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Bonita REST API glossary

List of Bonita REST API definitions and descriptions.

Definition

Definition: in Bonita Studio you create definition of processes. A definition of a process includes name, version, definition of actors name…​
A process definition includes definition of tasks.
The definition of tasks includes connectors, contract inputs declaration (for user task)…​

Instance : when you start a process (using Portal or API) what actually happen is a creation of a new process instance based on the selected process definition.
Starting a process instance will actually start a new instance of the start event and usually start a new instance of the first task.

if a process loops on a task, multiple instances of a same task definition will be created.

Case: A case is a process instance.

ProcessInstance (REST: case)

  • id: id of the process instance

  • callerId (not in REST): id of the call activity use to create this process instance. null/0 if process instance was not created using a call activity.

  • processDefinitionId: the id of process definition use to create this process instance.

  • rootProcessInstanceId (rootCaseId for REST): the id of the top parent process instance. Parents exist for event sub-processes and when instance was created using a call activity. If there is no parent it is his own id.

  • endDate: the date on which the process instance is marked as completed.

the completed state is a transitionnary state. Right after a process instance is completed, it is archived.

FlowNodeInstance (REST: flowNode)

Use to represent an instance of a none start event, user task, call activity, multi instance activity (the container instance and also included instances), gateways…​

  • id: id of the FlowNodeInstance

  • displayDescription: dynamically generated human readable flow node description. Only apply to UserTaskInstance, empty in REST API and null in Engine API otherwise.

  • displayName: same as for displayDescription but for the name. Only apply to UserTaskInstance, empty in REST API and null in Engine API otherwise.

  • executedBy: the id (long) of the user who performed this flow node. If performed by a substitute id is set to 0 and the performer id is stored in executedBySubstitute.

  • executedBySubstitute: the id (long) of the user who performed this flow node in case where a substitute did it. If flow node was not performed by a substitute the value is set to 0 and the performer is stored in executedBy. It applies only to flow nodes that are user tasks

  • flownodeDefinitionId (not in REST): the id of the flow node definition who lead to this flow node instance creation. In the case of a multi-activity task instance, each instance points to the original flow node multi instance definition.

  • parentContainerId (parentCaseId for REST):

    • Id is not always an id of a process instance:

      • For UserTask or ManualTaskInstance (i.e. subtask in portal), AutomaticTaskInstance (BPMN service task), BoundaryEventInstance, CallActivityInstance: id of the process instance that include directly the instance of the element. Behavior is the same in case of a process instance created by a call activity: id returned is the id of the child process that includes the flow node.

      • For a flow node that is created by a mutli-instantiated task definition: parent flow node instance id.

      • For BoundaryEventInstance: id of the parent of the attached task instance

      • For tasks in event sub process: event sub process id

  • parentProcessInstanceId (parentCaseId for REST):

    • Always returns the immediate containing process instance ID. Don’t escalate to parent process.

    • For event sub-process: id of the process instance that initiate the sub-process event.

  • processDefinitionId (processId for REST): Returns the ID of the process definition where this FlowNodeInstance is defined

  • rootContainerId (rootCaseId for REST): Always return the top (root) process instance id. Compare to parentContainerId escalate to the root process instance when called on a FlowNodeInstance that is part of a process instance created by a call activity execution.

  • parentTaskId for REST: Only apply to sub task (task dynamically added by user at runtime). Represent the id of the task from which the subtask was created.

For a complete description of the different elements, check out the following pages: