Preface

About This Manual

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This guide, iPlanet Process Manager, briefly discusses each component of Process Manager then discusses how to use Process Builder to build process definitions. Read this manual to learn how to build applications for Process Manager.

This manual assumes you have installed Process Builder on your system. For installation instructions, see the Process Manager Installation Guide.

It is recommended that you understand JavaScript.

The information in this guide is organized according to the following topics:

• "Overview of Process Builder Components"
• "Using Process Builder"
• "Advanced Scripting and Setting Up Searching"
• "Sample Applications"
• "Reference Material"

Overview of Process Builder Components

The first chapter of this manual provides an overview of the components in Process Builder:

• Chapter 1 "Overview of iPlanet Process Manager"

See this chapter for information about where to find information about components other than Process Builder.

Using Process Builder

The next nine chapters discuss how to use Process Builder:

• Chapter 2 "Introduction to Process Builder"
• Chapter 3 "Planning an Application"
• Chapter 4 "Creating an Application"
• Chapter 5 "Designing a Process Map"
• Chapter 6 "Defining Groups and Roles"
• Chapter 7 "Defining Data Fields"
• Chapter 8 "Designing Forms"
• Chapter 9 "Using Scripts"
• Chapter 10 "Deploying an Application"

Advanced Scripting and Setting Up Searching

The next three chapters provide more information on writing scripts and setting up searching:

• Chapter 11 "Advanced Techniques for Scripting"
• Chapter 12 "Scripting with EJB Components"
• Chapter 13 "Setting Up Searching"

Sample Applications

The next four chapters describe some of the sample applications included with Process Manager:

• Chapter 14 "The Data Sheet Application"
• Chapter 15 "The Office Setup Application"
• Chapter 16 "The Loan Management and Credit History Applications"
• Chapter 17 "The Insurance Claim Processing Application"

Reference Material

The remaining parts of this guide are reference material:

• Appendix A "JavaScript API Reference"
• Appendix B "Reserved Words"
• "Glossary"

Conventions Used in This Manual

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File and directory paths are given in Windows format (with backslashes separating directory names). For Unix versions, the directory paths are the same, except slashes are used instead of backslashes to separate directories.

This guide uses URLs of the form:

http://server.domain/path/file.html

In these URLs, server is the name of server on which you run your application; domain is your Internet domain name; path is the directory structure on the server; and file is an individual filename. Italic items in URLs are placeholders.

This guide uses the following font conventions:

• The monospace font is used for sample code and code listings, API and language elements (such as function names), file names, path names, directory names, and HTML tags.
• Italic type is used for book titles, emphasis, variables and placeholders, and words used in the literal sense.
• Boldface type is used for glossary terms

Viewing Documentation

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For your convenience, Process Manager manuals are provided in both PDF and HTML formats. You can access the documentation from the Help menu of each Process Manager component. You can access context-sensitive documentation by clicking a Help button or link in each Process Manager component.

The location of the documentation in your distribution is at:

iPM_Install_Dir/builder/manual

The documentation is also available at the Sun documentation web site:

http://docs.sun.com/

For More Information

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Table 1 summarizes the tasks involved in using Process Manager and explains where to go for more information about each task.

Table 1    Summary of Process Manager Components 

Do What?	Which Process Manager Component?	Comments
Install Process Manager	Installation component	For more information about installing Process Manager, see the Process Manager Installation Guide
Build a process application	Process Builder	Process Builder is a graphical user interface for building process applications. For more information, read the Process Builder's Guide.
Perform the steps in a process	Process Express	Process Express is a web-based interface used by the people who perform tasks in a process. It includes a customized worklist for each qualified user as well as a web-based form for each task. For more information about Process Express, see the Process Express User's Guide.
Administer a process application	Process Administrator and Business Manager	Process Administrator and Business Manager are a set of web-based interfaces for performing administration tasks such as: creating, deleting, and joining Process Manager clusters, and administering process applications deployed to clusters. For more information, read the Process Administrator's and Business Manager's Guide.
Build Java custom data fields and activities in Java. Also use the Java API to programmatically interact with Process Manager.	Process Manager Java classes and API which are available in a JAR file.	Java programmers can build custom data fields and custom activities in Java that can be imported into the Process Builder. Programmers can also create Java applications that embed Process Manager functionality or present customized front ends to Process Manager. Additionally, programmers can create SOAP clients that access web services APIs exposed by Process Manager applications. For more information, see For more information, see the Process Manager Programmer's Guide.

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Note	Process Manager runs on top of iPlanet Application Server (iAS). For more information about iAS and other iPlanet products, see the Sun documentation web site at http://docs.sun.com/.

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