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Procedure documentation Creating Blocks  Locate the document in its SAP Library structure

Use

You can create blocks using the GP design time API. The interface allows you to manipulate with block types and structure.

Prerequisites

You have instantiated the IGPDesigntimeUpdateManager. For more information, see Instantiating the Design Time Manager.

Procedure

...

       1.      Create a block by providing its basic data:

Note

You need to specify a category for the newly-created block. For this purpose, you can create a new category or provide the Id of an existing one.

Example

Creating a Block

import java.util.Locale;

import com.sap.caf.eu.gp.context.api.IGPUserContext;

import com.sap.caf.eu.gp.process.api.IGPCategory;

import com.sap.caf.eu.gp.process.api.IGPModifiableBlock;

import com.sap.caf.eu.gp.process.api.GPProcessFactory;

import com.sap.caf.eu.gp.process.dt.api.IGPDesigntimeManager;

import com.sap.caf.eu.gp.process.dt.api.IGPDesigntimeUpdateManager;

import com.sap.caf.eu.gp.process.api.GPBlockType;

 

// instantiate the design time manager to get the root category

IGPDesigntimeManager dtManager = GPProcessFactory.getDesigntimeManager();

IGPCategory root = dtManager.getRootCategory(userContext);

 

// create a new category “test” in the root category

IGPCategory cat = manager.createCategory("test", "A test category", root);

 

// create a block in the cat category

String bName = "Block";

String bDescription = "A test block";

IGPModifiableBlock b = manager.createBlock(

         GPBlockType.BLOCK_TYPE_SEQUENTIAL,

         Locale.getDefault(),

         bName,

         bDescription,

         cat.getID()

);

The example above implements a sequential block type. Currently, the GP API supports the following block types:

¡        BLOCK_TYPE_SEQUENTIAL

¡        BLOCK_TYPE_PARALLEL

For more information on block types, see Creating Blocks in Modeling and Configuring Workflows.

       2.      Add content to the block.

The block content is represented by a block structure (IGPModifiableBlockStructure). It is an indexed sequence of items (IGPModifiableBlockStructureItem), which hold object references to activities within the block.

Note

Block structure items also hold information about parameter mappings, transitions between activities, exception handling and role information.

The GP design time API provides the following functionalities for block structure manipulation:

¡        Adding an item to the structure

Example

We define a block b with three actions: a_0, a_1, a_2.

import com.sap.caf.eu.gp.process.api.IGPModifiableAction;

 

IGPModifiableBlock b = null;

 

try {

   // create the block and the actions

   ...

   // add the actions to the structure

   b.getModifiableStructure().addItem(a_0);

   b.getModifiableStructure().addItem(a_1);

   b.getModifiableStructure().addItem(a_2);

 

   // save the block object

   manager.save(b);

   } finally {

       if (b != null) {

          // release the block object

          manager.release(b);

       }

   }

For more information on how to implement actions, see Creating Actions.

¡        Inserting an item into a specific position in the structure

Example

Suppose you have already created and saved block b, and for some reason you decide that you need to execute another activity before action a_1, a block named b_0 for example. You insert the block into the structure on position 2. Thus, action a_1 is shifted to position 3.

  

b.getModifiableStructure().insertItem(2, b_0);

 

 

¡        Replacing an item in the structure

Example

To replace the item on position 3 (in our case, a_1) with b_0, write: 

   

b.getModifiableStructure().setItem(3, b_0);

 

 

¡        Exchanging two items in the structure

Example

To swap items on positions 3 and 4 (in our case, b_0 and a_2), write: 

   

b.getModifiableStructure().swap(3, 4);

 

 

¡        Deleting an item from the structure

Example

To delete the item on position 1 (a_0), write:

   

b.getModifiableStructure().removeItem(1);

 

 

       3.      Make sure you save and release the block after you have created and modified it.

  

manager.save(b);

manager.release(b);

 

 

Result

Once you have assigned actions to the block, you can also:

●      Map local, input and output parameters

See Implementing Parameter Mapping.

●      Set targets for the result states of the callable objects

See Defining Transitions.

●      Implement exception handlers

See Implementing Exception Handling. 

For more information about block editing, see Editing GP Development Objects.

 

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