Workflow Designer (new version)

The VidiFlow Workflow Designer is the central web UI for designing and maintaining BPMN workflows which are executed in VidiFlow.

Overview

The main layout of the Workflow Monitor consists of the following parts:

Color	Name	Section
Green	Toolbox	Allows one to select any BPMN objects and drag them to the canvas. Also offers buttons to create, deploy or download workflows.
Yellow	BPMN canvas	Shows the whole BPMN workflow. Objects can be dropped here, connected to others, selected and commented.
Blue	Properties panel	Check and modify properties of the selected object or the workflow itself.

Toolbox

The toolbox is the central place to find entities/objects needed for the workflow.

The toolbox can be shown or hidden via the button in the title bar.

Selection Area

The main area of the toolbox shows different categories, which can be opened and closed via the arrow on the right side:

Section	Description
Events	BPMN standard events to start and end workflows or receive boundary or error events.
Gateways	Gateways to control the flow of the workflow.
Business Rules	VidiFlow Business Rules available in the system.
Script, Users Tasks	Script tasks, user tasks etc.
Workflows	VidiFlow Workflows available in the system, to be possibly executed as sub-workflows.
Service Tasks	All VidiFlow service tasks available in the system. This can include product tasks as well as customer specific tasks.
Others	Other BPMN entities.

Filtering Area

The filtering area is located under the toolbox.

The search text box filters for the names of any BPMN entities in the selection area. While typing, the categories of the selection area are filled with the matching entries.

Alternatively, one or multiple tags can be chosen from the dropdown for filtering. This is currently only supported for service tasks.

It is possible to combine the filter for names and tags.

Filter BPMN entities by name (left image, red marking) or tags (right image, blue marking)

Button Area

The button area below the filtering area provides the following options:

Button	Description
Canvas tools
	Activate the hand tool: Select and move BPMN entities.
	Active the lasso tool: Draw a rectangle to select all BPMN entities in the area.
	Activate the create/remove space tool: Create or remove space by move all entities besides or below the mouse cursor vertically or horizontally.
	Activate the global connect tool: Connect different entities.
File and deployment operations
	Create new workflow: Clean the canvas to start from scratch.
	Open workflow from local file system: Load an existing BPMN file to the Designer.
	Deploy workflow into system: Stores the workflow with a new minor or major version to ConfigPortal and triggers the deployment to the VidiFlow backend.
	Deploy workflow for major version: Same as above, but forces to create a new major version.
	Download workflow in XML: Save BPMN file to local file system.
	Check workflow: Verifies if all mandatory parameters have been set for all entities in the workflow.

BPMN Canvas

The canvas is the central area of the Workflow Designer. It contains all entities of a workflow in a graphical representation.

General Features

The following is a list of the general features of the canvas:

On top of the canvas, the name and version of the current workflow are shown.
With the hand tool activated, the canvas can be moved by clicking and holding the mouse in an empty area and moving around. Alternatively, the mouse wheel scrolls vertically and shift + mouse wheel horizontally.
Zoom is possible via ctrl + mouse wheel while the move cursor is over the canvas.
It is possible to change the names of entities with a double-click on it.
If an entity is marked with a red color, then not all mandatory parameters are set.
Searching for entities is possible based on the names. Press Strg + F and type parts of the name. Select the correct entry if multiple matches are available

Dropping and connecting entities

Any entity from the toolbox can be put on the canvas by using drag & drop. There are different ways to connect these entities:

Drop an entity to the canvas without any connection.
Move an entity from the toolbox over an existing one, press and hold the shift key, move the entity to the destination location, and drop it. The result is that the new element (successor) succeeds the other where the shift key was pressed on (predecessor).
Select an entity, select the arrow symbol, and click on another entity. The first entity is now the predecessor of the second.
Activate the global connect tool and connect different entities to each other.

Properties Panel

The properties panel shows the properties and attributes of the currently selected entity in the canvas. If no element is selected, then the properties of the workflow itself are shown.

With the button on the top-right area of the properties panel, different area of properties can be switched:

Workflow Properties

This section describes the various properties of the workflow itself. These can be checked and changed if no entity is selected in the workflow canvas.

General Properties

The general properties are:

Property	Description
Name	Name of the workflow.
Documentation	A text field to add any documentation of the workflow.
Task priority	For advanced users: Change the default priority of VidiFlow tasks.

Global Workflow Parameters

The area “global workflow parameters” shows a list of input and output parameters of the workflow. Additionally, some special parameters can be chosen.

Property	Description
List of workflow parameters	This list shows all defined workflow parameters. Input parameters are marked with an arrow down symbol, output parameters with an arrow up.
Description	Shows the description of the currently selected parameter.
Examples	Shows examples of the currently selected parameter.
Workflow Object ID	Choose the main parameter of the workflow: One object of sub-type Platform URI can be selected here. The value of this parameters will be shown as a dedicated column in the VidiFlow Workflow Monitor and derive additional information from it.
Status Message	One output parameter of type String is selectable to be shown as a clear text status message in the Workflow Monitor.

Workflow Entity Parameters

Different types of BPMN objects require different attributes. In the following, the General area is described for the most relevant objects. Additionally, the advanced section and the parameters area are described in one step, as it may not be available for all entity types, but if so, it looks the same for all.

Service Tasks

Property	Description
Name	Name of the canvas element.
Service task	Name of the VidiFlow service task to be executed.
Service Task Version	Version of the service task. Suggestion: If not better known, always use the latest available version.
Description	Description of the service task.

Workflows / Call Activities

Sub-workflows can be executed in so-called call activities.

Property

Description

Name

Name of the canvas element.

Workflow

Name of the workflow to be executed.

Workflow Version

Version of the workflow.

It is possible to select a specific version. Alternatively, selecting x.Latest will cause the latest minor version of the workflow major version x to be executed.

Business Rules

The following general parameters are supported for business rules:

Property

Description

Name

Name of the canvas element.

Business Rule

Business Rule to be executed.

Business Rule Version

Version of the Business Rule.

It is possible to select a specific version. Alternatively, selecting x.Latest will cause the latest minor version of the rule major version x to be executed.

Script Tasks

The following general parameters are supported for Script Tasks.

Property	Description
Name	Name of the canvas element.
Script Format	Used script language. Example: “JavaScript”
Script type	Choose between “Inline Script” (default selection) and “External Resource”

Advanced Section

For the settings Asynchronous Before / After please refer to Camunda documentation about Asynchronous Continuations.

Parameter Area

The Parameters area is available for service tasks, business rules, or workflows. It shows all parameters of the selected workflow entities. For each parameter, it is possible to set a hard-coded value. Alternatively, there is the option to create new workflow input or output parameters based on a tasks', workflows' or rules' parameter.

Parameters are for service tasks, business rules and workflows

Property	Description
List of workflow parameters	The list on top of the area shows all parameters that are declined in the object to be called. Input parameters are marked with an arrow down symbol, and output parameters with an arrow up.
Type of input	Selection between “Workflow Variable” and “Value”.
Value (if “value” is selected)	Hard-coded value.
Workflow Variable (if “workflow variable” is selected)	Dropdown to select an existing workflow variable to be mapped on.
Button +	Opens a dialog to create a new workflow parameter based on the entities parameter (see screenshot below). Most values will be preset based on the parameter of the entity, but can be changed or overwritten. Is is also supported to create a workflow parameter as optional.
EL Value	Readonly field showing the value in the expression language.
Description	Description of the parameter.
Examples	Examples for possible values of the parameter.

Dialogue to create a new workflow variable