15.2.4. Defining Activiti Workflows

The following section outlines the process to follow when you create an Activiti workflow for OpenIDM. Before you start creating workflows, you must configure the Activiti engine, as described in Configuring the Activiti Engine.

  1. Define your workflow in a text file, either using an editor, such as Activiti Eclipse BPMN 2.0 Designer, or a simple text editor.

  2. Package the workflow definition file as a .bar file (Business Archive File). If you are using Eclipse to define the workflow, a .bar file is created when you select "Create deployment artifacts". Essentially, a .bar file is the same as a .zip file, but with the .bar extension.

  3. Copy the .bar file to the openidm/workflow directory.

  4. Invoke the workflow using a script (in openidm/script/) or directly using the REST interface. For more information, see Invoking Activiti Workflows.

  5. You can also schedule the workflow to be invoked repeatedly, or at a future time. For more information, see the Scheduler Reference