工作流引擎Osworkflow及其持久化机制的研究

OSWorkflow is a open-source workflow engine developed by OpensymPhony. OSWorkflow is based on the FSM theory, it describe the transition of work by migration of states. Every state is composed of step ID and status, a state move to another state through the action to trigger. During the workflow life cycle, one or more activities of the performance of the state can describe Data transmission and status of operation of current work. OSWorkflow defines the process definition in an XML file called workflow descriptor, and we can manage the business process by these XML files. However, OSWorkflow is a low level workflow implementation for developers and architects; it is not a quick’plug-and-play’solution for non-technical end users, we must to code to extend the persistence mechanism. The mechanism of OSWorkflow and the solution to extend the persistence interface is mainly studied in this paper combined with the author’s practical work experience. In this paper, the main theory of OSWorkflow is introduced firstly, and the important concepts is studied, and then the database structures and internal interfaces which related with persistence are analyzed emphatically. At last, a solution for implement persistence mechanism by ibatis is given.