Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Importing process definitions
Sometimes, we already have a process definition outside of the KIE Workbench that we
want to modify. One example is all of the
.bpmn2
files that come with the source code of
this topic; another example would be if someone e-mails us a process definition that they
are working on. The Web Process Designer has a feature to allow importing these files and
creating a visual representation. In the toolbar, there's the
Import Definition
menu that we
can use if we want to import an existing process definition. The supported languages are
BPMN 2.0 and JSON. The latter is the internal representation used by the Web Process
Designer to maintain the definition of the process while we edit. There is a third option,
Migrate jPDL 3.2 to BPMN2
, that is used to migrate jBPM Process Definition Language
(the proprietary language jBPM used until version 4 of the product) to BPMN2 files.
When we select one of the options in this menu, a pop-up window will open that lets us
browse for the file containing the definition we want to import. We can also paste the defin-
ition of the process directly into the text area of the window. The editor will prompt you on
whether you want to overwrite your existing process. If you choose to do so, the diagram
will be overwritten. If you choose not to do so, the imported process will be pasted on top
of your already-existing process definition.
Regardless of how we choose to import a definition, the process definition will be dis-
played in the editing canvas. If an error occurs in the importing process, a generic error
message will be displayed in the designer.
