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.
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:
-
Open the root client-side human service that you want to work with, and switch to
Overview.
-
In the Usage section, ensure that Nested service
is clear.
-
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.
|
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 , 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.
-
- 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:
- The combined Date and Time format is
<date>T<time>, for example
2007-04-05T14:30Z or 2007-04-05T12:30-02:00.
-
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.
- 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. |