- Introduction to Data Spaces
- Step 1 - Create a New Process Model
- Step 2 - Create a New Data Space
- Step 3 - Select Data Space
- Step 4 - Create a Data Object
- Step 5 - Create a Process Data Item
- Step 6 - Add Process Data Item to Auto-Form
- Step 7 - Assign Task Performer, Deploy and Execute
- Step 8 - Complete Registration Form
- Step 9 - Query Data Space
The first method is to use Script Task Integration to write the process data to one or more SQL databases that are hosted and maintained by your organization. This is covered in a later tutorial lesson.
The second method is to use the built-in Data Spaces feature in Billfish BPM. A Data Space is a container for process data which is stored in the Billfish BPM repository. It is used for the permanent storage of process data. Data Spaces are independent of any process model. They are intended to be shared by multiple business processes. The use of Data Spaces makes development easier because each process model does not have to redefine its data storage structures and integration code is not duplicated among process models.
Open the "New Process" dialog and create a new process. Set the "Process Name" to "Lesson 4" and set the "Process Description" to "Data Space Lesson". Click the appropriate check-boxes in the dialog in order to create a single user task with both start and end events. Then rename the task "Registration" so that the diagram looks like this:
Pull down the "Server" menu and select the "Data Space Administration" sub-menu. Then select the "Create Data Space" menu item:
When the "Create Data Space" dialog appears, type "Events" for the form name and click "OK".
Now, select the new data space for the current process model:
Pull down the "Server" menu and select the "Data Space Administration" sub-menu. Then select the "Data Objects" menu item:
When the "Data Objects" dialog appears, click the "Add" button to create a new data object:
When the "Add Data Object" dialog appears, enter values for the "Label", "Name" and "Description" fields as shown below, then click the "Add" button to begin adding object attributes:
When the "Add Attribute" dialog appears, enter values as shown below. Remember to click OFF the "Allow Null" check-box. Then click the "OK" button to add the attribute to the data object.
Now, click the "Add" button in the "Add Data Object" dialog to add the following ten attributes:
| Label | Name | Data Type | Allow Null? |
| First Name | FirstName | String | No |
| Last Name | LastName | String | No |
| Date Of Birth | DateOfBirth | DateTime | No |
| Address | Address | String | No |
| City | City | String | No |
| State | State | String | No |
| ZipCode | ZipCode | String | No |
| Phone | Phone | String | No |
| EmergencyContact | Emergency Contact | String | No |
| EmergencyPhone | Emergency Phone | String | No |
The "Add Data Object" dialog should now look like this:
Now, click the "Add" button to add a new attribute. Provide the "Label", "Name", "Data Type" and "Allow Null" values as shown below. Then click the "..." button to add list values:
When the "List Values" dialog appears, enter the "Option Label" and "Option Value" fields as shown below and then click the "Add" button to add the new list value.
Now add the "Female" list value option so that the "List Values" dialog looks like this and then click the "OK" button:
Now, click the "OK" button on the "Add Attribute" dialog to create the new "Gender" attribute:
Now, click the "OK" button on the "Add Data Object" dialog to create the data object in the data space.
Finally, click the "Done" button in the "Data Objects" dialog to finish with this step.
Now that you have created a data space, linked it to the current process and then created a data object named "Race" in the new data space, the next step is to create a process data item in the "Lesson4" process based on the "Race" object. To do this, click on the "Data" tab to display the "Data Panel". Then click the "Add" button to create a new process data item:
Now, click on the "Diagram" tab to display the diagram. Then double-click on the "Registration" task to display the "Task" editor dialog. Go to the "Auto-Form" tab and add the "Race" data item. Click the "OK" button to finish.
Now, the only thing that needs to be done to make this an executable process is to assign a performer for the task.
Just as you did in Step 2 (*) of Lesson 1, assign the "ProcessStarter" performer to the "Registration" task.
Now, just as you did in Step 3, Step 4, Step 5 and Step 6 of Lesson 1, login to the BPM Server, deploy the new process, login to the BPM Portal and execute the new process.
(*) = Lesson 1 links will open in a separate browser window.
Now, click on the "Assigned Tasks" tab of the "Task" window. Then double-click on the "Registration" task to display the form task. Complete the form by providing test data and click "OK" to finish the task and complete the process.
Now, click on the "Query" button in the BPM Portal toolbar:
When the "Query" window is displayed, select the "Events" data space and the "Race" object. Then click the "Search" button:
When the query results are displayed, double-click on the line of data to view detail.
Now you can see the data detail that has been stored in the data space:
