This content is dedicated to our next version. It is work in progress: its content will evolve until the new version is released.

Before that time, it cannot be considered as official.

Resources management

This page defines the term "Resources" and explains what a user can see and do about resources in the Bonita Administrator Application.

Administrators can view a list of the resources filtered by type, install new resources, update existing resources, or delete resources.

Here is a view of the page: Administrator Resources

Resource definition

A resource is deployed in the Bonita Runtime to be used by the Living Application:

  • it can be a page, a layout, a theme that is directly linked to an application

  • a REST API extension that will be used by a page or the layout

  • a form that will be used by several processes, so it is better to store it at platform level than within the process .bar file.

A resource is packaged as a .zip archive that contains a page.properties file, a resources directory and an index file.

  • The page.properties file contains the metadata for the page.

For example:

#The name must start with 'custompage_'
name=custompage_layout
displayName=Application layout page
description=This is a layout page dedicated to new born living applications. It is created and editable using the UI designer. It allows to display an horizontal menu, and an iframe. The menu allows to target some pages and the iframe define the area to display those targeted pages.
resources=[GET|living/application,GET|living/application-page,GET|living/application-menu]
contentType=layout

  • The resources directory contains all the public files of your resource (for example index.md, images, Javascript files, CSS files).

  • Except for REST API extensions, the zip archive must contain at least one of the following files:

    • An index.html file in the resources directory

    • An Index.groovy class at the root of the archive with, optionally, libraries

    • A resources/theme.css file for applications themes

If a resource contains both Index.groovy and index.html, the Groovy class takes precedence.

To insert line breaks in a page.properties file, end the line that precedes the line break with a \.
For example:

apiExtensions=example1RestAPI, example2RestAPI, example3RestAPI, example4RestAPI, \
example5RestAPI, example6RestAPI, example7RestAPI, example8RestAPI, \
example9RestAPI, example10RestAPI

For more information on advanced properties file (line break, natural lines, logical lines…​) please refer to the official documentation

Permissions for resources

If your resource needs to perform requests to Bonita REST API, you need to specify the REST API authorizations that a user needs to have in order to access those API. These permissions are defined in the page.properties file. If your resource is a page written in Groovy and uses the Bonita Engine Java APIs, you do not need to specify permissions. For each REST resource accessed in other resources, specify the authorization needed for each method used. You can find examples of the default resources in resources-permissions-mapping.properties.

When a user is given access to a page/layout because they are in a profile that contains it or that is mapped to an application that contains the page/layout, then this user is granted, upon login, the permissions associated to these REST resources (see REST API authorizations for more details).

The following example shows the permissions defined for a page that enables a user to view but not update organization information:

#The name must start with 'custompage_'
name=custompage_orgViewer
displayName=Organization viewer
description=Organization viewer page. You cannot modify the organization from this page.
resources=[GET|identity/user, GET|identity/personalcontactdata, GET|identity/professionalcontactdata, GET|identity/role, GET|identity/group, GET|identity/membership, GET|customuserinfo/user, GET|customuserinfo/definition, GET|customuserinfo/value]
contentType=page

Add a resource

To add a resource into the Bonita Applications, import a .zip archive that contains the resource definition.
To do so:

  1. Go to Resources. You will see the list of all resources, and a filter for each type of resource ("Page", "Form", "Layout", "Theme" and "REST API extension").

  2. Click on Install.

  3. Add a file through the file upload.

  4. Click on Install inside the modal window.

The resource is installed.

If you have specified a resource permission that is not defined in the REST API authorization configuration and REST API authorization is configured to be on, you will see an error message.

After a resource is installed, it can be used in an application.

As the deployment of resources automatically creates the appropriate resource permissions mapping, be careful not to push a configuration that does not contain the latest permissions updates. This would overwrite the deployed configuration. To avoid doing so, pull the latest configuration, edit the needed elements and push it back to Bonita Runtime in a pretty short amount of time.

Export a resource

You can export a resource from the Bonita Administrator Application. The page is exported as a .zip archive. To do so:

  1. Go to Resources tab. You will see the list of all resources. Filter the list if you cannot find your resource.

  2. Click on Export icon to the right of the resource you want to export.

The .zip archive is exported.

Update a resource

To edit a resource in the Bonita Administrator Application, upload a .zip archive containing the new version.
To do so:

  1. Go to Resources tab. You will see the list of all resources. Filter the list if you cannot find your resource.

  2. Select the resource you want to update.

  3. Click on the Edit icon.

  4. Add a file through the file upload. The resource should have the same name in the page.properties as the one that you want to update.

  5. Click on Update.

The resource is updated.

Delete a Resource

To delete a resource:

  1. Go to Resources. You will see the list of all resources, and a filter for each type of resource ("Page", "Form", "Layout", "Theme" and "REST API extension").

  2. Check the checkboxes of the pages you want to delete.

  3. Click on Delete.

The selected resources are deleted.

Note: Either all the selected resources are deleted, or no resources are deleted. If you have selected a page, a layout or a theme that are used in an application or a custom profile, you will see an error message listing these resources and the User Interfaces where they are used. In this case, none of the pages you selected is deleted.