

Resume a task.

void

skip(long taskId, String userId)

Skip a task.

void

start(long taskId, String userId)

Start a task.

void

stop(long taskId, String userId)

Stop a task.

void

suspend(long taskId, String userId)

Suspend a task.

Table 21.19. Available Task Retrieval and Query TaskService Methods

Returns
Method Signature

Task

getTaskByWorkItemId(long workItemId)

Task

getTaskById(long taskId)

List<TaskSummary>

getTasksAssignedAsBusinessAdministrator(String userId, String language)

List<TaskSummary>

getTasksAssignedAsPotentialOwner(String userId, String language)

List<TaskSummary>

getTasksAssignedAsPotentialOwnerByStatus(String userId, List<Status> status, String language)

List<TaskSummary>

getTasksOwned(String userId, String language)

List<TaskSummary>

getTasksOwnedByStatus(String userId, List<Status> status, String language)

List<TaskSummary>

getTasksByStatusByProcessInstanceId(long processInstanceId, List<Status> status, String language)

List<TaskSummary>

getTasksByProcessInstanceId(long processInstanceId)

List<TaskSummary>

getTasksAssignedAsPotentialOwnerByProcessId(String userId, String processId)

Content

getContentById(long contentId)

Attachment

getAttachmentById(long attachId)

Note

The language parameter is not used for task retrieval and query TaskService methods anymore. However, the method signatures still contain it to support backward compatibility. This parameter will be removed in future releases.

Note

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite runtime provides the operations to search for tasks using process ID and users. For this, a new method getTasksAssignedAsPotentialOwnerByProcessId() has been added to the TaskService interface.

Table 21.20. Available AuditService Methods

Returns
Method Signature

List<ProcessInstanceLog>

findProcessInstances()

List<ProcessInstanceLog>

findProcessInstances(String processId)

List<ProcessInstanceLog>

findActiveProcessInstances(String processId)

ProcessInstanceLog

findProcessInstance(long processInstanceId)

List<ProcessInstanceLog>

findSubProcessInstances(long processInstanceId)

List<NodeInstanceLog>

findNodeInstances(long processInstanceId)

List<NodeInstanceLog>

findNodeInstances(long processInstanceId, String nodeId)

List<VariableInstanceLog>

findVariableInstances(long processInstanceId)

List<VariableInstanceLog>

findVariableInstances(long processInstanceId, String variableId)

List<VariableInstanceLog>

findVariableInstancesByName(String variableId, boolean onlyActiveProcesses)

List<VariableInstanceLog>

findVariableInstancesByNameAndValue(String variableId, String value, boolean onlyActiveProcesses)

void

clear()

Troubleshooting

Serialization Issues

Sometimes, users may wish to pass instances of their own classes as parameters to commands sent in a REST request or JMS message. In order to do this, there are a number of requirements.

The user-defined class satisfy the following in order to be property serialized and deserialized by the JMS or REST API:

The user-defined class must be correctly annotated with JAXB annotations, including the following:

The user-defined class must be annotated with a javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlRootElement annotation with a non-empty name value

All fields or getter/setter methods must be annotated with a javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlElement or javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlAttribute annotations.

Furthermore, the following usage of JAXB annotations is recommended:

Annotate the user-defined class with a javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlAccessorType annotation specifying that fields should be used, (javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlAccessType.FIELD). This also means that you should annotate the fields (instead of the getter or setter methods) with @XmlElement or @XmlAttribute annotations.

Fields annotated with @XmlElement or @XmlAttribute annotations should also be annotated with javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlSchemaType annotations specifying the type of the field, even if the fields contain primitive values.

Use objects to store primitive values. For example, use the java.lang.Integer class for storing an integer value, and not the int class. This way it will always be obvious if the field is storing a value.

The user-defined class definition must implement a no-arg constructor.

Any fields in the user-defined class must either be object primitives (such as a Long or String) or otherwise be objects that satisfy the first 2 requirements in this list (correct usage of JAXB annotations and a no-arg constructor).

The class definition must be included in the deployment JAR of the deployment that the JMS message content is meant for.

Note

If you create your class definitions from an XSD schema, you may end up creating classes that inconsistently (among classes) refer to a namespace. This inconsistent use of a namespace can end up preventing a these class instance from being correctly deserialized when received as a parameter in a command on the server side.

For example, you may create a class that is used in a BPMN2 process, and add an instance of this class as a parameter when starting the process. While sending the command/operation request (via the Remote (client) Java API) will succeed, the parameter will not be correctly deserialized on the server side, leading the process to eventually throw an exception about an unexpected type for the class.

The sender must set a deploymentId string property on the JMS bytes message to the name of the deploymentId. This property is necessary in order to be able to load the proper classes from the deployment itself before deserializing the message on the server side.

Retrieving Process Variables

While submitting an instance of a user-defined class is possible using both the JMS and REST API, retrieving an instance of the process variable is only possible through the REST API.

Insecure Task Operations

By default, you may only work with tasks as the authenticated user. If you try to claim tasks on behalf of another user, you may get an exception similar to:

PermissionDeniedException thrown with message 'User '[UserImpl:'john']' does not have permissions to execute operation 'Claim' on task id 14'

This is caused by the security settings. To bypass the security settings:

Set the org.kie.task.insecure=true property on your server. For example, on Red Hat JBoss EAP, add the following into EAP_HOME/standalone/configuration/standalone.xml:

<system-properties>
  ...
  <property name="org.kie.task.insecure" value="true"/>
  ...
</system-properties>

On the client side, do one of the following:

Use the disableTaskSecurity() method when building the RuntimeEngine object:

RuntimeEngine engine = RemoteRuntimeEngineFactory.newRestBuilder()
  .addDeploymentId(deploymentId)
  .addUrl(baseUrl)
  .addUserName(user)
  .addPassword(password)
  .disableTaskSecurity()
  .build();

Set the org.kie.task.insecure system property to true.

If you are still experiencing the exception in your application, configure the UserGroupCallback settings. See Configuring UserGroupCallback for further information.

Chapter 22. CDI Integration

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite with CDI Integration

Apart from the API based approach, Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite 6 also provides the Context and Dependency Injection (CDI) to build your custom applications. As the service modules in Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite 6 are now grouped with their framework dependencies, you can build systems that can be consumed irrespective of the framework used. This grouping of individual modules with a framework gives you the freedom to choose a suitable option for your application.

The jbpm-services-cdi module is designed with CDI framework for CDI containers. It provides CDI wrappers on top of the core BPM Suite services.

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite 6 provides the following set of services, available for injection in any other CDI bean:

DeploymentService

ProcessService

UserTaskService

RuntimeDataService

DefinitionService

Warning

A workaround is needed on the Oracle WebLogic Server for CDI to work. For more information, see Additional Notes in the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Oracle WebLogic Installation and Configuration Guide.

Deployment Service

The DeploymentService service is responsible for deploying and undeploying deployment units into the runtime environment. Deployment units includes resources such as rule, processes, and forms. The DeploymentService can be used to retrieve:

RuntimeManager instance for given deployment ID

Deployed unit that represents complete deployment process for given deployment ID

List of all deployed units known to the deployment DeploymentService service

DeploymentService service fires CDI events in case of deployment or undeployment of deployment units. This allows application components to react real time to the CDI events and store or remove deployment details from the memory. The deployment event with qualifier @Deploy is fired on deployment and the deployment event with qualifier @Undeploy is fired on undeployment. You can use CDI observer mechanism to get a notification on these events.

Saving and Removing Deployments from Database

The deployment service stores the deployed units in memory by default. Here is how you can save deployments in the data store of your choice:

public void saveDeployment(@Observes @Deploy DeploymentEvent event) {

  // Store deployed unit info for further needs.
  DeployedUnit deployedUnit = event.getDeployedUnit();

}

Here is how you can remove a saved deployment when undeployed:

 public void removeDeployment(@Observes @Undeploy DeploymentEvent event) {

  // Remove deployment with ID event.getDeploymentId().

}

Note

Deployment service comes with deployment synchronization mechanism that allows to persist deployed units into data base that is by default enabled.

Available Deployment Services

You can use qualifiers to instruct the CDI container which deployment service it must use. Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite comes with the following Deployment Services out of the box:

@Kjar: This Kmodule deployment service is tailored to work with KmoduleDeploymentUnits that is a small descriptor on top of a kJAR.

@Vfs: This VFS deployment service allows you to deploy assets directly from VFS (Virtual File System).

Note that every implementation of deployment service must have with a dedicated implementation of deployment unit as the services mentioned above.

FormProviderService Service

The FormProviderService service provides access to form representations for the user and process forms. It is built on the concept of isolated FormProviders.

Implementations of FormProvider interface must define a priority, as this is the main driver for the FormProviderService service to ask for the content of the form of a given provider. FormProviderService service collects all available providers and iterates over them asking for the form content in the order of the specified priority. The lower the priority number, the higher priority it gets during evaluation. For example, a provider with priority 5 is evaluated before provider with priority 10. FormProviderService service iterates over available providers as long as one delivers the content. In a worse case scenario, it returns simple text-based forms.

The FormProvider interface shown below describes contract for the implementations:

public interface FormProvider {
  int getPriority();
  String render(String name, ProcessDesc process,
    Map<String, Object> renderContext);
  String render(String name, ProcessDesc process,
    Task task, Map<String, Object> renderContext);
}

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite comes with following FormProvidersService out of the box:

Additional FormProviderService available with the form modeler. The priority number of this FormProviderService is 2.

Fremarker based implementation to support process and task forms. The priority number of this FormProvideServicer is 3.

Default forms provider. This has the lowest priority and is considered as a last resort if none of the other providers deliver content. This provider provides simplest possible forms.

RuntimeDataService Service

The RuntimeDataService service provides access to actual data that is available on runtime such as:

Available processes to be executed

Active process instances

Process instance history

Process instance variables

Active and completed nodes of process instance

In a default implementation, the RuntimeDataService service observes deployment events and indexes all deployed processes to expose them to the calling components.

DefinitionService Service

A DefinitionService is a service that provides access to process details stored as part of BPMN2 XML. Before using any method that provides information, you must invoke the buildProcessDefinition method to populate repository with process information taken from BPMN2 content.

The BPMN2 Data Service provides access to following data:

Overall description of process for given process definition.

Collection of all user tasks found in the process definition.

Information about defined inputs for user task node.

Information about defined outputs for user task node.

IDs of reusable processes (call activity) defined within the given process definition.

Information about process variables defined within given process definition.

Information about all organizational entities (users and groups) included in the process definition. Depending on the actual process definition the returned values for users and groups can contain actual user or group name or process variable that is used to get actual user or group name on runtime.

Configuring CDI Integration

In order to use the jbpm-services-cdi API in your system, you need to provide some JavaBeans for the out of the box services to satisfy all dependencies, such as:

Entity manager and entity manager factory

User group callback for human tasks

Identity provider to pass authenticated user information to the services

Here is an example of a producer bean, that satisfy all the requirements of the jbpm-services-cdi API in a JEE environment like the JBoss Application Server:

public class EnvironmentProducer {

  @PersistenceUnit(unitName = "org.jbpm.domain")

  private EntityManagerFactory emf;

  @Inject
  @Selectable
  private UserGroupInfoProducer userGroupInfoProducer;

  @Inject
  @Kjar
  private DeploymentService deploymentService;

  @Produces
  public EntityManagerFactory getEntityManagerFactory() {
    return this.emf;
  }

  @Produces
  public org.kie.api.task.UserGroupCallback produceSelectedUserGroupCalback() {
    return userGroupInfoProducer.produceCallback();
  }

  @Produces
  public UserInfo produceUserInfo() {
    return userGroupInfoProducer.produceUserInfo();
  }

  @Produces
  @Named("Logs")
  public TaskLifeCycleEventListener produceTaskAuditListener() {
    return new JPATaskLifeCycleEventListener(true);
  }

  @Produces
  public DeploymentService getDeploymentService() {
    return this.deploymentService;
  }

  @Produces
  public IdentityProvider produceIdentityProvider {
    return new IdentityProvider() {
      // Implement IdentityProvider.
    }
  }
}

Provide an alternative for user group callback in the configuration file called the beans.xml. For example, the org.jbpm.kie.services.cdi.producer.JAASUserGroupInfoProducer class allows JBoss Application Server to reuse security settings on application server regardless of what it actually is (such as LDAP and DB):

<beans xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee"
       xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
       xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee
                           http://docs.jboss.org/cdi/beans_1_0.xsd">
  <alternatives>
    <class>org.jbpm.kie.services.cdi.producer.JAASUserGroupInfoProducer</class>
  </alternatives>
</beans>

Optionally, you can use several other producers provided to deliver components like Process, Agenda, WorkingMemory event listeners, and WorkItemHandlers. To provide these components, you need to implement the following interfaces:

/**
 * Allows to provide custom implementations to deliver WorkItem name and
 * WorkItemHandler instance pairs for the runtime.
 * It will be invoked by RegisterableItemsFactory implementation (especially
 * InjectableRegisterableItemsFactory in CDI world) for every KieSession. Recommendation
 * is to always produce new instances to avoid unexpected results.
 */

public interface WorkItemHandlerProducer {

  /**
   * Returns map of (key = work item name, value work item handler instance) of work
   * items to be registered on KieSession.
   * Parameters that might be given are as follows:
   * ksession
   * taskService
   * runtimeManager
   *
   * @param identifier - identifier of the owner - usually RuntimeManager that allows
   *                     the producer to filter out and provide valid instances
   *                     for given owner
   * @param params - owner might provide some parameters, usually KieSession,
   *                 TaskService, RuntimeManager instances
   * @return map of work item handler instances (recommendation is to always
   *         return new instances when this method is invoked)
   */

  Map<String, WorkItemHandler> getWorkItemHandlers(String identifier,
    Map<String, Object> params);

}

/**
 * Allows do define custom producers for know EventListeners. Intention of this is
 * that there might be several implementations that might provide different listener
 * instance based on the context they are executed in.
 * It will be invoked by RegisterableItemsFactory implementation (especially
 * InjectableRegisterableItemsFactory in CDI world) for every KieSession. Recommendation
 * is to always produce new instances to avoid unexpected results.
 *
 * @param <T> type of the event listener - ProcessEventListener, AgendaEventListener,
 *                                         WorkingMemoryEventListener
 */

public interface EventListenerProducer<T> {

  /**
   * Returns list of instances for given (T) type of listeners.
   * Parameters that might be given are as follows:
   * ksession
   * taskService
   * runtimeManager
   *
   * @param identifier - identifier of the owner - usually RuntimeManager that allows
   *                     the producer to filter out and provide valid instances
   *                     for given owner
   * @param params - owner might provide some parameters, usually KieSession,
   *                 TaskService, RuntimeManager instances
   * @return list of listener instances (recommendation is to always return new
   *         instances when this method is invoked)
   */

  List<T> getEventListeners(String identifier, Map<String, Object>  params);}

JavaBeans implementing the above mentioned interfaces are collected on runtime and consulted when building KieSession by RuntimeManager.

RuntimeManager as CDI Bean

You can inject RuntimeManager as CDI bean into any other CDI bean within your application. RuntimeManager comes with the following predefined strategies and each of them have CDI qualifiers:

@Singleton

@PerRequest

@PerProcessInstance

Note

Though you can directly inject RuntimeManager as CDI bean, it is recommended to utilize Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite services when frameworks like CDI, ejb or Spring are used. Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite services provide significant amount of features that encapsulate best practices when using RuntimeManager.

Here is an example of a producer method implementation that provides RuntimeEnvironment:

public class EnvironmentProducer {

  //Add same producers as for services.

  @Produces
  @Singleton
  @PerRequest
  @PerProcessInstance
  public RuntimeEnvironment produceEnvironment(EntityManagerFactory emf) {

    RuntimeEnvironment environment = RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder.Factory.get()
      .newDefaultBuilder()
      .entityManagerFactory(emf)
      .userGroupCallback(getUserGroupCallback())
      .registerableItemsFactory(InjectableRegisterableItemsFactory
        .getFactory(beanManager, null))
      .addAsset(ResourceFactory.newClassPathResource("BPMN2-ScriptTask.bpmn2"),
        ResourceType.BPMN2)
      .addAsset(ResourceFactory.newClassPathResource("BPMN2-UserTask.bpmn2"),
        ResourceType.BPMN2)
      .get();

    return environment;
  }
}

In the example above, a single producer method is capable of providing RuntimeEnvironment for all strategies of RuntimeManager by specifying all qualifiers on the method level. Once a complete producer is available, you can inject RuntimeManager into the application CDI bean as shown below:

public class ProcessEngine {

  @Inject
  @Singleton
  private RuntimeManager singletonManager;

  public void startProcess() {
    RuntimeEngine runtime = singletonManager.getRuntimeEngine(EmptyContext.get());
    KieSession ksession = runtime.getKieSession();
    ProcessInstance processInstance = ksession.startProcess("UserTask");
    singletonManager.disposeRuntimeEngine(runtime);
  }
}

Note

Although there is an option available for having a single RuntimeManager in the application, but it is recommended to make use of DeploymentService whenever you need to have many RuntimeManagers active within your application.

As an alternative to DeploymentService, the application can inject RuntimeManagerFactory and then create RuntimeManager instance manually. In such cases, EnvironmentProducer remains the same as the DeploymentService. Here is an example of a simple ProcessEngine bean:

public class ProcessEngine {

  @Inject
  private RuntimeManagerFactory managerFactory;

  @Inject
  private EntityManagerFactory emf;

  @Inject
  private BeanManager beanManager;

  public void startProcess() {
    RuntimeEnvironment environment = RuntimeEnvironmentBuilder.Factory.get()
      .newDefaultBuilder()
      .entityManagerFactory(emf)
      .addAsset(ResourceFactory.newClassPathResource("BPMN2-ScriptTask.bpmn2"),
        ResourceType.BPMN2)
      .addAsset(ResourceFactory.newClassPathResource("BPMN2-UserTask.bpmn2"),
        ResourceType.BPMN2)
      .registerableItemsFactory(InjectableRegisterableItemsFactory
        .getFactory(beanManager, null))
      .get();

    RuntimeManager manager = managerFactory.newSingletonRuntimeManager(environment);
    RuntimeEngine runtime = manager.getRuntimeEngine(EmptyContext.get());
    KieSession ksession = runtime.getKieSession();

    ProcessInstance processInstance = ksession.startProcess("UserTask");

    manager.disposeRuntimeEngine(runtime);
    manager.close();
  }
}

Chapter 23. SOAP Interface

SOAP API

Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) is a type of distribution architecture used for exchanging information. This protocol is lightweight; that is, it requires a minimal amount of overhead on the system. SOAP is used as a protocol for communication, and it is versatile enough to allow the use of different transport protocols. Like REST, SOAP allows client-server communication: clients can initiate requests to servers of a particular URL with parameters if necessary. The servers then process the requests and return a response based on the particular URL.

Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite provides one SOAP service in the form of the CommandWebService

Client-Side Java Webservice Client

The execution server that is part of Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite web tooling comes with a Web Service interface. In addition, Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite incorporates existing REST and JMS interfaces, as well as client-side Java clients to deal with REST and JMS.

Classes generated by the kie-remote-client module function as a client-side interface for SOAP. The CommandWebServiceClient class referenced in the test code below is generated by the Web Service Description Language (WSDL) in the kie-remote-client JAR.

import org.kie.remote.client.api.RemoteRuntimeEngineFactory;
import org.kie.remote.client.jaxb.JaxbCommandsRequest;
import org.kie.remote.client.jaxb.JaxbCommandsResponse;
import org.kie.remote.jaxb.gen.StartProcessCommand;
import org.kie.remote.services.ws.command.generated.CommandWebService;
import org.kie.services.client.serialization.jaxb.impl.JaxbCommandResponse;

public void runCommandWebService(String user, String password, String processId,
  String deploymentId, String applicationUrl) throws Exception {

  CommandWebService client = RemoteRuntimeEngineFactory.newCommandWebServiceClientBuilder()
    .addDeploymentId(deploymentId)
    .addUserName(user)
    .addPassword(password)
    .addServerUrl(applicationUrl)
    .buildBasicAuthClient();

  // Get a response from the WebService:
  StartProcessCommand cmd = new StartProcessCommand();
  cmd.setProcessId(processId);
  JaxbCommandsRequest req = new JaxbCommandsRequest(deploymentId, cmd);
  final JaxbCommandsResponse response = client.execute(req);

  JaxbCommandResponse<?> cmdResp = response.getResponses().get(0);
  JaxbProcessInstanceResponse procInstResp = (JaxbProcessInstanceResponse) cmdResp;
  long procInstId = procInstResp.getId();
}

The SOAP interface for the Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite Execution Server is currently available for EAP, EWS, WAS, and AS. This client-side interface incorporates the CommandWebService class and includes the execute operation as depicted below:

import javax.jws.WebMethod;
import javax.jws.WebParam;
import javax.jws.WebResult;
import javax.jws.WebService;
import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlSeeAlso;
import javax.xml.ws.RequestWrapper;
import javax.xml.ws.ResponseWrapper;
import org.kie.remote.client.jaxb.JaxbCommandsRequest;
import org.kie.remote.client.jaxb.JaxbCommandsResponse

@WebService(name = "CommandServicePortType", targetNamespace = "http://services.remote.kie.org/6.3.0.1/command")
public interface CommandWebService {

  /**
   * @param  request
   * @return returns org.kie.remote.client.jaxb.JaxbCommandsResponse
   * @throws CommandWebServiceException
   */
  @WebMethod
  @WebResult(targetNamespace = "")
  @RequestWrapper(localName = "execute", targetNamespace = "http://services.remote.kie.org/6.3.0.1/command", className = "org.kie.remote.services.ws.command.generated.Execute")
  @ResponseWrapper(localName = "executeResponse", targetNamespace = "http://services.remote.kie.org/6.3.0.1/command", className = "org.kie.remote.services.ws.command.generated.ExecuteResponse")
  public JaxbCommandsResponse execute(@WebParam(name = "request", targetNamespace = "") JaxbCommandsRequest request) throws CommandWebServiceException;
}

Appendix A. Revision History

Note that revision numbers relate to the edition of this manual, not to version numbers of Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite.

Table A.1. Revision History

Revision
Date
Author

6.4.0-2

Fri Dec 23 2016

Tomas Radej

Rebuilt with updates.

6.4.0-1

Mon Nov 28 2016

Tomas Radej

Initial build for release 6.4.0 of Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite.