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Oracle Workflow Administrator's Guide
Release 2.6.3
Part Number B10283-02 |
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What's New in Oracle Workflow?
Oracle Workflow Release 2.6.3 includes the following enhancements for administrators:
- New Workflow directory service implementation - In the new Workflow directory service implementation, the WF_LOCAL_ROLES table now stores all role information, including a user flag to mark those roles that also represent individual users. The old WF_LOCAL_USERS table is now obsolete. See: Setting Up a Directory Service for Standalone Oracle Workflow.
- Java-based Workflow Notification Mailer - The Oracle Workflow notification mailer program has been re-implemented as a Java program, using the standard JavaMail API technology, and is now defined as a service component, which is run using a servlet within an OC4J instance. A Java-based notification mailer sends outbound e-mails using SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), and processes inbound e-mails from any IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) compliant mail server.
Oracle Workflow provides a standard notification mailer service component called Workflow Notification Mailer which is used by default. It is now also possible to configure and run multiple notification mailer service components. Java-based notification mailers are configured and run exclusively through the Workflow Manager component of Oracle Enterprise Manager.
The Java-based Workflow Notification Mailer supports sending both individual and summary e-mail notifications. You no longer need to run a separate notification mailer to send summary notifications. See:
Setting Up Notification Mailers.
Note: The previous C-based Notification Mailer is obsolete in this release. Also, Java-based notification mailers do not use text files to define configuration parameters and tags; instead, all configuration settings are entered in Workflow Manager.
Note: Oracle Workflow no longer supports the old MAPI-compliant mailer because the Microsoft Outlook E-mail Security Update that was released on June 7, 2000 desupports the MAPI Common Messaging Calls (CMC) interface used by that mailer. (See: OL2000: Developer Information About the Outlook E-mail Security Update.) Oracle Workflow also no longer supports parsing an inbound SMTP file for response processing with UNIX Sendmail. Instead, the new architecture of the Java-based Workflow Notification Mailer uses an IMAP inbox for response processing. The same Workflow Notification Mailer can be used regardless of the platform on which you deploy it.
- Wireless notifications - If you are using the standalone version of Oracle Workflow available with Oracle Application Server, then you can also send wireless notifications using Oracle Application Server Wireless. See: Wireless Notifications and the Oracle Application Server Wireless Administrator's Guide and Oracle Application Server Wireless Developer's Guide.
- New agent listener implementation - Agent listeners are now implemented as service components, which are run using a servlet in an OC4J instance. Agent listeners are now configured and run exclusively through the Workflow Manager component of Oracle Enterprise Manager. See: Scheduling Listeners for Local Inbound Agents.
- Workflow XML Loader enhancements - The Workflow XML Loader (WFXLOAD) now supports downloading events and event subscriptions by either only the event name, both the event name and the owning application, or only the owning application. Also, in normal upload mode, the Workflow XML Loader does not update any event or subscription definition with a customization level of User. Oracle Workflow uses this mode to preserve your customizations during upgrades. A force upload mode is also provided which you can use to overwrite existing definitions if you want to update the definitions for your own custom events and subscriptions. See: Using the Workflow XML Loader.
- Enhanced Workflow Manager - The Workflow Manager component of Oracle Enterprise Manager now provides complete configuration support for the new Java-based implementation of the Workflow Notification Mailer as a service component. Workflow Manager also supports configuration of agent listener service components. Additionally, the Workflow System page has been enhanced to provide a more intuitive, simplified view of the overall Workflow system status. For more information, please refer to the Workflow Manager online help.
Oracle Workflow Release 2.6.3 includes the following enhancements for developers:
- Business Event System customization levels - A customization level has been added to the definitions of events and event subscriptions to provide access protection for Business Event System data. Customization levels are used to protect Oracle seed data and preserve your customizations in an upgrade. See: Events, Oracle Workflow Developer's Guide and .
- JMS Text message support - Oracle Workflow now provides a standard queue handler named WF_EVENT_OJMSTEXT_QH for queues that use the SYS.AQ$_JMS_TEXT_MESSAGE datatype as their payload type. This queue handler enables communication of JMS Text messages through the Business Event System. Two standard agents for JMS Text messages are also provided, WF_JMS_IN for inbound messages and WF_JMS_OUT for outbound messages.See: Agents, Oracle Workflow Developer's Guide.
- PL/SQL CLOB and PL/SQL BLOB documents - The types of data that can be stored in a document-type message attributes attached to a notification have been expanded. In addition to text or HTML, PL/SQL CLOB documents that are included as attachments can also contain PDF or RTF documents or, if your database version is Oracle9i Database or higher, binary data encoded to base64. Additionally, a new type of documents called PL/SQL BLOB documents are now supported. PL/SQL BLOB documents that are included as attachments can contain images or other application files that are stored as binary data. See: To Define a Document Attribute, Oracle Workflow Developer's Guide.
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