Remove parser warning for intermediate catch timer event with a time cycle

[Bragolgirith]

Environment (Required on creation)

Any

Description (Required on creation; please attach any relevant screenshots, stacktraces, log files, etc. to the ticket)

The BpmnParse class currently logs a warning for intermediate catch timer events with a time cycle:

ENGINE-09004 Warnings during parsing: It is not recommended to use a intermediate catch timer event with a time cycle

The warning makes sense in isolation (since a cycle is repeating, while a catch event is caught once), however there is currently at least one valid use-case for doing this, see camunda/camunda-modeler#792:

It makes sense for [cron] cycles of one :)
Because otherwise it's hard to say something like "wait for the beginning of the next day" without having to use a Java Date.

Until there's a convenient way to specify such a cron timer without a time cycle, I'd argue that the warning should be removed.

Steps to reproduce (Required on creation)

1. Deploy a process model with intermediate catch timer event with a time cycle
2. Observe the server log

Observed Behavior (Required on creation)

A Warning is logged:

ENGINE-09004 Warnings during parsing: It is not recommended to use a intermediate catch timer event with a time cycle

Expected behavior (Required on creation)

A Info message is logged instead.

Root Cause (Required on prioritization)

So far a Warning message is logged when an intermediate catch timer event with a time cycle is modelled. A use case exist where cron timer is better suited for a intermediate catch timer event.

Solution Ideas

• Change the log level entry from Warning to Info message. (code)

Hints

Links

• https://forum.camunda.io/t/continue-the-process-in-the-middle-of-process/31311
• https://forum.camunda.io/t/warning-it-is-not-recommended-to-use-a-intermediate-catch-timer-event-with-a-time-cycle/28395/3

Breakdown

Pull Requests

Beta Give feedback

1. bug(engine): Remove parser warning for intermediate catch timer event with a time cycle #4016
   +0
   

Dev2QA handover

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[yanavasileva]

Hi @Bragolgirith,

Thank you for reaching out to us with this.
It's a bit hard to follow the referenced modeler issue as it's quite old.
Just to confirm that I understand correctly the use case:
You would like to use a timer intermediate catch event and set the timer to run at the beginning of the next day for example?
Is it an option for you to use an expression and dynamically calculate the desired date?

Best regards,
Yana

[Bragolgirith]

Hi @yanavasileva ,

Just to confirm that I understand correctly the use case:
You would like to use a timer intermediate catch event and set the timer to run at the beginning of the next day for example?

Specifically, I would like to use a timer intermediate catch event and set the timer using a cron expression.

(This already works great with a time cycle, except for the warning that is being logged.)

Is it an option for you to use an expression and dynamically calculate the desired date?

Using an expression is indeed an option, but it can quickly get complicated for certain schedules, e.g. "at 10:00 o'clock but not on the weekend", which are trivial to setup with cron.

[yanavasileva]

Hi @Bragolgirith,

Thank you for your patience with this and elaborating further.

We agree that a warning message can be too invasive when you have such scenario.
However, we would like to keep the message for rest of the cases. Therefore, our suggestion to to change the log level entry from Warning to Info. That way people can reduce the log level entry and not be overloaded with it in their server log file. I will adjust the ticket description and type accordingly.

What do you think? Are you willing to make a contribution on the log level change?

Best,
Yana

[Bragolgirith]

Sure, I can take a stab at it after the holidays.

[yanavasileva]

The fix will be part of Camunda 7.21 and can be tested with the next alpha release scheduled for February.