Services API

The Java API is the most common way of interacting with the engine. The central starting point is the ProcessEngine, which can be created in several ways as described in the configuration section. From the ProcessEngine, you can obtain the various services that contain the workflow/BPM methods. ProcessEngine and the services objects are thread safe. So you can keep a reference to 1 of those for a whole server.

ProcessEngine processEngine = ProcessEngines.getDefaultProcessEngine();

RepositoryService repositoryService = processEngine.getRepositoryService();
RuntimeService runtimeService = processEngine.getRuntimeService();
TaskService taskService = processEngine.getTaskService();
IdentityService identityService = processEngine.getIdentityService();
FormService formService = processEngine.getFormService();
HistoryService historyService = processEngine.getHistoryService();
ManagementService managementService = processEngine.getManagementService();
FilterService filterService = processEngine.getFilterService();
ExternalTaskService externalTaskService = processEngine.getExternalTaskService();
CaseService caseService = processEngine.getCaseService();
DecisionService decisionService = processEngine.getDecisionService();

ProcessEngines.getDefaultProcessEngine() will initialize and build a process engine the first time it is called and afterwards always returns the same process engine. Proper creation and closing of all process engines can be done with ProcessEngines.init() and ProcessEngines.destroy().

The ProcessEngines class will scan for all camunda.cfg.xml and activiti.cfg.xml files. For all camunda.cfg.xml files, the process engine will be built in the typical way:

ProcessEngineConfiguration
  .createProcessEngineConfigurationFromInputStream(inputStream)
  .buildProcessEngine()

For all activiti.cfg.xml files, the process engine will be built in the Spring way: first the Spring application context is created and then the process engine is obtained from that application context.

All services are stateless. This means that you can easily run Camunda BPM on multiple nodes in a cluster, each going to the same database, without having to worry about which machine actually executed previous calls. Any call to any service is idempotent regardless of where it is executed.

The RepositoryService is probably the first service needed when working with the Camunda engine. This service offers operations for managing and manipulating deployments and process definitions. Without going into much detail here, a process definition is the Java counterpart of a BPMN 2.0 process. It is a representation of the structure and behavior of each of the steps of a process. A deployment is the unit of packaging within the engine. A deployment can contain multiple BPMN 2.0 XML files and any other resource. The choice of what is included in one deployment is up to the developer. It can range from a single process BPMN 2.0 XML file to a whole package of processes and relevant resources (for example the deployment ‘hr-processes’ could contain everything related to hr processes). The RepositoryService allows to deploy such packages. Deploying a deployment means it is uploaded to the engine, where all processes are inspected and parsed before being stored in the database. From that point on, the deployment is known to the system and any process included in the deployment can now be started.

Furthermore, this service allows to

• Query on deployments and process definitions known to the engine.
• Suspend and activate process definitions. Suspending means no further operations can be done on them, while activation is the opposite operation.
• Retrieve various resources such as files contained within the deployment or process diagrams that were automatically generated by the engine.

While the RepositoryService is about static information (i.e., data that doesn’t change, or at least not a lot), the RuntimeService is quite the opposite. It deals with starting new process instances of process definitions. As mentioned above, a process definition defines the structure and behavior of the different steps in a process. A process instance is one execution of such a process definition. For each process definition there are typically many instances running at the same time. The RuntimeService is also the service which is used to retrieve and store process variables. This is data specific to the given process instance and can be used by various constructs in the process (e.g., an exclusive gateway often uses process variables to determine which path is chosen to continue the process). The RuntimeService also allows to query on process instances and executions. Executions are a representation of the ‘token’ concept of BPMN 2.0. Basically an execution is a pointer pointing to where the process instance currently is. Lastly, the RuntimeService is used whenever a process instance is waiting for an external trigger and the process needs to be continued. A process instance can have various wait states and this service contains various operations to ‘signal’ the instance that the external trigger is received and the process instance can be continued.

Tasks that need to be performed by actual human users of the system are core to the process engine. Everything around tasks is grouped in the TaskService, such as

• Querying tasks assigned to users or groups.
• Creating new standalone tasks. These are tasks that are not related to a process instances.
• Manipulating to which user a task is assigned or which users are in some way involved with the task.
• Claiming and completing a task. Claiming means that someone decided to be the assignee for the task, meaning that this user will complete the task. Completing means ‘doing the work of the tasks’. Typically this is filling in a form of sorts.

The IdentityService is pretty simple. It allows the management (creation, update, deletion, querying, …) of groups and users. It is important to understand that the core engine actually doesn’t do any checking on users at runtime. For example, a task could be assigned to any user, but the engine does not verify if that user is known to the system. This is because the engine can also be used in conjunction with services such as LDAP, Active Directory, etc.

The FormService is an optional service. This means that the Camunda engine can be used perfectly without it, without sacrificing any functionality. This service introduces the concept of a start form and a task form. A start form is a form that is shown to the user before the process instance is started, while a task form is the form that is displayed when a user wants to complete a form. You can define these forms in the BPMN 2.0 process definition. This service exposes this data in an easy way to work with. But again, this is optional as forms don’t need to be embedded in the process definition.

The HistoryService exposes all historical data gathered by the engine. When executing processes, a lot of data can be kept by the engine (this is configurable) such as process instance start times, who did which tasks, how long it took to complete the tasks, which path was followed in each process instance, etc. This service exposes mainly query capabilities to access this data.

The ManagementService is typically not needed when coding custom applications. It allows to retrieve information about the database tables and table metadata. Furthermore, it exposes query capabilities and management operations for jobs. Jobs are used in the engine for various things such as timers, asynchronous continuations, delayed suspension/activation, etc. Later on, these topics will be discussed in more detail.

The FilterService allows to create and manage filters. Filters are stored queries like task queries. For example filters are used by Tasklist to filter user tasks.

The ExternalTaskService provides access to external task instances. External tasks represent work items that are processed externally and independently of the process engine.

The CaseService is like the RuntimeService but for case instances. It deals with starting new case instances of case definitions and managing the lifecycle of case executions. The service is also used to retrieve and update process variables of case instances.

The DecisionService allows to evaluate decisions that are deployed to the engine. It is an alternative to evaluate a decision within a business rule task that is independent from a process definition.

Query API

To query data from the engine there are multiple possibilities:

• Java Query API: Fluent Java API to query engine entities (like ProcessInstances, Tasks, …).
• REST Query API: REST API to query engine entities (like ProcessInstances, Tasks, …).
• Native Queries: Provide own SQL queries to retrieve engine entities (like ProcessInstances, Tasks, …) if the Query API lacks the possibilities you need (e.g., OR conditions).
• Custom Queries: Use completely customized queries and an own MyBatis mapping to retrieve own value objects or join engine with domain data.
• SQL Queries: Use database SQL queries for use cases like Reporting.

The recommended way is to use one of the Query APIs.

The Java Query API allows to program completely typesafe queries with a fluent API. You can add various conditions to your queries (all of which are applied together as a logical AND) and precisely one ordering. The following code shows an example:

List<Task> tasks = taskService.createTaskQuery()
  .taskAssignee("kermit")
  .processVariableValueEquals("orderId", "0815")
  .orderByDueDate().asc()
  .list();

You can find more information on this in the Java Docs .

OR Queries

The default behavior of the query API links filter criteria together with an AND expression. OR queries enable building queries in which filter criteria are linked together with an OR expression.

After calling or(), a chain of several filter criteria could follow. Each filter criterion is linked together with an OR expression. The invocation of endOr() marks the end of the OR query. Calling these two methods is comparable to putting the filter criteria in brackets.

List<Task> tasks = taskService.createTaskQuery()
  .taskAssignee("John Munda")
  .or()
    .taskName("Approve Invoice")
    .taskPriority(5)
  .endOr()
  .list();

The query above retrieves all tasks which are assigned to “John Munda” and simultaneously either named “Approve Invoice” or given the fifth degree of priority. Internally the query would be translated to the following SQL query (slightly simplified):

SELECT DISTINCT * 
FROM   act_ru_task RES 
WHERE  RES.assignee_ = 'John Munda' 
       AND ( Upper(RES.name_) = Upper('Approve Invoice') 
             OR RES.priority_ = 5 );

Inside a query, an arbitrary amount of OR queries can be used. When building a query which consists not only of a single OR query but also of filter criteria linked together with an AND expression, the OR query is appended to the criteria chain by a leading AND expression.

A filter criterion related to variables can be applied multiple times within the same OR query:

List<Task> tasks = taskService.createTaskQuery()
  .or()
    .processVariableValueEquals("orderId", "0815")
    .processVariableValueEquals("orderId", "4711")
    .processVariableValueEquals("orderId", "4712")
  .endOr()
  .list();

Aside from variable related filter criteria, this behavior differs. Whenever a non-variable-filter-criterion is used more than once inside a query, only the value which was applied last is utilized:

List<Task> tasks = taskService.createTaskQuery()
  .or()
    .taskCandidateGroup("sales")
    .taskCandidateGroup("controlling")
  .endOr()
  .list();

REST Query API

The Java Query API is exposed as REST service as well, see the REST documentation for details.

Native Queries

Sometimes you need more powerful queries, e.g., queries using an OR operator or restrictions you can not express using the Query API. For these cases, we introduced native queries, which allow you to write your own SQL queries. The return type is defined by the Query object you use and the data is mapped into the correct objects, e.g., Task, ProcessInstance, Execution, etc. Since the query will be fired at the database you have to use table and column names as they are defined in the database. This requires some knowledge about the internal data structure and it is recommended to use native queries with care. The table names can be retrieved via the API to keep the dependency as small as possible.

List<Task> tasks = taskService.createNativeTaskQuery()
  .sql("SELECT count(*) FROM " + managementService.getTableName(Task.class) + " T WHERE T.NAME_ = #{taskName}")
  .parameter("taskName", "aOpenTask")
  .list();

long count = taskService.createNativeTaskQuery()
  .sql("SELECT count(*) FROM " + managementService.getTableName(Task.class) + " T1, "
         + managementService.getTableName(VariableInstanceEntity.class) + " V1 WHERE V1.TASK_ID_ = T1.ID_")
  .count();

Custom Queries

For performance reasons it might sometimes be desirable not to query the engine objects but some own value or DTO objects collecting data from different tables - maybe including your own domain classes.

SQL Queries

The table layout is pretty straightforward - we focused on making it easy to understand. Hence it is OK to do SQL queries for e.g., reporting use cases. Just make sure that you do not mess up the engine data by updating the tables without exactly knowing what you are doing.