Defining usage settings for root client-side human services

In addition to implementing activities in a process, other people can use the root client-side human services that you create in IBM® Process Designer to create custom dashboards for IBM Process Portal or user interfaces for process instances. Or they can be used as URLs.

Before you begin

About this task

The usage settings of a root client-side human service depend on its intended purpose, and you can specify them in the Overview properties. For information about exposing heritage human services, see Exposing heritage human services.

Procedure

To define the usage settings of a root client-side human service, complete the following steps:

  1. Open the root client-side human service that you want to work with, and switch to Overview.
  2. In the Usage section, ensure that Nested service is clear.
  3. In the Use as list, specify the usage type by selecting one of the following options.
    The Use as option is disabled for nested client-side human services.
    Table 1. Usage options for root client-side human services
    Option Description
    Task (Service contained in a process) This is the default option for client-side human services that implement activities within a process. When this option is selected, Expose to start is disabled.
    Startable Service (Launched from Process Portal) Use this option to enable members of the selected team to start the root client-side human service from the Launch area in Process Portal.
    Dashboard (Available in the Process Portal Dashboards menu) Use this option to make the root client-side human service available in Process Portal to members of the selected team.

    If you do not specify a localization resource for the dashboard name, the dashboard page has the same name as the exposed service. If you defined a localization resource for your dashboard name, click Select next to Label and select the key in the resource. See Globalizing dashboard names.

    If the root client-side human service is in a toolkit, you must complete the following steps:
    1. Create a snapshot of the toolkit.
    2. Activate the toolkit snapshot. See Activating snapshots for use with IBM Process Portal
    3. Add the toolkit snapshot as a dependency to a process application. See Creating, changing, and deleting a toolkit dependency in the Designer view.
    URL (Available from a URL) Use this option to make the service available from a URL address.

    For fast access, the URL is displayed as a link that you can either click or copy and paste into your web browser. To copy the URL, right-click the link and select the option provided by your browser to copy the URL (for example, Copy Link Location in Mozilla Firefox or Copy link address in Google Chrome).

    The URL selects a default version of the client-side human service to run, depending on the environment. Retrieve the full list of client-side human service URL addresses that are available in the environment by using the REST Interface for BPD-related Resources - Exposed Items Resource REST API.

    See also Table 2 and Calling a dynamically selected service version.

    Process Instance details UI Use this option to indicate that the client-side human service cannot be exposed because it implements an instance details user interface that is used for a process instance.

    When you create the process and create the details user interface under Views > Details UI, you also create the client-side human service that implements the user interface for the specified process instance.

    When this option is displayed for a client-side human service, the Use as and Expose to start settings under Overview are disabled. The usage of this client-side human service is determined only by the settings in the Views folder of the corresponding process.

    For root client-side human services, the URL can include the following additional parameters:
    Remember: Any browser-specific URL limitations, such as the URL length and character restrictions, apply when a client-side human service is called as a URL.
    Input variables
    In the URL, input variables that are defined for the service have the following format:
    &tw.local.variableName=value
    Date/Time syntax
    The date and time format differs between client-side human services and heritage human services. The syntax for the other simple types (String, Integer, Decimal, Selection) is the same for client-side human services and heritage human services.
    Note: For information about the date and time syntax in exposed heritage human services, see Exposing heritage human services.
    For client-side human services, the date and time format is specified by a profile of the ISO-8601 standard, as defined by RFC3339.
    • The Date format is YYYY-MM-DD.
    • The Time format is [hh]:[mm]:[ss], where
      • [hh] specifies a zero-padded hour between 00 and 24 (where 24 indicates midnight at the end of a calendar day).
      • [mm] specifies a zero-padded minute between 00 and 59.
      • [ss] specifies a zero-padded second between 00 and 60 (where 60 indicates an added leap second).
      For example, the time might be displayed as 13:47:30.
    • Note the following time zone designators for Time:
      • If no UTC relation information is given with a time representation, the time, <time>, is assumed to be the local time. The <time>Z parameter refers to UTC time. For example, 14:45:15 UTC can be 14:45:15Z.
      • The following parameters are time zone offsets from UTC time:
        <time>±hh:mm
        <time>±hhmm
        <time>±hh
        For example, the following times refer to the same moment: 18:30Z, 22:30+04, 1130-0700, and 15:00-03:30.
    • The combined Date and Time format is <date>T<time>, for example 2007-04-05T14:30Z or 2007-04-05T12:30-02:00.
  4. Click Select next to Expose to start to choose the team whose members can view and use the exposed service.
    Note: The Expose to start option is not available for embedded client-side human services.
    To create a team, click New. To remove an assigned team, click the X icon next to New.
  5. Click Save or Finish Editing.

Results

The default version of the exposed service that runs depends on the environment in which the service is running. The following table describes the expected behavior when running the exposed service.
Table 2. Default version of the client-side human service per environment
Environment Default version of the client-side human service
Workflow Center server The version of the exposed service that runs is the version that is in the current working version of the default track. For testing purposes, any author in this environment can run the client-side human service as a URL regardless of the service's Usage and Expose to start settings.
Workflow Server The version of the exposed service that runs is the version that is in the default snapshot.
Process Portal When you start a client-side human service as a dashboard or a startable service, Process Portal uses the REST Interface for BPD-related Resources - Exposed Items Resource REST API to make all the active snapshots available. You can then select which snapshot version to run by clicking the icon to the left of its name.