Return to previous assignee?

Flowable Engine
1

Hello everyone!

I am a bit stuck on I think is a simple problem. I currently have this flow:

Screenshot from 2017-09-05 19-58-20

The scenario is this:

Suppose the task is already for Manager’s handling and he rejected it (hence the boundary event error), I want it to automatically return to previous assignee (that could be anyone from the Team Lead group).

I was able to return it to the Team Lead process, but I don’t know how to automatically assign to previous assignee.

Thank you everyone.

Below is my XML file for your reference:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>


<process id="employee_return_workflow" name="Employee with Return Workflow" isExecutable="true">
	<startEvent id="startevent1" name="Start" flowable:initiator="employeeUsername"></startEvent>
	<sequenceFlow id="flow1" sourceRef="startevent1"
		targetRef="submitRequestTask"></sequenceFlow>
	<userTask id="submitRequestTask" name="Submit" flowable:assignee="${employeeUsername}"></userTask>
	<sequenceFlow id="flow2" sourceRef="submitRequestTask"
		targetRef="tlReviewSubProcess"></sequenceFlow>

	<subProcess id="tlReviewSubProcess" name="Team Lead Review Sub Process">
		<startEvent id="startevent2" name="Start" flowable:initiator="reviewer"></startEvent>
		<sequenceFlow id="flow3" sourceRef="startevent2"
			targetRef="tlReviewTask"></sequenceFlow>
		<userTask id="tlReviewTask" name="Team Lead Review" flowable:candidateGroups="team_lead">
			<documentation>Team Lead Review</documentation>
			<extensionElements>
				<flowable:taskListener event="create" expression="${requestService.teamLeadReview(execution, task)}"></flowable:taskListener>
			</extensionElements>
		</userTask>

		<sequenceFlow id="flow4" sourceRef="tlReviewTask"
			targetRef="exclusivegateway1"></sequenceFlow>
		<exclusiveGateway id="exclusivegateway1" name="Exclusive Gateway"></exclusiveGateway>

		<sequenceFlow id="flow5" sourceRef="exclusivegateway1"
			targetRef="endevent1">
			<extensionElements>
				
			</extensionElements>
			<conditionExpression xsi:type="tFormalExpression"><![CDATA[${isApproved}]]></conditionExpression>				
		</sequenceFlow>
		<endEvent id="endevent1" name="End"></endEvent>

		<sequenceFlow id="flow6" sourceRef="exclusivegateway1"
			targetRef="errorendevent1">
			<extensionElements>
				<flowable:executionListener event="end" expression="${requestService.logReject(execution)}"></flowable:executionListener>
			</extensionElements>	
			<conditionExpression xsi:type="tFormalExpression"><![CDATA[${!isApproved}]]></conditionExpression>
		</sequenceFlow>
		<endEvent id="errorendevent1" name="ErrorEnd">
			<errorEventDefinition errorRef="rejected"></errorEventDefinition>
		</endEvent>
	</subProcess>

	<sequenceFlow id="flow7" sourceRef="boundaryerror1"
		targetRef="submitRequestTask"></sequenceFlow>
	<boundaryEvent id="boundaryerror1" name="Error"
		attachedToRef="tlReviewSubProcess">
		<errorEventDefinition errorRef="rejected"></errorEventDefinition>
	</boundaryEvent>

	<sequenceFlow id="flow8" sourceRef="tlReviewSubProcess"
		targetRef="managerReviewSubProcess"></sequenceFlow>

	<subProcess id="managerReviewSubProcess" name="Manager Review Sub Process">
		<startEvent id="startevent3" name="Start"></startEvent>
		<sequenceFlow id="flow9" sourceRef="startevent3"
			targetRef="managerReviewTask"></sequenceFlow>
		<userTask id="managerReviewTask" name="Manager Review" flowable:candidateGroups="manager">
			<extensionElements>
				<flowable:taskListener event="create" expression="${requestService.managerReview(execution, task)}"></flowable:taskListener>
			</extensionElements>
		</userTask>

		<sequenceFlow id="flow10" sourceRef="managerReviewTask"
			targetRef="exclusivegateway2"></sequenceFlow>
		<exclusiveGateway id="exclusivegateway2" name="Exclusive Gateway"></exclusiveGateway>

		<sequenceFlow id="flow12" sourceRef="exclusivegateway2"
			targetRef="errorendevent2">
			<extensionElements>
				<flowable:executionListener event="end" expression="${requestService.logReject(execution)}"></flowable:executionListener>
			</extensionElements>	
			<conditionExpression xsi:type="tFormalExpression"><![CDATA[${!isApproved}]]></conditionExpression>
		</sequenceFlow>
		<endEvent id="errorendevent2" name="ErrorEnd">
			<errorEventDefinition errorRef="rejected"></errorEventDefinition>
		</endEvent>

		<sequenceFlow id="flow11" sourceRef="exclusivegateway2"
			targetRef="endevent2">
			<extensionElements>
                <flowable:executionListener event="end" expression="${requestService.logApprove(execution)}"></flowable:executionListener>
            </extensionElements>
            <conditionExpression xsi:type="tFormalExpression"><![CDATA[${isApproved}]]></conditionExpression>	
		</sequenceFlow>
		<endEvent id="endevent2" name="End"></endEvent>
	</subProcess>

	<sequenceFlow id="flow13" sourceRef="boundaryerror2"
		targetRef="tlReviewSubProcess"></sequenceFlow>
	<boundaryEvent id="boundaryerror2" name="Error"
		attachedToRef="managerReviewSubProcess">
		<errorEventDefinition errorRef="rejected"></errorEventDefinition>
	</boundaryEvent>

	<sequenceFlow id="flow14" sourceRef="managerReviewSubProcess"
		targetRef="endevent3"></sequenceFlow>
	<endEvent id="endevent3" name="End"></endEvent>
</process>
2

Hi,

I see two possibilities:

  1. store previous assignee in the process instance variable and assign it back to the value from this var,
  2. parse the history and find the previous assignee there - little bit more complicated

Regards
Martin

3

Thank you Martin. I’ll give it a try.

4

I was able to do this as per Martin’s #1 suggestion. Basically I had two task listeners in my tlReviewTask:

  • On taskListener complete event, fill up the “reviewer” variable
  • On taskListener create event, assign the “reviewer” to that task if the “reviewer” variable is not empty

If there is an easier way to do this feel free to reply.

Hope it helps!