[jboss-user] [jBPM] - Re: JBPM5 - Process Versioning

[Kris Verlaenen]

Kris Verlaenen [http://community.jboss.org/people/KrisVerlaenen] created the discussion

"Re: JBPM5 - Process Versioning"

To view the discussion, visit: http://community.jboss.org/message/577196#577196

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Yes, a section from documentation I still have to add:

h2. Updating processes

Over time, processes may evolve, for example because the process itself   needs to be improved, or due to changing requirements.  Actually, you cannot really   update a process, you can only deploy a new version of the process, the old process   will still exist.  That is because existing process instances might still need that   process definition.  So the new process should have a different id, though the name   could be the same, and you can use the version parameter to show when a process is   updated (the version parameter is just a String and is not validated by the process   framework itself, so you can select your own format for specifying minor/major   updates, etc.).
Whenever a process is updated, it is important to determine what should happen   to the already running process instances.  There are various strategies one could   consider for each running instance:
* +Proceed+: The running process instance proceeds as       normal, following the process (definition) as it was defined when the process       instance was started.  As a result, the already running instance will proceed as       if the process was never updated.  New instances can be started using the updated       process.
* +Abort (and restart)+: The already running instance       is aborted.  If necessary, the process instance can be restarted using the new       process definition.
* +Transfer+: The process instance is migrated to the       new process definition, meaning that - once it has been migrated successfully -       it will continue executing based on the updated process logic.

By default, jBPM5 uses the proceed approach, meaning that multiple   versions of the same process can be deployed, but existing process instances will   simply continue executing based on the process definition that was used when starting   the process instance.  Running process instances could always be aborted as well of   course, using the process management API.  Process instance migration is more difficult   and is explained in the following paragraphs.
h3. 4.10.1. Process instance migration

A process instance contains all the runtime information needed to continue     execution at some later point in time.  This includes all the data linked to this     process instance (as variables), but also the current state in the process diagram.     For each node that is currently active, a node instance is used to represent this.     This node instance can also contain additional state linked to the execution of that     specific node only.  There are different types of node instances, one for each type     of node.
A process instance only contains the runtime state and is linked to a particular     process (indirectly, using id references) that represents the process logic that needs     to be followed when executing this process instance (this clear separation of definition     and runtime state allows reuse of the definition accross all process instances based     on this process and minimizes runtime state).  As a result, updating a running process     instance to a newer version so it used the new process logic instead of the old one is     simply a matter of changing the referenced process id from the old to the new id.
However, this does not take into account that the state of the process instance (the     variable instances and the node instances) might need to be migrated as well.  In cases     where the process is only extended and all existing wait states are kept, this is pretty     straightforward, the runtime state of the process instance does not need to change at all.     However, it is also possible that a more sofisticated mapping is necessary.  For example,     when an existing wait state is removed, or split into multiple wait states, an existing      process instance that is waiting in that state cannot simply be updated.  Or when a new     process variable is introduced, that variable might need to be initiazed correctly so it     can be used in the remainder of the (updated) process.
The WorkflowProcessInstanceUpgrader can be used to upgrade a workflow process     instance to a newer process instance.  Of course, you need to provide the process instance     and the new process id. By default, Drools Flow will automatically map old node instances     to new node instances with the same id.  But you can provide a mapping of the old (unique)     node id to the new node id.  The unique node id is the node id, preceded by the node ids     of its parents (with a colon inbetween), to allow to uniquely identify a node when composite     nodes are used (as a node id is only unique within its node container.  The new node id     is simply the new node id in the node container (so no unique node id here, simply the new     node id).  The following code snippet shows a simple example.

// create the session and start the process "com.sample.process"

KnowledgeBuilder kbuilder = ...

StatefulKnowledgeSession ksession = ...

ProcessInstance processInstance = ksession.startProcess("com.sample.process");


// add a new version of the process "com.sample.process2"

kbuilder = KnowledgeBuilderFactory.newKnowledgeBuilder();

kbuilder.add(..., ResourceType.BPMN2);

kbase.addKnowledgePackages(kbuilder.getKnowledgePackages());


// migrate process instance to new version

Map<String, Long> mapping = new HashMap<String, Long>();

// top level node 2 is mapped to a new node with id 3

mapping.put("2", 3L); 

// node 2, which is part of composite node 5, is mapped to a new node with id 4

mapping.put("5.2", 4L); 

WorkflowProcessInstanceUpgrader.upgradeProcessInstance(

   ksession, processInstance.getId(),

   "com.sample.process2", mapping);
If this kind of mapping is still insufficient, you can still describe your own custom     mappers for specific situations.  Be sure to first disconnect the process instance, change     the state accordingly and then reconnect the process instance, similar to how the      WorkflowProcessinstanceUpgrader does it.

I will add this to the online documentation shortly.

Kris
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