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Oracle Workflow Administrator's Guide
Release 2.6.4
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Monitoring Workflow Processes

This chapter discusses how to monitor an instance of a workflow process.

This chapter covers the following topics:

Overview of Workflow Monitoring for Standalone Oracle Workflow

Once a workflow has been initiated for a work item, it may be necessary to check on its status to ensure that it is progressing forward, or to identify the activity currently being executed for the work item. Oracle Workflow provides a Java-based Workflow Monitor tool to access status information for an instance of a workflow process.

You can also use the standalone Oracle Workflow Manager component available through Oracle Enterprise Manager as an additional administration tool to review and manage work items. For more information, please refer to the Oracle Enterprise Manager online help. Additionally, Oracle Workflow provides a view called WF_ITEM_ACTIVITY_STATUSES_V that lets you programmatically access workflow status information. See: Oracle Workflow Views, Oracle Workflow API Reference.

Note: For information about the Status Monitor in Oracle Applications, see: Accessing the Administrator Monitor and Accessing the Self-Service Monitor, Oracle Workflow User's Guide.

  1. Workflow Monitor

  2. Workflow Monitor Access

Workflow Monitor

The Workflow Monitor in standalone Oracle Workflow is a tool that allows you to view and administer the status of a specific instance of a workflow process. You can use the point-and-click interface to display detailed status information about activities in the process as well as about the process as a whole. The Workflow Monitor can be run in 'USER' or 'ADMIN' mode, where 'ADMIN' mode provides additional details and functionality pertinent only to a workflow administrator. See: Workflow Monitor Access.

The Workflow Monitor consists of the following sections:

Workflow Monitor: View Diagram Window

the picture is described in the document text

Process Title

The process title appears in the upper left of the Workflow Monitor and displays the name of the workflow process and the name of the item type and user key that uniquely identify a running instance of that process in the process diagram window. If no user key has been set, then the item key is displayed instead. If you drill down into a subprocess in the process diagram window, the process title updates to display the subprocess name.

Click on any empty space in the process diagram window to deselect any selected activity in the process diagram window and to direct the detail tab window to display information about that process or subprocess as a whole.

Process Diagram Window

The process diagram window is a scrolling canvas that displays the diagram of the workflow process or subprocess currently listed in the process title. This diagram is identical to the diagram created in Oracle Workflow Builder. Note, however, that you cannot use the Workflow Monitor to edit this diagram.

The process diagram window provides graphical cues about the status of the process and its activities:

Detail Tab Window

The detail tab window, which appears below the process diagram, is a vertically scrollable display area that provides information about a selected process or activity.

The information appears as follows for each tab, where rows preceded by an asterisk (*) or values shown in bold parentheses ( ) appear only when the monitor is run in 'ADMIN' mode:

Definition Tab

Usage Tab

Status Tab

Notification Tab

(If the selected activity is a notification that requires a response, then instead of displaying the above information, this tab displays the message response attributes as <message_attribute> <type (Format)> <value>. If the selected activity is a polling-type notification activity, where Expand Roles is checked and a response is required, then this tab displays the message response attributes as described above for each recipient. If the selected activity is a notification activity, where Expand Roles is on, but no response is required, then the recipient shown is simply the role, rather than the individual users in the role.)

Item Tab

Administration Buttons

The administration buttons appear beneath the detail tab window only when the Workflow Monitor is run in 'ADMIN' mode. Each button allows you to perform a different administrative operation by calling the appropriate Workflow Engine API. The buttons and their behavior are as follows:

Workflow Monitor Access

You can control a user's access to the Workflow Monitor in one of two ways. You can either depend on the workflow-enabled application to control access to the Workflow Monitor or provide direct access to the Find Processes Web page.

Application-controlled Access to the Workflow Monitor

Identify within the logic of your application code, the workflow process instance(s) that a user is allowed to view, and whether to run the monitor in 'ADMIN' or 'USER' mode for that user. You must also provide a means in your application's user interface to call a Web browser application that supports Java 1.1.8 and AWT and pass it the Workflow Monitor URL that gets returned from the function WF_MONITOR.GetDiagramURL( ). The returned URL will have a hidden password attached that provides the user access to the Workflow Monitor in either 'ADMIN' or 'USER' mode. See: GetDiagramUrl, Oracle Workflow API Reference.

Provide Access to the Find Processes Web Page

Another way to access the Workflow Monitor is to pass the Find Processes URL to a Web browser that supports Java 1.1.8 and AWT. The Find Processes page requires user authentication before access. Depending on whether Oracle Workflow is configured to use Oracle Self-Service Web Applications or Oracle HTTP Server security, the user must log in using the appropriate username and password if he or she has not done so for the current browser session. If the user has workflow administrator privileges, the Find Processes Web page that appears lets the user search for any workflow process instance. If the user does not have workflow administrator privileges, the Find Processes Web page lets the user search for only processes that the user owns, as set by a call to the Workflow Engine SetProcessOwner API. The user can then display the notifications or the process diagram for any of those process instances in the Workflow Monitor. See: Using the Find Processes Web Page.

The Find Processes URL looks similar to the following:

<webagent>/wf_monitor.find_instance

<webagent> is the Web agent string that you can retrieve from the WF_WEB_AGENT token in the WF_RESOURCES table by calling WF_CORE.TRANSLATE( ). See: TRANSLATE, Oracle Workflow API Reference.

Note: You can also access the Find Processes Web page from the Oracle Workflow home page. See: Accessing the Oracle Workflow Home Page.

Using the Find Processes Web Page

The Oracle Workflow Find Processes Web page allows you to query for a list of workflow process instances that match certain search criteria. From the Process List that appears, you can select a single process instance to review in more detail.

You can view details about the completed notification activities in the Notifications List Web page that appears, or choose Advanced Options to display details about other activities in the Activities List Web page. You can also navigate to the Workflow Monitor from the Notifications List to administer the process or see a graphical representation of the process and its status.

To Specify Search Criteria in the Find Processes Page

  1. You can enter search criteria using any combination of the following fields to find a subset of workflow process instances:

  2. If you log on as a user with Workflow Administrator privileges, you can search for and display any process instance, even if you do not own the process. In the Process Owner field, enter the internal name of any role defined in WF_ROLES to list only processes owned by that role. Alternatively, leave the field blank to list all process instances that match your search criteria regardless of the process owner.

    If you do not have Workflow Administrator privileges, then the Process Owner field reflects the internal name of the role you are logged in as for the current Web session and you are allowed to search and display only processes that you initiated or are the primary participant of.

    Note: You can set the owner of a process by making a call to the WF_ENGINE.SetItemOwner API. The owner of a process is the person who initiated the process or is the primary participant of the process.

  3. Optionally, you can also find workflow process instances with activities that are Suspended, In Error, or that have Any Status.

  4. You can find workflow process instances that have activities waiting for a response from a particular user or role.

  5. You can also identify workflow process instances that have not progressed for a specified number of days.

  6. When you finish entering your search criteria, choose Find to display all matching process instances in the Process List Web page.

To Review the Process List

  1. The Process List provides a summary of all workflow process instances that match your search criteria as specified in the Find Processes Web page.

  2. The process instances are listed in ascending order first by item type, then by item key.

  3. The Process List summarizes the status of each process instance, as indicated by the Complete, In Error, and Suspended columns.

  4. Choose a process link in the Process Name column to display the Notifications List for that process instance.

To Review the Notifications List

  1. The Notifications List shows for the selected process instance, all the current notifications that have been sent that require a special Result response. In other words, these are the notification activities that allow the process to branch based on the recipient's response.

    Workflow Monitor: Notifications List

    the picture is described in the document text

  2. The Notification List summarizes what each notification activity is, who it is assigned to, when it was sent, whether it has been completed, how many days have passed before completion, as well as what its result is.

    Note: If the process itself is in an error state, and the cause of the error was from a notification, the result of that notification may appear as a link in the Result column. Choose that link to display the cause of the error.

  3. Choose a user link in the Who column if you want to send e-mail to the user that a notification has been assigned to.

    Note: You can display a helpful hint about any link on the Notifications List Web page by placing your cursor over the link. The hint appears in your Web browser's status bar.

  4. Choose a notification activity link in the Activity column if you want to view the full definition of a notification activity.

  5. If a notification activity is still open and requires a response, and you are logged on with workflow administrator privileges, an icon will appear after the notification activity name in the Activity column. You can click on this icon to go to the Notification Details page where you can directly respond to this notification. When complete your response, choose the browser Back button to return to the Notifications List.

  6. Choose Advanced Options to go to the Activities List Web page where you can specify advanced criteria to search and display specific activities of interest for the process. See: To Filter Activities in the Activities List.

  7. You can also choose the View Diagram button to display the selected process instance in the Workflow Monitor for a graphical representation of the process status. If you connected to the current Web session as a user with Workflow Administrator privileges, the Workflow Monitor displays the process in 'ADMIN' mode, otherwise the process is displayed in 'USER' mode. See: Workflow Monitor.

    Note: If the process you select is a member of a parent/child process, a parent/child hierarchy list appears on the left hand side. The hierarchy list show links to corresponding parent and child instances of the current process instance. The links invoke the Notifications List on the selected parent or child instance.

To Filter Activities in the Activities List

  1. The Activities List Web page lets you specify various criteria to filter for specific activities of interest.

  2. Use the Activity Status Options check boxes to specify any activity status of interest. A status of Active also includes activities that are in the Notified, Deferred and Waiting state.

  3. Use the Activity Type check boxes to specify the types of activities you want to view. You can choose to display notification activities that require a response, notification activities that do not require a response, function activities, activities that belong to the Standard item type, and/or event activities.

  4. Once you finish selecting your criteria, choose Filter Activities to display the activities that match your criteria.

  5. The resulting activities summary list includes the following columns of information:

    Note: You can display a helpful hint about any link on the Activities List Web page by placing your cursor over the link. The hint appears in your Web browser's status bar.

  6. You can sort the activities summary list based on any column by clicking on a column header. An asterisk (*) appears next to the column title to indicate that it is being used for sorting. If the asterisk is to the left of the column title, the sort order is ascending. If the asterisk is to the right of the column title, the sort order is descending. Clicking multiple times on the same column title reverses the sort order.

  7. You can also choose the View Diagram button to display the process instance in the Workflow Monitor for a graphical representation of the process status. If you connected to the current Web session as a user with Workflow Administrator privileges, the Workflow Monitor displays the process in 'ADMIN' mode, otherwise the process is displayed in 'USER' mode. See: Workflow Monitor.

Related Topics

Setting Up an Oracle Workflow Directory Service

Setting Global User Preferences

Accessing the Administrator Monitor for Oracle Applications

The Administrator Monitor lets you view and administer runtime workflows. You can use the monitor to review the activities performed for a workflow, check the status of the workflow by viewing the status diagram, review notifications sent by the workflow and participant responses, and review details about the workflow definition and attributes.

If you have workflow administrator privileges, you can also perform administrative operations within the monitor to control the processing performed for a workflow or handle an error. For example, you can update workflow attributes, suspend and resume a workflow, cancel a workflow, or rewind the workflow to an earlier activity stage. You can also skip or retry an individual activity within a workflow, reassign a notification activity, or suspend and resume a process activity. Workflow administrator privileges are assigned in the Workflow Configuration page. See: Setting Global User Preferences.

Note: If you intervene in a workflow process with an administrative operation such as skipping, retrying, or reassigning an activitiy, then Oracle Workflow updates the audit trail for the process to show that you performed that operation.

You can also use the Oracle Workflow Manager component of Oracle Applications Manager as an additional administration tool to review and manage work items. For more information, please refer to the Oracle Applications Manager online help. Additionally, Oracle Workflow provides a view called WF_ITEM_ACTIVITY_STATUSES_V that lets you programmatically access workflow status information. See: Oracle Workflow Views, Oracle Workflow API Reference.

Note: For information about the Workflow Monitor in standalone Oracle Workflow, see: Overview of Workflow Monitoring for Standalone Oracle Workflow.

  1. Viewing Workflows in the Status Monitor

  2. Viewing Child Workflows

  3. Viewing Activity History

  4. Viewing a Status Diagram

  5. Viewing Responses

  6. Viewing Workflow Details

  7. Viewing Error Information for a Workflow

Viewing Workflows in the Status Monitor

When you access the Status Monitor, you can search for the workflows you want to review.

Note: If you have workflow administrator privileges, you can search for workflows owned by any user. If you do not have workflow administrator privileges, you can only search for workflows that you own.

To Search for Workflows in the Status Monitor

  1. Use a Web browser to navigate to the administrator Status Monitor, using a responsibility and navigation path specified by your system administrator. See: Oracle Workflow Administrator Navigation Paths.

  2. In the Workflows page, search for the workflows you want to review. The search criteria are:

    Note: You must enter at least one of the following criteria when you search in order to limit the size of the results list.

    You can also enter the following additional search criteria to search for workflows by activity characteristics.

  3. The results region displays the workflows that match your search criteria.

  4. Use the monitor buttons to drill down to additional information for a workflow.

Related Topics

Accessing the Administrator Monitor

Viewing Child Workflows

The Child Workflows page shows the workflows that are designated as children of a particular workflow.

You can review the workflow type internal name and item key of the selected parent workflow, as well as details about each child workflow.

Use the monitor buttons to drill down to additional information for a workflow.

Related Topics

Accessing the Administrator Monitor

Viewing Activity History

The Activity History page shows information about the activities executed for a workflow.

Specify the activity type and activity status of the activities you want to view. All activity types and statuses are selected by default. To search for specific activities, deselect any activity types and statuses you do not want to view. At least one activity type and one activity status must be selected for a search to be performed.

If you have workflow administrator privileges, you can use the activity administration icons to perform administrative operations on notification or process activities that are not yet complete.

If you have workflow administrator privileges, you can use the activity administration buttons to perform administrative operations on any activities that are not yet complete.

If you have workflow administrator privileges and you are viewing a workflow that is not yet complete, you can use the workflow administration buttons to perform administrative operations on the workflow.

Related Topics

Accessing the Administrator Monitor

Viewing a Status Diagram

The Status Diagram page shows the process diagram for a workflow, including graphical cues about the status of the workflow and its activities.

The Current Status region displays the process title, diagram, and detail tabs for the workflow. Beneath the detail tabs, the administration buttons appear.

Process Title

The process title appears in the upper left of the Current Status region and displays the workflow process name, type, and user key. If no user key has been set, then the item key is displayed instead. If you drill down into a subprocess in the process diagram, the process title displays the subprocess name.

Process Diagram Window

The process diagram window is a scrolling canvas that displays the diagram of the workflow process or subprocess currently listed in the process title. This diagram is identical to the diagram created in Oracle Workflow Builder. Note, however, that you cannot use the Workflow Monitor to edit this diagram.

The process diagram window provides graphical cues about the status of the process and its activities.

Detail Tab Window

The detail tab window, which appears below the process diagram, is a vertically scrollable display area that provides information about a selected process or activity. The information appears as follows for each tab.

Definition Tab

Usage Tab

Status Tab

Notification Tab

Administration Buttons

If you have workflow administrator privileges and you are viewing a workflow that is not yet complete, you can use the administration buttons to perform administrative operations on the workflow.

Related Topics

Accessing the Administrator Monitor

Viewing Responses

The Monitor Responses page shows information about notifications sent by a workflow and responses from workflow participants. For example, you can use this page to view individual responses to a voting activity.

Specify the type and status of the notifications you want to view.

Then review the notification list.

Viewing Notification Response Details

The Notification Response Details page displays the following details about the selected response:

The Additional Response Information region lists any further response values requested in the notification in addition to the result response.

Note: For information-only notifications or open response-required notifications, the Notification Response Details page only shows details about the outbound notification.

Related Topics

Accessing the Administrator Monitor

Viewing Workflow Details

The Workflow Details page shows information about a selected workflow.

The Workflow Definition region displays the following information about the workflow type:

The Workflow Attributes region lists the names and values of the item attributes for the workflow. For an attribute of type event, select the event message link to view the event message details.

If you have workflow administrator privileges and you are viewing a workflow that is not yet complete, you can use the administration buttons to perform administrative operations on the workflow.

Related Topics

Accessing the Administrator Monitor

Viewing Error Information for a Workflow

The Workflow Errors page shows error information for an errored workflow.

The page displays the following details for the selected workflow:

Note: If you navigated to the Workflow Errors page from an error status link for a workflow, the page shows details for each errored activity within the workflow. If you navigated to the page from an error status link for a single errored activity, the page shows details for only that activity.

If the Workflow Errors page shows only one errored activity, and you have workflow administrator privileges, you can use the activity administration buttons to respond to the error.

Related Topics

Accessing the Administrator Monitor

Providing Access to the Status Monitor from Applications

Application developers can provide access to the administrator and self-service versions of the Status Monitor from within an application. The Status Monitor supports the following access modes:

Menu Setup

Before you can add Status Monitor access to your application, you must set up the menu for the appropriate responsibility to include Status Monitor functionality through Oracle Workflow menus.

For standard or guest access from an Oracle Applications Framework-based Web page or an Oracle E-Business Suite form, the menu for the responsibility through which users access that page or form must also include the menu for the Status Monitor version and access mode you want. Otherwise, users will encounter function security errors when navigating to the Status Monitor from your page or form. To avoid these errors, add the appropriate Oracle Workflow menu to the top-level menu for your responsibility.

The menus for the Status Monitor are:

Access through URLs

You can provide standard or guest access to the Status Monitor from an Oracle Applications Framework-based Web page. You can also provide guest access to the administrator version of the Status Monitor from Oracle Workflow notifications or PL/SQL applications that can call a URL.

In your application code, call an API to obtain or redirect to a URL for an Oracle Workflow Status Monitor page. For standard and guest access, Oracle Workflow provides Java methods in the oracle.apps.fnd.wf.monitor.webui.Monitor class to obtain or redirect to appropriate URLs For guest access to the Administrator Monitor, Oracle Workflow also provides PL/SQL functions in the WF_MONITOR package to obtain appropriate URLs.

Note: For more information about the oracle.apps.fnd.wf.monitor.webui.Monitor class, refer to the Oracle Workflow Javadoc. For more information about the WF_MONITOR package, see: Workflow Monitor APIs, Oracle Workflow API Reference.

Display the Status Monitor by redirecting to the Status Monitor page you want or using the URL you obtained in whatever way is appropriate within your application code.

Access from Oracle E-Business Suite Forms

You can provide standard or guest access from an Oracle E-Business Suite application to the Status Monitor by using self-service functions. You can call these functions from an Oracle E-Business Suite form, or add the menus that contain the functions to another menu associated with another responsibility. Use the function FND_FUNCTION.EXECUTE to execute a Status Monitor function.

Related Topics

Accessing the Administrator Monitor

Accessing the Self-Service Monitor, Oracle Workflow User's Guide

Overview of Function Security, Oracle Applications System Administrator's Guide

Overview of Menus and Function Security, Oracle Applications Developer's Guide

Overview of Form Development Steps, Oracle Applications Developer's Guide

Menus Window, Oracle Applications Developer's Guide

Standard Access

Guest Access

Standard Access

Standard Status Monitor access provides loosely coupled access from an Oracle Applications Framework-based Web page or Oracle E-Business Suite form, to a Status Monitor page within the full Oracle Workflow application. In this mode, the specified Status Monitor page is displayed with the full Oracle Workflow menu, allowing users to navigate out of the Status Monitor and perform other tasks within Oracle Workflow. Locator links, also known as breadcrumbs, let users navigate from the Status Monitor back to the calling application.

With standard access, users are fully authenticated. Only users with workflow administrator privileges, as specified in the Workflow Configuration page, can view workflows owned by others and perform administrative operations in the Status Monitor. See: Setting Global User Preferences.

When you provide standard access to the Status Monitor from your application, you can optionally specify a workflow item type and item key to query and specify which page you want to initially display.

Standard Access in Java

Oracle Workflow provides Java methods to redirect to the Status Monitor with standard access or to obtain URLs for standard access to the Status Monitor. These methods are defined in the Java class called oracle.apps.fnd.wf.monitor.webui.Monitor.

When calling these methods, you must provide the following parameters to indicate how you want to display the Status Monitor:

All method calls for standard access should be made from within an Oracle Applications Framework-based Web page.

Standard Access from Oracle E-Business Suite Forms

You can provide standard access from an Oracle E-Business Suite application to the Status Monitor by using self-service functions. You can call these functions from an Oracle E-Business Suite form, or add the menus that contain the functions to another menu associated with another responsibility.

The following table lists the functions that provide standard access to the Status Monitor. These functions do not require any parameters.

Standard Access Functions
Function Description
WF_STATUS_MONITOR Displays the Workflows search page in the administrator version of the Status Monitor.
WF_SS_STATUS_MONITOR Displays the Workflows search page in the self-service version of the Status Monitor.

You can call the function FND_FUNCTION.EXECUTE to execute a standard access function. See: FND_FUNCTION.EXECUTE, Oracle Applications Developer's Guide.

The following code example demonstrates how to execute the WF_STATUS_MONITOR function using FND_FUNCTION.EXECUTE.

FND_FUNCTION.EXECUTE(FUNCTION_NAME => 'WF_STATUS_MONITOR');

See: Overview of Form Development Steps, Oracle Applications Developer's Guide and Menus Window, Oracle Applications Developer's Guide.

Menu Setup

If you use a standard access function within your responsibility, you must add the menu containing that function to the top-level menu for your responsibility. The WF_STATUS_MONITOR function is seeded on the Workflow Administrator Application (WF_ADMINISTRATOR_APPLICATION) menu, and the WF_SS_STATUS_MONITOR function is seeded on the Workflow Self-Service Application (WF_SELF_SERVICE_APPLICATION) menu.

Note: You cannot add the Status Monitor functions to your menu directly. To include these functions, you must add the Oracle Workflow menu that contains the function you want.

The Workflow Administrator Application menu is seeded on the Workflow Administrator (New) menu (FND_WFADMIN_NEW) associated with the Workflow Administrator Web (New) responsibility. Similarly, the Workflow Self-Service Application menu is seeded on the Workflow User (New) menu (FND_WFUSER_NEW) associated with the Workflow User Web (New) responsibility.

Migrating to Standard Access Functions

If your application used self-service functions to provide access to the previous version of the Workflow Monitor, you can migrate to the new Status Monitor by replacing the functions you previously called with the appropriate new functions. The following table shows the correspondence between functions for the previous Workflow Monitor and the standard access functions for the new Status Monitor.

Migrating to Standard Access Functions
Previous Function New Function
FND_FNDWFIAS (if called without any parameters) WF_STATUS_MONITOR or WF_SS_STATUS_MONITOR

Related Topics

Migrating to Guest Access Functions

Guest Access

Guest Status Monitor access provides tightly coupled access from an Oracle Applications Framework-based Web page or Oracle E-Business Suite form, to a freestanding Status Monitor page for a particular workflow, without access to the rest of the Oracle Workflow application. In this mode, the specified Status Monitor page is displayed without the full Oracle Workflow menu, so that users cannot navigate out of the Status Monitor to other Oracle Workflow pages.

Guest access lets users navigate among the top-level Status Monitor pages, including the Activity History page in the Administrator Monitor or Notification History page in the Self-Service Monitor, Status Diagram page, Monitor Responses page, and Workflow Details page. Users can also drill down from the top-level pages to related detail or action pages, such as navigating from the Notification History page to the Cancel page. Additionally, locator links, also known as breadcrumbs, let users navigate from the Status Monitor back to the calling application. However, users cannot navigate from the Status Monitor to other parts of Oracle Workflow.

With guest access, users are fully authenticated. However, in this mode you programmatically control which workflow process users can view and whether users can perform administrative operations in the Status Monitor, rather than having these privileges controlled by the workflow administrator setting in the Workflow Configuration page.

When you provide guest access to the Status Monitor from your application, you must specify a workflow item type and item key to automatically query. Guest access does not include search capabilities, so users can only view the workflow process you specify. You can choose to initially display the specified workflow in either the Activity History page in the Administrator Monitor or Notification History page in the Self-Service Monitor, the Status Diagram page, or the Monitor Responses page. If you do not specify an initial page, the workflow is initially displayed in the Activity History page in the Administrator Monitor or Notification History page in the Self-Service Monitor.

Note: The workflow is only displayed if the specified item type, item key, and administrator mode are valid. Otherwise, an error message is displayed. The Workflow tabs are not displayed, so the user cannot navigate to any other part of Oracle Workflow.

You must also set the administrator mode to determine whether to grant the user privileges to perform administrative operations within the Status Monitor. You can choose one of the following options:

Guest Access in Java

Oracle Workflow provides Java methods to obtain URLs for guest access to the Status Monitor. These methods are defined in the Java class called oracle.apps.fnd.wf.monitor.webui.Monitor.

When calling these methods, you must provide the following parameters to indicate how you want to display the Status Monitor:

All method calls for guest access should be made from within an Oracle Applications Framework-based Web page.

Example

The following code excerpt shows an example of how to provide guest access to the Status Monitor in Java code. This example calls the getGuestAdvanceUrl() method in the oracle.apps.fnd.wf.monitor.webui.Monitor class. 

/*****************************************************************
**
** Guest Access
**
** Assumes all method calls are made from within an Oracle  
** Applications Framework page.
**
*****************************************************************/

...
import oracle.apps.fnd.wf.monitor.webui.Monitor;
...

  // This example assumes we want to set the destination link on 
  // an OA text bean.Following the link will take the user to the 
  // advanced monitor on the "Activity History" page. 
  
  public void processRequest(OAPageContext pageContext, 
                             OAWebBean webBean)
  {
    super.processRequest(pageContext, webBean);

 ...

      String itemType = [ however this value is obtained in page ];
      String itemKey = [ however this value is obtained in page ];
      String firstPage = "HISTORY";
      String returnToLabel = "Return to Application XYZ";

      // Set to "U" to have Monitor code figure out if the current
      // user should have Workflow Administrator privileges based 
      // on the Administrator role designation in Workflow.

      String adminMode = "U"; 

      // Will add a parameter "retainAM=Y" to the resulting url
      // so the developer doesn't have to do this manually if he 
      // wants to retain the calling Application Module when the 
      // user navigates to the Status Monitor.

      boolean retainCallingAM = true; 

    String url = null;

    try
    {
      url = Monitor.getGuestAdvanceUrl(pageContext, itemType, 
                                  itemKey, adminMode, firstPage,
                                  returnToLabel, retainCallingAM);
    }
    catch (MonitorURLException me)
    {
      // Handle not being able to obtain a valid redirectUrl for 
      // the parameters.
    } 

    // Set the url string on the web bean.

    OAStaticStyledTextBean monitorLink = 
      (OAStaticStyledTextBean)findIndexedChildRecursive
      ("AdvancedMonitorLink");
    monitorLink.setDestination(url);

    ... 

  } // end processRequest()

Guest Access in PL/SQL

Oracle Workflow also provides PL/SQL functions to obtain URLs for guest access to the Administrator Monitor. These functions are defined in the PL/SQL package called WF_MONITOR. See: Workflow Monitor APIs, Oracle Workflow API Reference.

When calling these methods, you must provide the following parameters to indicate how you want to display the Status Monitor:

You can use these URLs to provide access to the Administrator Monitor from a PL/SQL application, for example, or include a URL in a workflow notification message to allow a user to access the Administrator Monitor from the notification.

Note: In Oracle E-Business Suite, you can call the function FND_UTILITIES.OPEN_URL to open a Web browser and have it connect to a specified URL, such as a Status Monitor URL. See: FND_UTILITIES:Utility Routine, Oracle Applications Developer's Guide.

Guest Access from Notifications

You can provide guest access to the Administrator Monitor from a workflow notification. To do so, define a message attribute of type URL, and include or attach this attribute in the notification message. Obtain a guest access URL using one of the WF_MONITOR PL/SQL functions, and set the value of the message attribute to this URL. The user who receives the notification can access the Administrator Monitor by viewing the notification, either through the Worklist Web pages or through an e-mail application, and clicking the link in the message. If users are not already logged into Oracle Applications, they must first log in before they can access the Administrator Monitor from the link. See: To Define a Message Attribute, Oracle Workflow Developer's Guide.

Guest Access from Oracle E-Business Suite Forms

You can provide guest access from an Oracle E-Business Suite application to the Status Monitor by using self-service functions. You can call these functions from an Oracle E-Business Suite form, or add the menus that contain the functions to another menu associated with another responsibility.

The following table lists the functions that provide guest access to the Status Monitor.

Guest Access Functions
Function Description
WF_G_ACTIVITIES Displays the Activity History page for the specified workflow in the administrator version of the Status Monitor.
WF_G_DIAGRAM Displays the Status Diagram page for the specified workflow in the administrator version of the Status Monitor.
WF_SSG_ACTIVITIES Displays the Notification History page for the specified workflow in the self-service version of the Status Monitor.
WF_SSG_DIAGRAM Displays the Status Diagram page for the specified workflow in the self-service version of the Status Monitor.

When you call one of the guest access functions, you must pass the function the following parameters:

You can call the function FND_FUNCTION.EXECUTE to execute a guest access function specifying your parameters. See: FND_FUNCTION.EXECUTE, Oracle Applications Developer's Guide.

Note: When you call FND_FUNCTION.EXECUTE, you should use the WFA_HTML.conv_special_url_chars() API to convert any special characters in the parameters you pass to the Status Monitor.

The following code example demonstrates how to execute the WF_G_ACTIVITIES function using FND_FUNCTION.EXECUTE.

itemType := icx_call.encrypt('<your_item_type>'); 

itemKey := icx_call.encrypt('<your_item_key>'); 

adminMode := wf_fwkmon.isMonitorAdministrator('<user_name>');

wm := wf_fwkmon.getEncryptedAdminMode(adminMode); 

wa := wf_fwkmon.getEncryptedAccessKey('<your_item_type>', 
     '<your_item_key>', adminMode); 

FND_FUNCTION.EXECUTE( 
   FUNCTION_NAME => 'WF_G_ACTIVITIES', 
   OPEN_FLAG => 'Y', 
   SESSION_FLAG => 'Y', 
   OTHER_PARAMS => 
     'itemType='||(wfa_html.conv_special_url_chars(itemType))
     ||'&'||'itemKey='||(wfa_html.conv_special_url_chars(itemKey))
     ||'&'||'wm='||(wfa_html.conv_special_url_chars(wm))
     ||'&'||'wa='||(wfa_html.conv_special_url_chars(wa))
     ||'&'||'retainAM=Y'
     ||'&'||'fExt=X'
   );

See: Overview of Form Development Steps, Oracle Applications Developer's Guide and Menus Window, Oracle Applications Developer's Guide.

Menu Setup

If you use a guest access function within your responsibility, you must add the menu containing that function to the top-level menu for your responsibility. The WF_G_ACTIVITIES and WF_G_DIAGRAM functions are seeded on the Workflow Guest Monitor Application (WF_G_MONITOR_APPLICATION) menu, and the WF_SSG_ACTIVITIES and WF_SSG_DIAGRAM functions are seeded on the Workflow Guest Self-Service Monitor Application (WF_SSG_MONITOR_APPLICATION) menu.

Note: You cannot add the Status Monitor functions to your menu directly. To include these functions, you must add the Oracle Workflow menu that contains the function you want.

The Workflow Guest Monitor Application menu is seeded on the Workflow Administrator (New) menu (FND_WFADMIN_NEW) associated with the Workflow Administrator Web (New) responsibility. Similarly, the Workflow Guest Self-Service Monitor Application menu is seeded on the Workflow User (New) menu (FND_WFUSER_NEW) associated with the Workflow User Web (New) responsibility.

Migrating to Guest Access Functions

If your application used self-service functions to provide access to the previous version of the Workflow Monitor, you can migrate to the new Status Monitor by replacing the functions you previously called with the appropriate new functions. The following table shows the correspondence between functions for the previous Workflow Monitor and the guest access functions for the new Status Monitor.

Migrating to Guest Access Functions
Previous Function New Function
FND_WFMON_ADV WF_G_ACTIVITIES
FND_WFMON_DIAGRAM WF_G_DIAGRAM or WF_SSG_DIAGRAM
FND_FNDWFIAS (if called with the ITEM_TYPE, ITEM_KEY, ADMIN_MODE, and ACCESS_KEY parameters) WF_SSG_ACTIVITIES

Related Topics

Migrating to Standard Access Functions

Testing Status Monitor Access

You can use the Workflow Monitor Test Application to test the monitor access you want to provide from your application. The Programmatic Access page simulates calls to obtain URLs for navigating from an Oracle Applications Framework-based Web page to a Status Monitor page or calls to redirect from an Oracle Applications Framework-based Web page to a Status Monitor page. You can retrieve a test URL or perform a trial redirection. The Programmatic Access page lets you test access to both the administrator and the self-service versions of the Status Monitor, using standard or guest access.

The Advanced Worklist page is also included in the Workflow Monitor Test Application to let you test access from a workflow notification to the Status Monitor. You can test links from notifications to the administrator version of the Status Monitor, using guest access. In the Worklist, navigate to a notification that contains a link to the Status Monitor, and select that link to test the access it provides. See: To View Notifications from the Advanced Worklist, Oracle Workflow User's Guide.

Menu Setup

The Workflow Monitor Test Application is available for the version of Oracle Workflow embedded in Oracle Applications, but it is not seeded on any Oracle Applications menu. Before you can use this module, your system administrator must add its menu to a top-level menu for a responsibility. The menu for the Workflow Monitor Test Application module is named Workflow Monitor Test Application (WFMON_TEST_APPLICATION). For example, you can add this menu to the Workflow Administrator (New) menu (FND_WFADMIN_NEW), which is associated with the Workflow Administrator Web (New) responsibility, or to the Workflow User (New) menu (FND_WFUSER_NEW), which is associated with the Workflow User Web (New) responsibility.

Additionally, when you navigate from the Workflow Monitor Test Application module to the Status Monitor using standard or guest access, you must perform the navigation from within a responsibility that also includes the menu for the Status Monitor version and access option you want to test. Otherwise, you will encounter function security errors. To avoid these errors, ensure that the appropriate Oracle Workflow menus are added to the same top-level menu as the WFMON_TEST_APPLICATION menu.

The menus for the Status Monitor are:

Note: The Workflow Administrator (New) menu includes the Workflow Administrator Application and Workflow Guest Monitor Application menus by default. Additionally, the Workflow User (New) menu includes the Workflow Self-Service Application and Workflow Guest Self-Service Monitor Application menus by default.

  1. Testing Standard Access

  2. Testing Guest Access

Related Topics

Accessing the Administrator Monitor

Accessing the Self-Service Monitor, Oracle Workflow User's Guide

Overview of Function Security, Oracle Applications System Administrator's Guide

Overview of Menus and Function Security, Oracle Applications Developer's Guide

Testing Standard Access

You can test standard access from an Oracle Applications Framework-based Web page to the Status Monitor in the Programmatic Access page. Standard access provides loosely coupled access to a Status Monitor page within the full Oracle Workflow application.

To Test Standard Access

  1. Use a Web browser to log on to a responsibility specified by your system administrator and choose the Programmatic Access link.

  2. Select the Test "Standard" Access link.

  3. In the Test "Standard" Access region, enter the test options you want. Each option corresponds to a method parameter for the method in the oracle.apps.fnd.wf.monitor.webui.Monitor class that is being simulated. See: Standard Access in Java.

    The test options include:

  4. Select the test action you want to perform.

  5. Select the Perform "Standard" Action button.

Testing Guest Access

You can test guest access from an Oracle Applications Framework-based Web page to the Status Monitor in the Programmatic Access page. Guest access provides tightly coupled access to a freestanding Status Monitor page for a particular workflow, without access to the rest of the Oracle Workflow application.

To Test Guest Access

  1. Use a Web browser to log on to a responsibility specified by your system administrator and choose the Programmatic Access link.

  2. Select the Test "Guest" Access link.

  3. In the Test "Guest" Access region, enter the test options you want. Each option corresponds to a method parameter for the method in the oracle.apps.fnd.wf.monitor.webui.Monitor class that is being simulated. See: Guest Access in Java.

    The test options include:

  4. Select the test action you want to perform.

  5. Select the Perform "Guest" Action button.

Status Monitor Portlets

Oracle Workflow provides two Status Monitor portlets that you can add to an Oracle Portal page to view summaries of workflow status information. The Error Workflows portlet provides administrator information about errored workflows, while the Workflows portlet provides self-service information about workflows owned by a user.

Adding a Portlet to an Oracle Portal Page

Before you can add an Oracle Applications Framework portlet to an Oracle Portal page, your system administrator must assign you a responsibility that includes the menu function for that portlet on its menu. The Error Workflows portlet is seeded in the Workflow Administrator Web (New) responsibility, and the Workflows portlet is seeded in the Workflow User Web (New) responsibility. The system administrator may assign you either one of these responsibilities or another responsibility to which the appropriate portlet has been added.

After a responsibility that includes an Oracle Workflow portlet has been assigned to you, you can use Oracle Portal to add that portlet to an Oracle Portal page. In the Portlet Repository, select Oracle Applications Framework Provider under Other Providers to access the Oracle Workflow portlets. For more information, please refer to the Oracle Portal online help, or see: Adding a Portlet to a Page, Oracle Application Server Portal Tutorial.

Error Workflows Portlet

The Error Workflows portlet provides administrator information about errored workflows. The portlet displays all errored workflows started within the last week. If you have workflow administrator privileges, the list shows workflows owned by any user; if you do not have workflow administrator privileges, the list shows only workflows that you own. You can select the item key link in the Item Key column to view the activity history for a workflow in the Activity History page of the Administrator Monitor.

Obtaining Access to the Error Workflows Portlet

The menu function for the Error Workflows portlet is WF_ADMIN_STATUS_PORTLET. This function is seeded on the Workflow Administrator (New) menu (FND_WFADMIN_NEW), which is associated with the Workflow Administrator Web (New) responsibility. To give you access to the Error Workflows portlet, your system administrator must perform one of the following steps:

Workflows Portlet

The Workflows portlet provides self-service information about workflows that you own. The portlet displays all workflows owned by you that were started within the last two weeks. You can select the workflow identifier link in the Workflow column to view the notification history for a workflow in the Notification History page of the Self-Service Monitor. The workflow identifier is the user key if one is specified for the workflow, or the item key if no user key is specified.

Obtaining Access to the Workflows Portlet

The menu function for the Workflows portlet is WF_SS_STATUS_PORTLET. This function is seeded on the Workflow User (New) menu (FND_WFUSER_NEW), which is associated with the Workflow User Web (New) responsibility. To give you access to the Error Workflows portlet, your system administrator must perform one of the following steps:

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