Transient variables disappear when signal into end-state

[aleekl]

here's the background to my problem:

I have the following process definition

START----->TASK-NODE----->NODE(with custom action)------>END

here's the code to the custom action class:

public void execute(ExecutionContext executionContext) throws Exception {
 //check if TEST mode is one
 ContextInstance contextInstance = executionContext.getContextInstance();
 String testMode = (String)contextInstance.getTransientVariable(JbpmConstants.TEST_KEY);

 //TEST MODE OFF
 if(null == testMode) {
 executionContext.leaveNode(JbpmConstants.TRANSITION_GO_NEXT);
 }
 //TEST MODE ON
 else {

 //set node name in as both key and value
 contextInstance.setTransientVariable(JbpmConstants.NODE_UPDATE, JbpmConstants.NODE_UPDATE);
 String exceptionFlag = (String)contextInstance.getTransientVariable(JbpmConstants.TEST_UPDATE_EXCEPTION);
 if(null == exceptionFlag) {
 //no exception
 executionContext.leaveNode(JbpmConstants.TRANSITION_GO_NEXT);
 }
 else {
 throw new Exception(JbpmConstants.TEST_UPDATE_EXCEPTION); //test for exception
 }
 }
 }
}

and here is the code for my junit test:

.
.
.
_token.signal();
_activatedNode = (String)_token.getProcessInstance().getContextInstance().getTransientVariable(JbpmConstants.NODE_UPDATE);
assertNotNull(_activatedNode);
assertEquals(_activatedNode, JbpmConstants.NODE_UPDATE);

The idea is I want to test to make sure my custom-node is activated after signalling from the TASK-NODE, and I'm using transient variables to test this result. So far this has work with other workflows where a signal of a task node leads to another task node (i.e. not end state). However once I signal from a task-node into an eventual end-state, I find that all my transient variables are gone.

I've also tried to print out all variables (transient and non-transient) after the signal() call, but both maps are null.

Does anyone know why this is so?

[kukeltje]

Why? this is why

[aleekl]

"kukeltje" wrote:
Why? <a href="http://interglot.com/interglotresult.php?SrcLang=2&DstLang=2&word=transient&sourceid=mozilla-search">this</a> is why

Just realised actually it was a bug in the test code that did not set the variable to turn on the test mode :) Once that was done, the transient variable was set in the action, and was subsequently asserted correctly in the test code. The fact that it's "transient" is not the issue here since I'm checking the variable values BEFORE persistence takes place.

Thanks for the insightful reply anyway. Do appreciate you taking the time to check out the synonym definition of the word "transient". I'm sure all of us are much enlightened as a result.

[kukeltje]

he, english is not the native language of everyone. So a list with synonyms could have shed some light on this issue. Ok, my response could have been interpreted in more than one way as I read it again. It was surely not intended to be be offensive and if you interpreted it that way, I ... yes I think I apologize.