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activitiUtil.getProcessInstance(instanceId) returns null

tullo1

Hi

I try to start the ootb adhoc workflow from within a service task in alfresco.

When the service task is triggered the method call activitiUtil.getProcessInstance(instanceId) will always return null for an instanceId mapped to the adhoc worflow just started.

ActivitiTypeConverter
…
public WorkflowPath convert(Execution execution)
{
    String instanceId = execution.getProcessInstanceId();
    ProcessInstance instance = activitiUtil.getProcessInstance(instanceId);
    return convert(execution, instance);
}
‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

Could that be a transaction related problem?

BR
Andreas

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tullo1

This is what gets executed:
<code>
public ProcessInstance getProcessInstance(String id)
{
return runtimeService.createProcessInstanceQuery()
.processInstanceId(id)
.singleResult();
}
</code>

tullo1

And here is the code that creates the workflow
<code>
@Override
public void execute(DelegateExecution delegateExecution) throws Exception {
    final Object bpm_package = delegateExecution.getVariable("bpm_package");
    if (bpm_package instanceof ActivitiScriptNode) {
        ActivitiScriptNode asn = (ActivitiScriptNode) bpm_package;
        final NativeArray children = (NativeArray) asn.getChildren();
        for (int i = 0; i < children.getLength(); i++) {

            final ScriptNode node = (ScriptNode) children.get(i, children);

            Map<QName, Serializable> params = new HashMap<QName, Serializable>();
            params.put(WorkflowModel.PROP_DESCRIPTION, node.getName() + " needs to be reviewed again");
            Date dueDate = Calendar.getInstance().getTime();
            params.put(WorkflowModel.PROP_DUE_DATE, dueDate);
            params.put(WorkflowModel.PROP_PRIORITY, 3);

            final Object obj = delegateExecution.getVariables().get("initiator");
            if(obj != null) {
                ActivitiScriptNode person = (ActivitiScriptNode) obj;
                // triggers property fetching via NodeService
                person.getProperties();
                QName QNAME_INITIATOR = QName.createQName(NamespaceService.DEFAULT_URI, WorkflowConstants.PROP_INITIATOR);
                params.put(QNAME_INITIATOR, person);
                params.put(WorkflowModel.ASSOC_ASSIGNEE, person);
            }

            final NodeRef workflowPackage = getServiceRegistry().getWorkflowService().createPackage(null);
            params.put(WorkflowModel.ASSOC_PACKAGE, workflowPackage);
            getServiceRegistry().getNodeService().addChild(workflowPackage, node.getNodeRef(),
                    WorkflowModel.ASSOC_PACKAGE_CONTAINS, QName.createQName(NamespaceService.CONTENT_MODEL_1_0_URI,
                    QName.createValidLocalName((String) getServiceRegistry().getNodeService().getProperty(node.getNodeRef(), ContentModel.PROP_NAME))));
            final WorkflowDefinition adhocDef = getServiceRegistry().getWorkflowService().getDefinitionByName("activiti$activitiAdhoc");
            final WorkflowPath adhoc = getServiceRegistry().getWorkflowService().startWorkflow(adhocDef.getId(), params);

            if (log.isDebugEnabled())
                log.debug("###created ad-hoc notify workflow for node " + node.getName());
        }
    }
}
</code>

trademak

What's the value of "final WorkflowPath adhoc"?
Is the process instance started correctly?
At what point are you executing the get process instance logic?

Best regards,

tullo1

The execution does not make it that far as the NPE is thrown in the startWorkflow method which also calls the get process instance logic.

23:32:51,804 DEBUG [org.activiti.engine.impl.interceptor.LogInterceptor] — starting GetUnlockedTimersByDuedateCmd ——————————————————–
23:32:51,805 DEBUG [org.activiti.engine.impl.db.DbSqlSession] flush summary: 0 insert, 0 update, 0 delete.
23:32:51,805 DEBUG [org.activiti.engine.impl.db.DbSqlSession] now executing flush…
23:32:51,805 DEBUG [org.activiti.engine.impl.interceptor.LogInterceptor] — GetUnlockedTimersByDuedateCmd finished ——————————————————–
23:32:51,805 DEBUG [org.activiti.engine.impl.interceptor.LogInterceptor]
23:32:51,805 DEBUG [org.activiti.engine.impl.jobexecutor.AcquireJobsRunnable] job acquisition thread sleeping for 5000 millis
23:32:51,806 DEBUG [org.activiti.engine.impl.interceptor.CommandContext] Error while closing command context
java.lang.NullPointerException
at org.alfresco.repo.workflow.activiti.ActivitiTypeConverter.convert(ActivitiTypeConverter.java:300)
at org.alfresco.repo.workflow.activiti.ActivitiTypeConverter.convert(ActivitiTypeConverter.java:280)
at org.alfresco.repo.workflow.activiti.ActivitiWorkflowEngine.startWorkflow(ActivitiWorkflowEngine.java:995)
at org.alfresco.repo.workflow.WorkflowServiceImpl.startWorkflow(WorkflowServiceImpl.java:438)
….
stack trace can be found in the attached log file

debug screenshots http://ctrlv.in/261316 http://ctrlv.in/261320 http://ctrlv.in/261323

error_3.txt.zip

tullo1

I still need help with this issue, so any input is welcome!

And if it's a transaction thing, how can I solve that part of the problem?

trademak

So if I understand it correctly, you have a service task in your process definition that tries to get its own process instance entity?
Because the process instance is not stored yet at that moment that's not possible. You could make the service task asynchronous to resolve this. But why do you need the process instance entity reference?

Best regards,

tullo1

Not quite, I just show debugging info I was asked about further up.

What I want to do is to create new ad-hoc workflows for all the documents in the bpm_package when the task owner pushes the "For Revision" button and triggers the transitions to the service task. The result of that is the NPE shown here http://ctrlv.in/261323
1. In the service task I loop over the children in the bpm_package and try to create new ad-hoc workflows for all of them
2. The call to the startWorkflow method always results into the NPE http://ctrlv.in/261320
3. The debuging session shows that the NPE happens in the Activity engine code (Alfresco flavor) http://ctrlv.in/261316

Regards,
Andreas

frederikherema1

Do the started ad-hoc workflow have any user-tasks or receive-tasks in them? Or are you talking about the out-of-the-box adhoc-workflow. this can explain the NPE in some cases.

Anyhow, it's not the best of ideas to start workflows from within activiti-delegates, using the WorkflowService. Have you looked at a multi-instance call-activity?

tullo1

Exactly, it is the ootb alfresco adhoc workflow I am talking about. I'll try the call-activity and see if that can do the trick.

Regards, Andreas

ismaelgarcia

We are having the same problem with Alfresco 4.2.f (Activiti 5.13-alf-20130918). We start a new WF in a Alfresco ScriptTask and we are having the same NPE at the line:

Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
at org.alfresco.repo.workflow.activiti.ActivitiTypeConverter.convert(ActivitiTypeConverter.java:300)

We are planning the upgrade from 4.0e and have arround 2000 active workflows, so we cannot change the way the workflows are started in the active workflows.

We have created a minimal workflow to reproduce the behaviour, (WFTEST.bpmn), that has only one task and start an alfresco ootb adhoc workflow.

So far we have tested:
- Change the start workflow script for a Java service task (for testing purpose) and the error persist.
- Change the start workflow script for a Java service task (for testing purpose) and start the workflow using an new thread. The new workflow is started.

Regarding other alfresco versions:
- In Alfresco 4.2.a (Activiti 5.10), the script task is working, and the new workflow is started.
- In Alfresco 4.2.b (Activiti 5.10), the script task is working, , and the new workflow is started.
- In Alfresco 4.2.c (Activiti 5.10-14112012), Alfresco throws an error when we try to start WFTEST (maybe another alfresco bug)
- In Alfresco 4.2.d (Activiti 5.13-alf-20130709), the same error as in 4.2.f
- In Alfresco 4.2.e (Activiti 5.13-alf-20130918), the same error as in 4.2.f

We have also tryied the lastest activiti-alfresco version (5.13-alf-20140708) with Alfresco 4.2f without luck.

The log attached is generated by activating debug in alfresco/WEB-INF/classes/log4j.properties :
log4j.logger.org.alfresco.repo.jscript=debug
log4j.logger.org.alfresco.repo.jscript.ScriptLogger=debug
log4j.logger.org.activiti.engine=debug

Has anyone any guide to solve the problem?

Thanks in advance!

log42e.error_.txt.zip

WFTEST.bpmn_.txt.zip

frederikherema1

The processInstance that is passed to the convert(execution, instance) method, is fetched using the folowing code:

<br> ProcessInstance instance = activitiUtil.getProcessInstance(instanceId);<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; return convert(execution, instance);<br>

I think the issue lies in the transaction/connection. The activitiUtil will query for a process instance based on id, ignoring the fact that the ProcessInstance entity is the execution itself. However, that entity is not yet committed in the DB, only flushed to the current open transaction. What is the transaction isolation level? Has is changed between the version of alfresco you used for testing?

If you're running a custom build of Alfresco, you can try to replace the offending convert method with the following, which actually prevent a query in case the execution IS a process-instance.

<br>public WorkflowPath convert(Execution execution)<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; {<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ProcessInstance instance;<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; String instanceId = execution.getProcessInstanceId();<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; if(instanceId.equals(execution.getId()) {<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; instance = (ProcessInstance) execution;<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; } else {<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; instance = activitiUtil.getProcessInstance(instanceId);<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; }<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; return convert(execution, instance);<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; }<br>

ismaelgarcia

Hi,

Thanks for the quick answer.. I already found another solution that works. Mabybe yours is better.. I'll try your aproach later.

I compared the activiti-afresco 5.13 with 5.10 to see what has changed and found in activiti-engine that the class:

<code>org/activiti/engine/impl/interceptor/CommandContextInterceptor.java</code>

now reuses the context to execute the commands and the old version (5.10 series) creates a new one always.

So, I changed this class to be as it was in 5.10 and now all the workflow creation issue is gone!

I don't know if this change may affect anything else. I've researched in github and found that this change was made in version 5.11, related to the improvement http://jira.codehaus.org/browse/ACT-1387.

My solution involves recompiling activiti-engine, and yours involes recompiling alfresco-repository.

I'll try your solution also, thanks,

Ismael Garcia

ismaelgarcia

frederikheremans,

I tried yout approach without luck…

After changing the "convert" function, the error is produced in :

<code>
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
        at org.alfresco.repo.workflow.activiti.ActivitiTypeConverter.convertToInstanceAndSetVariables(ActivitiTypeConverter.java:804)
        at org.alfresco.repo.workflow.activiti.ActivitiTypeConverter.convertAndSetVariables(ActivitiTypeConverter.java:260)
        at org.alfresco.repo.workflow.activiti.ActivitiTypeConverter.convert(ActivitiTypeConverter.java:307)
        at org.alfresco.repo.workflow.activiti.ActivitiTypeConverter.convert(ActivitiTypeConverter.java:295)
        at org.alfresco.repo.workflow.activiti.ActivitiWorkflowEngine.startWorkflow(ActivitiWorkflowEngine.java:995)
        at org.alfresco.repo.workflow.WorkflowServiceImpl.startWorkflow(WorkflowServiceImpl.java:438)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
</code>

because in the method :

<java>
    public WorkflowInstance convertAndSetVariables(ProcessInstance instance, Map<String, Object> collectedvariables)
    {
        if(instance == null)
            return null;

        HistoricProcessInstance historicInstance = historyService
         .createHistoricProcessInstanceQuery()
         .processInstanceId(instance.getId())
         .singleResult();

       return convertToInstanceAndSetVariables(historicInstance, collectedvariables);
    }
</java>

The "historicInstance" variable is null. I think it's caused by the same reason originally the variable "instance" was null in the "convert" method. Something related to transactions. Maybe the final solution must involve some work in the transaction level..

Anyway, your solution prevents a query, which is good, but the problem persists a little futher.

It you have any new ideas, I will try them.

Thanks anyway!