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Chapter 10 Deploying an Application

This chapter describes how to deploy an application. Deployment is specified through the Deployment Dialog Box. After you deploy an application and test it, you'll typically need to change the application and redeploy it.

This chapter describes the following topics:


Before You Deploy
Deploying an application makes it available to test and use. However, before you deploy an application, make sure the following tasks have been performed:

Set up and Configure PAE
Before you can deploy an application, you must have all the pieces of PAE installed and configured, including the corporate user directory, the database, and Process Administrator. In addition, you must have a cluster set up to deploy it to. For more information on creating a cluster, see the Administrator's Guide.

You must also have your cluster information included in your preferences.ini file. For more information, see "The preferences.ini File" on page 31.

Deploy Subprocesses First
If you are using subprocesses, the child process must be deployed before you use it in a parent process. In this way, all expected components are in place when you deploy the parent process.

Save the Process Map, If Desired
When an administrator is viewing the Work Items List produced by the Work Items Statistics page, it's convenient for the administrator to have an image of the process map. If you want to provide this image, you must save the process map as a jpeg file before you deploy the application. To save the process map as a jpeg file, open the process map and choose "Save Process Map to JPEG" from the Applications menu.

Fix Application Errors
Once you have built an application and filled in the necessary configuration information, you can begin deploying the application. During the deployment process, your application syntax is checked. If errors are generated, you must correct them before you can deploy the application. If only warnings are generated (and no errors are generated), you are allowed to deploy the application. However, doing so might lead to problems using the application.


Steps for Deploying an Application
To deploy an application, perform the following steps:

  1. Click Deploy, or open the Application menu and choose Deploy.

    2. If errors are reported, you must fix them first. If no errors are reported, the Deploy Application dialog box appears. For details about this dialog box, see "The Deploy Application Dialog Box" on page 206.

  2. From the drop-down menu, select the cluster to which you want to deploy the application.

    3. If this is the first time you are deploying an application, the Authorization Required dialog box appears, prompting you to enter a Process Express username and password.

  3. Enter your PAE administration username and password.

    4. As an alternative, you can enter the username and password of someone with deployment privileges. By default, any administrator can deploy an application. A sample entry is shown in Figure 10.1:

    Figure 10.1    The Authorization Required dialog box

  4. Click OK to close the Authorization Required dialog box.

  5. In the Deploy Application dialog box, the database user and database password fields are filled in automatically. Change them if necessary.

  6. Select a stage for deployment. If you are still designing the application, you typically want to deploy it to Development. If the application is ready for people to use, deploy it to Production.

  7. Choose whether the application is in testing mode or not.

    8. If testing mode is set to true, all work items in the application are assigned to the creator of the process instance. If set to false, the work items are assigned to the groups and user roles defined in the application.

  8. Click OK.

    9. If deployment succeeds, an Information dialog box appears. A sample is shown in Figure 10.2:

    Figure 10.2    A successful deployment brings up the Information dialog box

  9. From the Information dialog box, you have two main choices:
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Note: In order for the links to work on Solaris, you must add the following line in your preferences.ini file:

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where netscape_root is the directory in which your Netscape browser is installed. Without the previous line, your browser will not open when you click the links in the Information dialog box.

After you deploy the application, it is available for use.


The Deploy Application Dialog Box
Figure 10.3 shows the Deploy Application dialog box, where you enter deployment information.

Figure 10.3    The Deploy Application dialog box

Name. The name of the application that appears in the list of applications. You cannot edit this field.

Description. A longer description of the application. This description appears in Process Express. The user has to have enough information between the Display Name and the Description to identify the application they want from a list of applications, so it's important to make these two fields descriptive.

Display Name. The longer, more descriptive name displayed by Process Express. If you are updating an existing application by saving it with a new application name, you can still keep the same Display Name, so that the name users see can be the same from version to version of the application.

Database Table. The table in the database where the data for the application is stored. This table is created automatically when you deploy the application. The table name for each application must be unique. This field defaults to the application name. Because the table name can be no more than 15 characters long, if your application name is longer, it truncates the application name. This field is required.

Database User. The user name for accessing the database where the application's data is stored. This field is required. This user can be your cluster database user, or you can use a more restrictive application-specific database user. The default is the cluster database user.

Database Password. The password used to access the database. This field is required. The default is the cluster database user password.

Deployment Stage. Indicates whether the application is in Development or in Production. The deployment stage governs what you can change in the application. In Development, you can change all application information. In Production, there are some application changes you are not allowed to make.

Testing Mode. This property designates whether the application is in testing mode or not. If set to true, the application is in testing mode. In testing mode all work items are assigned to the process initiator. You can deploy in testing mode in either the Development or Production stage. This field is required.


Revising a Deployed Application
The deployment stage affects the types of revisions you can make to an application. You can deploy an application either to Development or to Production:

Summary of Allowed Revisions
This section lists the different aspects of an application that you can change. The summary lists are grouped as follows:

Changes to Activities and Transitions
Table 10.1 summarizes the revisions allowed to activities and transitions, depending on the application's deployment stage.

Table 10.1 Changes allowed to application's activities and transitions
Task
Development Stage
Production Stage
Add activity
Allowed
Allowed
Add transition
Allowed
Allowed
Remove activity
Allowed
Not allowed
Remove transition
Allowed
Allowed
Rename activity
Allowed
Not allowed
Rename transition
Allowed
Allowed
Remove entry or exit point
Allowed
Allowed

Changes to Data Elements
Table 10.2 summarizes the revisions allowed to data elements, depending on the application's deployment stage.

Table 10.2 Changes allowed to application's data elements
Task
Development Stage
Production Stage
Add data field
Allowed
Allowed
Remove data field
Allowed
Not allowed
Rename data field
Allowed
Not allowed
Change data field type
Allowed
Not allowed
Change data field size
Allowed
Not allowed
Change data field properties
Allowed
Allowed only on the following properties:
Allow Search
Default Value
Display Name
Description
Help Message
On Blur
On Focus
On Value Change

Changes to Forms, Scripts, and Content Store
Table 10.3 summarizes the changes allowed to forms, scripts, and the content store in deployed applications. These changes are allowed in both the development stage and in the production stage.

Table 10.3 Changes allowed in both development and production stages
Allowed form changes
Allowed script changes
Allowed content store changes
Add form
Add scripts
Change content store URL
Edit form
Edit scripts
Change content store authorization
Delete form
Delete scripts

Allow user access to form


Remove user access to form


Deployed Applications Compared with Local Copies
In most cases, you want to edit the deployed version of an application, not the version stored locally. You'll want to do this because the deployed version is usually the most current. If you edit the local version and then deploy it, you will overwrite your current deployed version.

Note
If your local version has a unique application ID that differs from that of your deployed version, you will not be allowed to deploy the local version.

Using a Backup of a Local Application
When you open a deployed application, Process Builder saves a copy of the application locally, in the builder/Applications/application_name folder. But you may already have a version of the same application stored locally. In that case, opening the deployed version will launch a dialog box that asks whether you want to overwrite the local version with the deployed version.

If you choose to overwrite the local version, Process Builder saves a copy of the local version in a file called application_name_backup.zip. In this way, you'll have a backup of your local version in case you need to revert to it. For example, the deployed version might be corrupted, or it might not contain recent changes that you made to the local version. To revert to the local backup version, unzip the file.

Saving a Local Application to Another Name
Sometimes you want to make changes to an application, but the changes are not allowed at the deployment stage. In that case, use Save As to rename the application, and then make the changes in the new application.

To rename an application, perform the following steps:

  1. Open the most recent version of the application (usually the one deployed to the cluster).

  2. From the Application menu, choose Save As.

  3. In the dialog box that appears, rename the application.

    4. Note that you can use the same name if you save the application to a different local folder, but the new application will have a different unique ID. You will not be able to overwrite the deployed version of the application with your updated version, even though the name is the same, because the unique ID is different.

  4. In the application tree view, double-click the application name to access the properties.

  5. Make any changes required to the application, and redeploy under its new name.
Redeploying an Application
After you have deployed an application, you can change it and redeploy it.

When you redeploy an application, the application's stage (shown in Process Administrator) is set to the stage of the deployed application, not the locally stored application. For example, if the application in the cluster had a stage of Open, and the local application had a stage of Testing, the redeployed application's stage is set to Open. For more information on application stages, see the Administrator's Guide.

 

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