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Author's profile photo Christian Loos

Getting started with the Workflow service in the free Trial account (1/2)

The SAP Cloud Platform Workflow service is now available in the SAP Cloud Platform Trial environment. In this two-part blog series, I’ll show you how to configure the service and how to model and run your first workflow.

In the first part, we will configure the service and model our first workflow.

 

Enabling the Workflow service

Logon to your SAP Cloud Platform Cockpit and open the services tab.

Search for “Portal” and make sure the service is enabled in your account.

Then, search for “Workflow” and open the “Workflow” tile. Click on the blue “Enable” button in the service header:

After a few seconds, the status should switch to enabled:

If the enablement fails, try again – this could be a temporary problem.

 

User configuration

In order to use the service, you need assign the Workflow roles to your Trial user.

In the Workflow service tile, click on “Configure Service” (under Service Configuration at the bottom of the page):

 

 

Select “Roles” from the Menu on the left-hand side.

There are four standard roles for the Workflow service:

  • WorkflowDeveloper – required for editing and deploying workflow models
  • WorkflowAdmin – required for admistrating workflows and tasks
  • WorkflowParticipant – required for processing task in the My Inbox
  • WorkflowInitiator – required starting new workflow instances

Assign your user to each role. Select the role and then click on the “Assign” link in the “Individual Users” table:

Enter your user ID. If you are not sure, you can check your user ID in the header toolbar of the SAP Cloud Platform Cockpit:

Do not forget to repeat this assignment for all four Workflow roles.

Update: Log off and log on again for the changes to become active.

 

Create your first workflow

Open the SAP Web IDE (Multi-Cloud Version) – you can find the link on the Workflow service tile Note: Enable the SAP Web IDE Multi Cloud service first in the cockpit if you haven’t already done so.

To use the Workflow editor, you need to first activate the feature in Web IDE.

Open the “Tools – Preferences” menu and then select “Features”.

Find the “Workflow Editor” feature in the list and make sure it is switched on:

Now, create a new “Project from template”.

Change the category to “Business Process Management” and then select the “Workflow” template.

On the next page, enter a name for the new Workflow project, e.g. MyWorkflowProject.

On the following page, enter a name for the new workflow, e.g. MyFirstWorkflow, and a description (optional).

Hit “Finish”.

You should now see a project with a workflow file in your workspace:

Note: If there are layout issues with the editor window (can’t see the properties), simply refresh the Web IDE window (F5).

The workflow can now already be deployed (even though it won’t do much!).

Select the workflow file in the workspace, open the context menu and select Deploy – Deploy to SAP Cloud Platform Workflow.

You should see a success notification in the top right corner:

In part two, we will run this workflow and then enhance it with a user task, which will be shown in the My Inbox application.

To get more details on SAP Cloud Platform Workflow and all the new stuff we have delivered recently – just sign up for one the scheduled Webinars and get in touch with our experts.

 

Update: Part 2 is out – Read it here.

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      29 Comments
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      Author's profile photo Moya Watson
      Moya Watson

      One tip -- I had actually not yet enabled the Web IDE Multi-Cloud Version yet as a service in my account.  That needs to be done first before trying to launch it from the Workflow tile.

      Otherwise, I'm in and looking forward to part two!

      Author's profile photo Christian Loos
      Christian Loos
      Blog Post Author

      Thanks Moya - I update the blog.

      Author's profile photo Ruben Martinez
      Ruben Martinez

      Hello Christian, one question - Do I have to give any other permissions to my user in order to deploy the workflow? I already gave my user all the roles available in Workflow Service Config and in the Web IDE M-C version Service Config... I am getting this message when trying to deploy:

      "(Deployment) Your workflow Workflow1 could not be deployed. User does not have sufficient privileges."

      Author's profile photo Deeksha R
      Deeksha R

      Hi Ruben,

      You can refer to the troubleshooting section at: https://uacp2.hana.ondemand.com/viewer/f63bbdc234ce4211ab2cdb44564a0acd/Cloud/en-US/ea729d11f73f4523b8ae5603406ad575.html

      Please get back if this is not helpful.

      Regards

      Deeksha

      Author's profile photo Christian Drumm
      Christian Drumm

      Hi Deeksha,

      Im also getting the following error: "Your workflow Workflow1 could not be deployed. User does not have sufficient privileges.”

      I tried what you described in the trouble shooting document. However, I still can't the workflow. Do you have any further ideas how to solve this?

      Best,
      Christian

       

      Author's profile photo Christian Drumm
      Christian Drumm

      I was able to deploy the WF now. Seems that the authorisations took some time to be synchronised.

      Christian

       

      Author's profile photo Stefan Henke
      Stefan Henke

      Changes in authorization assginment will not be visible within the very same browser session. Do a manual logout and login from e.g. Cloud Cockpit. After that it should work.

      Author's profile photo Christian Loos
      Christian Loos
      Blog Post Author

      Thanks Stefan, added this to the blog.

      Author's profile photo Phil Cooley
      Phil Cooley

      Nice, worked well. Woohoo! My first workflow project is successful.

      Thanks Christian!

       

      Author's profile photo Luis Rincones
      Luis Rincones

      Hi I am trying to build the workflow, however in the Category there is not  “Business Process Management”  The categories are "Feature and Plugin Development", "Featured", "Multi Module" , SAP Fiori Application" and "SAP Fiori Elements"  how may proceed with the Workflow tutorial?

      Thanks

      Luis

      Author's profile photo Archana Shukla
      Archana Shukla

      Hello Luis,

      Have you enabled and saved the Workflow Feature in Multi Cloud WebIDE ? Only when you have Workflow feature enabled, would you be able to see this category.

      Regards,
      Archana

      Author's profile photo Robert Shiels
      Robert Shiels

      Thanks, that also caught me out...

      Author's profile photo Iddo Rijsdijk
      Iddo Rijsdijk

      Please notice that the Workflow service no longer sits under Portal, but can be found directly by searching for Workflow.

      Author's profile photo Luis Rincones
      Luis Rincones

      Thanks to Archana Shukla for the information. Now I am able to see the image at the workflow editor, however when I try to deploy I get the following message:

      2:25:18 PM (Deployment) Your workflow MyFirstWorkFlow could not be deployed. User does not have sufficient privileges.

      I applied the solution indicated by “ Deeksha Ramesh” Many Thanks Deeksha . I did close the browser, reinitiate my computer, However I continue to get the above message.

       

      I appreciate any information that may help me to work this out.

      Thanks and kind regards

      Luis

      Author's profile photo Luis Rincones
      Luis Rincones

      I am getting the following message:

      3:25:03 PM (destination) Destination 'webide_di' is either not a Web IDE destination or not valid because the WebIDEUsage or URL properties are missing in the destination settings.

      Check your destination settings in the SAP Cloud Platform Cockpit.

      Below are the destination settings, I believe those are OK, please let me know what is missing?

       

      Name: bpmworkflowruntime

      Type: HTTP

      Description: bpmworkflowruntime

      *URL: https://bpmworkflowruntimewfs-p003103trial.hanatrial.ondemand.com

      Proxy Type: Internet

      Authentication: AppToAppSSO

      Additional Properties: WebIDEEnabled  true

      Default JDK truststore

       

      Author's profile photo Christian Loos
      Christian Loos
      Blog Post Author

      Try this: Edit the destination (just do a dummy change on the description) and save it again.

      Author's profile photo Theresa Schmid
      Theresa Schmid

      Hi,

      maybe you can help me.

      I tried to use the bpmworkflowruntime API in an app.

      When I use this method which includes the ajax url: "//bpmworkflowruntime/v1/task-instances/" I always get an 503 error, and I don't know why.

      Is that related to the destination? Do I have to maintain certain entries for this? A project in the workspace can access the bpmruntime, but the new project cannot. The destination is also stored in the xs-app.json.

       

      Thank you!

       

      Author's profile photo Luis Rincones
      Luis Rincones

      Hi Christian thanks for the tip.

      I was able to eliminate the message for the connections the the parameter  "WebIDEUsage" had a value of true in "webide_di" and did not have a value in the "bpmworkflowruntime" was not set, for both I used "odata_gen" as the value for "WebIDEUsage".

      However I still get this message when deploying

      9:11:30 PM (Deployment) Your workflow MyFirstWorkFlow could not be deployed. User does not have sufficient privileges.

      Regards

       

      Luis

      Author's profile photo Christian Loos
      Christian Loos
      Blog Post Author

      You should not need the WebIDEUsage parameter at all.

      Here is how the destination should look:

      Also make sure that your user has the WorkflowDeveloper role assigned (and that you have logged off/logged back in after assigning the role).

      Author's profile photo Vibhor Garg
      Vibhor Garg

      Hello Christian,

      I am getting error "User does not have sufficient privileges". I have added all the roles to my id under service workflow > configure service.

      Initially I thought may be activation of these services takes time so I even waited for a day but I am still getting this error.

      Please suggest how to proceed.

      Regards,

      Vibhor

       

      Author's profile photo Christian Loos
      Christian Loos
      Blog Post Author

      Do you get the error on deployment?

      Please double check the role assignment (especially WorkflowDeveloper) and then log off and log on again.

       

      Author's profile photo Vibhor Garg
      Vibhor Garg

      Hello Christian,

       

      Thanks for your response.

       

      I have already assigned all the required roles and now getting below errors.

       

      ‎09‎:‎41‎:‎47 (destination) Destination 'bpmworkflowruntime' is either not a Web IDE destination or not valid because the WebIDEUsage or URL properties are missing in the destination settings.
      Check your destination settings in the SAP Cloud Platform Cockpit.
      ‎09‎:‎41‎:‎47 (destination) Destination 'webide_di' is either not a Web IDE destination or not valid because the WebIDEUsage or URL properties are missing in the destination settings.
      Check your destination settings in the SAP Cloud Platform Cockpit

       

      I checked and confirm that WebIDEUsage is set to TRUE for "bpmworkflowruntime" and "webide_di". Please find screen-shots for reference.

       

      Please help as I have been unable to move forward.

       

      Regards,

      Vibhor

       

      Author's profile photo Christian Loos
      Christian Loos
      Blog Post Author

      Hi,

       

      You could try to just change the value for "description" in the "bpmworkflowruntime" description (put in a space and remove it), then save the destination. This might help.

      You are using the Web IDE Fullstack edition, right?

      Christian

      Author's profile photo Vibhor Garg
      Vibhor Garg

      Hello Christian,

      As suggested by you, I made change in "bpmworkflowruntime" description, saved it but it didn't help. I am still getting the same error (deployment error).

      I have exhausted options to make this very first WF work,

      Also, yes I am using Web IDE Fullstack edition.

      Please suggest.

      Regards,

      Vibhor

      Author's profile photo Christian Loos
      Christian Loos
      Blog Post Author

      The messages regarding the destinations are just warnings.

      If you still getting the HTTP 403 error on deployment of the workflow please check the authorizations again: https://help.sap.com/viewer/e84bfa716bd4463eb9fdb810d7a1aa97/Cloud/en-US/103f2b307af142e5a91368c1539dea57.html

       

      Author's profile photo Arjun Singh Thakur
      Arjun Singh Thakur

      Hello Christian,

       

      Thanks for your blog.

      I am getting an error while deploying my workflow. The error says "Error while fetching XSRF token". Can you please advise how to resolve it.

      So far i have created a simple workflow with start and stop event only and when i try to deploy it, i get the error. Please help.

       

      Author's profile photo Christian Loos
      Christian Loos
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Arjun,

       

      can you check the destination configuration as described in my comments above?

       

      Regards,

      Christian

      Author's profile photo Shamiullah Mohammed
      Shamiullah Mohammed

      Hi Christan,

      One basic question ?

      Whether it is possible to migrate on-premise BPM workflow on to Cloud Platform Workflows.

       

      BR,

      Shami

      Author's profile photo Christian Loos
      Christian Loos
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Shami,

      There is no automated migration, since the underlying engines are really different.

      So the workflow has to be re-modelled.

      However, if you have Java services or SAPUI5 views for the user tasks, these could be migrated with some manual effort.

      Regards,
      Christian