[rules-users] First experience with Drools 'BPM' ruleflow : some questions

[Thierry]

Kris Verlaenen <kris.verlaenen <at> cs.kuleuven.be> writes:

Kris thanks a lot for your answers they're very helpfull.

>Is there a way to render the process model more user friendly toward
> > more 'business' people ? [...] A graphical editor would be very
> > nice.

Oups ! I made an english mistake here :)

I was thinking about the data model that you use within the process. It seems 
to me that with Drools you must use JavaBeans that you define using Eclipse 
standard tools. Meaning you have to generate getter/setter, etc... You don't 
have a graphical representation of your beans and their relationship. Compared 
to what you have when you work with BPEL tools where you work with a graphical 
tool to define your data...

I wished there was a graphical tool to design the data model that you will be 
using in your process so that it was more accessible for business people. It's 
not a problem for Java IT people, though a specific tool for it would increase 
productivity still.

Maybe this tool exists somewhere ? I didn't found one yet. I'd hate to have to 
plug-in a UML or GMF/DSL modeling tool + generator just for designing the 
JavaBeans.

By the way what is the better approach : using a global 
JavaBean 'processModel' Object where you plug all the data that you need in 
the process or using multiple variable ?

I'm still not set on whether it's better to generate 'state' variable 
(shouldProcessStop, isProcessEnded, isCustomerIdentified, etc...) that would 
be calculated through rules or actions nodes and then used in constraints or 
if I should try to 'evaluate' those status in the constraints themselves. 
Having the rules engine close by opens new dimension on BPM compared to jBPM...

> There is an Eclipse plugin that allows you to query for human tasks and
> complete them, for testing purposes.  Similarly, there is a simple Swing
> GUI that can be used to see the work items generated by the process and
> complete them: 

Is it part of the Drools release ? Or an aditional tool ?


A huge thanks for your answers, I'm really looking forward using Drools for 
BPM ; discovering this module was a really pleasant surprise...