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Workflows

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Hasham Ahmad edited this page Aug 31, 2015 · 4 revisions

Every aggregate root type has an associated workflow which manages its state and transitions. It is possible to fully customise the workflow configuration. We can configure the states to meet the requirements in these files:

  • config/Owner/workflows.xml
  • config/Account/workflows.xml
  • config/Topic/workflows.xml
  • config/Comment/workflows.xml

##The default workflow The default state machine has three states: edit, published and deleted. It also has a special state named edit_task which is used by Honeybee to handle the proceeding of the workflow state back to the original state after an edit. The default workflow can be visualised as follows.

##Configuring workflow states The workflows are expected to start at an initial state, be promoted and demoted between intermediary states, and deleted to a final irreversible state. Each state (except the final state) allows definition of named events which must specify a transition target state which optionally may have a guard definition which checks if the state transition is allowed. The entities in our demo need slightly different workflows from the default. We can easily modify the default configuration to suit our needs.

Honeybee specifically uses the promote, demote and delete event names in order to proceed or return from states. Other custom state event names would require explicit configuration for your application.

######Introducing Workflux Workflow and state management is provided by the Workflux library. This tool allows sophisticated yet easy configuration of state machines, and offers variable and expression based state transitions. Workflux is also responsible for rendering the images on the page.

###Owner workflow configuration The Owner has the most complicated workflow with four states, unverified, verified, administrator, and deleted. The configuraton has been modified from the default by renaming some states and introducing a new one. The state machine can be visualised as follows.

######config/Owner/workflows.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<state_machines xmlns="urn:schemas-workflux:statemachine:0.5.0">
   <state_machine name="hbdemo_commenting_owner_workflow_default">

      <initial name="unverified" class="Workflux\State\VariableState">
         <event name="edit">
            <transition target="edit_task" />
         </event>
         <event name="promote">
            <transition target="verified" />
         </event>
         <event name="delete">
            <transition target="deleted" />
         </event>
         <option name="read_only_actions">
            <option name="resource_history">
               <option name="route">hbdemo.commenting.owner.resource.history</option>
            </option>
            <option name="view_resource">
               <option name="route">hbdemo.commenting.owner.resource</option>
            </option>
         </option>
      </initial>

      <state name="verified" class="Workflux\State\VariableState">
         <event name="edit">
            <transition target="edit_task" />
         </event>
         <event name="demote">
            <transition target="unverified" />
         </event>
         <event name="promote">
            <transition target="administrator" />
         </event>
         <event name="delete">
            <transition target="deleted" />
         </event>
         <option name="read_only_actions">
            <option name="resource_history">
               <option name="route">hbdemo.commenting.owner.resource.history</option>
            </option>
            <option name="view_resource">
               <option name="route">hbdemo.commenting.owner.resource</option>
            </option>
            <option name="resource_hierarchy">
               <option name="route">hbdemo.commenting.owner.hierarchy</option>
            </option>
         </option>
      </state>
      
      <state name="administrator" class="Workflux\State\VariableState">
         <event name="edit">
            <transition target="edit_task" />
         </event>
         <event name="demote">
            <transition target="verified" />
         </event>
         <event name="delete">
            <transition target="deleted" />
         </event>
         <option name="read_only_actions">
            <option name="resource_history">
               <option name="route">hbdemo.commenting.owner.resource.history</option>
            </option>
            <option name="view_resource">
               <option name="route">hbdemo.commenting.owner.resource</option>
            </option>
            <option name="resource_hierarchy">
               <option name="route">hbdemo.commenting.owner.hierarchy</option>
            </option>
         </option>
      </state>

      <state name="edit_task" class="Workflux\State\VariableState">
         <transition target="verified">
            <guard class="Workflux\Guard\VariableGuard">
               <option name="expression">current_state == "verified"</option>
            </guard>
         </transition>
         <transition target="unverified">
            <guard class="Workflux\Guard\VariableGuard">
               <option name="expression">current_state == "unverified"</option>
            </guard>
         </transition>
         <transition target="administrator">
            <guard class="Workflux\Guard\VariableGuard">
               <option name="expression">current_state == "administrator"</option>
            </guard>
         </transition>
         <option name="variables">
            <option name="task_action">
               <option name="module">HBDemo_Commenting</option>
               <option name="action">Owner.Resource.Modify</option>
            </option>
         </option>
      </state>

      <final name="deleted" />

   </state_machine>
</state_machines>

###Account workflow configuration The Account workflow is simpler than the default since it only has two steady states, active and deleted.

######config/Account/workflows.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<state_machines xmlns="urn:schemas-workflux:statemachine:0.5.0">
   <state_machine name="hbdemo_commenting_account_workflow_default">

      <initial name="active" class="Workflux\State\VariableState">
         <event name="edit">
            <transition target="edit_task" />
         </event>
         <event name="delete">
            <transition target="deleted" />
         </event>
         <option name="read_only_actions">
            <option name="resource_history">
               <option name="route">hbdemo.commenting.account.resource.history</option>
            </option>
            <option name="view_resource">
               <option name="route">hbdemo.commenting.account.resource</option>
            </option>
         </option>
      </initial>

      <state name="edit_task" class="Workflux\State\VariableState">
         <transition target="active">
            <guard class="Workflux\Guard\VariableGuard">
               <option name="expression">current_state == "active"</option>
            </guard>
         </transition>
         <option name="variables">
            <option name="task_action">
               <option name="module">HBDemo_Commenting</option>
               <option name="action">Account.Resource.Modify</option>
            </option>
         </option>
      </state>

      <final name="deleted" />

   </state_machine>
</state_machines>

###Topic workflow configuration The Topic workflow is the same structure as the default except the state names have been renamed to active, frozen and deleted which are more meaningful for this subject.

######config/Topic/workflows.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<state_machines xmlns="urn:schemas-workflux:statemachine:0.5.0">
   <state_machine name="hbdemo_commenting_topic_workflow_default">

      <initial name="active" class="Workflux\State\VariableState">
         <event name="edit">
            <transition target="edit_task" />
         </event>
         <event name="promote">
            <transition target="frozen" />
         </event>
         <event name="delete">
            <transition target="deleted" />
         </event>
         <option name="read_only_actions">
            <option name="resource_history">
               <option name="route">hbdemo.commenting.topic.resource.history</option>
            </option>
            <option name="view_resource">
               <option name="route">hbdemo.commenting.topic.resource</option>
            </option>
         </option>
      </initial>

      <state name="frozen" class="Workflux\State\VariableState">
         <event name="edit">
            <transition target="edit_task" />
         </event>
         <event name="demote">
            <transition target="active" />
         </event>
         <event name="delete">
            <transition target="deleted" />
         </event>
         <option name="read_only_actions">
            <option name="resource_history">
               <option name="route">hbdemo.commenting.owner.resource.history</option>
            </option>
            <option name="view_resource">
               <option name="route">hbdemo.commenting.owner.resource</option>
            </option>
            <option name="resource_hierarchy">
               <option name="route">hbdemo.commenting.owner.hierarchy</option>
            </option>
         </option>
      </state>

      <state name="edit_task" class="Workflux\State\VariableState">
         <transition target="active">
            <guard class="Workflux\Guard\VariableGuard">
               <option name="expression">current_state == "active"</option>
            </guard>
         </transition>
         <transition target="frozen">
            <guard class="Workflux\Guard\VariableGuard">
               <option name="expression">current_state == "frozen"</option>
            </guard>
         </transition>
         <option name="variables">
            <option name="task_action">
               <option name="module">HBDemo_Commenting</option>
               <option name="action">Topic.Resource.Modify</option>
            </option>
         </option>
      </state>

      <final name="deleted" />

   </state_machine>
</state_machines>

###Comment workflow configuration The Comment workflow is also simplified to two states, published and deleted.

######config/Comment/workflows.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<state_machines xmlns="urn:schemas-workflux:statemachine:0.5.0">
   <state_machine name="hbdemo_commenting_comment_workflow_default">

      <initial name="published" class="Workflux\State\VariableState">
         <event name="edit">
            <transition target="edit_task" />
         </event>
         <event name="delete">
            <transition target="deleted" />
         </event>
         <option name="read_only_actions">
            <option name="resource_history">
               <option name="route">hbdemo.commenting.comment.resource.history</option>
            </option>
            <option name="view_resource">
               <option name="route">hbdemo.commenting.comment.resource</option>
            </option>
         </option>
      </initial>

      <state name="edit_task" class="Workflux\State\VariableState">
         <transition target="published">
            <guard class="Workflux\Guard\VariableGuard">
               <option name="expression">current_state == "published"</option>
            </guard>
         </transition>
         <option name="variables">
            <option name="task_action">
               <option name="module">HBDemo_Commenting</option>
               <option name="action">Comment.Resource.Modify</option>
            </option>
         </option>
      </state>

      <final name="deleted" />

   </state_machine>
</state_machines>

This wiki is currently being expanded as the demo application and underlying libraries are improved. If you have questions you can find support at irc://irc.freenode.org/honeybee.

Cookbook

  1. Introduction
  2. Quick Start
  3. Features (TBC)
  4. Scaffolding
  5. Entity Configuration
  6. Workflows
  7. Resource Building
  8. Migration
  9. Data Fixtures
  10. Event Handling
  11. Processes
  12. Templating
  13. Integration (TBC)

FAQ

  1. General
  2. Entities
  3. Events
  4. Workflows
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