Reading eProcedure-blob from eProcedure-Table?

Sven Lorenz
Sven Lorenz
in AppWorks #1

Is it possible to read the eProcedure-blob? I need to know the layout of the process map. Thanks in advance...

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Comments

  • Tony Wheeler
    Tony Wheeler
    #2

    I think you'd have better luck querying the eAction table. Each Action can be thought of an edge while Stages are nodes. Each Action has a starting node (eStageName) and ending node (eToStage). With this, you should be able to rebuild the entire process map.

     

  • Tom Waskow
    Tom Waskow
    #3

    There is other information that would be useful for process documentation that is kept in that blob. For example, what roles are assigned to a stage, designer notes entered for the process/stage/action, etc.

     

     

  • achopra
    achopra
    #4

    I haven't done it myself, but I know you can read the blob from eProcedure, because we have partners (such as DSA in Poland, and ProcessMapping in Aus) who have built components which read the process map out of the database, and render a visual process audit trail for a given folder (showing folder path, timing, etc).  You might want to reach out to them on the details of how that is being done.

     

    www.dsa.com.pl

    www.processmapping.com.au

     

  • Sven Lorenz
    Sven Lorenz
    #5

    We use the process info library from Processmapping to visualize the process in forms. But it doesn't work with V9 so we want to do it ourselves. The solution from DSA is quite expensive.

    We managed to read the eProcedure-blob but it needs a big effort to parse it. Any suggestions to do it the easy way?

     

  • Tom Waskow
    Tom Waskow
    #6

    How did you manage to read the eProcedure blob? What does it decode to? XML?

     

    If it is a big effort we will just use the designer files directly instead of trying to work with the eProcedure blob. All the information about how a process is designed is there, and in XML ready to be parsed.

     

     

  • Sven Lorenz
    Sven Lorenz
    #7

    Yes it is XML, but a huge one. Here is described how to read blobs: http://www.akadia.com/services/dotnet_read_write_blob.html

     

    We thought about reading the designer files too. But we also need informations like who executed the action, what roles are assigned to the stages etc.

     

  • Jerome_Pearce
    Jerome_Pearce
    #8

    We now have an updated version of the Process Info library that mostly works with version 9. There are new and interesting challenges in version 9, although we have resolved most of them.

     

    If you have an existing license, please contact us to discuss trying the Beta version.

     

    PS: You didn't really expect the XML to be small did you? At about 1 MB for a good-sized solution, you would have to expect a lot of XML!

  • Zardi_Paolo
    Zardi_Paolo
    #9

    Yes, you can do it.

    In 7.x versione, the eProcedure field in the eProcedure table is a zipped stream - you can find easily a DLL to unzip it (but only if the procecure is not protected with password).

    Inside the unzipped file, there is "application.xml" file, that contains the XML structure of the map, with stage, form, action and the definition of the dynamic roles and the flag definition. 

    In the unzipeed file you can find also the JScript Files (if you have it) and the XML description of the form.

    The XML structure is very clear.

     

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