Case Task

Introduction

In Flowable, Case Tasks are used to create new case instances. As soon as the task is activated, a new case instance is created.

Case tasks are completed once the newly created case is completed unless the Blocking attribute is set to false.

Properties

General

Common

Attribute	Type	Description	Category
Model Id	Text	Model Id identifies the element within the process model.	The model id, name and documentation properties can be found on any element. They are used respectively to uniquely identify the case task, to give it a user-friendly name and to add a free-form description.
Name	Text	The name of the element. This is the name displayed in the diagram.
Documentation	Multiline Text	A free-form text that can be used to explain details about the particular element.

Case

Attribute	Type	Description	Category
Case reference	Reference	The Case model reference referring to the CMMN Case that is to start as this Case task moves to state ACTIVE.	Reference to the CMMN case model of which a case instance will be started when this case task is executed.
In same deployment	Boolean	Set it to true if the referenced definition should be referenced from within the same app deployment. Set it to false to always use the newest definition.	The Same deployment flag is used to indicate that the CMMN case model to be used for starting the new instance is part of the same app deployment package as where the current BPMN model is in. If unchecked, the latest version is used which can come from an app that is deployed at a later point in time. The Fallback to default tenant indicates that the deployed CMMN case model will be taken from the default tenant if the CMMN case model is not deployed in the tenant where the current process instance is running in. This is only relevant if Flowable is set up in multi-tenant mode.
Fallback to default tenant	Boolean	Indicates that the new instance will be created with the default tenant if it is not available on the current tenant. This is only relevant if the application runs multiple tenants.
Case name	Text	An optional run-time expression for the name of the started Case Work Item. If left empty, defaults to the value of the Name attribute under Common Attributes.	The case instance that is started when this case task is executed can get a custom name by setting the Instance name. The case instance can also get a business key, which is a textual value that can be used to query and find easily the relevant instance. The key typically has a business meaning. If the Inherit business key option is checked, the business key of the current case instance will be copied into the new case instance. If needed, the ID of the newly created case instance can be stored in a variable with the Case ID variable option.
Business key	Text	An expression that resolves to a business key for the child case instance.
Inherit business key	Boolean	Inherit the business key from the parent process.
Case ID variable	Text	An optional variable that holds the ID of the created case instance.

Variable Mapping

Attribute	Type	Description	Category
In	VariableMapping	An optional input parameter map. Allows the mapping of parameters and variables which will then be available in the newly created instance.
Out	VariableMapping	An optional output parameter map. Allows to store variables of the case back to the parent instance when the child instance completes.

Multi Instance

Multi instance

Attribute	Type	Description	Category
Multi instance type	Selection: None Parallel Sequential	The type of multi-instance: default is 'None' meaning a single instance is created at runtime. Select either 'Parallel' or 'Sequential' if you want multiple instances to be created.	Multi-instance is used to define the repetition of this case task at runtime. With multi-instance it is possible to have multiple case instances, either sequentially after each other where each case instance is started after the previous is completed or in parallel where the case instances are started all at once and exist concurrently. For example, when referencing a collection one case instance is created for each element of that collection.
Collection	Text	References a collection variable (for example a JSON array variable) by its name or using an expression that resolves to a collection.
Element variable	Text	The name of the variable where the currently processed element from the multi-instance collection configured above will be stored (for example, 'invoicePosition'). The element can then be accessed through an expression, e.g., ${invoicePosition}.
Element index variable	Text	The name of the variable where the index of the currently processed item from the multi-instance collection will be stored, for example, 'itemIndex'. The index is a number starting with 0 which is increased with every element that is being created. The index can then be accessed through an expression, e.g., ${itemIndex} further on in the process.
Cardinality	Text	A fixed number or an expression that resolved to an integer that controls the number of instances that will be created. This is typically used when there is no collection available or needed.
Completion condition	Text	An expression that should resolve to a boolean value. When evaluating to true, the remaining activity instances will be removed and the process instance will continue.

Variable aggregation

Attribute	Type	Description	Category
Variable Aggregations	List	Define an aggregation. Each element in this list will result in one aggregation variable.	When having multiple instances of this case task, there is often a need to create an aggregation of the variables created and/or updated in each instance. With variable aggregation, a JSON variable can be created that after all instances have been completed contains the summary of all the used variables. This is needed because typically variables are persisted locally, to avoid clashes on the process instance level. Alternatively, an 'overview' variable can be created while the instances are still unfinished. Each aggregation consists of one or multiple definitions that map instance variables of one instance to the single aggregation variable.

Advanced

Attribute	Type	Description	Category
Optimize for only automatic steps	Boolean	(Advanced setting, only check it if you understand the implications) If checked, this instructs the Flowable engine that the multi-instance only contains automatic tasks and no wait states. In this situation, an asynchronous job is created when the multi-instance activity is entered that keeps checking if all instances are completed and completes the multi-instance. The benefit of this approach is that it is light on resources versus alternatives and doesn't lead to optimistic locking exceptions.

Advanced

Execution

Attribute	Type	Description	Category
Skip expression	Text	If the Skip expression evaluates to true, the flow is taken regardless of any condition. It is required to opt-in to this feature by setting a variable _FLOWABLE_SKIP_EXPRESSION_ENABLED with the Boolean value true on the process instance.	When the Skip expression resolves to true, this case task will not be executed at runtime. The Include in history flag can be used to store the historical entry of this case task when running with a history level that normally would not store the execution of the case task. Note that this flag has no effect when running with history level 'none'.
Include in history	Boolean	When the history level is set to "instance" or "task" level with this property it can be configured if this activity instance should be included in the historic activity data.
Is for compensation	Boolean	Determines whether the activity can serve as a compensation for another activity.	A BPMN transaction is a set of activities that logically belongs together. Transactions can be cancelled through the Cancel End Event and handled through the Cancel Intermediate Boundary Event. The Is for compensation field can be used to indicate that the subprocess is meant as compensation steps for another activity.
Asynchronous	Boolean	When enabled, the activity will be started as an asynchronous job. The process state is persisted before this element is executed. Then, the process execution will be resumed asynchroneously. This can be used when the execution an activity takes a long time to return the UI to the user quicker in case the user does not need to see the next step immediately. However, if an error occurs before the following wait state, there will be no direct user feedback. Please refer to the documentation for more details.	When making a case task asynchronous, the start the case instance will be handled asynchronously in the background. Choose exclusive to avoid other asynchronous steps of this process instance to run at the same time. When Leave asynchronously is enabled, the activity will be left as an asynchronous job. This means that the activity is ended asynchronously.
Exclusive	Boolean	Determines whether the activity or process is run as an exclusive job. An exclusive job makes sure that no other asynchronous exclusive activities within the same process are performed at the same time. This helps to prevent failing jobs in concurrent scenarios.
Leave asynchronously	Boolean	When enabled, the activity will be left as an asynchronous job. This means that the activity is ended asynchronously, including end execution listeners. Please refer to the documentation for more details.
Leave exclusive	Boolean	Determines whether the activity should leave as an exclusive job. An exclusive job makes sure that no other asynchronous exclusive activities within the same process are performed at the same time. This helps to prevent failing jobs in concurrent scenarios.
Job Category	Text	When set, the underlying generated job will have a Job Category, which will be executed only by Application Servers, where the Process Engine has enabledJobCategories set to this category.

Listeners

Attribute	Type	Description	Category
Execution listeners	List	Allows invoking custom after certain lifecycle events. Start: Executes after the activity has been started. End: Executes after the activity was completed. Transition: When defined on a sequence flow, executes once the flow is transition is taken.	Execution listeners are used to add logic on certain lifecycle events. Typically it is used to add extra technical logic which shouldn't be visible in the BPMN process model.

Visual

Attribute	Type	Description	Category
Background color	Color	The background color of the element in the diagram.	Visual properties that determine how the case task is shown in the diagram. This has no impact on the runtime execution.
Font size	Selection: 8 9 10 11 12 14 18 20 24 36 48 72	Font size.
Font weight	Selection: Normal Bold	Select the style between bold and normal.
Font style	Selection: Normal Italic	Select the style between italic and normal.
Font color	Color	Select a font color.
Border color	Color	The border color of the element in the diagram.

List Attribute Details

In

Attribute	Type	Description
Source variable	Text	The name of the variable that should be mapped to the target variable
Source Expression	Text	Instead of a variable, an expression can be used to resolve to a value, which is used to map into the target variable.
Target variable	Text	The name of the variable into which the source variable or expression is mapped.

Out

Attribute	Type	Description
Source variable	Text	The name of the variable that should be mapped to the target variable
Source Expression	Text	Instead of a variable, an expression can be used to resolve to a value, which is used to map into the target variable.
Target variable	Text	The name of the variable into which the source variable or expression is mapped.

Variable Aggregations

Attribute	Type	Description
Target (Variable / Expression)	Text	The name of the target variable or an expression that gives the variable name
Type	Selection: Default Custom	The type of aggregation. Use 'default' to use the standard behavior of creating an aggregation JSON variable. Use 'custom' to define a delegate expression that will handle the aggregation. Please see the documentation for more information.
Delegate Expression	Text	Define a delegateExpression that will resolve to an instance of VariableAggregator (for BPMN) or PlanItemVariableAggregator (for CMMN). This instance will then be responsible for aggregating the variables.
Class	String	A class that implements VariableAggregator (for BPMN) or PlanItemVariableAggregator (for CMMN). This instance will then be responsible for aggregating the variables.
Target variable creation	Selection: Default Create overview variable Store as transient variable	Configures the way the aggregation variable is created. The 'Default' option creates the aggregation variable when all instances of the multi-instance have been completed. Use 'Create overview variable' to create a variable at the start of the multi-instance and keep it up to date during multi-instance exeution. Once all the instances are completed it will create a JSON variable in the same way as for Default target variable creation. Use the 'Store as transient variable' option to have the default behavior, but store the resulting aggregation variable transiently.
Variable Definitions	BasicFormList	property.loopVariableAggregation.definitions.description

Variable Definitions

Attribute	Type	Description
Source (Variable / Expression)	Text	The name of the source variable or an expression that provides the value
Target (Variable / Expression)	Text	The name of the aggregation variable or an expression that resolves to a variable name.

Execution listeners

Attribute	Type	Description
Event	Selection: Start End Take	The lifecycle event. The 'Take' event is only available for sequence flow.
Class	Text	Fully qualified classname of a class to be invoked when executing the task. The class must implement either JavaDelegate or ActivityBehavior.
Expression	Text	JUEL Expression to be executed when the task is started. Expressions allow you to interact with the backend by calling services, making calculations etc. You can find more information about expressions in the documentation.
Delegate expression	Text	Delegate Expression to be executed when the task is started. A delegate expression must resolve to a Java object, for instance a Spring bean. The object's class must implement either JavaDelegate or ActivityBehavior.
Fields	List

Fields

Attribute	Type	Description
Name	Text	The name of the element. This is the name displayed in the diagram.
String value	Text
Expression	Text	JUEL Expression to be executed when the task is started. Expressions allow you to interact with the backend by calling services, making calculations etc. You can find more information about expressions in the documentation.
String	Text