Chapter 3. Processes

3.1. Creating a process

Processes can be created by using one of the following three methods:

Using the graphical process editor in the Eclipse plugin
As an XML file, according to the XML process format as defined in the XML Schema Definition in the BPMN 2.0 specification.
By directly creating a process using the Process API.

3.1.1. Using the graphical BPMN2 Editor

The graphical BPMN2 editor is a editor that allows you to create a process by dragging and dropping different nodes on a canvas and editing the properties of these nodes. The graphical BPMN2 editor is part of the jBPM / Drools Eclipse plugin. Once you have set up a jBPM project (see the installer for creating an working Eclipse environment where you can start), you can start adding processes. When in a project, launch the "New" wizard (use Ctrl+N) or right-click the directory you would like to put your process in and select "New", then "File". Give the file a name and the extension bpmn (e.g. MyProcess.bpmn). This will open up the process editor (you can safely ignore the warning that the file could not be read, this is just because the file is still empty).

First, ensure that you can see the Properties View down the bottom of the Eclipse window, as it will be necessary to fill in the different properties of the elements in your process. If you cannot see the properties view, open it using the menu "Window", then "Show View" and "Other...", and under the "General" folder select the Properties View.

Figure 3.2. New process

The process editor consists of a palette, a canvas and an outline view. To add new elements to the canvas, select the element you would like to create in the palette and then add them to the canvas by clicking on the preferred location. For example, click on the "End Event" icon in the "Components" palette of the GUI. Clicking on an element in your process allows you to set the properties of that element. You can connect the nodes (as long as it is permitted by the different types of nodes) by using "Sequence Flow" from the "Components" palette.

You can keep adding nodes and connections to your process until it represents the business logic that you want to specify.

3.1.2. Defining processes using XML

It is also possible to specify processes using the underlying XML directly. The syntax of these XML processes is defined using an XML Schema Definition. For example, the following XML fragment shows a simple process that contains a sequence of a Start Event, a Script Task that prints "Hello World" to the console, and an End Event.


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> 

<definitions id="Definition"

             targetNamespace="http://www.jboss.org/drools"

             typeLanguage="http://www.java.com/javaTypes"

             expressionLanguage="http://www.mvel.org/2.0"

             xmlns="http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/20100524/MODEL"Rule Task

             xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"

             xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/20100524/MODEL BPMN20.xsd"

             xmlns:g="http://www.jboss.org/drools/flow/gpd"

             xmlns:bpmndi="http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/20100524/DI"

             xmlns:dc="http://www.omg.org/spec/DD/20100524/DC"

             xmlns:di="http://www.omg.org/spec/DD/20100524/DI"

             xmlns:tns="http://www.jboss.org/drools">



  <process processType="Private" isExecutable="true" id="com.sample.hello" name="Hello Process" >



    <!-- nodes -->

    <startEvent id="_1" name="Start" />

    <scriptTask id="_2" name="Hello" >

      <script>System.out.println("Hello World");</script>

    </scriptTask>

    <endEvent id="_3" name="End" >

        <terminateEventDefinition/>

    </endEvent>



    <!-- connections -->

    <sequenceFlow id="_1-_2" sourceRef="_1" targetRef="_2" />

    <sequenceFlow id="_2-_3" sourceRef="_2" targetRef="_3" />



  </process>



  <bpmndi:BPMNDiagram>

    <bpmndi:BPMNPlane bpmnElement="com.sample.hello" >

      <bpmndi:BPMNShape bpmnElement="_1" >

        <dc:Bounds x="16" y="16" width="48" height="48" />

      </bpmndi:BPMNShape>

      <bpmndi:BPMNShape bpmnElement="_2" >

        <dc:Bounds x="96" y="16" width="80" height="48" />

      </bpmndi:BPMNShape>

      <bpmndi:BPMNShape bpmnElement="_3" >

        <dc:Bounds x="208" y="16" width="48" height="48" />

      </bpmndi:BPMNShape>

      <bpmndi:BPMNEdge bpmnElement="_1-_2" >

        <di:waypoint x="40" y="40" />

        <di:waypoint x="136" y="40" />

      </bpmndi:BPMNEdge>

      <bpmndi:BPMNEdge bpmnElement="_2-_3" >

        <di:waypoint x="136" y="40" />

        <di:waypoint x="232" y="40" />

      </bpmndi:BPMNEdge>

    </bpmndi:BPMNPlane>

  </bpmndi:BPMNDiagram>



</definitions>

The process XML file consists of two parts, the top part (the "process" element) contains the definition of the different nodes and their properties, the lower part (the "BPMNDiagram" element) contains all graphical information, like the location of the nodes. The process XML consist of exactly one <process> element. This element contains parameters related to the process (its type, name, id and package name), and consists of three subsections: a header section (where process-level information like variables, globals, imports and lanes can be defined), a nodes section that defines each of the nodes in the process, and a connections section that contains the connections between all the nodes in the process. In the nodes section, there is a specific element for each node, defining the various parameters and, possibly, sub-elements for that node type.

3.1.3. Defining Processes Using the Process API

While it is recommended to define processes using the graphical editor or the underlying XML (to shield yourself from internal APIs), it is also possible to define a process using the Process API directly. The most important process elements are defined in the packages org.jbpm.workflow.core and org.jbpm.workflow.core.node. A "fluent API" is provided that allows you to easily construct processes in a readable manner using factories. At the end, you can validate the process that you were constructing manually. Some examples about how to build processes using this fluent API can be found in the junit tests.

3.2. Using a Process in Your Application

There are two things you need to do to be able to execute processes from within your application: (1) you need to create a Knowledge Base that contains the definition of the process, and (2) you need to start the process by creating a session to communicate with the process engine and start the process.

Creating a Knowledge Base: Once you have a valid process, you can add the process to the Knowledge Base:
```
KnowledgeBuilder kbuilder = KnowledgeBuilderFactory.newKnowledgeBuilder();

kbuilder.add( ResourceFactory.newClassPathResource("MyProcess.rf"),

              ResourceType.BPMN2 );
```
After adding all your process to the builder (you can add more than one process), you can create a new knowledge base like this:
```
KnowledgeBase kbase = kbuilder.newKnowledgeBase();
```
Note that this will throw an exception if the knowledge base contains errors (because it could not parse your processes correctly).
Starting a process: Processes are only started if you explicitly state that they should be started. This is because you could potentially define a lot of processes in your Knowledge Base and the engine has no way to know when you would like to start each of these. To activate a particular process, you will need to start it by calling the startProcess method on your session. For example:
```
StatefulKnowledgeSession ksession = kbase.newStatefulKnowledgeSession();

ksession.startProcess("com.sample.hello");
```
The parameter of the startProcess method represents the id of the process that needs to be started. This process id needs to be specified as a property of the process, shown in the Properties View when you click the background canvas of your process.
You may specify additional parameters that are used to pass on input data to the process, using the startProcess(String processId, Map parameters) method, which takes an additional set of parameters as name-value pairs. These parameters are then copied to the newly created process instance as top-level variables of the process.

3.3. Detailed Explanation of the Different Node Types

A BPMN2 process is a flow chart where different types of nodes are linked using connections. The process itself exposes the following properties:

Id: The unique id of the process.
Name: The display name of the process.
Version: The version number of the process.
Package: The package (namespace) the process is defined in.
Variables: Variables can be defined to store data during the execution of your process. See section “Data” for details.
Swimlanes: Specify the actor responsible for the execution of human tasks. See chapter “Human Tasks” for details.
Connection Layout: Specify how the connections are visualized on the canvas using the connection layout property:
- 'Manual' always draws your connections as lines going straight from their start to end point (with the possibility to use intermediate break points).
- 'Shortest path' is similar, but it tries to go around any obstacles it might encounter between the start and end point, to avoid lines crossing nodes.
- 'Manhattan' draws connections by only using horizontal and vertical lines.

A BPMN2 process supports different types of nodes:

Figure 3.3. The different types of BPMN2 nodes

Start Event: The start of the process. A process should have exactly one start node, which cannot have incoming connections and should have one outgoing connection. Whenever a process is started, execution will start at this node and automatically continue to the first node linked to this start event, and so on. It contains the following properties:
- Id: The id of the node (which is unique within one node container).
- Name: The display name of the node.
End Event: The end of the process. A process should have one or more End Events. The End Event should have one incoming connection and cannot have outgoing connections. It contains the following properties:
Rule Task: Represents a set of rules that need to be evaluated. The rules are evaluated when the node is reached. A Rule Task should have one incoming connection and one outgoing connection. Rules are defined in separate files using the Drools rule format. Rules can become part of a specific ruleflow group using the ruleflow-group attribute in the header of the rule. When a Rule Task is reached in the process, the engine will start executing rules that are part of the corresponding ruleflow-group (if any). Execution will automatically continue to the next node if there are no more active rules in this ruleflow group. This means that, during the execution of a ruleflow group, it is possible that new activations belonging to the currently active ruleflow group are added to the Agenda due to changes made to the facts by the other rules. Note that the process will immediately continue with the next node if it encounters a ruleflow group where there are no active rules at that time. If the ruleflow group was already active, the ruleflow group will remain active and execution will only continue if all active rules of the ruleflow group has been completed. It contains the following properties:
Diverging Gateway: Allows you to create branches in your process. A Diverging Gateway should have one incoming connection and two or more outgoing connections. There are three types of gateway nodes currently supported:
It contains the following properties:
Converging Gateway: Allows you to synchronize multiple branches. A Converging Gateway should have two or more incoming connections and one outgoing connection. There are two types of splits currently supported:
- AND or parallel means that is will wait until all incoming branches are completed before continuing.
- XOR or exclusive means that it continues as soon as one of its incoming branches has been completed. If it is triggered from more than one incoming connection, it will trigger the next node for each of those triggers.
It contains the following properties:
Reusable Sub-Process: represents the invocation of another process from within this process. A sub-process node should have one incoming connection and one outgoing connection. When a Reusable Sub-Process node is reached in the process, the engine will start the process with the given id. It contains the following properties:
Script Task: represents a script that should be executed in this process. A Script Task should have one incoming connection and one outgoing connection. The associated action specifies what should be executed, the dialect used for coding the action (i.e., Java or MVEL), and the actual action code. This code can access any globals, the predefined variable kcontext that references the ProcessContext object (which can, for example, be used to access the current ProcessInstance or NodeInstance, and to get and set variables, or get access to the ksession using kcontext.getKnowledgeRuntime()). When a Script Task is reached in the process, it will execute the action and then continue with the next node. It contains the following properties:
Timer Event: represents a timer that can trigger one or multiple times after a given period of time. A Timer Event should have one incoming connection and one outgoing connection. The timer delay specifies how long (in milliseconds) the timer should wait before triggering the first time. When a Timer Event is reached in the process, it will start the associated timer. The timer is cancelled if the timer node is cancelled (e.g., by completing or aborting the process). Consult the section “Timers” for more information. - The Timer Event contains the following properties:
- Id: The id of the node (which is unique within one node container).
- Name: The display name of the node.
- Timer delay: The delay (in milliseconds) that the node should wait before triggering the first time.
Error Event: An Error Event can be used to signal an exceptional condition in the process. It should have one incoming connection and no outgoing connections. When an Error Event is reached in the process, it will throw an error with the given name. The process will search for an appropriate exception handler that is capable of handling this kind of fault. If no fault handler is found, the process instance will be aborted. An Error Event contains the following properties:
- Id: The id of the node (which is unique within one node container).
- Name: The display name of the node.
- FaultName: The name of the fault. This name is used to search for appriopriate exception handlers that is capable of handling this kind of fault.
- FaultVariable: The name of the variable that contains the data associated with this fault. This data is also passed on to the exception handler (if one is found).
Message Event: A Message Event can be used to respond to internal or external events during the execution of the process. A Message Event should have no incoming connections and one outgoing connection. It specifies the type of event that is expected. Whenever that type of event is detected, the node connected to this event node will be triggered. It contains the following properties:
- Id: The id of the node (which is unique within one node container).
- Name: The display name of the node.
- EventType: The type of event that is expected.
- VariableName: The name of the variable that will contain the data associated with this event (if any) when this event occurs.
- Scope: An event could be used to listen to internal events only, i.e., events that are signaled to this process instance directly, using processInstance.signalEvent(String type, Object data). When an event node is defined as external, it will also be listening to external events that are signaled to the process engine directly, using ksession.signalEvent(String type, Object event).
User Task: Processes can also involve tasks that need to be executed by human actors. A User Task represents an atomic task to be executed by a human actor. It should have one incoming connection and one outgoing connection. User Tasks can be used in combination with Swimlanes to assign multiple human tasks to similar actors. Refer to the chapter on human tasks for more details. A User Task is actually nothing more than a specific type of service node (of type "Human Task"). A User Task contains the following properties:
- Id: The id of the node (which is unique within one node container).
- Name: The display name of the node.
- TaskName: The name of the human task.
- Priority: An integer indicating the priority of the human task.
- Comment: A comment associated with the human task.
- ActorId: The actor id that is responsible for executing the human task. A list of actor id's can be specified using a comma (',') as separator.
- GroupId: The group id that is responsible for executing the human task. A list of group id's can be specified using a comma (',') as separator.
- Skippable: Specifies whether the human task can be skipped, i.e., whether the actor may decide not to execute the task.
- Content: The data associated with this task.
- Swimlane: The swimlane this human task node is part of. Swimlanes make it easy to assign multiple human tasks to the same actor. See the human tasks chapter for more detail on how to use swimlanes.
- On.entry and on-exit actions: Actions that are executed upon entry and exit of this node, respectively.
- Parameter mapping: Allows copying the value of process variables to parameters of the human task. Upon creation of the human tasks, the values will be copied.
- Result mapping: Allows copying the value of result parameters of the human task to a process variable. Upon completion of the human task, the values will be copied. A human task has a result variable "Result" that contains the data returned by the human actor. The variable "ActorId" contains the id of the actor that actually executed the task.
Sub-Process: A Sub-Process is a node that can contain other nodes so that it acts as a node container. This allows not only the embedding of a part of the process within such a Sub-Process node, but also the definition of additional variables that are accessible for all nodes inside this container. A Sub-Process should have one incoming connection and one outgoing connection. It should also contain one start node that defines where to start (inside the Sub-Process) when you reach the Sub-Process. It should also contain one or more End Events. A Sub-Process ends when there are no more active nodes inside the Sub-Process. It contains the following properties:
- Id: The id of the node (which is unique within one node container).
- Name: The display name of the node.
- Variables: Additional variables can be defined to store data during the execution of this node. See section “Data” for details.
Multiple Instances: A Multiple Instance node is a special kind of Sub-Process that allows you to execute the contained process segment multiple times, once for each element in a collection. A Multiple Instance node should have one incoming connection and one outgoing connection. A Multiple Instance node awaits the completion of the embedded segment for each of the collection''s elements before continuing. It contains the following properties:
- Id: The id of the node (which is unique within one node container).
- Name: The display name of the node.
- CollectionExpression: The name of a variable that represents the collection of elements that should be iterated over. The collection variable should be of type java.util.Collection.
- VariableName: The name of the variable to contain the current element from the collection. This gives nodes within the composite node access to the selected element.
Service Task (or Work Item node): Represents an (abstract) unit of work that should be executed in this process. All work that is executed outside the process engine should be represented (in a declarative way) using a Service Task. Different types of services are predefined, e.g., sending an email, logging a message, etc. Users can define domain-specific services or work items, using a unique name and by defining the parameters (input) and results (output) that are associated with this type of work. Refer to the chapter on domain-specific processes for a detailed explanation and illustrative examples of how to define and use work items in your processes. When a Service Task is reached in the process, the associated work item is executed. A Service Task should have one incoming connection and one outgoing connection.
- Id: The id of the node (which is unique within one node container).
- Name: The display name of the node.
- Parameter mapping: Allows copying the value of process variables to parameters of the work item. Upon creation of the work item, the values will be copied.
- Result mapping: Allows copying the value of result parameters of the work item to a process variable. Each type of work can define result parameters that will (potentially) be returned after the work item has been completed. A result mapping can be used to copy the value of the given result parameter to the given variable in this process. For example, the "FileFinder" work item returns a list of files that match the given search criteria within the result parameter Files. This list of files can then be bound to a process variable for use within the process. Upon completion of the work item, the values will be copied.
- On-entry and on-exit actions: Actions that are executed upon entry or exit of this node, respectively.
- Additional parameters: Each type of work item can define additional parameters that are relevant for that type of work. For example, the "Email" work item defines additional parameters such as From, To, Subject and Body. The user can either provide values for these parameters directly, or define a parameter mapping that will copy the value of the given variable in this process to the given parameter; if both are specified, the mapping will have precedence. Parameters of type String can use #{expression} to embed a value in the string. The value will be retrieved when creating the work item, and the substitution expression will be replaced by the result of calling toString() on the variable. The expression could simply be the name of a variable (in which case it resolves to the value of the variable), but more advanced MVEL expressions are possible as well, e.g., #{person.name.firstname}.

3.4. Data

While the flow chart focusses on specifying the control flow of the process, it is usually also necessary to look at the process from a data perspective. Throughout the execution of a process, data can retrieved, stored, passed on and used.

For storing runtime data, during the execution of the process, you use variables. A variable is defined by a name and a data type. This could be a basic data type, such as boolean, int, or String, or any kind of Object subclass. Variables can be defined inside a variable scope. The top-level scope is the variable scope of the process itself. Subscopes can be defined using a Sub-Process. Variables that are defined in a subscope are only accessible for nodes within that scope.

Whenever a variable is accessed, the process will search for the appropriate variable scope that defines the variable. Nesting of variable scopes is allowed. A node will always search for a variable in its parent container. If the variable cannot be found, it will look in that one's parent container, and so on, until the process instance itself is reached. If the variable cannot be found, a read access yields null, and a write access produces an error message, with the process continuing its execution.

Variables can be used in various ways:

Process-level variables can be set when starting a process by providing a map of parameters to the invocation of the startProcess method. These parameters will be set as variables on the process scope.
Actions can access variables directly, simply by using the name of the variable as a parameter name.
```
// call method on the process variable "person"

person.setAge(10);
```
Changing the value of a variable can be done through the Knowledge Context:
```
kcontext.setVariable(variableName, value);
```
Service Tasks and Reusable Sub-Processes can pass the value of parameters to the outside world by mapping the variable to one of the work item parameters, either by using a parameter mapping or by injecting it into a String parameter, using #{expression}. The results of a WorkItem can also be copied to a variable using a result mapping.
Various other nodes can also access data. Event nodes, for example, can store the data associated to the event in a variable, etc. Check the properties of the different node types for more information.

Finally, processes and rules all have access to globals, i.e., globally defined variables and data in the Knowledge Session. Globals are directly accessible in actions just like variables. The Knowledge Session can be accessed in actions using the Knowledge Context:

kcontext.getKnowledgeRuntime().insert( new Person(...) );

3.5. Constraints

Constraints can be used in various locations in your processes, for example in a diverging gateway. jBPM supports two types of constraints:

Code constraints are boolean expressions, evaluated directly whenever they are reached. We currently support two dialects for expressing these code constraints: Java and MVEL. Both Java and MVEL code constraints have direct access to the globals and variables defined in the process. Here is an example of a valid Java code constraint, person being a variable in the process:
```
return person.getAge() > 20;
```
A similar example of a valid MVEL code constraint is:
```
return person.age > 20;
```
Rule constraints are equals to normal Drools rule conditions. They use the Drools Rule Language syntax to express possibly complex constraints. These rules can, like any other rule, refer to data in the Working Memory. They can also refer to globals directly. Here is an example of a valid rule constraint:
```
Person( age > 20 )
```
This tests for a person older than 20 being in the Working Memory.

Rule constraints do not have direct access to variables defined inside the process. It is however possible to refer to the current process instance inside a rule constraint, by adding the process instance to the Working Memory and matching for the process instance in your rule constraint. We have added special logic to make sure that a variable processInstance of type WorkflowProcessInstance will only match to the current process instance and not to other process instances in the Working Memory. Note that you are however responsible yourself to insert the process instance into the session and, possibly, to update it, for example, using Java code or an on-entry or on-exit or explicit action in your process. The following example of a rule constraint will search for a person with the same name as the value stored in the variable "name" of the process:

processInstance : WorkflowProcessInstance()
Person( name == ( processInstance.getVariable("name") ) )
# add more constraints here ...

3.6. Actions

Actions can be used in different ways:

Within a Script Task,
As entry or exit actions, with a number of nodes.

Actions have access to globals and the variables that are defined for the process and the predefined variable kcontext. This variable is of type org.drools.runtime.process.ProcessContext and can be used for several tasks:

Getting the current node instance (if applicable). The node instance could be queried for data, such as its name and type. You can also cancel the current node instance.
```
NodeInstance node = kcontext.getNodeInstance();

String name = node.getNodeName();
```
Getting the current process instance. A process instance can be queried for data (name, id, processId, etc.), aborted or signaled an internal event.
```
ProcessInstance proc = kcontext.getProcessInstance();

proc.signalEvent( type, eventObject );
```
Getting or setting the value of variables.
Accessing the Knowledge Runtime allows you do things like starting a process, signaling (external) events, inserting data, etc.

jBPM currently supports two dialects, Java and MVEL. Java actions should be valid Java code. MVEL actions can use the business scripting language MVEL to express the action. MVEL accepts any valid Java code but additionally provides support for nested accesses of parameters (e.g., person.name instead of person.getName()), and many other scripting improvements. Thus, MVEL expressions are more convenient for the business user. For example, an action that prints out the name of the person in the "requester" variable of the process would look like this:

// Java dialect
System.out.println( person.getName() );

//  MVEL dialect
System.out.println( person.name );

3.7. Events

Figure 3.4. A sample process using events

During the execution of a process, the process engine makes sure that all the relevant tasks are executed according to the process plan, by requesting the execution of work items and waiting for the results. However, it is also possible that the process should respond to events that were not directly requested by the process engine. Explicitly representing these events in a process allows the process author to specify how the process should react to such events.

Events have a type and possibly data associated with them. Users are free to define their own event types and their associated data.

A process can specify how to respond to events by using a Message Event. An Event node needs to specify the type of event the node is interested in. It can also define the name of a variable, which will receive the data that is associated with the event. This allows subsequent nodes in the process to access the event data and take appropriate action based on this data.

An event can be signaled to a running instance of a process in a number of ways:

Internal event: Any action inside a process (e.g., the action of an action node, or an on-entry or on-exit action of some node) can signal the occurence of an internal event to the surrounding process instance, using code like the following:
```
kcontext.getProcessInstance().signalEvent(type, eventData);
```
External event: A process instance can be notified of an event from outside using code such as:
```
processInstance.signalEvent(type, eventData);
```
External event using event correlation: Instead of notifying a process instance directly, it is also possible to have the engine automatically determine which process instances might be interested in an event using event correlation, which is based on the event type. A process instance that contains an event node listening to external events of some type is notified whenever such an event occurs. To signal such an event to the process engine, write code such as:
```
ksession.signalEvent(type, eventData);
```

Events could also be used to start a process. Whenever a Message Start Event defines an event trigger of a specific type, a new process instance will be started every time that type of event is signalled to the process engine.

3.8. Timers

Timers wait for a predefined amount of time, before triggering, once or repeatedly. They cou be used to specify time supervision, or to trigger certain logic after a certain period, or to repeat some action at regular intervals.

A Timer Event is set up with a delay. The delay specifies the amount of time (in milliseconds) to wait after node activation before triggering the timer the first time.

The timer service is responsible for making sure that timers get triggered at the appropriate times. Timers can also be cancelled, meaning that the timer will no longer be triggered.

Timers can be used in two ways inside a process:

A Timer Event may be added to the process flow. Its activation starts the timer, and its triggers, once or repeatedly, activate the Timer node's successor. This means that the outgoing connection of a timer with a positive perios is triggered multiple times. Cancelling a Timer node also cancels the associated timer, whereafter no more triggerings will occur.
Timers can be associated with a Sub-Process as a boundary event. This is however currently only possible by doing this in XML directly. We will be adding support for graphically specifying this in the new BPMN2 editor.

3.9. 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, jBPM 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.

3.9.1. 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, jBPM 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.