GWT console Beta2

Some things changed in Beta2 others did improve and I’d like to give you a quick update on what happened the last two month.

TokenEditor

Something you may already know from the JSF console and what is commonly used during development is the possibility to signal tokens directly from the console. We’ve added that feature to the GWT console under the section “Development tools”. You’ll notice those by the little wrench icon in the upper corner. These tools will be available to a particular role only, once we add authorization to the editors.



Report server integration

Beta2 drops the gchart, the client side Javascript charting library and instead switched to BIRT. There have been several reasons leading to this decision.
On the one hand we’ve realized that biggest challenge with reporting is not rendering itself (which gchart could have provided) but the tooling that needs to go along with it.



We’ve realized that it’s close to impossible to come up with the one and only BPM report that pleases everyone. Most reporting and dashboard applications are actually quiet the opposite: Highly customized towards particular users and their problem domain. This is the approach we are taking with BIRT as well. The jBPM console ships with stock reports, that can be extended or even be replaced.

If you are interested in jBPM reporting a good starting point would be the report server project introduction.



Task management

We’ve also added the first task management functionality which currently does focus on task assignments.



The current release allows you to claim tasks, complete them by signaling or reassign tasks to a particular user or group. Future console version will embed task forms for human interaction, but this area in particular requires further discussion.

Stay tuned...