Integrating custom web-based user interfaces in Process Portal

In Process Portal, the task completion user interface (UI) is built on client-side human services that contain views. You might prefer to use other implementation technologies, such as, Dojo, for these UIs. In these cases, implement the activities or tasks in the process as external implementations.

Before you begin

Make sure that you know the URL for your custom task completion UI. Your system administrator might have defined a default URL template for the Business Automation Workflow system. For more information, see Changing custom properties for Process Portal.

About this task

When you create your process in either Process Designer or Integration Designer, you can create external implementations for the custom web-based task completion UIs. Depending on the where the process is deployed, the URL that you use for the external implementation can be either a relative URL or a fully qualified URL.

Attention: Because task completion UIs for BPEL tasks do not support coach-based UIs, you must always create an external implementation for the corresponding task in Integration Designer.

Deployment considerations

Processes deployed on Business Automation Workflow systems: Deploy the web application for the task completion UI on the Business Automation Workflow systems, and use a fully qualified URL for this system in the external implementation. Alternatively, you can deploy the web application for the task completion UI on the Business Automation Workflow system that hosts Process Portal, and use a relative URL for this system in the external implementation.
Processes deployed in federated environments: Deploy the web application for the task completion UI on the Business Automation Workflow system that hosts Process Portal, and use a relative URL for this system in the external implementation.
Attention: For BPEL processes, the deployment environment must include an HTTP server in front of the Business Automation Workflow system that hosts the BPEL processes. For more information about the configuration, see Configuring allowed origins for Process Portal .

Procedure

For activities in business processes (BPDs).
1. Create an external implementation for each custom task completion UIs that you want to use in Process Portal.
  For more information, see Creating an external implementation. Ensure that you specify the URL for the task completion UI in the URL section.
2. Implement the activity by using the external implementation.
  See Using an external implementation to implement an activity.
For human tasks in BPEL processes:
1. Define the user interface for the task.
  For more information, see Defining user interfaces for a human task. Select External Implementation for use in Process Portal as the client type and specify a URL template.

Results

The custom task completion UI is launched from Process Portal when a user opens the task from a task list or saved search. The UI always opens in a new browser window regardless of the setting of the com.ibm.bpm.portal.openTaskInNewWindow mashups property. For more information about the mashups property, see Configuring mashups custom properties for Process Portal. For the UI to work correctly, users must allow pop-up windows in their browsers.