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Starting a Process via Task Resources

DSF-Team5/27/24About 2 min

Starting a Process via Task Resources

To start a BPMN process, a new Task resource must be created in the DSF FHIR server by sending an HTTP request in accordance with the FHIR RESTful API. Specifically, a create operation is required to generate the resource for the first time. The Task resource being sent must conform to the Task profile of the intended process and adhere to the ActivityDefinition's authorization rules.
There are two major ways of making this HTTP request:

  1. Using cURL
  2. Using the DSF FHIR server's web interface

Using cURL

To use cURL, an appropriate Task resource must be created and posted to the DSF FHIR server. There is a guide on creating Task Resources based on a StructureDefinition. A file named example-task.xml is available in tutorial-process/src/main/resources/fhir in the DSF Process Tutorial and can serve as a starting point. The solution branches of the tutorial can be consulted for a full example.

Below is a cURL command skeleton. All <>-Placeholders should be replaced with appropriate values. Host name depends on the instance that should be addressed.

Linux:

curl https://<instance-host-name>/fhir/Task \
--cacert <path/to/ca-certificate-file.pem> \
--cert <path/to/client-certificate-file.pem>:password \
--key <path/to/client-private-key-file.pem> \
-H "Content-Type: application/fhir+xml" \
-H "Accept: application/fhir+xml" \
-d @<path/to/example-task.xml>

Using the DSF FHIR Server's Web Interface

When accessing the web interface of a DSF FHIR server instance (e.g. https://instance-name/fhir), the DSF FHIR server can be queried using the FHIR RESTful API to return a list of all Draft Task Resources. These Task resources serve as templates for instantiating Task resources that initiate BPMN processes. Instead of performing the query manually, a predefined bookmark can be used to navigate to the query URL. A list of bookmarks is available in the top right corner of the web interface. Selecting the bookmark referencing ?_sort=_profile,identifier&status=draft under the Task section will display the list of all Draft Task Resources. From this list, the desired resource to start the BPMN process can be selected. A detailed view of the resource will be shown, allowing the specification of any necessary Task Input Parameters. If all required information is provided correctly, the process can be initiated by clicking Start Process.

For Draft Task Resources to be available, they must be included in the mapping for the BPMN process ID in ProcessPluginDefinition#getFhirResourcesByProcessId. Additional information can be found in the Process Plugin Definition.

Task

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