In the last chapter, we looked at the elements that comprise a workflow definition and discussed how to create a workflow definition. In this chapter, we introduce the Kaleo Workflow Designer for Liferay EE which allows you to create workflow definitions using an intuitive UI. Using the workflow designer saves you the time and trouble of having to deal directly with the XML.
Developers who are used to working with XML are generally able to create workflow definitions. Other users may not be so comfortable with it. In fact, even skilled developers can make mistakes that break a definition and require time to troubleshoot. To help streamline the creation of workflow definitions and empower more users to create custom workflows, Liferay provides the Kaleo Workflow Designer in Liferay 6.1 EE.
There are two pieces to the workflow designer: Kaleo Forms and Kaleo Designer. Kaleo Forms is an extension of the Dynamic Data Lists feature (covered in chapter 9). This enables you to create web forms and basic applications, then apply a workflow to govern the processing of those forms. Kaleo Designer is a drag and drop interface for creating new workflow definitions. It can be used in conjunction with Kaleo Forms or standalone to create workflow definitions without having to write XML.
Let’s look at Kaleo Forms first.