Need guidance on how to implement a task notification

, , , ,
1

Hi MwS experts!

I’m not really that much familiar with creating MwS solutions, but I’m quite interested in simply using the Task Notification that’s available in Designer. The general idea here is to integrate it with an IS service we have developed in FLOW.

Basically our current solution works like:

  1. Action items (objects that have a requestor, an owner, a status and a request) are created from our FE solution. The Requestor can basically ask someone (owner) to do something;
  2. Email are sent out accordingly as the Action item status change;
  3. I want to implement the Task Notification when the Action Item is done (marked by the owner, where he states the solution for the Requestor’s problem / request);
  4. After it has been done, an automatic email message is sent out to the Requestor for him or her to accept / reject it (through email action links);
  5. Afterwards, the Owner would get this notification.

I thought this would be simpler, but I still have a few questions:

  1. Pretty basic question: Can I only do this with a Business Process? Do I have to create one from Scratch for every time an Action Item is created? Or can I still use my Flow services in the IS?

  2. To link the Flow service (“Set Action Item Done” => when requestor marks the action item as done with the proper solution) with the Task, I need to use the TaskEngine API, correct? If so, I’m guessing calling the “queueTask” service and explicitly define the Task Type ID should be enough (along with any business data needed);

  3. Will this task then be triggered automatically? If so, I’m expecting then, for the Task Notification (attached to this task) to run and notify the requestor with 2 Task Action Links: “Reject” / “Accept”. Since I don’t think this would be that simple, my guess would be having to create a task portlet view (similar to the “Start”) for the Owner to create a new task with the proposed solution. After this task has been created, it would notify the Requestor.

  4. On the Task Notification, the links can only mark a task as accepted / unaccepted. Which means, after this was done, I would still need to go back to my BE solution (Flow services), use the task engine, look for this specific task ID and check its state, so that I could move along with the Action Item Flow? Is this doable?

This is my “theoretical” idea which I haven’t implemented yet. Even though I have gone through the documentation, I still have many questions on the best approach to implement this.

Any feedback would be great!
Thanks,
Rui Gomes

2

I think I don’t fully understand what you are trying to accomplish, but I’d say if you want to introduce tasks just because of notifications, don’t do it. Notifications are just mails. You can just as well send them from a flow service. With tasks, you’ll get another component (MWS) which will make development, deployment and operating more complicated.

2 Likes
3

Hi,

Using task notifications you are able to do all those actions you listed but note:

  • you need an installation with a Task Engine and an MyWebMethods Server and their licenses
  • writing a email task notification requires knowledge of the Task interface and design, Java Expression Language, CAF API and some JavaScript
  • tasks run independently of your flow and most of the interactions with it are done with webservices (although, if you prefer, you can write simple interfacing webservices which can send messages or call your own API).-
  • tasks and MWS assets are deployed just like IS packages

Or the positive side:

  • you can arrange users in groups (managed by you or through a central AD/LDAP);
  • you can assign different groups and roles to managers and normal users;
  • users and managers can manage, distribute and delegate tasks (you can configure managers and user to have different permissions so that only managers can distribute tasks);
  • send/resending emails can be done automatically by the task engine;
  • an IS service can create a task using the TaskClient API quite easily.

Best regards,

2 Likes