Re: Work flow RFC

[Craig Tataryn]

I don't want to be platform specific though w.r.t. any tools generated from
this TODO.  However, if someone wanted to create a Visio addin for the
front-end and some SOAP interfaces to the support objects I wouldn't oppose it.

Craig.

Dan - Blue Lotus Software wrote:

> It would be nice if we could integrate directly with Visio.  Microsoft is
> pushing Visio as their workflow editor for BizTalk.  Basically, it allows
> Visio models to be connected to real code through the use of XML files,
> pretty much as you have suggested (except without the XSL stage--the file
> format Visio writes is read directly).
>
> At the XML One conference in London a few months back, I asked the two
> Microsoft guys that were demoing a beta of the Visio workflow stuff (from
> the upcoming .NET version) if they planned to publish the DTD.  They didn't
> really know.  However, given their commitment to open standards with XML
> (yes, I said that with a straight face), the DTD will likely be released to
> a standards body.
>
> If this is the case, building XSL documents to handle the conversion each
> way should be straightforward.
>
> -dan
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED].
> org]On Behalf Of Craig Tataryn
> Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2001 5:29 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Work flow RFC
>
> Hi, I would like your comments for the workflow item on our TODO list.
> Currently this is how I've envisioned the workflow project:
>
> 1) A nice GUI type Applet or Application that has visual constructs
> which can be connected in a Visio type manner to create an Activity
> diagram or some other type of flow diagram.
>
> 2) This diagram will be persisted in an XML file which holds meta data
> for the elements in diagram (position, type of construct (controller,
> flat html page, cgi script, flow arrow, etc..)).
>
> 3) The diagram can be exported to a struts config file via XSLT (i.e.
> workflow.xml -> workflow2struts.xsl -> struts-config.xml)
>
> 4) A diagram can also be imported from a struts-config.xml file via XSLT
> (i.e. struts-config.xml -> struts2workflow.xsl -> workflow.xml).  Of
> course some sort of "pretty layout" code would have to be used to
> un-jumble the mess of constructs that are sucked out of the
> struts-config.xml file (i.e. take a guess at proper positioning
> information).
>
> The GUI should employ some sort of extensibility mechanism like BSF
> (http://oss.software.ibm.com/developerworks/projects/bsf) or Bean Shell
> (http://www.beanshell.org/) to allow users to plug-in their own
> functionality (i.e. validation code) without jeopardizing the core code
> (what I call the Emeril Lagasse technique -- BAM!).
>
> I realize this is a very high level look at the TODO but I think as we
> get more comments we will get more granular and can start dishing out
> segments.
>
> Let me know what you think.
>
> <tataryn:craig/>

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