Seam and jBPM - designer produces package, in components.xml the file is referenced

[kibojan]

Hello everyone,

I configured the seam environment as to the chapter 25.6. Configuring jBPM in Seam from reference manual - added bpm tag in components.xml that is :) (with appropriate values of course). The problem is that I get the error that says ERROR couldn't parse process definition.
Instead of experimenting, I thought I could confirm something here. The eclipse plug-in (the designer) produces a package, while in components.xml it is a file (moreover with jpdl extension) that is referenced.
The question is: How should I reference created package in components.xml?
Does the error given can narrow down the search for problem? It seams pretty general.

[mwohlf]

as far as I understand the output from the designer tool the package consist of 3 files:

• processimage.jpg: a picture of the process as seen in the designer

• gpd.xml: some layout information about the positions of the nodes and edges of the process picture

• processdefinition.xml: is probably the file you need in components.xml, the process definition itself

I have just a stub for jbpm in components.xml and feed the whole file directly into the jbpmContext like this:

ProcessDefinition pd = ProcessDefinition.parseParZipInputStream(zipStream);
jbpmContext.deployProcessDefinition(pd);

to make sure the tables are set up I use a postInitialization Observer:

@Scope(STATELESS)
@Name("jbpmSetup")
public class JbpmSetup {

    @Logger
    Log log;

    @In(create = true)
    Jbpm jbpm;

    @Observer("org.jboss.seam.postInitialization")
    public void startup() {
        try {
            jbpm.startup();
            JbpmConfiguration config = jbpm.getJbpmConfiguration();
            JbpmContext context = config.createJbpmContext();
            context.getSession().flush();
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

I use this approach since there seems to be problems with process definitions being deployed multiple times on startup...

[kibojan]

Thanks for your reply but that seams like workaround. When they built the designer as they built it, they surely must have had a vision of how should that package is to be used. Now, I am using designer version 3.1.3.GA shipped along with JBoss Tools 2.1.2. Seam version is 2.0.2. which has jbpm-jpdl-3.2.2.jar bundled.

The question is: How should I reference created package in components.xml? - again, I am not going to experiment when I only need info about a thing that already works.

every source I read on the topic says:

<value>xyz.jpdl.xml</value>

should be entered in components.xml

[paulmkeogh]

These are my notes from doing some jBPM experimentation;

The BPM resources of;

     hibernate.cfg.xml
     jbpm.cfg.xml
     BPM/*
     
must reside under the EarContent folder of the xxx-ear project.

The process definition files are referenced from WebContent/WEB-INF/components.xml like;

     <bpm:jbpm>
          <bpm:process-definitions>
               <value>BPM/checkout.jpdl.xml</value>
          </bpm:process-definitions>
          <bpm:pageflow-definitions />
     </bpm:jbpm>

     
Expect obscure errors around XML parser failure if the files are not locatable.

Hope this helps.

[mwohlf]

well, I don't see my approach as a workaround since:

• my requirement is to deploy a new version of the process definition without  restarting the application, not sure how to do this with components.xml only

• as I understand Pete Muir at https://jira.jboss.org/jira/browse/JBSEAM-1034, deploying process definitions in components.xml is not intended for production

but I am open for better ideas of course...

[kukeltje.ronald.jbpm.org]

Michael Wohlfart wrote on Mar 18, 2009 13:11:


well, I don't see my approach as a workaround since:

• my requirement is to deploy a new version of the process definition without  restarting the application, not sure how to do this with components.xml only

• as I understand Pete Muir at https://jira.jboss.org/jira/browse/JBSEAM-1034, deploying process definitions in components.xml is not intended for production

but I am open for better ideas of course...

You are completely right.