How to convert workflow(.wft) to network approach based on tasks linkages

Is it possible to convert the workflow(.wft) with XML based task list to network approach based on tasks linkages? Is there any tools for it provided by IW?

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

Pawan

Hi,

Can you please more elaborative on your requirement ?

Thanks,
Pawan

Lal

See attached is my WFT file, I have to convert to the network approach using task linkages, that 8 step approach.

The problem I am facing here is that in the concurrent WF, i have to generate
the task on run time, So It is creating problem to convert to network approach.

or, where to get the sample concurrent_approval.wft written in network approach ?Hope my requirement is clear now

ISCBorisB

See attached is my WFT file, I have to convert to the network approach using task linkages, that 8 step approach.

The problem I am facing here is that in the concurrent WF, i have to generate
the task on run time, So It is creating problem to convert to network approach.

or, where to get the sample concurrent_approval.wft written in network approach ?Hope my requirement is clear now

Perhaps we would be able to help if you explain what that "Network Approach aka 8 step approach" really is.

If you are talking about systems other than IWOV TS (I vaguely recall this "Network Approach" vocabulary
for FileNet Paragon or Panagon) then the answer's "No", there are no IWOV provided conversion tools. IWOV models
Workflows as oriented graphs, an approach that is shared by various vendors. XML-based language to define WF
plus libraries around it are proprietary however, IWOV is not in business to support their own competitors.

If you are not talking about non-IWOV systems then what are you talking about?

Lal

This is wat I meant by Network approach.It has 8 steps like this..also find the sample code attached..

# A network approach to handling tasks linkages; a eight step process:

# Step 0: Define external commands and nested workflows.
# Step 1: Declare the basic properties of the workflow.
# Step 2: Declare all the tasks.
# Step 3: Declare links between tasks.
# Step 4: Identify the 'dormant' tasks and propagate.
# Step 5: Compute activation sets.
# Step 6: Any "special" task handling.
# Step 7: Generate the job spec.

Adam Stoller

Is it possible to convert the workflow(.wft) with XML based task list to network approach based on tasks linkages? Is there any tools for it provided by IW?
...
This is wat I meant by Network approach.It has 8 steps like this..also find the sample code attached..

# A network approach to handling tasks linkages; a eight step process:

# Step 0: Define external commands and nested workflows.
# Step 1: Declare the basic properties of the workflow.
# Step 2: Declare all the tasks.
# Step 3: Declare links between tasks.
# Step 4: Identify the 'dormant' tasks and propagate.
# Step 5: Compute activation sets.
# Step 6: Any "special" task handling.
# Step 7: Generate the job spec.

So you're asking if there's any tool to automate conversion of an "old-school" XML-mostly WFT into a "new-school" Perl-mostly WFT in which the Perl code using TeamSite::WFconstructor which provides an object-oritented feel to the process.

The answer is "no" - there's no CLT for performing such conversion - it is a manual task, but one which is not all that difficult once you've done it once or twice.

I suppose it might be possible to build a converter, but it isn't clear how much value there is in it - especially since Interwoven is leaning towards their new BPMN (business process model notation - I believe) system which requires translating a lot of the Perl code into JavaScript and such - and there's no conversion tool for this either.

Lal

Oh I c..
Why I need is, I was trying to convert my wft(attached) to the network approach.

This wft is a concurrent_approval. the tasks are created in runtime based on the number of reviewers.

So, I am still could not convert to network apprioach.Is there any sample WF povided by IW implemented in Network approach for this concurrent review?

Adam Stoller

Oh I c..
Why I need is, I was trying to convert my wft(attached) to the network approach.

This wft is a concurrent_approval. the tasks are created in runtime based on the number of reviewers.

So, I am still could not convert to network apprioach.Is there any sample WF povided by IW implemented in Network approach for this concurrent review?

There are a number of "solution" workflows that IWOV provides that might be close(r) to what you're looking for - but failing that - read the perldoc for TeamSite::WFconstructor and create your own - it's not that difficult if you know what you're doing (although that could probably be said about almost anything ;-)

Sailesh

Oh I c..
Why I need is, I was trying to convert my wft(attached) to the network approach.

This wft is a concurrent_approval. the tasks are created in runtime based on the number of reviewers.

So, I am still could not convert to network apprioach.Is there any sample WF povided by IW implemented in Network approach for this concurrent review?

You can use the approach we are using,that is, create a launcher Workflow where we are capturing the user requirements in terms of Reviewer and Approvers etc.. through a CGI screen and then create a xml file out of it.

From Next task (external task) create a workflow using WFConstructor there you can create your WFT file using the values user has selected in the your first launcher WF.

Lal

As suggested by ghoti, I am trying here.. now I am facing the issue..
How to convert this task into network approach..using set links.
When i tried I am getting the WF generated as attached. It is wrong. no cuncurrent review is being called.)( refer the output in res.txt)

Note: If any diff in reading this query, please refer query.txt atttached

Please guide me

/////////////*/

owner="__TAG__('contributor');"
description="__TAG__('iw_desc');"
start="t"
lock="t">

__INSERT__("");

__INSERT__("$succ_list");

__INSERT__("$pred_list");

/////////////*/

$pred_list has the value
$succ_list has the value

Adam Stoller

As suggested by ghoti, I am trying here.. now I am facing the issue..
How to convert this task into network approach..using set links.
When i tried I am getting the WF generated as attached. It is wrong. no cuncurrent review is being called.)( refer the output in res.txt)

Note: If any diff in reading this query, please refer query.txt atttached

Please guide me

/////////////*/
[html]
owner="__TAG__('contributor');"
description="__TAG__('iw_desc');"
start="t"
lock="t">

__INSERT__("");

__INSERT__("$succ_list");

__INSERT__("$pred_list");

[/html]

/////////////*/

$pred_list has the value <pred v="Review_iwadmin"/><pred v="Review_Kshitiz"/>
$succ_list has the value <succ v="Review_iwadmin"/><succ v="Review_Kshitiz"/>

I thought you were trying to convert this into using TeamSite::WFconstructor instead of using the XML approach - If so - please post what you are doing with WFconstructor instead of posting the (presumably old) XML code.

Lal

Hi,
I am trying to convert the xml based task list WF into using TeamSite::WFconstructor.
please find the both files attached

concurrent_approval_test -- TeamSite::WFconstructor
concurrent_approval_test_jan26 -- Task List based

the issue I am facing is wiht setting the parallel successors to the task "Edit_Content_". in concurrent_approval_test.wft

Adam Stoller

It's hard to know where to start - so I'll start with this:

my @reviewer =&ret_reviewers_name();
...
sub ret_reviewers_name()
{
    writefile("Called method ret_reviewers name");
    my @myNames=();
    open (REVIEWER, "/tmp/conc/reviewer.uid");
    my $record;my $i=0;
    my $pred_list="";
    while ($record = <REVIEWER>) {
        chomp($record);
        push(@myNames, $record);
    }
    close(REVIEWER);
    #writefile("Total reviewers : $kount");
    #writefile("Total reviewers : @myNames");
    return @myNames;
}

First, get rid of the empty parens after the subroutine name, then simplify the code as follows:

my @reviewers = get_reviewers();
sub get_reviewers {
    if (open(IN, '<', "/tmp/conc/reviewer.uid")){
        my @list = <IN>;
        close(IN);
        chomp(@list);
        return \@list;
    }
    else {
        # error
    }
}

Next, although I am not sure this is the best way - change:

sub get_reviewer_task_xml {
    my ($i) = @_;
    writefile("Inside get_reviewer_task_xml");
    my $reviewer_task_xml=<<EOS;

    <!-- ========== Reviewer task in approval chain ========== -->
    declare_task('Review_@reviewer[$i]',
                  name        => "Review_@reviewer[$i]",
                  description => "Review_@reviewer[$i]",
                  type        => "usertask",
                  start       => "FALSE",
                  owner       => "$cont",
                  areavpath   => "$iw_workarea");

    <!-- ================================================== -->
EOS
   return $reviewer_task_xml;
}

to:

sub get_reviewer_task_xml {
    my $i = shift;
    my $name = $reviewers->[$i];
    return qq(
    <!-- ========== Reviewer task in approval chain ========== -->
    declare_task('Review_$name',
                  name        => "Review_$name",
                  description => "Review_$name",
                  type        => "usertask",
                  start       => "FALSE",
                  owner       => "$cont",
                  areavpath   => "$iw_workarea");

    <!-- ================================================== -->
);
}

Minor change, the biggest point was to stop using 'reviewer[$i]' and use '$reviewers->[$i]' (I named the array as a plural, and as a reference to an array - more efficient coding practice)

Okay - so now we have a list of reviewers and a means of generating a usertask for each one of them - and you want to know how to link these tasks to be concurrent successors of **** on success (or ZZZ on failure) and concurrent predecessors of YYY on success (ignoring the definitions of ****, YYY, and ZZZ for now. I'm assuming that this is an all-or-nothing concurrent review - i.e. that either ALL reviewers approve the work or it is considered rejected.

declare_task("and",
             name        => "and",
             description => "logical and",
             type        => "logical");
declare_task("or",
             name        => "or",
             description => "logical or",
             type        => "logical");

foreach(@reviewers){
    link_tasks("****", "Reviewer_$_", "DoReview");
    link_tasks("Reviewer_$_", "and", "Approved");
    link_tasks("Reviewer_$_", "or",  "Rejected");
}
link_tasks("and", "YYY", "Approved");
link_tasks("or",  "ZZZ", "Rejected");

I believe the above should do what you want. You need to declare the logical 'and' and 'or' tasks to get the groupings for the logical conditionals. You also need to make sure that all your concurrent tasks are linked with the identical label - otherwise they will be treated as unique successorsets.

Hopefully the above will get you on your way - but I think you need to start with a blank file and just write the code you need instead of trying to morph pre-existing code into WFconstructor code. Start small, enable workflow debugging so that you can see the XML generated by the WFconstructor upon instantiation as you add task declarations and linkages - trial and error may be a bit slow, but if you pay attention to what you're doing and what the results are you'll learn a lot more.

Note: the code above has not been verified by me - I simply wrote it based on my recollection and the perldoc for TeamSite::WFconstructor - it may need to be tweaked a bit.

Lal

Thanks a lot Ghoti, We tried as suggested and is working fine.
Actually I didn't knew abt these logical conditions

declare_task("and",
name => "and",
description => "logical and",
type => "logical");
declare_task("or",
name => "or",
description => "logical or",
type => "logical");

Once again thanks a lot for your great help