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BP Server Developer's Guide
Working with Monitoring process : External event operations : Process instance creation : Process instance creation for non-monitoring external process
 
Process instance creation for non-monitoring external process
In general all processes are of non-monitoring type. Only when the process needs to be controlled by an external system then it can be made monitoring. The life-cycle of monitoring worksteps in a process can be controlled by users in an external system using events. An external process can create an instance of a non-monitoring process by sending events. Once an instance of a non-monitoring process is created, thereafter, it is controlled by OpenEdge API or Business Process Portal.
Note: For non-monitoring external processes, you must complete the following events using Business Process Portal or BP Server APIs:
*ACTIVATE_WORKSTEP
*COMPLETE_WORKSTEP
*UPDATE_DATASLOT
The elements (properties and message body) of the event to be sent as part of JMS message is listed in the following Table 28. Both JMS MapMessage and ObjectMessage are supported and the steps to create the message are similar to those to create a CREATE_INSTANCE event for a monitoring process.
Note: The following fields are not considered when creating non-monitoring external process:
*Start time: For a non-monitoring process, the process instance start time of event is not considered, even if it is passed. Only the time when the instance is getting created on OpenEdge is considered.
*Additional data in event: Any additional data (other than the event elements provided in the table) provided as part of the event is ignored. For example, External Instance Id is not required, because once the instance is created, other events cannot trigger operations on this instance.

JMS message properties

The following Table 28 explains the JMS message properties.
Table 28. JMS MapMessage properties - non-monitoring process
Event element
Property name
Data type
Mandatory
Comment
Process Name
PROCESS_NAME
CHARACTER
Yes
The process template name of the Business Process Server process.
Operation Type
OPERATION_TYPE
CHARACTER
Yes
The operation to be performed in Business Process Server. Possible value: CREATE_INSTANCE
Instance Alias
INSTANCE_ALIAS
CHARACTER
No
The alias or prefix of the created instance name. If not provided, then process template name is the alias.
Email id
NOTIFY_EMAILS
CHARACTER
No
The comma separated e-mail addresses to which notification is to be sent about invalid messages.

JMS message body

The following Table 29 explains the JMS message body.
Table 29. JMS ObjectMessage body - non-monitoring process
Event element
Property name
Data type
Mandatory
Comment
Sender
SENDER
CHARACTER
Yes
The external system information from where the event is generated.
Category
CATEGORY
CHARACTER
No
This can be used by senders to group events based on functional domains. For example, Finance, CRM.
Priority
PRIORITY
CHARACTER
No
This is the priority of the instance to be created. Possible values: CRITICAL, HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW. The default is MEDIUM.
Performer
PERFORMER
CHARACTER
No
Considered as the instance creator. If not provided, then the BP Server bootstrap user specified during Business Process Server installation is used.
Note: If the performer specified is an invalid BP Server user, then no BP Server user can see this instance in their MyInstance tab.
Create Time
CREATE_TIME
INT64
Yes
This is the current time in the external system when the event was generated.
The value should be specified in milliseconds.
Context
CONTEXT
HashMap object
No
The external system can add any extra data to the context. To send such data, prepare a HashMap<String,String>, where key and value are of type java.lang.String.
Dataslot
DATASLOT
HashMap object
No
The dataslot to be updated in the process flow. The key is the dataslot name and value is the dataslot value. For more information about passing a dataslot as part of event, refer to Dataslot update.