WorkflowDatabaseTiein/design/design.txt

eZ Component: WorkflowDatabaseTiein, Design
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
:Author: Sebastian Bergmann
:Revision: $Revision$
:Date: $Date$

Design Description
==================

The WorkflowDatabaseTiein component provides the functionality needed to load
and save a workflow definition from and to a relational database as well as an
implementation of the ezcWorkflowExecution interface to suspend and resume the
execution of a workflow to and from a relational database. It uses the
Database component interface with the database.


Database Schema
===============

- Workflow Definition

  - Table "workflow"

    When a new workflow is defined, a new row is inserted into the
    "workflow" table. The "workflow_id" is automatically assigned
    (AUTO_INCREMENT) and the "workflow_version" is set to "1".

    When an existing workflow is changed, a new row is inserted into the
    "workflow" table. The "workflow_id" is automatically assigned
    (AUTO_INCREMENT) and the "workflow_version" is incremented.

    The "workflow_version_is_latest" column serves as a flag for efficiently
    fetching the latest version of a workflow.

  - Table "node"

    When a new workflow is defined, a new row is inserted into the "node"
    table for every node of the workflow's graph.

    When an existing workflow is changed, a new row is inserted into the
    "node" table for every node of the workflow's graph.

  - Table "node_connection"

    The "node_connection" table connects the nodes from the "node" table.

  - Table "variable_handler"

    The "variable_handler" table stores the information about the variable
    handlers of a workflow.

- Workflow Execution

  - Table "execution"

    When the execution of a workflow is started, a new row is inserted into
    the "execution" table.

    When the execution of a workflow is ended, the corresponding rows are
    deleted from the "execution" and "execution_state" tables.

  - Table "execution_state"

    When the execution of a workflow is suspended, a new row is inserted into
    the "execution_state" table for each node of the workflow that is
    activated at the time.

    When the execution of a workflow is resumed, the corresponding rows are
    deleted from the "execution_state" table.


Main Classes
============

- ezcWorkflowDatabaseTieinDefinition

  This class saves and loads the definition of a workflow to and from a
  relational database.

    // Create a new workflow with name "Test".
    $workflow = new ezcWorkflow( 'Test' );
    // ...

    // Establish database connection.
    $db = ezcDbFactory::create( 'mysql://test@localhost/test' );
    $definition = new ezcWorkflowDatabaseTieinDefinition( $db );

    // Save workflow to the database (as version 1).
    $definition->save( $workflow );

    // Load (latest version of the) workflow from the database.
    $workflow = $definition->loadByName( 'Test' );

    // Save workflow to the database (as version 2).
    $definition->save( $workflow );

    // Load version 1 of the workflow from the database.
    $workflow = $definition->loadByName( 'Test', 1 );


- ezcWorkflowDatabaseTieinExecution

  This class implements the ezcWorkflowExecution to suspend and resume the
  execution of a workflow to and from a relational database.

    // Establish database connection.
    $db = ezcDbFactory::create( 'mysql://test@localhost/test' );
    $definition = new ezcWorkflowDatabaseTieinDefinition( $db );

    // Load (latest version of the) workflow from the database.
    $workflow = $definition->loadByName( 'Test' );

    // Start execution.
    $execution = new ezcWorkflowDatabaseTieinExecution( $db );
    $execution->setWorkflow( $workflow );
    $execution->start();

  The execution starts and continues until a wait state is reached (and no
  other state can be executed). Then the execution is suspended.

  The execution can be resumed once the data that the input node which caused
  the suspension is waiting for is available:

    // Establish database connection.
    $db = ezcDbFactory::create( 'mysql://test@localhost/test' );

    // Resume execution.
    $execution = new ezcWorkflowDatabaseTieinExecution( $db );
    $execution->resume( 1, array( 'choice' => true ) );