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20030205 Wednesday February 05, 2003

Workflow Redux Thanks to all who commented on my request for Java-based workflow engines. I especially liked Anthony's comment, and his list of possible frameworks.

There are several open source options: Only Open Business Engine and Open For Business' workflow component currently follow any sort of standards for workflow. All of the other engines currently have their own workflow definition language.

This leads me to believe that if we are going to use a framwork, we should probably use Open Business Engine or Open for Business' workflow component - simply because I like standards. The question is - how easy are these to implement in a webapp? Any examples? I haven't researched either tool at all, just hoping someone else has. Posted in Java at Feb 05 2003, 09:49:42 AM MST 6 Comments

Comments:

I have posted a response on my weblog. In short, I believe Open Business Engine will eventually be the workflow engine for standards-based workflow management, but it is not yet at that stage.

Posted by Anthony Eden on February 05, 2003 at 02:26 PM MST #

Matt, I don't know if this will fit what you are looking for, but I came across a Struts Workflow Extension at http://www.livinglogic.de/Struts/index.html HTH, Burke

Posted by Brian Burke on February 05, 2003 at 04:05 PM MST #

...just one thought: I like standards as much as you do, but what I really would like to see is workflow software used in production - in production outside of their original context. Real projects using them. Who's using those workflow engines? Reason: I had a quick look at all of these projects and the documentation is more or less bare bones. If I'd see someone else using an engine in their project I'd at least know that someone else managed to grasp the ideas (e.g. I'm sure werkflow is great but ...hmmm...documentation?!...)

Posted by Fabian Crabus on February 05, 2003 at 04:44 PM MST #

Fabian, I agree with you 100% about providing real-world examples of a running workflow engine. While the concept of workflow and commercial workflow engines have been around for a while, open source workflow engines in the Java space are relatively new and untested. If you would like to see some documentation about workflow in general then I suggest taking a look at WfMC's site or BPMI. WfMC has been around much longer but BPMI's specification is based on current technology and thus may be easier to grok. Right now is a time for patience and learning in the workflow space. As the open source implementations become more mature it will become more obvious to how they can be used in the most appropriate fashion. Until then we are all on the bleeding edge. :-)

Posted by Anthony Eden on February 06, 2003 at 09:03 AM MST #

Posted by 2 on February 06, 2003 at 09:29 AM MST #

See these: http://www.carnot-usa.com/en/products/index.htm http://www.dralasoft.com/ http://www.intalio.com/

Posted by Jari Kekkonen on February 10, 2003 at 01:10 PM MST #

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Matt Raible is a Web Architecture Consultant specializing in open source frameworks.
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