An event is something that happens during the course of a process. Events include the
start and end of an activity, and any other intermediate happenings (such as a change of
state or receipt of a message) which will affect its sequence or timing.
In BPMN Executable, various different types of start, intermediate and end events can be
created depending on the context, and their type is indicated by their symbols.
PowerDesigner supports all the types of events defined in BPMN 2.0:
- None - Untyped events, which indicate start points, state changes, and final
states.
- Message - Receiving and sending messages.
- Timer - Cyclic timer events, points in time, time spans, or timeouts.
- Escalation - Escalating to a higher level of responsibility.
- Conditional - Reacting to changed business conditions or integrating business
rules.
- Link - Off-page connectors. Two corresponding link events equal a sequence
flow.
- Error - Catching or throwing named errors.
- Cancel - Reacting to canceled transactions or triggering cancellation.
- Compensation - Handling or triggering compensation.
- Signal - Signaling across different processes. A signal thrown can be caught
multiple times.
- Multiple - Catching one out of a set of events. Throwing all events
defined.
- Parallel multiple - Catching all out of a set of parallel events.
- Terminate - Triggering the immediate termination of a process.
You can create events in the contexts shown above in the following ways:
- Start events - can be created directly in the diagram, in a pool or lane, in a standard or
transaction sub-process (standard starts only), or in an event-based
sub-process. Use the Start
Event tool in the bottom toolbar. To change the type, click
the Properties tool in its context toolbar and select
the appropriate type.
Note Start events are not permitted
in ad hoc sub-processes.
Note To make an event-based sub-process
start event non-interrupting (with the dashed outer circle), deselect the
Interrupting property.
- Intermediate catch events - can be created directly in the diagram, in a pool or lane, or in
any type of sub-process. Use the
Intermediate Catch Event tool in the context
toolbar or the bottom toolbar to create the event. To change the type,
click the Properties tool in its context toolbar and
select the appropriate type.
- Intermediate boundary events - can be created on the edge of a task or of any type of
sub-process. Use the
Intermediate Catch Event tool in the context
toolbar or the bottom toolbar, and click on the border of the task or
sub-process. To change the type, click the Properties
tool in its context toolbar and select the appropriate type.
Note To make
an intermediate boundary event non-interrupting (with the dashed outer
circles), deselect the Interrupting
property.
- Intermediate throw events - can be created directly in the diagram, in a pool or lane, or in
any type of sub-process. Use the
Intermediate Catch Event tool in the context
toolbar or the bottom toolbar, select the Properties
tool from its context toolbar, select Intermediate Throw
Event to change to the throw type, and then select the
Properties tool again and select the appropriate
type of throw event.
- End events - can be created directly in the diagram, in a pool or lane or in any type of
sub-process. Use the End
Event tool in the context toolbar or the bottom toolbar. To
change the type, click the Properties tool in its
context toolbar and select the appropriate type.
Note End
events are not permitted in ad hoc sub-processes. Cancel end events are only
permitted in transactions.
Executable events can have the following properties:
Property |
Description |
Name/Code/Comment
|
Identify the object.
The name should clearly convey the object's purpose to
non-technical users, while the code, which is used for
generating code or scripts, may be abbreviated, and should not
normally include spaces. You can optionally
add a comment to provide more detailed information about the
object. By default the code is generated from the name by
applying the naming conventions specified in the model options.
To decouple name-code synchronization, click to release the =
button to the right of the Code
field.
|
Interrupting |
While most events interrupt the process modeled, event
sub-process starts and intermediate boundary events can be
specified as non-interrupting by deselecting this property.
Non-interrupting events are marked by dashed outer circles.
|
Message |
[message events] Specifies the message that is associated with the event (see Messages (BPMN Executable)).
|