Web Page

As an alternative to User Dialogs, you can display Web Pages or other web resources to the user of an Axon Ivy process application in a browser to let him or her interact with the executed process.

Such content is embedded within a business process by using end pages for various elements in a process (Process End Page, a Task Switch Event, or a Task Switch Gateway element). When the process reaches such an element, then the defined content is presented to the user.

You are free to use HTML-based content (plain HTML, JSP) or other resources (such as images, text files, and many more) as long as they can be displayed in a web browser.

Warning

When you re-use resources like JSP pages in different process elements, you need to carefully consider how to integrate the content with the process. When you access members of the data class (e.g., in the JSP) you must ensure that this member is accessible in all processes that use the resource. Furthermore, in Web Page elements you need to ensure that

  • there is a way to continue with the process, e.g., an out-link, and

  • this continuation is valid in all use cases of the resource.

Warning

Please bear in mind that web pages can only be used if a single HTTP request is available from the client. This means that you cannot use web pages if at least one of the following conditions apply:

  • The current request was not triggered by HTTP (e.g., started by an Event Bean).

  • The current task is executed by SYSTEM.

  • The process is running in a parallel execution section, e.g., after a Split element.

Creating and Editing Web Pages From Within the Process

A web page can be created or accessed directly from the process. Open the inscription of any page-capable process element. Depending on whether the page is already defined or not, you will be presented with either of the two scenarios described below.

end-page-inscription

No Page Has Been Specified Yet

You can define the Web Page that should be displayed by using one of the following three methods:

  1. Enter the path to an existing page manually. Specify a path to a web content file (e.g., commonPages/infoPage.html). Web content paths are always specified relative to the webContent folder of the current project. If you enter a path to a non-existing web content resource, then pressing the open-file button will create an empty file at the specified location in the webContent folder and open Eclipse’s default editor on it.

  2. Select an existing page from the CMS by using the browser button. You can select any file, but a wrong type error will be displayed if the selected content object is not suitable as a page.

A Page is Already Specified

Click on open-file to open the specified page with the system’s default editor so that you can edit its contents. You can change the default editor for any file type by opening Window/Preferences and navigating to /General/Editors/File Associations.

Alternatively, you can use the browser button to select an entirely different page to be displayed.

You can also edit the specified path manually if you like.

JSP Page

Inside of a JSP page, you can make use of the Environment Variable Ivy. It is imported and declared as follows:

<%@ page import="ch.ivyteam.ivy.page.engine.jsp.IvyJSP"%>
<jsp:useBean id="ivy" class="ch.ivyteam.ivy.page.engine.jsp.IvyJSP" scope="session"/>

You can also use the in object (i.e., process data) of the process where the associated process element is located. You can access the process data by using the ivy.html.get() method, e.g.,

<%=ivy.cms.co("myUri")"%>
<%=ivy.html.get("in.myString")%>

Furthermore, you can insert references to content from the webContent directory into your JSP content objects, e.g.,

<jsp:include page="/jspToInclude/include.jsp" />
<img src="images/myImage.jpg" >

Web Pages Storage

The page that is displayed is stored in the webContent folder of the project.

Pages in the web content folder can be stored in any hierarchy below the project’s web content folder (it is not allowed to use or reference content that is stored outside the project’s web content folder). You can use any type as long as it is possible to render it in the user’s browser.

Note

Some browsers delegate the displaying of certain file types to plugins and/or applications depending on the configuration of the client. Thus, this behavior cannot be controlled by Ivy.

Note

Web Pages can be accessed without starting a process. This allows you to create for example a translated start page with some process start links. See also chapter display cms content.