RE: [bpel-dev] Show more details

[Kevin McGuire <Kevin_McGuire@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi guys,

Good discussion thread.  We are
definitely open to improvements here.

Just recently, James Moody and I were
discussing the very same issue about the partner for an invoke/receive/reply
not being easely understandable from the diagram alone.   I notice
that whenever I try to explain a BPEL process to someone by looking at
the editor, I have to rely on either my memory or hints in the activity
names.

In a previous incarnation of the editor (in WSAD-IE 5.1) we had an added
layer with partner and var lists down the side.  Selecting an invoke
would draw a line to the corresponding partner, selecting a partner would
show all activities which use it, etc.  That turned out to be, well
to be honest, terrible.  The diagram quickly became incomprehensible
with these lines all over the place and it was difficult to implement.
 So we just backed out of it completely in the new editor.

Still, we recognize the need for this
information to be part of the diagram.

Some random thoughts:

- A simple solution I suggested was
that we print the partner name in the activity itself.

- As for the interface, perhaps the
partner list is the place to do that, rather than showing that at the activity
level.

- Bruno, we discussed at some point
a long time ago a tabbed view approach.  We've generally stayed away
from tabbed views in WebSphere Integration Developer (from whence this
code came), so that's the history, but its worth considering anew.

- A related issue is one of publishing.
 The more you can make the diagram self-explanatory, the easier it
is to publish since just printing the diagram is almost enough.

- However, Bruno as you mentioned, a
big concern whenever we play with the information shown in the activities
is that as the diagram becomes larger it quickly becomes unreadable, especially
as you add more and more scopes.  You end up only being able to realistically
see a small part.

- We could consider mechanisms for able
to optionally show additional information in the activities (e.g. a toggle
which shows interfaces), but generally speaking such mechanisms are tricky
to pull off that they don't become a burden for the user to manage. 

What I'd suggest we do is come up with
an initial list of the most important information that one needs to be
"evident" in order to understand a BPEL diagram.  Is it
just partner?  Is it partner and interface?  Var access?

Cheers,
Kevin McGuire
WID & WSADIE UI Development Lead

Bruno Wassermann <B.Wassermann@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent by: bpel-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx

03/10/2006 07:11 AM

Please respond to
"B.Wassermann" and "BPEL Designer project developer discussions."

To	"'BPEL Designer project developer discussions.'" <bpel-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx>
cc
Subject	RE: [bpel-dev] Show more details

Hi,
 
I would just like to add my
two cents to Philipp’s suggestion. Adding information about partners,
namespaces, etc. to the process map is a great idea until you get users
who develop really large workflows with hundreds of activities and dozens
of partners. To cater for such cases, you would need to figure out how
to represent this information without leading to a (further) explosion
of the graphical representation and making the information easily accessible
at the same time; this could be a tough one. 
 
An alternative might be to
have a tabbed editor providing an overview page that contains representations
about partners, global variables and namespaces. This page can then also
allow you to explore each of these elements in more detail. An activity
figure or its properties view should then provide you a link to these elements
(i.e. partner, variables) for convenience. That’s just one possible idea
though and I am sure there are many other ways. 
 
Regards,
 
-- Bruno

---

From: bpel-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:bpel-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Philipp Tiedt1
Sent: 10 March 2006 11:47
To: bpel-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bpel-dev] Show more details
 

Hi, 

One of the concerns I heard about the BPEL designer is that there is not
enough information displayed in the canvas of the editor. 

http://philipptiedt.blogspot.com/2006/02/quick-view-on-bpel-designer.html#links

Looking at other visual editors (e.g. Class diagramm editor) you will find
more details displayed in the figures which gives you a more detailed insight.
I was just wondering if this could be of any value for the BPEL editor
as well. 
I could imagine having the partner of an invoke activity displayed in the
figure as well as displaying the interface for recieve and reply. Propbably
this would be customizable, so the user could decide which details they
actually want  to see and which should be hidden. Any more ideas?
Is anything planed like that?

Regards, 
-philipp 

Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Best regards
- Philipp Tiedt
_____________________________________
Software Engineer II4BPEL 
Information Management
IBM Deutschland Entwicklung GmbH
Schoenaicher Str. 220, 71032 Boeblingen
Phone: +49 (0) 7031-16-2786

Mail: philipp_tiedt@xxxxxxxxxx
Blog: http://philipptiedt.blogspot.com

"Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down
new roads armed with nothing but their own vision"      
    -- Ayn Rand
                    
                     
                     
                     
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