Flux Blogs

It's neat to see users push the envelope of our software. Flux evaluators often test performance and scalability of Flux to determine if it will satisfy their needs. We've watched the needs of users evolve and have changed the functionality of Flux to meet their needs.

Flux BPM was introduced in Flux 6.5 to allow people to play a part in business processes that are managed via Flux. This feature met the needs of many users and still does today. We see a lot of potential with this functionality and have made plans to help it grow and be more useful to our customers.

We field a lot of new feature and improvement requests for Flux BPM and cannot possibly allocate resources to implement all of the wonderful requests we get. So, we have decided to rewrite Flux BPM in a more usable way. The new Flux BPM will not be integrated into Flux itself, but rather will be supplied as an example that can be customized to meet your needs.

I've been working on this new BPM example (I'm calling it Flux4People) off and on the past week or so. I've taken this opportunity to illustrate how to write a Flux-based application. This example will act as a blueprint to illustrate to new Flux developers how to integrate Flux into their application. Maven, Hibernate, JPA, JAAS, and JSP are some of the major technologies I'm using. I originally implemented the services as JAX-RS RESTful web services using Jersey (https://jersey.dev.java.net/) but then migrated to a simple JSP solution for performance and simplicity.

The Flux4People example will illustrate how to embed the Web-based Workflow Designer, integrate with Flux security, and how to implement custom triggers. I'm putting the final touches on the implementation before handing the Flux4People example over to the graphics team to beautify. Keep an eye on my blog to be notified when the example is ready.

How will the Flux4People example work? It's quite simple actually and works much like Flux BPM. Basically, I've implemented a custom Flux trigger that adds a task to the database. I've also implemented services to list tasks by owner and to work tasks. These services can be invoked by the web application to display a task dashboard to the user and allow the user to work through tasks.

I'll be posting the full example in the next week or so. Let me know if you have any questions or comments in the meantime!

A maintenance release for Flux 7.7 is now available and includes one improvement and several bug fixes.

Flux 7.7.3 downloads are available here:
my.fluxcorp.com (for Flux customers)

The latest version of Flux is available from:
www.fluxcorp.com/download (for Flux evaluators)

The following maintenance changes were made in this Flux maintenance release, version 7.7.3.

Improvements:

1. Added support for loading resources using the listener class loader of a flow chart.

+*Bug Fixes**: An invalid SQL query caused an error to occur when listing repository elements. Fixed.An error could occur when attempting to export a flow chart over an existing flow chart. Fixed.An exception was thrown when using a Process Action in a sub flow chart with an agent pool defined. Fixed.A ClassCastException occurred when exporting a flow chart containing a file criteria pair to the repository or engine. Fixed.The Web-based Designer was unable to load flow charts saved in earlier versions of Flux that contained file triggers or actions. Fixed.Flow charts loaded from the repository were being cached in the Operations Console when using Internet Explorer. Fixed.Regular expression excludes were not working properly when using a UNC file host. Fixed.A NullPointerException occurred when accessing the security page of the Operations Console on an engine configured to use external security. Fixed.A NullPointerException occurred when attempting to access the Web-based Workflow Designer when the Operations Console was connected to a secure engine configured to use external security. Fixed.When one of the execution flows of a split action completed, the entire flow chart was deleted before all other flows finished. Fixed.

A maintenance release for Flux 7.7 is now available and includes two improvements and several bug fixes.

Flux 7.7.2 downloads are available here:
my.fluxcorp.com (for Flux customers)

The latest version of Flux is available from:
www.fluxcorp.com/download (for Flux evaluators)

The following maintenance changes were made in this Flux maintenance release, version 7.7.2.

Improvements:

1. Added support for designing flow charts that utilize signals in the
   Web-based Designer.
2. Flow charts names are now case-sensitive in order to reduce database
   deadlocks. WARNING: This could have a negative impact on your application.
   Please test and make appropriate changes.

Bug Fixes:

1. Database deadlocks could occur when running a heavy load in a clustered
   scenario using DB2, MySQL, or SQL Server 2005 databases. Fixed.
2. The variable editor would not display correctly after loading a flow chart
   from the repository. Fixed.
3. A ClassCastException could occur when using a File Exist Trigger after
   upgrading from previous releases. Fixed.
4. When using the database exception action, verification of the JDBC, or JNDI,
   action properties failed. Fixed.
5. An EngineException occurred when running the software developer's security
   example. Fixed.
6. An error was displayed when right clicking on a file action in the Web-based
   Designer. Fixed.
7. A ClassCastException occurred when editing action variables in the Web-based
   Designer. Fixed.
8. Process Action properties were not displayed in the Web-based Designer.
   Fixed.
9. A blank page with the word "error" was displayed when attempting to edit a
   users permissions. Fixed.
10. A ClassCastException occurred when exporting a flow chart that contained a
    For Each Delimited File Action. Fixed.

Flux has used the HSQL in-memory database since Flux's launch in 2000. It's a nice and easy way to get programming with simple Flux examples in literally five minutes after downloading and installing Flux.

However, as I've talked about before, HSQL has its limitations.

The Derby database is now supported by the forthcoming Flux 8.0. It's a simple, embeddable, well supported database (Apache, Sun) that stores jobs and workflows persistently without using an enterprise class database such as Oracle, DB2, or MySQL.

From a Flux perspective, the only problem with Derby is that it doesn't support an in-memory mode, which can make things fast and simple. Fast, because an in-memory database doesn't hit the disk. Simple, because a fresh in-memory database is created each time a Flux engine is created.

Now enter H2. H2 is the popular successor to HSQL. It overcomes the glaring limitations in HSQL, supports an in-memory mode, and is still fast!

Yesterday I integrated H2 into Flux 8.0. It was easy.

I just ran a simple speed test of loading and firing a simple Java Action job. H2 took about 4.5 seconds. Derby took between 6.5 and 7.5 seconds.

All in all, H2 provides (a) simplicity over Derby since a fresh database is created whenever a Flux engine is created and (b) speed over Derby.

Of course, Derby is still very handy since it provides a robust persistence option. Since Derby is supported by both Apache and Sun, I have more confidence in it for data persistence than H2's persistence mode, which Flux won't be using.

H2 is now the default database in Flux 8.0. Derby is available as an option. Both H2 and Derby will ship embedded with Flux 8.0 so you'll never even have to include their jar files on your class path. Just include flux.jar.

A maintenance release for Flux 7.6 is now available and includes one improvement and several bug fixes.

Flux 7.6.3 downloads are available here:
my.fluxcorp.com (for Flux customers)

The latest version of Flux is available from:
www.fluxcorp.com/download (for Flux evaluators)

The following maintenance changes were made in this Flux maintenance release, version 7.6.3.

Improvements:

1. Flow charts names are now case-sensitive in order to reduce database
deadlocks. WARNING: This could have a negative impact on your
application. Please test and make appropriate changes.

Bug Fixes:

1. The Flux engine could become blocked and cease processing jobs under heavy load. Fixed.

2. The "filenames" and "url_objects" properties of file action result
objects were cleared before the next action's execution when retrieving
the result object from a file action that contained multiple outgoing
flows. Fixed.

3. An SQLException occurred when scanning the audit trail with an engine configured to use a DB2 database. Fixed.

4. An EngineExcpetion would occur when using the Flux Command Line
Interface's "dispose" argument from the "client" command when the
configured database's driver, of the given properties file, was not
located on the class path. Fixed.

5. The DesignerConfiguration.setPassword() function was not documented in the JSDoc documentation. Fixed.

6. Controls for pausing, stopping, resuming, etc. were not available
for engines in the engines page in the Operations Console on initial
load. Fixed.

7. Confirming a Business Process Trigger on a stopped engine would result in a NullPointerException. Fixed.

8. All engines running in the same JVM logged to the same log file. Fixed.

9. An XML error was displayed to the engine console when using an unsupported XML parser. Fixed.

10. Icons indicating the state of engines in the engines page of the Operations Console were sometimes incorrect. Fixed.

11. A JavaScript error could occur when clicking on a flow chart in the
flow charts page of the Operations Console when using a secure engine.
Fixed.

12. Using a Simple File Target on a File Move or File Copy Action would not work properly. Fixed.

13. JavaScript exceptions occurred when embedding the Web-based Designer as a JavaScript widget. Fixed.

14. The source files were only moved to the first target criteria when
using multiple Simple File Target Criteria with a File Move Action.
Fixed.

15. A NullPointerException could occur when removing a running sub flow chart. Fixed.

16. An error was displayed when right clicking on a file action in the Web-based Designer. Fixed.

17. A ClassCastException occurred when editing action variables in the Web-based Designer. Fixed.

18. Process Action properties were not displayed in the Web-based Designer. Fixed.

Recent Flux Customer: Dexia

Recent Flux Customer: EMC Documentum