History of GalaxiaTutorial

Workflow refers to procedures for processing documents, such as requiring an editor to review and approve a story.

-=Pre Requisites=-
* Its presumed that you have basic programming knowledge including the assignment and use of variables.
* Please note - the workflow system greatly simplifies the amount of work needed to create a workflow application. You will require __very__ basic knowledge of PHP and Smarty, so do not delve too deeply and get discouraged.
* [http://www.php.net|PHP] will be used for the coding part of workflow generation. If you don't know what PHP is, take a look at [http://www.php.net/manual/en/intro-whatcando.php|What can PHP do?]. If you are unfamiliar with PHP and would like to learn more, its recommended that you read the [http://www.php.net/tut.php|PHP Tutorial].
* [http://smarty.php.net|Smarty Template Engine] will be used for the displaying of information in workflow generation. If you are unfamiliar with Smarty, it is also recommended that you read [http://codewalkers.com/tutorials/56/1.html|Codewalkers Smarty Tutorial].

!Introduction
bitweaver, has inherited a Workflow Engine from TikiWiki called Galaxia. This engine is quite powerful and easy to use once the basic concepts have been mastered. Rather than give you all the concepts now, I will introduce them throughout the tutorial to help understand their use and context in the scheme of workflow generation.
Ensure Workflow is enabled on your website.
-=Bonnie=-
If you have the permissions, you can visit __Administration / Administer Packages / Features__ and check the __Workflow__ feature. Click __Change Preferences__ to save your change.
-=ReleaseOne=-
If you have the permissions, you can visit __Administration / Kernel / Packages__ and check the __Galaxia__ package. Click __Activate Tiki Packages__ to save your change.
{maketoc}
!Admin Processes
-=Add or edit a process=-
The first part of creating a workflow is to create a __Process__. A process is usually the objective of the workflow. A process is defined as a set of activities that must be done to achieve some goal. Business circuits are mapped to processes to automate them. Be careful not to confuse a specific Activity with the Process. Some example Processes are:
* Tracking Employee Holidays
* Approval for department budget requests
* Tracking a CD Library

To create our Test Process, open the __Workflow / Admin Processes__ section of bitweaver.
You notice at the top of the page are 4 icons.
* {img src=/Galaxia/icons/Process.gif} __monitor processes__ - Shortcut to __Monitor processes__
* {img src=/Galaxia/icons/Activity.gif} __monitor activities__ - Shortcut to __Monitor activities__
* {img src=/Galaxia/icons/Instance.gif} __monitor instances__ - Shortcut to __Monitor instances__
* {img src=/Galaxia/icons/memo.gif} __monitor workitems__ - Shortcut to __Monitor workitems__
These icons are shortcuts to monitor other parts of workflow generation. For now know that they represent monitoring processes, activities, instances and work items.

In __Process Name__, enter the title of your process. As an example, we will do ''Hello World Process''.
Optionally in the __Description__, enter a short description about the process.
__Is active?__ indicates that the process is available for users. Leave this unchecked, as nothing will work while the process is blank.
Now click __Create__.

-=Uploading Process XML Files=-
Just below the Create button are __Browse__ and __Upload__ buttons. Later in the tutorial, we will export our process to an XML file which can be later uploaded here or used on other bitweaver installations.
To use, just __Browse__ to your XML Process file and click __Upload__ to create the process.

-=List of Processes=-
Once you've created or uploaded your new process, you'll find it listed at the bottom of the __Admin Processess__ page.
Adjust the Find filter to find your process, if there are a lot of processes in the list - and click __Filter__ to search.

Our ''Hello World Process'' should appear in the list.
The checkbox at the beginning is used if you wish to delete the process. Just check the checkbox and press the __Delete__ button. If you do this now, be sure to recreate the process as shown above.

Next is the process name. Click on the process name and you'll find the details are entered in the form above to allow editing of the title or description. Also note the icons have changed as well as the errors shown below __This process is invalid:__. Don't worry about these for now, as we will get to them later in the tutorial. Click __Update__ to save changes.

Next column is the __Version__. As you improve on your processes, you can create new versions to work on while leaving existing users on the previous stable version. Once you are convinced that the updated version is suitable for public use, you can make it the default process. All existing user instances of the previous version will continue to completion and not be affected by the new version. This ensures that your workflow functions correctly during upgrades.

__Active__ indicates if the process is free from errors and available for public use.

__Valid__ is a {img src=/Galaxia/icons/green_dot.gif} green or {img src=/Galaxia/icons/red_dot.gif} red circle indicating whether the process can be activated or not. This is dependent on whether it has any errors - mentioned above.


Lastly, the __Action__ icons are shortcuts to administer the process's activities, instances and other components. These are:
* {img src=/Galaxia/icons/Activity.gif} __activities__ - This is a shortcut back to the __Admin process activities__ page.
* {img src=/Galaxia/icons/book.gif} __code__ - This is a shortcut back to the __Admin process sources__ page.
* {img src=/Galaxia/icons/myinfo.gif} __roles__ - This is a shortcut back to the __Admin process roles__ page.
* {img src=/Galaxia/icons/export.gif} __export__ - This allows you to save a process to an XML file for later uploading.

Click on the first __Action__ icon - __activities__ {img src=/Galaxia/icons/Activity.gif}.
!Admin Activities
Activities are actions that are performed during your process. A process can consist of many activities. By default, a ''start'' and ''end'' activity are created for you, but these can be renamed or deleted at a later stage. I'll define two other terms so you can understand their context later.

An ''instance'' is a particular process currently being executed. An activity can have many instances associated with it at any time. An instance is created when a process is initiated by a user and the instance will pass through the process activities until the process is terminated or completed.

A ''transition'' is the path between two or more activities. A transition defines what has to be done after each activity is completed.

Activities are broken up into different types. Here are two types listed below:
* {img src=/Galaxia/icons/mini_circle.gif} __start__ - This activity type marks an entry point into the process. A process can contain many start type activities allowing for multiple ways to begin a process. Processes with many start activities are very strange but possible. Every process must contain at least one start activity. Instances are created when a start activity is executed. No transitions can lead to a start activity and only one outgoing transition is allowed per start activity.
* {img src=/Galaxia/icons/mini_dbl_circle.gif} __end__ - This activity type marks the end point of the process. When an instance reaches the end activity the process is considered completed. A process can must contain only one end type activity. This doesn’t mean that processes can’t end in different ways. Since the end activity represents the process end, how the process ends depends on the activities visited beforehand. The end activity can have many inbound transitions but Outbound transitions are not allowed.
* {img src=/Galaxia/icons/mini_rectangle.gif} __activity__ - Normal activities don’t have any special meaning so they are used to represent things that should be done as a part of a process. Normal activities can receive many inbound transitions but can only have one outbound transition.


* {img src=/Galaxia/icons/mini_diamond.gif} __switch__ - A switch activity represents a point of decision in a process. Instances reaching a switch activity are evaluated and depending on programmed conditions, the instance is routed to different activities. Switch activities can have many inbound transitions and many outbound transitions.
* {img src=/Galaxia/icons/mini_triangle.gif} __split__ - When two or more activities in a process can be performed independently in paralell - a split activity is used to split the an instance, routing the same instance to many activities. This allows an instance to be in many activities at the same time. Split activities represent subflows in a workflow. A split activity can receive many inbound transitions and can have many outbound transitions.
* {img src=/Galaxia/icons/mini_inv_triangle.gif} __join__ - A join activity is used to re-group multiple instances from a split activity. When an instance reaches a join activity, it is verified that all other related instances have reached the join activity. At this point, the instance can be directed to the next activity. Join activities can have many inbound transitions (more than one is expected) and can only have one outbound activity.
* {img src=/Galaxia/icons/mini_hexagon.gif} __standalone__ - A standalone activity is not part of the normal flow of the process and are not related to process instances. A standalone activity can be executed any time by a user with the right permissions. These activities are ideal for data management related to the process, listings, adding items, removing items, etc. If there is no order relationship between different activities in a process, it can be designed as a set of standalone activities. Otherwise a processes will consist of a route of activities and a set of auxiliar standalone activities. Standalone activities can not have inbound or outbound transitions.
In our first example, we will only use the defaults, __start__ and __end__.

-=Add or edit an activity=-
You can see on our __Admin process activities__ page, at the top is the shortcut bar, similar to the previous page. Below that you will see errors shown below __This process is invalid:__. We will review these later.

In the __Add or edit an activity__ form, you are able to add new activities or by clicking on the names of existing activities, edit their properties. Apart from __Name__ and __Description__, there is a __Type__ drop down. From here, you are able to select different activity types as was shown above.

Next there are two check boxes.

__Interactive:__ - Activities can be programmed or user interactive. ''Interactive activities'' are activities requiring some kind of interaction with the user and these activities usually present a form asking the user to fill information. After the information is submitted, the instance is ready to move on to the next activity. ''Automatic activities'' in contrast are executed automatically without any user interaction. Data manipulation and programming is the most common use of an automatic activity.

__Auto-Routed:__ - When an activitiy is completed, the instance may or may not automatically route to the next activity in the process. Activities with the ''Auto-Routing'' setting activated automatically route the instance to the next process activity on completion. If the activity is not ''Auto-Routing'', the user must ''send'' the activity to let the process continue. This can be used in activities where the user can edit information and review it many times before deciding that the activity is completed.

Next, there are two boxes in the section __Add transitions__. These two boxes allow you to highlight, what previous activities lead to the current activity and what activities can be reached from the current activity.

At the bottom of the ''Add or edit an activity'' form, there are the roles associated with this activity.

__Roles__: Activities are asocited to roles which define who can perform certain activities. Roles are defined at a per-process level and assigned to bitweaver groups. This allows simplified administration of particular activities and processes.

-=Process activities=-
In our first example, we will use just the start and end activities. In the start activity we will display our name.

By default, two activities are created for you __start__ and __end__. If you refer now to the __This process is invalid:__ section at the top of the page, we can see what is left to edit before this activity becomes valid.

The first line should say ''End activity is not reachable from start activity''.

Lets start by editing the __end__ activity. Note that the end acitivity is 0 in the list. The list indicates the sequence in which the activities are performed. In the ''Process activities'' list, click on __0 end (no roles)__. This places the __end__ activity in the edit form.

You can see the details are entered into the ''Add or edit an activity'' form. The first step is to create a transition between the __end__ and __start__ activities and resolve the error. Once the start activity is completed, we wish to move to the end activity. Do this by highlighting the __start__ activity in the __Add transition from:__ list. As this is a ''end'' type activity, it does not allow anything selected in the __Add transition to:__ box (see above). Click __save__ to save changes.

Check the __This process is invalid:__ section and you will notice one of the errors has disappeared.

-=Process Transitions=-
In this section, you can now see a transition from __start__ => __end__. You can quickly add transitions from here using the two dropdown boxes on the right and clicking __add__

Look at the ''Process Activities'' list and notice that the start activity is now 0 in the list. Since we have edited the end activity to follow the start activity, the list has been sorted accordingly. Click on the start activity __ 0 start (no roles)__.

Look at the __Add transition to:__ box and note that __end__ is already highlighted and is a result of our previous transition setting.

Now lets refer to the next error ''Activity: start is interactive but has no role assigned''. As the __start__ is marked as an __Interactive__ activity, we need to assign a role to the activity. In the __Add role__, enter ''testuser'' and press __add role__. You can see the screen update and ''testuser'' appears in the list of assigned roles. If you wish to remove an assigned role, click on the __x__ next to the name.

At this point, I will introduce you to the rest of the shortcut toolbar at the top of the page.
* {img src=/Galaxia/icons/red_dot.gif} __invalid__ - This indicates that the process currently contains errors and cannot be activated or started.


* {img src=/Galaxia/icons/Activity.gif} __activities__ - This is a shortcut back to the __Admin process activities__ page.
* {img src=/Galaxia/icons/change.gif} __edit__ - This is a shortcut back to the __Admin processes__ page.
* {img src=/Galaxia/icons/book.gif} __code__ - This is a shortcut back to the __Admin process sources__ page.
* {img src=/Galaxia/icons/myinfo.gif} __roles__ - This is a shortcut back to the __Admin process roles__ page.
* {img src=/Galaxia/icons/graph.gif} __graph__ - This creates a flow chart of the process in graphical form.
* {img src=/Galaxia/icons/export.gif} __export__ - This allows you to save a process to an XML file for later uploading.
* {img src=/Galaxia/icons/Process.gif} __monitor processes__ - Shortcut to __Monitor processes__
* {img src=/Galaxia/icons/Activity.gif} __monitor activities__ - Shortcut to __Monitor activities__
* {img src=/Galaxia/icons/Instance.gif} __monitor instances__ - Shortcut to __Monitor instances__
* {img src=/Galaxia/icons/memo.gif} __monitor workitems__ - Shortcut to __Monitor workitems__

Click on {img src=/Galaxia/icons/myinfo.gif} __roles__ to map a user.
!Admin Roles
-=Admin process roles=-
Look at the __This process is invalid:__ section and you will notice a new error has appeared - ''Role: testuser is not mapped''.

If you look at the __Process roles__ section of the page, you will see our ''testuser'' role that we created previously.

Below that, you will see the __Map groups to roles__ section. In our example we will map a group we belong to our role. If you are logged in as ''Admin'', your group will be ''Admins'' or ''Administrators'' - otherwise, it is likely to be ''Registered''. In the left __Groups__ list, select your group and in the right __Roles__ list, select the ''testuser'' role. Click __map__ to save changes.

-=List of mappings=-
You can now see an entry in the __List of mappings__. Shown here is the association between the group we just selected and our role. Notice there is only one error left.
!Admin Code
Look at the __This process is invalid:__ section and you will notice one error left - ''Activity start is interactive so it must use the $instance->complete() method''.

Now we are ready to code some functionality. Click on {img src=/Galaxia/icons/book.gif} __code__ in the toolbar to begin coding.

-=Admin process sources=-
You will see a edit window with the start of a PHP script.
{CODE()}<?php
?>{CODE}
''<?php'' and ''?>'' signify the start and end of a PHP script respectively. If you've never programmed in PHP before, don't panic - its quite simple. Take a look at the tutorials mentioned at the start of this document.

Look at the __Select source__ dropdown list - this is used to quickly jump to different activity code and templates. Currently, this should be set to ''Shared source'' which is a holding place for activity related common or library code.

Next you see the words __Non Interactive__ - this indicates that the activity requires no user intervention and therefore does not display anything. If an activity is interactive, this will change to a __template__ or __code__ button to allow you to quickly swap between the two.

Lastly are the __save__ and __cancel__ buttons.

In ''Process activities'' you will see links to __code__ and __template__ for every activity. You can click on these links to jump straight to the relative code or template for modification.

From the __Select source__ dropdown, choose __start__.

First thing we want to do is set some text to be displayed on the screen. Enter this in the edit window.
{CODE()}<?php
$smarty->assign('display_text', 'Hello world!');

if(isset($_REQUEST['save'])){
$instance->complete();
}
?>{CODE}
You will notice that along the right side of the edit form are a number of links. These are coding shortcuts that allow you to quickly insert commonly used code.

Let me explain these lines.
The first line ''$smarty->assign('display_text', 'Hello world!');'' is used to assign text to a ''variable'' which is used in __template__. Here we are assigning the variable ''display_text'' with the words '''Hello world!'''. You will see this used when we edit the template section.

The second line is an ''if'' statement checking if the __save__ button was pressed. If the button was pressed, the ''$instance->complete();'' function is executed telling the workflow, that we have finished the activity and are ready to move to the next actitivity - in our case ''end''.

Press __save__ when finished editing. Press __template__ to edit the display template.

You will see a edit window with the start of a Smarty template.
{CODE()}{*Smarty template*}{CODE}

Both ''{*'' and ''*}'' are used for comments in Smarty, so this first line is effectively ignored.

You will remember that in the previous PHP code, we ''assigned'' the variable ''display_text'' with some text. To display this variable, enter the following in the edit window.
{CODE()}{*Smarty template*}
<form method="post">
Ready to display text: <b>{$display_text}</b><br>
<input type=submit name="save" value="Ok">
</form>{CODE}
Anything surrounded by curly braces ''{'' and ''}'' are checked by Smarty and modified accordinly. Smarty provides many different functions using this method. Check the Smarty tutorial at the start of this document for more information. Agin you will notice that along the right side of the edit form are a number of links. These are Smarty shortcuts that allow you to quickly insert commonly used code.

Press __save__ when finished editing.

Look at the toolbar, and you will see two new icons - a {img src=/Galaxia/icons/green_dot.gif} green __valid__ dot and an {img src=/Galaxia/icons/refresh2.gif} __activate__ icon. These indicate that all errors have been resolved and by clicking on the __activate__ icon, you will activate the process. Click the {img src=/Galaxia/icons/refresh2.gif} __activate__ icon.
!Starting an Instance
Click on __Admin Processes__ and you will see the two columns ''Active'' and ''Valid'' have now changed. These indicated that the workflow appears to be complete and is ready for execution.
-=User Processes=-
The __User Processes__ menu item shows all available processes, their number of activities and the number of current instances.
The user can use this screen to see all their available processes. As you can see currently we have one activity and no (zero) instances.
-=User Activities=-
The __User Activities__ menu item show all available activities. In our example, we have one item, the __start__ activity.
The {img src=/Galaxia/icons/next.gif} arrow icon indicated that this activity can be started or ''instantiated''.
Click on the {img src=/Galaxia/icons/next.gif} arrow to start our example process.
!Hello World!
When you start our example process, the screen changes to show the form we designed earlier.
^Ready to display text: __Hello world!__
||Ok||^
As you can see - our text that we set in our code has displayed in our form.
-=Saving your Process=-
If you'd like to save your process to an XML file for later restoration, this is how to do it.

Go to the __Admin Processes__ page and click the {img src=/Galaxia/icons/export.gif} __export__ icon. Depending on your browser, you will either be prompted to save the file somewhere or it will be displayed in the browser window. If it display, select __File__ / __Save As__ to save it to a file.

!New Version
So we are going to create a more complex version of workflow. In the __Admin Processes__ page, you can select ''new major'' or ''new minor'', to create a duplicate process. This allows you to begin testing a new version of process and eventually, replace the old version with the new one.

Click __new minor__

You can see a duplicate Hello World Process, with a version number of __1.1__ in your list.

!New Activity
We will create a new activity to display our hello world information.
Click on the ''Activities'' icon and create a new activity called ''display''.
In __Add transitions from:__ list, select ''start'' and in the __Add transitions to:__ list, select ''end''. This places the activity between the two previous activities.
Select ''testuser'' role for this activity.

As you can see a new error came up ^This process is invalid:
Activity display is interactive so it must use the $instance->complete() method^

Another point to note is the graph of the process - click the {img src=/Galaxia/icons/graph.gif} __graph__ icon. You can see the flow of the process is not right, as we want to start, then display and finally end.

Click on the ''start'' activity.
Page History
Date/CommentUserIPVersion
18 Nov 2005 (17:44 UTC)
Added attachment
Stephan Borg218.214.1.11349
Current • Source
Stephan Borg218.214.1.11348
View • Compare • Difference • Source
Stephan Borg218.214.1.11345
View • Compare • Difference • Source
Stephan Borg218.214.1.11344
View • Compare • Difference • Source
Stephan Borg218.214.1.11343
View • Compare • Difference • Source
Stephan Borg218.214.1.11341
View • Compare • Difference • Source
Stephan Borg218.214.1.11340
View • Compare • Difference • Source
Stephan Borg218.214.1.11338
View • Compare • Difference • Source
Stephan Borg218.214.1.11337
View • Compare • Difference • Source
Stephan Borg218.214.1.11336
View • Compare • Difference • Source
Stephan Borg218.214.1.11335
View • Compare • Difference • Source
Stephan Borg218.214.1.11334
View • Compare • Difference • Source
Stephan Borg218.214.1.11333
View • Compare • Difference • Source
Stephan Borg218.214.1.11332
View • Compare • Difference • Source
Stephan Borg218.214.1.11331
View • Compare • Difference • Source
Stephan Borg66.93.240.20430
View • Compare • Difference • Source
Stephan Borg218.214.1.11329
View • Compare • Difference • Source
Stephan Borg218.214.1.11325
View • Compare • Difference • Source
Stephan Borg218.214.1.11322
View • Compare • Difference • Source
Stephan Borg218.214.1.11320
View • Compare • Difference • Source
Stephan Borg218.214.1.11319
View • Compare • Difference • Source
SEWilco209.98.144.1615
View • Compare • Difference • Source
Stephan Borg218.214.1.11314
View • Compare • Difference • Source
Stephan Borg218.214.1.11313
View • Compare • Difference • Source
Stephan Borg218.214.1.11312
View • Compare • Difference • Source
Stephan Borg218.214.1.11311
View • Compare • Difference • Source