How To Migrate to PAK 1.7.x (Data Input)
1. What you will learn
In this tutorial you will learn how to use PAKs Workflow Migration commands to migrate workflows to PAK v.1.7.x
3. What changed
3.1. User Input
Before version 1.7.x all user inputs needed to be in a json format, as to correctly work with the engine. That has changed in all places that a user can decide the data used during a workflow. This affects both apps and the constant definition during mapping.
Since version 1.7.x the PAK engine and apps follow the principle: The user gets what they type. Input data doesn’t need to be in json format anymore and what the user types in is also what will be used during Command execution.
For Example that changes how the user would enter a text which starts and ends with quotes:
Before: "\"TextWithQuotes\""
Now: "TextWithQuotes"
More on the rules of user inputs and data transforming can be read here.
| This change only affects your workflows when you typed text as json string enclosed with quotes! |
3.2. No more BOTH Mappings
When a Command defines an input and output on the same key name it was handled as a BOTH mapping in the BPMN file. Internally in the engine no BOTH mappings exists and they were splitted up into normal READ and WRITE mappings.
Since version 1.7.x BPMN files do not contain any BOTH mappings anymore but every in and output needs to be mapped explicitly. This aligns the BPMN file more to the engine execution.
| This change is automatically migrated. Please check your workflows when loading them with the newest Editor version. |
3.3. Keys follow Java Convention
The key of inputs and outputs had no constraints on what characters they could contain. From version 1.7.x onwards keys are only allowed to contain characters a to z, numbers, underscores _ and dollar signs $. When trying to type any other character it won’t be typed at all.
| The keys are automatically migrated to not contain illegal chars anymore. Please check your workflows when loading them with the newest Editor version. |
4. How To Migrate
In the current PAK version 1.7 there are two commands. The first one, „Check Workflow Migration 1_7“, checks if constant keys in a BPMN file are already migrated to version 1.7. The second command, „Migrate Workflow 1_7“, migrates the Workflow file to version 1.7.
We also provide a workflow which can be run, to ease the migration of the workflows.
4.1. Migrate to 1.7.x Workflow
Instead of manually running the commands to migrate your workflow, you can download the migration BPMN here and run it in the Workflow Executor.
The workflow will guide you through the necessary steps to migrate your workflows. The guide here will showcase the workflow, so you can follow along.
4.1.1. Choose Migration Directory
The first thing you are asked, after the workflow starts, is what directory contains the workflows. The workflow will look into this directory and check every workflow inside for a possible migration.
4.1.2. Decide on Migration Cases
Then you are guided through all possible migrations and you can decide if the one mapping from the specific workflow needs to be migrated. With that you can decide if the value is intended as is, or needs to be migrated.
4.2. Check Workflow Migration Command
The „Check Workflow Migration 1_7“ command has one input field which is mandatory. The content of this field must specify the path to a BPMN workflow file or to a directory containing several Workflow files.
After executing the command the result of the migration check will be displayed. If the positions key is filled with objects instead of being empty. Then some possible migration positions have been found, meaning that a migration could be needed.
[
{
"fileName":"C:\\temp\\OldWorkflow.bpmn",
"commandKey":"typeToChoose",
"dataStoreKey":"\"DIRECTORY\""
}
]4.3. Migrate Workflow Command
The „Migrate Workflow 1_7“ command has four input fields:
-
Path to workflow file or directory
-
Positions to migrate
-
Can be fetched from the Check Workflow Migration 1_7 beforehand
-
Tells the command what keys in the BPMN file to fix up
-
-
Checkmark if files should be migrated recursively
-
Only applies when a directory was chosen for the path
-
Default value: „false“
-
-
MigrationMode for copying or overwriting files during migration
-
Default value: „OVERWRITE“
-
| If „OVERWRITE“ is chosen existing files are updated. Otherwise copies were created and migrated. |
After executing the command the file or directory is migrated.
