1Workflow(3)           User Contributed Perl Documentation          Workflow(3)
2
3
4

NAME

6       Workflow - Simple, flexible system to implement workflows
7

VERSION

9       This documentation describes version 1.62 of Workflow
10

SYNOPSIS

12        use Workflow::Factory qw( FACTORY );
13
14        # Defines a workflow of type 'myworkflow'
15        my $workflow_conf  = 'workflow.xml';
16
17        # contents of 'workflow.xml'
18
19        <workflow>
20            <type>myworkflow</type>
21            <time_zone>local</time_zone>
22            <description>This is my workflow.</description>
23
24            <state name="INITIAL">
25                <action name="upload file" resulting_state="uploaded" />
26            </state>
27            <state name="uploaded" autorun="yes">
28                <action name="verify file" resulting_state="verified file">
29                     <!-- everyone other than 'CWINTERS' must verify -->
30                     <condition test="$context->{user} ne 'CWINTERS'" />
31                </action>
32                <action name="null" resulting_state="annotated">
33                     <condition test="$context->{user} eq 'CWINTERS'" />
34                </action>
35            </state>
36            <state name="verified file">
37                <action name="annotate">
38                    <condition name="can_annotate" />
39                </action>
40                <action name="null">
41                    <condition name="!can_annotate" />
42                </action>
43            </state>
44            <state name="annotated" autorun="yes" may_stop="yes">
45                <action name="null" resulting_state="finished">
46                   <condition name="completed" />
47                </action>
48            </state>
49            <state name="finished" />
50        </workflow>
51
52        # Defines actions available to the workflow
53        my $action_conf    = 'action.xml';
54
55        # contents of 'action.xml'
56
57        <actions>
58            <action name="upload file" class="MyApp::Action::Upload">
59                <field name="path" label="File Path"
60                       description="Path to file" is_required="yes" />
61            </action>
62
63            <action name="verify file" class="MyApp::Action::Verify">
64                <validator name="filesize_cap">
65                    <arg>$file_size</arg>
66                </validator>
67            </action>
68
69            <action name="annotate"    class="MyApp::Action::Annotate" />
70
71            <action name="null"        class="Workflow::Action::Null" />
72        </actions>
73
74        # Defines conditions available to the workflow
75        my $condition_conf = 'condition.xml';
76
77        # contents of 'condition.xml'
78
79        <conditions>
80            <condition name="can_annotate"
81                       class="MyApp::Condition::CanAnnotate" />
82        </conditions>
83
84        # Defines validators available to the actions
85        my $validator_conf = 'validator.xml';
86
87        # contents of 'validator.xml'
88
89        <validators>
90            <validator name="filesize_cap" class="MyApp::Validator::FileSizeCap">
91                <param name="max_size" value="20M" />
92            </validator>
93        </validators>
94
95        # Stock the factory with the configurations; we can add more later if
96        # we want
97        $self->_factory()->add_config_from_file(
98            workflow   => $workflow_conf,
99            action     => $action_conf,
100            condition  => $condition_conf,
101            validator  => $validator_conf
102        );
103
104        # Instantiate a new workflow...
105        my $workflow = $self->_factory()->create_workflow( 'myworkflow' );
106        print "Workflow ", $workflow->id, " ",
107              "currently at state ", $workflow->state, "\n";
108
109        # Display available actions...
110        print "Available actions: ", $workflow->get_current_actions, "\n";
111
112        # Get the data needed for action 'upload file' (assumed to be
113        # available in the current state) and display the fieldname and
114        # description
115
116        print "Action 'upload file' requires the following fields:\n";
117        foreach my $field ( $workflow->get_action_fields( 'FOO' ) ) {
118            print $field->name, ": ", $field->description,
119                  "(Required? ", $field->is_required, ")\n";
120        }
121
122        # Add data to the workflow context for the validators, conditions and
123        # actions to work with
124
125        my $context = $workflow->context;
126        $context->param( current_user => $user );
127        $context->param( sections => \@sections );
128        $context->param( path => $path_to_file );
129
130        # Execute one of them
131        $workflow->execute_action( 'upload file' );
132
133        print "New state: ", $workflow->state, "\n";
134
135        # Later.... fetch an existing workflow
136        my $id = get_workflow_id_from_user( ... );
137        my $workflow = $self->_factory()->fetch_workflow( 'myworkflow', $id );
138        print "Current state: ", $workflow->state, "\n";
139

QUICK START

141       The eg/ticket/ directory contains a configured workflow system.  You
142       can access the same data and logic in two ways:
143
144       •   a command-line application (ticket.pl)
145
146       •   a CGI script               (ticket.cgi)
147
148       •   a web application          (ticket_web.pl)
149
150       To initialize:
151
152               perl ticket.pl --db
153
154       To run the command-line application:
155
156               perl ticket.pl
157
158       To access the database and data from CGI, add the relevant
159       configuration for your web server and call ticket.cgi:
160
161               http://www.mysite.com/workflow/ticket.cgi
162
163       To start up the standalone web server:
164
165               perl ticket_web.pl
166
167       (Barring changes to HTTP::Daemon and forking the standalone server
168       won't work on Win32; use CGI instead, although patches are always
169       welcome.)
170
171       For more info, see eg/ticket/README
172

DESCRIPTION

174   Overview
175       This is a standalone workflow system. It is designed to fit into your
176       system rather than force your system to fit to it. You can save
177       workflow information to a database or the filesystem (or a custom
178       storage). The different components of a workflow system can be included
179       separately as libraries to allow for maximum reusibility.
180
181   User Point of View
182       As a user you only see two components, plus a third which is really
183       embedded into another:
184
185       •   Workflow::Factory - The factory is your interface for creating new
186           workflows and fetching existing ones. You also feed all the
187           necessary configuration files and/or data structures to the factory
188           to initialize it.
189
190       •   Workflow - When you get the workflow object from the workflow
191           factory you can only use it in a few ways -- asking for the current
192           state, actions available for the state, data required for a
193           particular action, and most importantly, executing a particular
194           action. Executing an action is how you change from one state to
195           another.
196
197       •   Workflow::Context - This is a blackboard for data from your
198           application to the workflow system and back again. Each
199           instantiation of a Workflow has its own context, and actions
200           executed by the workflow can read data from and deposit data into
201           the context.
202
203   Developer Point of View
204       The workflow system has four basic components:
205
206workflow - The workflow is a collection of states; you define the
207           states, how to move from one state to another, and under what
208           conditions you can change states.
209
210           This is represented by the Workflow object. You normally do not
211           need to subclass this object for customization.
212
213action - The action is defined by you or in a separate library. The
214           action is triggered by moving from one state to another and has
215           access to the workflow and more importantly its context.
216
217           The base class for actions is the Workflow::Action class.
218
219condition - Within the workflow you can attach one or more
220           conditions to an action. These ensure that actions only get
221           executed when certain conditions are met. Conditions are completely
222           arbitrary: typically they will ensure the user has particular
223           access rights, but you can also specify that an action can only be
224           executed at certain times of the day, or from certain IP addresses,
225           and so forth. Each condition is created once at startup then passed
226           a context to check every time an action is checked to see if it can
227           be executed.
228
229           The base class for conditions is the Workflow::Condition class.
230
231validator - An action can specify one or more validators to ensure
232           that the data available to the action is correct. The data to check
233           can be as simple or complicated as you like. Each validator is
234           created once then passed a context and data to check every time an
235           action is executed.
236
237           The base class for validators is the Workflow::Validator class.
238

WORKFLOW BASICS

240   Just a Bunch of States
241       A workflow is just a bunch of states with rules on how to move between
242       them. These are known as transitions and are triggered by some sort of
243       event. A state is just a description of object properties. You can
244       describe a surprisingly large number of processes as a series of states
245       and actions to move between them. The application shipped with this
246       distribution uses a fairly common application to illustrate: the
247       trouble ticket.
248
249       When you create a workflow you have one action available to you: create
250       a new ticket ('create issue'). The workflow has a state 'INITIAL' when
251       it is first created, but this is just a bootstrapping exercise since
252       the workflow must always be in some state.
253
254       The workflow action 'create issue' has a property 'resulting_state',
255       which just means: if you execute me properly the workflow will be in
256       the new state 'CREATED'.
257
258       All this talk of 'states' and 'transitions' can be confusing, but just
259       match them to what happens in real life -- you move from one action to
260       another and at each step ask: what happens next?
261
262       You create a trouble ticket: what happens next? Anyone can add comments
263       to it and attach files to it while administrators can edit it and
264       developers can start working on it. Adding comments does not really
265       change what the ticket is, it just adds information. Attachments are
266       the same, as is the admin editing the ticket.
267
268       But when someone starts work on the ticket, that is a different matter.
269       When someone starts work they change the answer to: what happens next?
270       Whenever the answer to that question changes, that means the workflow
271       has changed state.
272
273   Discover Information from the Workflow
274       In addition to declaring what the resulting state will be from an
275       action the action also has a number of 'field' properties that describe
276       that data it required to properly execute it.
277
278       This is an example of discoverability. This workflow system is setup so
279       you can ask it what you can do next as well as what is required to move
280       on. So to use our ticket example we can do this, creating the workflow
281       and asking it what actions we can execute right now:
282
283        my $wf = Workflow::$self->_factory()->create_workflow( 'Ticket' );
284        my @actions = $wf->get_current_actions;
285
286       We can also interrogate the workflow about what fields are necessary to
287       execute a particular action:
288
289        print "To execute the action 'create issue' you must provide:\n\n";
290        my @fields = $wf->get_action_fields( 'create issue' );
291        foreach my $field ( @fields ) {
292            print $field->name, " (Required? ", $field->is_required, ")\n",
293                  $field->description, "\n\n";
294        }
295
296   Provide Information to the Workflow
297       To allow the workflow to run into multiple environments we must have a
298       common way to move data between your application, the workflow and the
299       code that moves it from one state to another.
300
301       Whenever the Workflow::Factory creates a new workflow it associates the
302       workflow with a Workflow::Context object. The context is what moves the
303       data from your application to the workflow and the workflow actions.
304
305       For instance, the workflow has no idea what the 'current user' is. Not
306       only is it unaware from an application standpoint but it does not
307       presume to know where to get this information. So you need to tell it,
308       and you do so through the context.
309
310       The fact that the workflow system proscribes very little means it can
311       be used in lots of different applications and interfaces. If a system
312       is too closely tied to an interface (like the web) then you have to
313       create some potentially ugly hacks to create a more convenient avenue
314       for input to your system (such as an e-mail approving a document).
315
316       The Workflow::Context object is extremely simple to use -- you ask a
317       workflow for its context and just get/set parameters on it:
318
319        # Get the username from the Apache object
320        my $username = $r->connection->user;
321
322        # ...set it in the context
323        $wf->context->param( user => $username );
324
325        # somewhere else you'll need the username:
326
327        $news_object->{created_by} = $wf->context->param( 'user' );
328
329   Controlling What Gets Executed
330       A typical process for executing an action is:
331
332       •   Get data from the user
333
334       •   Fetch a workflow
335
336       •   Set the data from the user to the workflow context
337
338       •   Execute an action on the context
339
340       When you execute the action a number of checks occur. The action needs
341       to ensure:
342
343       •   The data presented to it are valid -- date formats, etc. This is
344           done with a validator, more at Workflow::Validator
345
346       •   The environment meets certain conditions -- user is an
347           administrator, etc. This is done with a condition, more at
348           Workflow::Condition
349
350       Once the action passes these checks and successfully executes we update
351       the permanent workflow storage with the new state, as long as the
352       application has declared it.
353

WORKFLOWS ARE OBSERVABLE

355   Purpose
356       It's useful to have your workflow generate events so that other parts
357       of a system can see what's going on and react. For instance, say you
358       have a new user creation process. You want to email the records of all
359       users who have a first name of 'Sinead' because you're looking for your
360       long-lost sister named 'Sinead'. You'd create an observer class like:
361
362        package FindSinead;
363
364        sub update {
365            my ( $class, $wf, $event, $new_state ) = @_;
366            return unless ( $event eq 'state change' );
367            return unless ( $new_state eq 'CREATED' );
368            my $context = $wf->context;
369            return unless ( $context->param( 'first_name' ) eq 'Sinead' );
370
371            my $user = $context->param( 'user' );
372            my $username = $user->username;
373            my $email    = $user->email;
374            my $mailer = get_mailer( ... );
375            $mailer->send( 'foo@bar.com','Found her!',
376                           "We found Sinead under '$username' at '$email' );
377        }
378
379       And then associate it with your workflow:
380
381        <workflow>
382            <type>SomeFlow</type>
383            <observer class="FindSinead" />
384            ...
385
386       Every time you create/fetch a workflow the associated observers are
387       attached to it.
388
389   Events Generated
390       You can attach listeners to workflows and catch events at a few points
391       in the workflow lifecycle; these are the events fired:
392
393create - Issued after a workflow is first created.
394
395           No additional parameters.
396
397fetch - Issued after a workflow is fetched from the persister.
398
399           No additional parameters.
400
401save - Issued after a workflow is successfully saved.
402
403           No additional parameters.
404
405execute - Issued after a workflow is successfully executed and
406           saved.
407
408           Adds the parameters $old_state, $action_name and $autorun.
409           $old_state includes the state of the workflow before the action was
410           executed, $action_name is the action name that was executed and
411           $autorun is set to 1 if the action just executed was started using
412           autorun.
413
414state change - Issued after a workflow is successfully executed,
415           saved and results in a state change. The event will not be fired if
416           you executed an action that did not result in a state change.
417
418           Adds the parameters $old_state, $action and $autorun.  $old_state
419           includes the state of the workflow before the action was executed,
420           $action is the action name that was executed and $autorun is set to
421           1 if the action just executed was autorun.
422
423add history - Issued after one or more history objects added to a
424           workflow object.
425
426           The additional argument is an arrayref of all Workflow::History
427           objects added to the workflow. (Note that these will not be
428           persisted until the workflow is persisted.)
429
430   Configuring
431       You configure the observers directly in the 'workflow' configuration
432       item. Each 'observer' may have either a 'class' or 'sub' entry within
433       it that defines the observer's location.
434
435       We load these classes at startup time. So if you specify an observer
436       that doesn't exist you see the error when the workflow system is
437       initialized rather than the system tries to use the observer.
438
439       For instance, the following defines two observers:
440
441        <workflow>
442          <type>ObservedItem</type>
443          <description>This is...</description>
444
445          <observer class="SomeObserver" />
446          <observer sub="SomeOtherObserver::Functions::other_sub" />
447
448       In the first declaration we specify the class ('SomeObserver') that
449       will catch observations using its update() method. In the second we're
450       naming exactly the subroutine ('other_sub()' in the class
451       'SomeOtherObserver::Functions') that will catch observations.
452
453       All configured observers get all events. It's up to each observer to
454       figure out what it wants to handle.
455

WORKFLOW METHODS

457       The following documentation is for the workflow object itself rather
458       than the entire system.
459
460   Object Methods
461       execute_action( $action_name, $autorun )
462
463       Execute the action $action_name. Typically this changes the state of
464       the workflow. If $action_name is not in the current state, fails one of
465       the conditions on the action, or fails one of the validators on the
466       action an exception is thrown. $autorun is used internally and is set
467       to 1 if the action was executed using autorun.
468
469       After the action has been successfully executed and the workflow saved
470       we issue a 'execute' observation with the old state, action name and an
471       autorun flag as additional parameters.  So if you wanted to write an
472       observer you could create a method with the signature:
473
474        sub update {
475            my ( $class, $workflow, $action, $old_state, $action_name, $autorun )
476               = @_;
477            if ( $action eq 'execute' ) { .... }
478        }
479
480       We also issue a 'change state' observation if the executed action
481       resulted in a new state. See "WORKFLOWS ARE OBSERVABLE" above for how
482       we use and register observers.
483
484       Returns: new state of workflow
485
486       get_current_actions( $group )
487
488       Returns a list of action names available from the current state for the
489       given environment. So if you keep your context() the same if you call
490       execute_action() with one of the action names you should not trigger
491       any condition error since the action has already been screened for
492       conditions.  If you want to divide actions in groups (for example state
493       change group, approval group, which have to be shown at different
494       places on the page) add group property to your action
495
496         <action name="terminate request"  group="state change"  class="MyApp::Action::Terminate" />
497         <action name="approve request"  group="approval"  class="MyApp::Action::Approve" />
498
499         my @actions = $wf->get_current_actions("approval");
500
501       $group should be string that reperesents desired group name. In
502       @actions you will get list of action names available from the current
503       state for the given environment limited by group.  $group is optional
504       parameter.
505
506       Returns: list of strings representing available actions
507
508       get_action( $action_name )
509
510       Retrieves the action object associated with $action_name in the current
511       workflow state. This will throw an exception if:
512
513       •   No workflow state exists with a name of the current state. (This is
514           usually some sort of configuration error and should be caught at
515           initialization time, so it should not happen.)
516
517       •   No action $action_name exists in the current state.
518
519       •   No action $action_name exists in the workflow universe.
520
521       •   One of the conditions for the action in this state is not met.
522
523       get_action_fields( $action_name )
524
525       Return a list of Workflow::Action::InputField objects for the given
526       $action_name. If $action_name not in the current state or not
527       accessible by the environment an exception is thrown.
528
529       Returns: list of Workflow::Action::InputField objects
530
531       add_history( @( \%params | $wf_history_object ) )
532
533       Adds any number of histories to the workflow, typically done by an
534       action in execute_action() or one of the observers of that action. This
535       history will not be saved until execute_action() is complete.
536
537       You can add a list of either hashrefs with history information in them
538       or full Workflow::History objects. Trying to add anything else will
539       result in an exception and none of the items being added.
540
541       Successfully adding the history objects results in a 'add history'
542       observation being thrown. See "WORKFLOWS ARE OBSERVABLE" above for
543       more.
544
545       Returns: nothing
546
547       get_history()
548
549       Returns list of history objects for this workflow. Note that some may
550       be unsaved if you call this during the execute_action() process.
551
552       get_unsaved_history()
553
554       Returns list of all unsaved history objects for this workflow.
555
556       clear_history()
557
558       Clears all transient history objects from the workflow object, not from
559       the long-term storage.
560
561       set( $property, $value )
562
563       Method used to overwrite Class::Accessor so only certain callers can
564       set properties caller has to be a Workflow namespace package.
565
566       Sets property to value or throws Workflow::Exception
567
568   Properties
569       Unless otherwise noted, properties are read-only.
570
571       Configuration Properties
572
573       Some properties are set in the configuration file for each workflow.
574       These remain static once the workflow is instantiated.
575
576       type
577
578       Type of workflow this is. You may have many individual workflows
579       associated with a type or you may have many different types running in
580       a single workflow engine.
581
582       description
583
584       Description (usually brief, hopefully with a URL...)  of this workflow.
585
586       time_zone
587
588       Workflow uses the DateTime module to create all date objects. The
589       time_zone parameter allows you to pass a time zone value directly to
590       the DateTime new method for all cases where Workflow needs to create a
591       date object.  See the DateTime module for acceptable values.
592
593       Dynamic Properties
594
595       You can get the following properties from any workflow object.
596
597       id
598
599       ID of this workflow. This will always be defined, since when the
600       Workflow::Factory creates a new workflow it first saves it to long-term
601       storage.
602
603       state
604
605       The current state of the workflow.
606
607       last_update (read-write)
608
609       Date of the workflow's last update.
610
611       context (read-write, see below)
612
613       A Workflow::Context object associated with this workflow. This should
614       never be undefined as the Workflow::Factory sets an empty context into
615       the workflow when it is instantiated.
616
617       If you add a context to a workflow and one already exists, the values
618       from the new workflow will overwrite values in the existing workflow.
619       This is a shallow merge, so with the following:
620
621        $wf->context->param( drinks => [ 'coke', 'pepsi' ] );
622        my $context = Workflow::Context->new();
623        $context->param( drinks => [ 'beer', 'wine' ] );
624        $wf->context( $context );
625        print 'Current drinks: ', join( ', ', @{ $wf->context->param( 'drinks' ) } );
626
627       You will see:
628
629        Current drinks: beer, wine
630
631   Internal Methods
632       init( $id, $current_state, \%workflow_config, \@wf_states )
633
634       THIS SHOULD ONLY BE CALLED BY THE Workflow::Factory. Do not call this
635       or the new() method yourself -- you will only get an exception. Your
636       only interface for creating and fetching workflows is through the
637       factory.
638
639       This is called by the inherited constructor and sets the $current_state
640       value to the property "state" and uses the other non-state values from
641       "\%config" to set parameters via the inherited param().
642
643       _get_workflow_state( [ $state ] )
644
645       Return the Workflow::State object corresponding to $state, which
646       defaults to the current state.
647
648       _set_workflow_state( $wf_state )
649
650       Assign the Workflow::State object $wf_state to the workflow.
651
652       _get_next_state( $action_name )
653
654       Returns the name of the next state given the action $action_name.
655       Throws an exception if $action_name not contained in the current state.
656
657       add_observer( @observers )
658
659       Adds one or more observers to a "Workflow" instance. An observer is a
660       function. See "notify_observers" for its calling convention.
661
662       This function is used internally by "Workflow::Factory" to implement
663       observability as documented in the section "WORKFLOWS ARE OBSERVABLE"
664
665       notify_observers( @arguments )
666
667       Calls all observer functions registered through "add_observer" with the
668       workflow as the first argument and @arguments as the remaining
669       arguments:
670
671          $observer->( $wf, @arguments );
672
673       Used by various parts of the library to notify observers of workflow
674       instance related events.
675

CONFIGURATION AND ENVIRONMENT

677       The configuration of Workflow is done using the format of your choice,
678       currently XML and Perl is implemented, but additional formats can be
679       added, please refer to Workflow::Config, for implementation details.
680

DEPENDENCIES

682       Class::Accessor
683       Class::Factory
684       DateTime
685       DateTime::Format::Strptime
686       Exception::Class
687       Log::Log4perl
688       Safe
689       XML::Simple
690       DBI
691       Data::Dumper
692       Carp
693       File::Slurp
694       Data::UUID
695
696   DEPENDENCIES FOR THE EXAMPLE APPLICATION
697       CGI
698       CGI::Cookie
699       DBD::SQLite
700       HTTP::Daemon
701       HTTP::Request
702       HTTP::Response
703       HTTP::Status
704       Template (Template Toolkit)
705
706       For Win32 systems you can get the Template Toolkit and DBD::SQLite PPDs
707       from TheoryX:
708
709       •   <http://theoryx5.uwinnipeg.ca/cgi-bin/ppmserver?urn:/PPMServer58>
710

INCOMPATIBILITIES

712   XML::Simple
713       CPAN testers reports however do demonstrate a problem with one of the
714       dependencies of Workflow, namely XML::Simple.
715
716       The XML::Simple makes use of Lib::XML::SAX or XML::Parser, the default.
717
718       In addition an XML::Parser can makes use of plugin parser and some of
719       these might not be able to parse the XML utilized in Workflow. The
720       problem have been observed with XML::SAX::RTF.
721
722       The following diagnostic points to the problem:
723
724               No _parse_* routine defined on this driver (If it is a filter, remember to
725               set the Parent property. If you call the parse() method, make sure to set a
726               Source. You may want to call parse_uri, parse_string or parse_file instead.)
727
728       Your XML::SAX configuration is located in the file:
729
730               XML/SAX/ParserDetails.ini
731

BUGS AND LIMITATIONS

733       Known bugs and limitations can be seen in the Github issue tracker:
734
735       <https://github.com/jonasbn/perl-workflow/issues>
736

BUG REPORTING

738       Bug reporting should be done either via Github issues
739
740       <https://github.com/jonasbn/perl-workflow/issues>
741
742       A list of currently known issues can be seen via the same URL.
743

TEST

745       The test suite can be run using, Module::Build
746
747               % ./Build test
748
749       Some of the tests are reserved for the developers and are only run of
750       the environment variable "TEST_AUTHOR" is set to true.
751

TEST COVERAGE

753       This is the current test coverage of Workflow version 1.58, with the
754       "TEST_AUTHOR" flag enabled
755
756           TEST_AUTHOR=1 dzil cover
757
758           ---------------------------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
759           File                           stmt   bran   cond    sub    pod   time  total
760           ---------------------------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
761           blib/lib/Workflow.pm           91.6   68.7   60.0   93.3  100.0    1.2   86.7
762           blib/lib/Workflow/Action.pm    93.5   60.0    n/a   94.1  100.0    4.4   91.4
763           ...b/Workflow/Action/Null.pm  100.0    n/a    n/a  100.0  100.0    2.3  100.0
764           blib/lib/Workflow/Base.pm      96.7   86.3   83.3  100.0  100.0    3.0   94.5
765           ...lib/Workflow/Condition.pm  100.0  100.0  100.0  100.0  100.0    4.4  100.0
766           .../Condition/CheckReturn.pm   71.7   35.7    n/a  100.0  100.0    0.0   67.6
767           ...low/Condition/Evaluate.pm   96.7   75.0    n/a  100.0  100.0    3.4   95.4
768           ...low/Condition/GreedyOR.pm  100.0  100.0    n/a  100.0  100.0    0.0  100.0
769           ...flow/Condition/HasUser.pm   70.0    n/a   33.3   83.3  100.0    0.0   70.0
770           ...flow/Condition/LazyAND.pm  100.0  100.0    n/a  100.0  100.0    0.0  100.0
771           ...kflow/Condition/LazyOR.pm  100.0  100.0    n/a  100.0  100.0    0.0  100.0
772           ...flow/Condition/Negated.pm  100.0    n/a    n/a  100.0  100.0    0.0  100.0
773           blib/lib/Workflow/Config.pm    96.2   81.2   33.3  100.0  100.0    3.1   92.2
774           ...b/Workflow/Config/Perl.pm   96.1   83.3   66.6   92.8  100.0    0.1   92.9
775           ...ib/Workflow/Config/XML.pm   94.1   62.5   50.0  100.0  100.0    4.6   90.2
776           blib/lib/Workflow/Context.pm  100.0    n/a    n/a  100.0  100.0    2.3  100.0
777           ...lib/Workflow/Exception.pm  100.0  100.0    n/a  100.0  100.0    0.9  100.0
778           blib/lib/Workflow/Factory.pm   87.4   79.3   61.5   84.6  100.0   30.9   84.3
779           blib/lib/Workflow/History.pm  100.0   87.5    n/a  100.0  100.0    4.3   98.2
780           ...ib/Workflow/InputField.pm   98.6   96.1   87.5  100.0  100.0    2.5   97.6
781           ...lib/Workflow/Persister.pm   98.4  100.0   71.4   94.7  100.0    2.4   96.4
782           ...Workflow/Persister/DBI.pm   86.7   72.0   35.2   90.6  100.0    7.7   83.0
783           ...er/DBI/AutoGeneratedId.pm   91.8   75.0   83.3  100.0  100.0    0.0   88.7
784           ...ersister/DBI/ExtraData.pm   29.8    0.0    0.0   60.0  100.0    0.6   29.7
785           ...rsister/DBI/SequenceId.pm  100.0    n/a   50.0  100.0  100.0    0.0   98.0
786           ...orkflow/Persister/File.pm   94.4   50.0   33.3  100.0  100.0    0.2   88.5
787           ...low/Persister/RandomId.pm  100.0    n/a  100.0  100.0  100.0    2.3  100.0
788           ...orkflow/Persister/UUID.pm  100.0    n/a    n/a  100.0  100.0    2.2  100.0
789           blib/lib/Workflow/State.pm     88.1   62.5   16.6   96.3  100.0    4.9   81.7
790           ...lib/Workflow/Validator.pm  100.0   83.3    n/a  100.0  100.0    2.4   97.5
791           ...dator/HasRequiredField.pm   90.9   50.0    n/a  100.0  100.0    2.3   87.8
792           ...dator/InEnumeratedType.pm  100.0  100.0    n/a  100.0  100.0    2.3  100.0
793           ...ator/MatchesDateFormat.pm  100.0  100.0  100.0  100.0  100.0    4.0  100.0
794           Total                          90.7   73.6   57.6   94.9  100.0  100.0   87.8
795           ---------------------------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
796
797       Activities to get improved coverage are ongoing.
798

QUALITY ASSURANCE

800       The Workflow project utilizes Perl::Critic in an attempt to avoid
801       common pitfalls and programming mistakes.
802
803       The static analysis performed by Perl::Critic is integrated into the
804       "TEST" tool chain and is performed either by running the test suite.
805
806               % ./Build test
807
808       Or by running the test file containing the Perl::Critic tests
809       explicitly.
810
811               % ./Build test --verbose 1 --test_files t/04_critic.t
812
813       Or
814
815               % perl t/critic.t
816
817       The test does however require that the TEST_AUTHOR flag is set since
818       this is regarded as a part of the developer tool chain and we do not
819       want to disturb users and CPAN testers with this.
820
821       The following policies are disabled
822
823       •   Perl::Critic::Policy::ValuesAndExpressions::ProhibitMagicNumbers
824
825       •   Perl::Critic::Policy::Subroutines::ProhibitExplicitReturnUndef
826
827       •   Perl::Critic::Policy::NamingConventions::ProhibitAmbiguousNames
828
829       •   Perl::Critic::Policy::ValuesAndExpressions::ProhibitConstantPragma
830
831       The complete policy configuration can be found in t/perlcriticrc.
832
833       Currently a large number other policies are disabled, but these are
834       being addressed as ongoing work and they will either be listed here or
835       changes will be applied, which will address the Workflow code's
836       problematic areas from Perl::Critic perspective.
837

CODING STYLE

839       Currently the code is formatted using Perl::Tidy. The resource file can
840       be downloaded from the central repository.
841
842               notes/perltidyrc
843

PROJECT

845       The Workflow project is currently hosted on GitHub
846
847       GitHub: <https://github.com/jonasbn/perl-workflow>
848
849   REPOSITORY
850       The code is kept under revision control using Git:
851
852       <https://github.com/jonasbn/perl-workflow/tree/master/>
853
854   OTHER RESOURCES
855       •   CPAN Ratings
856
857           <http://cpanratings.perl.org/d/Workflow>
858
859       •   MetaCPAN
860
861           <https://metacpan.org/release/Workflow>
862

SEE ALSO

864       •   November 2010 talk 'Workflow' given at Nordic Perl Workshop 2010 in
865           Reykjavik, Iceland by jonasbn
866           <http://www.slideshare.net/jonasbn/workflow-npw2010>
867
868       •   August 2010 talk 'Workflow' given at YAPC::Europe 2010 in Pisa,
869           Italy by jonasbn
870           <http://www.slideshare.net/jonasbn/workflow-yapceu2010>
871
873       Copyright (c) 2003 Chris Winters and Arvato Direct; Copyright (c)
874       2004-2023 Chris Winters. All rights reserved.
875
876       This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
877       under the same terms as Perl itself.
878

AUTHORS

880       Jonas B. (jonasbn) <jonasbn@cpan.org>, current maintainer.
881
882       Chris Winters <chris@cwinters.com>, original author.
883
884       The following folks have also helped out (listed here in no particular
885       order):
886
887       Thanks for to Michiel W. Beijen for fix to badly formatted URL,
888       included in release 1.52
889
890       Several PRs (13 to be exact) from Erik Huelsmann resulting in release
891       1.49. Yet another batch of PRs resulted in release 1.50
892
893       PR from Mohammad S Anwar correcting some POD errors, included in
894       release 1.49
895
896       Bug report from Petr Pisar resulted in release 1.48
897
898       Bug report from Tina Müller (tinita) resulted in release 1.47
899
900       Bug report from Slaven Rezić resulting in maintenance release 1.45
901
902       Feature and bug fix by dtikhonov resulting in 1.40 (first pull request
903       on Github)
904
905       Sérgio Alves, patch to timezone handling for workflow history
906       deserialized using DBI persister resulting in 1.38
907
908       Heiko Schlittermann for context serialization patch resulting in 1.36
909
910       Scott Harding, for lazy evaluation of conditions and for nested
911       conditions, see Changes file: 1.35
912
913       Oliver Welter, patch implementing custom workflows, see Changes file:
914       1.35 and patch related to this in 1.37 and factory subclassing also in
915       1.35. Improvements in logging for condition validation in 1.43 and 1.44
916       and again a patch resulting in release 1.46
917
918       Steven van der Vegt, patch for autorun in initial state and improved
919       exception handling for validators, see Changes file: 1.34_1
920
921       Andrew O'Brien, patch implementing dynamic reloaded of flows, see
922       Changes file: 1.33
923
924       Sergei Vyshenski, bug reports - addressed and included in 1.33, Sergei
925       also maintains the FreeBSD port
926
927       Alejandro Imass, improvements and clarifications, see Changes file:
928       1.33
929
930       Danny Sadinoff, patches to give better control of initial state and
931       history records for workflow, see Changes file: 1.33
932
933       Thomas Erskine, for patch adding new accessors and fixing several bugs
934       see Changes file 1.33
935
936       Ivan Paponov, for patch implementing action groups, see Changes file,
937       1.33
938
939       Robert Stockdale, for patch implementing dynamic names for conditions,
940       see Changes file, 1.32
941
942       Jim Brandt, for patch to Workflow::Config::XML. See Changes file, 0.27
943       and 0.30
944
945       Alexander Klink, for: patches resulting in 0.23, 0.24, 0.25, 0.26 and
946       0.27
947
948       Michael Bell, for patch resulting in 0.22
949
950       Martin Bartosch, for bug reporting and giving the solution not even
951       using a patch (0.19 to 0.20) and a patch resulting in 0.21
952
953       Randal Schwartz, for testing 0.18 and swiftly giving feedback (0.18 to
954       0.19)
955
956       Chris Brown, for a patch to Workflow::Config::Perl (0.17 to 0.18)
957
958       Dietmar Hanisch <Dietmar.Hanisch@Bertelsmann.de> - Provided most of the
959       good ideas for the module and an excellent example of everyday use.
960
961       Tom Moertel <tmoertel@cpan.org> gave me the idea for being able to
962       attach event listeners (observers) to the process.
963
964       Michael Roberts <michael@vivtek.com> graciously released the 'Workflow'
965       namespace on CPAN; check out his Workflow toolkit at
966       <http://www.vivtek.com/wftk.html>.
967
968       Michael Schwern <schwern@pobox.org> barked via RT about a dependency
969       problem and CPAN naming issue.
970
971       Jim Smith <jgsmith@tamu.edu> - Contributed patches (being able to
972       subclass Workflow::Factory) and good ideas.
973
974       Martin Winkler <mw@arsnavigandi.de> - Pointed out a bug and a few other
975       items.
976
977
978
979perl v5.38.0                      2023-07-21                       Workflow(3)
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