1Workflow(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation Workflow(3)
2
6 Workflow - Simple, flexible system to implement workflows
7
9 This documentation describes version 0.15 of Workflow
10
12 use Workflow::Factory qw( FACTORY );
13 # Defines a workflow of type 'myworkflow'
15 my $workflow_conf = 'workflow.xml';
16 # contents of 'workflow.xml'
18 <workflow>
20 <type>myworkflow</type>
21 <time_zone>local</time_zone>
22 <description>This is my workflow.</description>
23 <state name="INITIAL">
25 <action name="upload file" resulting_state="uploaded" />
26 </state>
27 <state name="uploaded" autorun="yes">
28 <action name="verify file" resulting_state="verified file">
29 <!-- everyone other than 'CWINTERS' must verify -->
30 <condition test="$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 # Defines actions available to the workflow
53 my $action_conf = 'action.xml';
54 # contents of 'action.xml'
56 <actions>
58 <action name="upload file" class="MyApp::Action::Upload">
59 <field name="path" label="File Path"
60 description="Path to file" is_required="yes" />
61 </action>
62 <action name="verify file" class="MyApp::Action::Verify">
64 <validator name="filesize_cap">
65 <arg>$file_size</arg>
66 </validator>
67 </action>
68 <action name="annotate" class="MyApp::Action::Annotate" />
70 <action name="null" class="Workflow::Action::Null" />
72 </actions>
73 # Defines conditions available to the workflow
75 my $condition_conf = 'condition.xml';
76 # contents of 'condition.xml'
78 <conditions>
80 <condition name="can_annotate"
81 class="MyApp::Condition::CanAnnotate" />
82 </conditions>
83 # Defines validators available to the actions
85 my $validator_conf = 'validator.xml';
86 # contents of 'validator.xml'
88 <validators>
90 <validator name="filesize_cap" class="MyApp::Validator::FileSizeCap">
91 <param name="max_size" value="20M" />
92 </validator>
93 </validators>
94 # 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 # 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 # Display available actions...
110 print "Available actions: ", $workflow->get_current_actions, "\n";
111 # 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 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 # Add data to the workflow context for the validators, conditions and
123 # actions to work with
124 my $context = $workflow->context;
126 $context->param( current_user => $user );
127 $context->param( sections => \@sections );
128 $context->param( path => $path_to_file );
129 # Execute one of them
131 $workflow->execute_action( 'upload file' );
132 print "New state: ", $workflow->state, "\n";
134 # 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
141 The eg/ticket/ directory contains a configured workflow system. You
142 can access the same data and logic in two ways:
143 · a command-line application (ticket.pl)
145 · a CGI script (ticket.cgi)
147 · a web application (ticket_web.pl)
149 To initialize:
151 perl ticket.pl --db
153 To run the command-line application:
155 perl ticket.pl
157 To access the database and data from CGI, add the relevant
159 configuration for your web server and call ticket.cgi:
160 http://www.mysite.com/workflow/ticket.cgi
162 To start up the standalone web server:
164 perl ticket_web.pl
166 (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 For more info, see eg/ticket/README
172
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 User Point of View
182 As a user you only see two components, plus a third which is really
183 embedded into another:
184 · 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 · 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 · 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 Developer Point of View
204 The workflow system has four basic components:
205 · workflow - 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 This is represented by the Workflow object. You normally do not
211 need to subclass this object for customization.
212 · action - 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 The base class for actions is the Workflow::Action class.
218 · condition - 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 The base class for conditions is the Workflow::Condition class.
230 · validator - 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 The base class for validators is the Workflow::Validator class.
238
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 my $wf = Workflow::$self->_factory()->create_workflow( 'Ticket' );
284 my @actions = $wf->get_current_actions;
285 We can also interrogate the workflow about what fields are necessary to
287 execute a particular action:
288 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 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 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 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 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 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 # Get the username from the Apache object
320 my $username = $r->connection->user;
321 # ...set it in the context
323 $wf->context->param( user => $username );
324 # somewhere else you'll need the username:
326 $news_object->{created_by} = $wf->context->param( 'user' );
328 Controlling What Gets Executed
330 A typical process for executing an action is:
331 · Get data from the user
333 · Fetch a workflow
335 · Set the data from the user to the workflow context
337 · Execute an action on the context
339 When you execute the action a number of checks occur. The action needs
341 to ensure:
342 · The data presented to it are valid -- date formats, etc. This is
344 done with a validator, more at Workflow::Validator
345 · The environment meets certain conditions -- user is an
347 administrator, etc. This is done with a condition, more at
348 Workflow::Condition
349 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
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 package FindSinead;
363 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 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 And then associate it with your workflow:
380 <workflow>
382 <type>SomeFlow</type>
383 <observer class="FindSinead" />
384 ...
385 Every time you create/fetch a workflow the associated observers are
387 attached to it.
388 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 · create - Issued after a workflow is first created.
394 No additional parameters.
396 · fetch - Issued after a workflow is fetched from the persister.
398 No additional parameters.
400 · save - Issued after a workflow is successfully saved.
402 No additional parameters.
404 · execute - Issued after a workflow is successfully executed and
406 saved.
407 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 · state 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 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 · add history - Issued after one or more history objects added to a
424 workflow object.
425 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 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 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 For instance, the following defines two observers:
440 <workflow>
442 <type>ObservedItem</type>
443 <description>This is...</description>
444 <observer class="SomeObserver" />
446 <observer sub="SomeOtherObserver::Functions::other_sub" />
447 In the first declaration we specify the class ('SomeObserver') that
449 will catch observations using its "update()" method. In the second
450 we're naming exactly the subroutine ('other_sub()' in the class
451 'SomeOtherObserver::Functions') that will catch observations.
452 All configured observers get all events. It's up to each observer to
454 figure out what it wants to handle.
455
457 The following documentation is for the workflow object itself rather
458 than the entire system.
459 Object Methods
461 execute_action( $action_name, $autorun )
462 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 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 sub update {
475 my ( $class, $workflow, $action, $old_state, $action_name, $autorun )
476 = @_;
477 if ( $action eq 'execute' ) { .... }
478 }
479 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 and Class::Observable for more general
483 information about observers as well as implementation details.
484 Returns: new state of workflow
486 get_current_actions( $group )
488 Returns a list of action names available from the current state for the
490 given environment. So if you keep your "context()" the same if you call
491 "execute_action()" with one of the action names you should not trigger
492 any condition error since the action has already been screened for
493 conditions. If you want to divide actions in groups (for example state
494 change group, approval group, which have to be shown at different
495 places on the page) add group property to your action
496 <action name="terminate request" group="state change"
498 class="MyApp::Action::Terminate" /> <action name="approve request"
499 group="approval" class="MyApp::Action::Approve" />
500 my @actions = $wf->get_current_actions("approval");
502 $group should be string that reperesents desired group name. In
504 @actions you will get list of action names available from the current
505 state for the given environment limited by group. $group is optional
506 parameter.
507 Returns: list of strings representing available actions
509 get_action_fields( $action_name )
511 Return a list of Workflow::Action::InputField objects for the given
513 $action_name. If $action_name not in the current state or not
514 accessible by the environment an exception is thrown.
515 Returns: list of Workflow::Action::InputField objects
517 add_history( @( \%params | $wf_history_object ) )
519 Adds any number of histories to the workflow, typically done by an
521 action in "execute_action()" or one of the observers of that action.
522 This history will not be saved until "execute_action()" is complete.
523 You can add a list of either hashrefs with history information in them
525 or full Workflow::History objects. Trying to add anything else will
526 result in an exception and none of the items being added.
527 Successfully adding the history objects results in a 'add history'
529 observation being thrown. See "WORKFLOWS ARE OBSERVABLE" above for
530 more.
531 Returns: nothing
533 get_history()
535 Returns list of history objects for this workflow. Note that some may
537 be unsaved if you call this during the "execute_action()" process.
538 get_unsaved_history()
540 Returns list of all unsaved history objects for this workflow.
542 clear_history()
544 Clears all transient history objects from the workflow object, not from
546 the long-term storage.
547 set( $property, $value )
549 Method used to overwrite Class::Accessor so only certain callers can
551 set properties caller has to be a Workflow namespace package.
552 Sets property to value or throws Workflow::Exception
554 Properties
556 Unless otherwise noted, properties are read-only.
557 Configuration Properties
559 Some properties are set in the configuration file for each workflow.
561 These remain static once the workflow is instantiated.
562 type
564 Type of workflow this is. You may have many individual workflows
566 associated with a type or you may have many different types running in
567 a single workflow engine.
568 description
570 Description (usually brief, hopefully with a URL...) of this workflow.
572 time_zone
574 Workflow uses the DateTime module to create all date objects. The
576 time_zone parameter allows you to pass a time zone value directly to
577 the DateTime new method for all cases where Workflow needs to create a
578 date object. See the DateTime module for acceptable values.
579 Dynamic Properties
581 You can get the following properties from any workflow object.
583 id
585 ID of this workflow. This will always be defined, since when the
587 Workflow::Factory creates a new workflow it first saves it to long-term
588 storage.
589 state
591 The current state of the workflow.
593 last_update (read-write)
595 Date of the workflow's last update.
597 context (read-write, see below)
599 A Workflow::Context object associated with this workflow. This should
601 never be undefined as the Workflow::Factory sets an empty context into
602 the workflow when it is instantiated.
603 If you add a context to a workflow and one already exists, the values
605 from the new workflow will overwrite values in the existing workflow.
606 This is a shallow merge, so with the following:
607 $wf->context->param( drinks => [ 'coke', 'pepsi' ] );
609 my $context = Workflow::Context->new();
610 $context->param( drinks => [ 'beer', 'wine' ] );
611 $wf->context( $context );
612 print 'Current drinks: ', join( ', ', @{ $wf->context->param( 'drinks' ) } );
613 You will see:
615 Current drinks: beer, wine
617 Internal Methods
619 init( $id, $current_state, \%workflow_config, \@wf_states )
620 THIS SHOULD ONLY BE CALLED BY THE Workflow::Factory. Do not call this
622 or the "new()" method yourself -- you will only get an exception. Your
623 only interface for creating and fetching workflows is through the
624 factory.
625 This is called by the inherited constructor and sets the $current_state
627 value to the property "state" and uses the other non-state values from
628 "\%config" to set parameters via the inherited "param()".
629 _get_action( $action_name )
631 Retrieves the action object associated with $action_name in the current
633 workflow state. This will throw an exception if:
634 · No workflow state exists with a name of the current state. (This is
636 usually some sort of configuration error and should be caught at
637 initialization time, so it should not happen.)
638 · No action $action_name exists in the current state.
640 · No action $action_name exists in the workflow universe.
642 · One of the conditions for the action in this state is not met.
644 _get_workflow_state( [ $state ] )
646 Return the Workflow::State object corresponding to $state, which
648 defaults to the current state.
649 _set_workflow_state( $wf_state )
651 Assign the Workflow::State object $wf_state to the workflow.
653 _get_next_state( $action_name )
655 Returns the name of the next state given the action $action_name.
657 Throws an exception if $action_name not contained in the current state.
658
660 The configuration of Workflow is done using the format of your choice,
661 currently XML and Perl is implemented, but additional formats can be
662 added, please refer to Workflow::Config, for implementation details.
663
665 Class::Accessor
666 Class::Factory
667 Class::Observable
668 DateTime
669 DateTime::Format::Strptime
670 Exception::Class
671 Log::Dispatch
672 Log::Log4perl
673 Safe
674 XML::Simple
675 DBI
676 Data::Dumper
677 Carp
678 File::Slurp
679 DEPENDENCIES FOR THE EXAMPLE APPLICATION
681 CGI
682 CGI::Cookie
683 DBD::SQLite
684 HTTP::Daemon
685 HTTP::Request
686 HTTP::Response
687 HTTP::Status
688 Template (Template Toolkit)
689 For Win32 systems you can get the Template Toolkit and DBD::SQLite PPDs
691 from TheoryX:
692 · <http://theoryx5.uwinnipeg.ca/cgi-bin/ppmserver?urn:/PPMServer58>
694
696 XML::Simple
697 CPAN testers reports however do demonstrate a problem with one of the
698 dependencies of Workflow, namely XML::Simple.
699 The XML::Simple makes use of Lib::XML::SAX or XML::Parser, the default.
701 In addition an XML::Parser can makes use of plugin parser and some of
703 these might not be able to parse the XML utilized in Workflow. The
704 problem have been observed with XML::SAX::RTF.
705 The following diagnostic points to the problem:
707 No _parse_* routine defined on this driver (If it is a filter, remember to
709 set the Parent property. If you call the parse() method, make sure to set a
710 Source. You may want to call parse_uri, parse_string or parse_file instead.)
711 Your XML::SAX configuration is located in the file:
713 XML/SAX/ParserDetails.ini
715 Perl 5.8.x
717 CPAN testers reports indicate an issue with observers for Perl 5.8.8
718 # Failed test 'One observation sent on workflow fetch to two observers'
720 # at t/workflow.t line 79.
721 # got: '4'
722 # expected: '2'
723 # Looks like you failed 1 test of 35.
724 t/workflow.t .......................
725 Dubious, test returned 1 (wstat 256, 0x100)
726 Failed 1/35 subtests
727 The issue is being investigated further, so this information is to be
729 regarded as a warning before you dig too much into the issue.
730 See also:
732 <http://www.cpantesters.org/cpan/report/fc85ca1c-e46e-11e2-891c-ff8a40f4ab3d>
734
736 Known bugs and limitations can be seen in RT:
737 <http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=Workflow>
739
741 Bug reporting should be done either via Request Tracker (RT)
742 <http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=Workflow>
744 Or via email
746 "bug-test-timer at rt.cpan.org"
748 A list of currently known issues can be seen via examining the RT queue
750 for Workflow.
751 <http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=Workflow>
753
755 The test suite can be run using, Module::Build
756 % ./Build test
758 Some of the tests are reserved for the developers and are only run of
760 the environment variable TEST_AUTHOR is set to true.
761
763 This is the current test coverage of Workflow version 1.32, with the
764 TEST_AUTHOR flag enabled.
765 ---------------------------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
767 File stmt bran cond sub pod time total
768 ---------------------------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
769 blib/lib/Workflow.pm 79.8 50.0 50.0 87.5 100.0 9.9 71.6
770 blib/lib/Workflow/Action.pm 90.8 66.7 n/a 88.2 100.0 4.1 89.9
771 ...flow/Action/InputField.pm 97.0 92.9 87.5 100.0 100.0 5.9 95.8
772 ...Workflow/Action/Mailer.pm 100.0 n/a n/a 100.0 100.0 0.1 100.0
773 ...b/Workflow/Action/Null.pm 100.0 n/a n/a 100.0 100.0 0.2 100.0
774 blib/lib/Workflow/Base.pm 96.6 86.4 100.0 100.0 100.0 9.6 95.0
775 ...lib/Workflow/Condition.pm 100.0 n/a n/a 100.0 100.0 0.8 100.0
776 ...low/Condition/Evaluate.pm 59.0 16.7 33.3 87.5 100.0 0.9 53.0
777 ...flow/Condition/HasUser.pm 57.7 0.0 0.0 71.4 100.0 0.1 51.2
778 blib/lib/Workflow/Config.pm 96.2 81.2 33.3 100.0 100.0 6.1 92.2
779 ...b/Workflow/Config/Perl.pm 96.8 75.0 66.7 100.0 100.0 4.1 91.0
780 ...ib/Workflow/Config/XML.pm 92.3 50.0 60.0 100.0 100.0 4.9 81.4
781 blib/lib/Workflow/Context.pm 100.0 n/a n/a 100.0 100.0 0.4 100.0
782 ...lib/Workflow/Exception.pm 89.2 50.0 n/a 91.7 100.0 3.1 89.5
783 blib/lib/Workflow/Factory.pm 86.3 61.2 37.5 92.3 100.0 19.6 75.4
784 blib/lib/Workflow/History.pm 100.0 87.5 n/a 100.0 100.0 1.8 98.1
785 ...lib/Workflow/Persister.pm 90.5 75.0 57.1 88.9 100.0 1.9 87.5
786 ...Workflow/Persister/DBI.pm 75.3 51.2 25.0 83.3 100.0 7.4 67.5
787 ...er/DBI/AutoGeneratedId.pm 77.8 40.0 n/a 100.0 100.0 0.4 70.1
788 ...ersister/DBI/ExtraData.pm 25.9 0.0 0.0 71.4 100.0 0.1 22.9
789 ...rsister/DBI/SequenceId.pm 56.2 0.0 0.0 75.0 100.0 0.3 53.1
790 ...orkflow/Persister/File.pm 94.4 48.0 33.3 100.0 100.0 2.1 83.1
791 ...low/Persister/RandomId.pm 100.0 n/a 100.0 100.0 100.0 1.8 100.0
792 ...rkflow/Persister/SPOPS.pm 89.6 50.0 n/a 100.0 100.0 0.3 85.0
793 ...orkflow/Persister/UUID.pm 100.0 n/a n/a 100.0 100.0 0.2 100.0
794 blib/lib/Workflow/State.pm 74.4 44.2 25.0 91.7 100.0 11.0 64.3
795 ...lib/Workflow/Validator.pm 100.0 100.0 n/a 100.0 100.0 1.1 100.0
796 ...dator/HasRequiredField.pm 90.0 50.0 n/a 100.0 100.0 0.6 86.7
797 ...dator/InEnumeratedType.pm 100.0 100.0 n/a 100.0 100.0 0.4 100.0
798 ...ator/MatchesDateFormat.pm 93.3 70.0 66.7 100.0 100.0 0.8 88.2
799 Total 83.9 54.7 39.7 93.0 100.0 100.0 76.8
800 ---------------------------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
801 Activities to get improved coverage are ongoing.
803
805 The Workflow project utilizes Perl::Critic in an attempt to avoid
806 common pitfalls and programming mistakes.
807 The static analysis performed by Perl::Critic is integrated into the
809 "TEST" tool chain and is performed either by running the test suite.
810 % ./Build test
812 Or by running the test file containing the Perl::Critic tests
814 explicitly.
815 % ./Build test --verbose 1 --test_files t/04_critic.t
817 Or
819 % perl t/critic.t
821 The test does however require that the TEST_AUTHOR flag is set since
823 this is regarded as a part of the developer tool chain and we do not
824 want to disturb users and CPAN testers with this.
825 The following policies are disabled
827 · Perl::Critic::Policy::ValuesAndExpressions::ProhibitMagicNumbers
829 · Perl::Critic::Policy::Subroutines::ProhibitExplicitReturnUndef
831 · Perl::Critic::Policy::NamingConventions::ProhibitAmbiguousNames
833 · Perl::Critic::Policy::ValuesAndExpressions::ProhibitConstantPragma
835 The complete policy configuration can be found in t/perlcriticrc.
837 Currently a large number other policies are disabled, but these are
839 being addressed as ongoing work and they will either be listed here or
840 changes will be applied, which will address the Workflow code's
841 problematic areas from Perl::Critic perspective.
842
844 Currently the code is formatted using Perl::Tidy. The resource file can
845 be downloaded from the central repository.
846 notes/perltidyrc
848
850 The Workflow project is currently hosted with SourceForge.net and is
851 listed on Ohloh.
852 SF.net: <http://perl-workflow.sf.net>
854 Ohloh: <https://www.ohloh.net/p/perl-Workflow>
855 REPOSITORY
857 The code is kept under revision control using Subversion:
858 <https://perl-workflow.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/perl-workflow>
860 MAILING LIST
862 The Workflow project has a mailing list for discussion of issues and
863 development. The list is low-traffic.
864 <http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=177533> (including archive)
866 RSS FEEDS
868 Commit log
869 <http://rss.gmane.org/messages/excerpts/gmane.comp.lang.perl.modules.workflow.scm>
870 Ohloh news <https://www.ohloh.net/p/perl-Workflow/messages.rss>
871 CPAN testers reports <http://cpantesters.perl.org/show/Workflow.rss> in
872 matrix:
873 OTHER RESOURCES
875 · AnnoCPAN: Annotated CPAN documentation
876 <http://annocpan.org/dist/Workflow>
878 · CPAN Ratings
880 <http://cpanratings.perl.org/d/Workflow>
882 · Search CPAN
884 <http://search.cpan.org/dist/Workflow>
886
888 · November 2010 talk 'Workflow' given at Nordic Perl Workshop 2010 in
889 Reykjavik, Iceland by jonasbn
890 <http://www.slideshare.net/jonasbn/workflow-npw2010>
891 · August 2010 talk 'Workflow' given at YAPC::Europe 2010 in Pisa,
893 Italy by jonasbn
894 <http://www.slideshare.net/jonasbn/workflow-yapceu2010>
895 · October 2004 talk 'Workflows in Perl' given to pgh.pm by Chris
897 Winters: <http://www.cwinters.com/pdf/workflow_pgh_pm.pdf>
898
900 Copyright (c) 2003 Chris Winters and Arvato Direct; Copyright (c)
901 2004-2017 Chris Winters. All rights reserved.
902 This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
904 under the same terms as Perl itself.
905
907 Jonas B. Nielsen (jonasbn) <jonasbn@cpan.org>, current maintainer.
908 Chris Winters <chris@cwinters.com>, original author.
910 The following folks have also helped out (listed here in no particular
912 order):
913 Bug report from Petr Pisar resulted in release 1.48
915 Bug report from Tina Mueller (tinita) resulted in release 1.47
917 Patch from Oliver Welter resulting in release 1.46
919 Bug report from Slaven ReziX resulting in maintenance release 1.45
921 Feature and bug fix by dtikhonov resulting in 1.40 (first pull request
923 on Github)
924 Sergio Alves, patch to timezone handling for workflow history
926 deserialized using DBI persister resulting in 1.38
927 Heiko Schlittermann for context serialization patch resulting in 1.36
929 Scott Harding, for lazy evaluation of conditions and for nested
931 conditions, see Changes file: 1.35
932 Oliver Welter, patch implementing custom workflows, see Changes file:
934 1.35 and patch related to this in 1.37 and factory subclassing also in
935 1.35. Improvements in logging for condition validation in 1.43 and 1.44
936 Steven van der Vegt, patch for autorun in initial state and improved
938 exception handling for validators, see Changes file: 1.34_1
939 Andrew O'Brien, patch implementing dynamic reloaded of flows, see
941 Changes file: 1.33
942 Sergei Vyshenski, bug reports - addressed and included in 1.33, Sergei
944 also maintains the FreeBSD port
945 Alejandro Imass, improvements and clarifications, see Changes file:
947 1.33
948 Danny Sadinoff, patches to give better control of initial state and
950 history records for workflow, see Changes file: 1.33
951 Thomas Erskine, for patch adding new accessors and fixing several bugs
953 see Changes file 1.33
954 Ivan Paponov, for patch implementing action groups, see Changes file,
956 1.33
957 Robert Stockdale, for patch implementing dynamic names for conditions,
959 see Changes file, 1.32
960 Jim Brandt, for patch to Workflow::Config::XML. See Changes file, 0.27
962 and 0.30
963 Alexander Klink, for: patches resulting in 0.23, 0.24, 0.25, 0.26 and
965 0.27
966 Michael Bell, for patch resulting in 0.22
968 Martin Bartosch, for bug reporting and giving the solution not even
970 using a patch (0.19 to 0.20) and a patch resulting in 0.21
971 Randal Schwartz, for testing 0.18 and swiftly giving feedback (0.18 to
973 0.19)
974 Chris Brown, for a patch to Workflow::Config::Perl (0.17 to 0.18)
976 Dietmar Hanisch <Dietmar.Hanisch@Bertelsmann.de> - Provided most of the
978 good ideas for the module and an excellent example of everyday use.
979 Tom Moertel <tmoertel@cpan.org> gave me the idea for being able to
981 attach event listeners (observers) to the process.
982 Michael Roberts <michael@vivtek.com> graciously released the 'Workflow'
984 namespace on CPAN; check out his Workflow toolkit at
985 <http://www.vivtek.com/wftk.html>.
986 Michael Schwern <schwern@pobox.org> barked via RT about a dependency
988 problem and CPAN naming issue.
989 Jim Smith <jgsmith@tamu.edu> - Contributed patches (being able to
991 subclass Workflow::Factory) and good ideas.
992 Martin Winkler <mw@arsnavigandi.de> - Pointed out a bug and a few other
994 items.
995perl v5.32.0 2020-07-28 Workflow(3)