Creating dynamic nested workflows

Hi,

We are using TS 7.4.1 on Linux box.

We have below mention scenario -

On instantiation screen there will be a multi select user box. Let suppose user selects 4 users from that list, then email should be send to these 4 users and 4 nested workflow will be created for each user where they can review/edit files attached.

I am able to send emails to each user but i dont know how to trigger nested workflow from java code as number of nested workflow triggered is dynamic means.

If 3 users are selected then 3 nested workflow will be triggered. If 6 users are selected then 6 nested workflows.

Kindly, let me know if anyone implement such functionallity.

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Comments

David Smith

You don't need nested workflows for this unless each reviewer has to perform different unique functionality, and even then you might not need nested workflows. What you need is a serial approval process. Or is it concurrent? I remember this from the old WFT days. I'm pretty sure you can so this easily as well in WFM.

Adam Stoller

I agree with Smitty - unless you are attaching different files to each workflow (see below) - there's no reason to create nested workflows, and actually good reasons not to do so.

I worked on a project where the different DCR types required different processes, and so we had a top-level "wrapper" workflow that sifted the selected files into "buckets" and then initiated distinct jobs for each set of DCR-types that were pre-selected.

I could also see doing something like this if you intend to farm out translation to different users - where you might take an initially selected file, and copy it to a to-be-translated version of the file and then have distinct jobs for each translation (though this too could be done with concurrent tasks in a single workflow)

So - if you still think you need nested workflows - please provide a more detailed description of what you are [actually] attempting to do.

Ashish_Sangal

Thanks Smitty & Ghoti for you quick response.

Actually, we have a project requirement like this where we need to initiate nested workflows.

Right now client is using WFT for the same but they wants whether same is feasible in WFM or not.

So, kindly guide me how to initiate nested workflows (number of nested workflows is dynamic) from java code.

Adam Stoller

Ashish_Sangal wrote:

Actually, we have a project requirement like this where we need to initiate nested workflows.

That is not a requirement - that is an implementation detail option.

What is the requirement behind that implementation option?

Is it possible to have dynamic nested workflow tasks within a WFM? Probably. It's generally possible to do pretty much anything.

Is it easy? That's less clear. The main problem is that the instantiation of WFMs doesn't work anywhere near as cleanly, or perhamps more correctly stated: doesn't provide anywhere near the degree of flexibility - as WFTs since there is no means of passing information on the command line (a la iw_wft_compile.ipl for example) and thus the manner in which you manage to specify the job owner / task owners / attached files / etc. for the nested WFMs is far less trivial than it is for nested WFTs.

So - in order to really answer your question, you need to really determine the requirement behind the implementation option to properly determine if that is the best way to actually implement a solution for the requirement within a WFM.

Ashish_Sangal

Hi Ghoti,

Thanks for your reply.

As per my discussion we need a POC on how we can initiate the nested workflows in java.

I am able to do that using below mention code -

CSWorkflowEngine engine = client.getWorkflowEngine();
CSWorkflow csWorkflow = null;
csWorkflow = engine.createWorkflow(jobSpec);

Where, client is CSClient and jobSpec is Job Specification XML file.

Now, i am facing issue when i use this code in loop. I am getting below mention error -

com.interwoven.cssdk.filesys.CSObjectAlreadyExistsException: Unknown Hopi error(Item already exists)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,421 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.cssdk.sci.exception.ExceptionHandler.handleExceptionSci(ExceptionHandler.java:224)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,421 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.cssdk.sci.exception.ExceptionHandler.handleException(ExceptionHandler.java:104)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,421 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.cssdk.sci.workflow.WorkflowServiceSciImpl.createWorkflow(WorkflowServiceSciImpl.java:812)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,421 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.cssdk.workflow.java.WorkflowServiceAdapterImpl.createWorkflow(WorkflowServiceAdapterImpl.java:78)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,421 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.cssdk.workflow.impl.CSWorkflowEngineImpl.createWorkflow(CSWorkflowEngineImpl.java:225)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,421 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.workflow.DynamicUserTask.execute(Unknown Source)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,421 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.ui.teamsite.workflow.task.URLExternalTaskCommand.execute(URLExternalTaskCommand.java:109)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,421 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.ui.base.impl.command.CommandHandler.doExecuteCommand(CommandHandler.java:1041)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,421 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.ui.base.impl.command.CommandHandler.tryRunCommandDescriptor(CommandHandler.java:864)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,421 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.ui.base.impl.command.CommandHandler.tryRunForward(CommandHandler.java:760)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,421 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.ui.base.impl.command.CommandHandler.tryRunCommandID(CommandHandler.java:704)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,421 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.ui.base.impl.command.CommandHandler.runCommandLoop(CommandHandler.java:330)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,421 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.ui.base.impl.command.CommandServlet.doGet(CommandServlet.java:163)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,421 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.ui.base.impl.command.CommandServlet.doPost(CommandServlet.java:263)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,421 ERROR [STDERR] 	at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:710)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,421 ERROR [STDERR] 	at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:803)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,421 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:290)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,421 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,422 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.invoke(ApplicationDispatcher.java:654)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,422 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.processRequest(ApplicationDispatcher.java:445)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,422 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.doForward(ApplicationDispatcher.java:379)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,422 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.forward(ApplicationDispatcher.java:292)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,422 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.ui.base.impl.command.CommandServletMapper.doGet(CommandServletMapper.java:90)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,422 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.ui.base.impl.command.CommandServletMapper.doPost(CommandServletMapper.java:108)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,422 ERROR [STDERR] 	at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:710)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,422 ERROR [STDERR] 	at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:803)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,422 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:290)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,422 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,422 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.ui.base.impl.auth.AuthenticationFilter.doFilter(AuthenticationFilter.java:203)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,422 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,422 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,422 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.ui.base.util.SetRequestEncodingFilter.doFilter(SetRequestEncodingFilter.java:106)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,422 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,422 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,422 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.jboss.web.tomcat.filters.ReplyHeaderFilter.doFilter(ReplyHeaderFilter.java:96)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,422 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,422 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,422 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:230)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,422 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:175)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,422 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.jboss.web.tomcat.security.SecurityAssociationValve.invoke(SecurityAssociationValve.java:182)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,422 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.jboss.web.tomcat.security.JaccContextValve.invoke(JaccContextValve.java:84)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,423 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:127)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,423 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:102)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,423 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.jboss.web.tomcat.service.jca.CachedConnectionValve.invoke(CachedConnectionValve.java:157)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,423 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:109)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,423 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:262)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,423 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.process(Http11Processor.java:844)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,423 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.process(Http11Protocol.java:584)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,423 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.JIoEndpoint$Worker.run(JIoEndpoint.java:446)
2015-03-04 16:12:54,423 ERROR [STDERR] 	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:619)

Kindly, let me know how to create new object everytime.

Also, i tried createNestedWorkflow() method -

CSWorkflowEngine engine = client.getWorkflowEngine();
CSWorkflow csWorkflow = null;
csWorkflow = engine.createNestedWorkflow(jobSpec, task.getId());

In this case, I am getting this error -

com.interwoven.cssdk.access.CSAuthorizationException: Unknown Hopi error(Operation not permitted)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,976 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.cssdk.sci.exception.ExceptionHandler.handleExceptionSci(ExceptionHandler.java:188)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,976 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.cssdk.sci.exception.ExceptionHandler.handleException(ExceptionHandler.java:104)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,976 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.cssdk.sci.workflow.WorkflowServiceSciImpl.createNestedWorkflow(WorkflowServiceSciImpl.java:3702)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,976 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.cssdk.workflow.java.WorkflowServiceAdapterImpl.createNestedWorkflow(WorkflowServiceAdapterImpl.java:73)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,976 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.cssdk.workflow.impl.CSWorkflowEngineImpl.createNestedWorkflow(CSWorkflowEngineImpl.java:237)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,976 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.workflow.DynamicUserTask.execute(Unknown Source)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,976 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.ui.teamsite.workflow.task.URLExternalTaskCommand.execute(URLExternalTaskCommand.java:109)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,976 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.ui.base.impl.command.CommandHandler.doExecuteCommand(CommandHandler.java:1041)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,976 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.ui.base.impl.command.CommandHandler.tryRunCommandDescriptor(CommandHandler.java:864)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,976 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.ui.base.impl.command.CommandHandler.tryRunForward(CommandHandler.java:760)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,976 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.ui.base.impl.command.CommandHandler.tryRunCommandID(CommandHandler.java:704)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,976 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.ui.base.impl.command.CommandHandler.runCommandLoop(CommandHandler.java:330)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,976 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.ui.base.impl.command.CommandServlet.doGet(CommandServlet.java:163)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,976 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.ui.base.impl.command.CommandServlet.doPost(CommandServlet.java:263)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,976 ERROR [STDERR] 	at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:710)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,977 ERROR [STDERR] 	at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:803)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,977 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:290)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,977 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,977 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.invoke(ApplicationDispatcher.java:654)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,977 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.processRequest(ApplicationDispatcher.java:445)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,977 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.doForward(ApplicationDispatcher.java:379)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,977 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.forward(ApplicationDispatcher.java:292)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,977 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.ui.base.impl.command.CommandServletMapper.doGet(CommandServletMapper.java:90)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,977 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.ui.base.impl.command.CommandServletMapper.doPost(CommandServletMapper.java:108)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,977 ERROR [STDERR] 	at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:710)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,977 ERROR [STDERR] 	at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:803)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,978 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:290)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,978 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,978 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.ui.base.impl.auth.AuthenticationFilter.doFilter(AuthenticationFilter.java:203)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,978 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,978 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,978 ERROR [STDERR] 	at com.interwoven.ui.base.util.SetRequestEncodingFilter.doFilter(SetRequestEncodingFilter.java:106)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,978 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,978 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,978 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.jboss.web.tomcat.filters.ReplyHeaderFilter.doFilter(ReplyHeaderFilter.java:96)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,978 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,978 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,978 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:230)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,979 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:175)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,979 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.jboss.web.tomcat.security.SecurityAssociationValve.invoke(SecurityAssociationValve.java:182)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,979 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.jboss.web.tomcat.security.JaccContextValve.invoke(JaccContextValve.java:84)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,979 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:127)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,979 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:102)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,979 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.jboss.web.tomcat.service.jca.CachedConnectionValve.invoke(CachedConnectionValve.java:157)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,979 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:109)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,979 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:262)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,979 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.process(Http11Processor.java:844)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,979 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.process(Http11Protocol.java:584)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,979 ERROR [STDERR] 	at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.JIoEndpoint$Worker.run(JIoEndpoint.java:446)
2015-03-04 12:27:26,979 ERROR [STDERR] 	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:619)

Kindly, let me know what i am missing.

David Smith

In your first code snippet, you say you have that code in a loop. Without any more context, it's impossible to know what you're doing wrong. The code you posted is correct. Plus creating a workflow this way is not nesting workflows - you are creating another completely separate workflow. There's no relationship with the parent when you create a workflow this way.

In your second example, it's an authorization exception so it's possible that whoever you have as the owner of this task does not have permission to create a new workflow or something like that. Again, without mpore context, who knows what you're doing wrong.

Adam Stoller

Ashish_Sangal wrote:
As per my discussion we need a POC on how we can initiate the nested workflows in java.
[...]

What's the point of a POC if you don't know (or at least aren't telling us) why you believe you need to do this? What's the use-case scenario?

Ashish_Sangal

Hi Smitty,

Smitty97007 wrote:
In your first code snippet, you say you have that code in a loop. Without any more context, it's impossible to know what you're doing wrong.

Here is the complete loop code -

for (int i = 0; i < users.length; i++) {
  users[i] = users[i].trim();
  CSWorkflowEngine engine = client.getWorkflowEngine();
  CSWorkflow csWorkflow = null;
  csWorkflow = engine.createWorkflow(jobSpec);				
  CSUser newOwner=client.getUser(users[i],true);
  csWorkflow.setOwner(newOwner);
  csWorkflow.setDescription("Nested Workflow " + (i+1) + " for Job - "   + task.getWorkflowId());
}

Smitty97007 wrote:

Plus creating a workflow this way is not nesting workflows - you are creating another completely separate workflow. There's no relationship with the parent when you create a workflow this way.

I agree with you. I was trying createWorkflow() method becuase createNestedWorkflow() method throughing execption.

Smitty97007 wrote:

In your second example, it's an authorization exception so it's possible that whoever you have as the owner of this task does not have permission to create a new workflow or something like that. Again, without mpore context, who knows what you're doing wrong.

I have checked owner of this task have "master" and "workflow admin" role.

Ashish_Sangal

Hi Ghoti,

I understand your point but even i dont know the requirement. They just want to know how we can initiate the nested workflow from java thats it.

Thats, why i am trying to use createWorkflow() and createNestedWorkflow() methods.

I you have any idea how to leverage these methods kindly let me know.