Reloading Flows at Runtime

[tohu]

Hello there!

I am using webflow 2.3.

I would like to reload my flow defintions (from xml) at runtime.
Since XmlFlowRegistryFactoryBean is no more and DefaultFlowRegistry is protected, I tried to implement an own Registry.

Before posting the Code, I'd like to know if there is another way to go. I already read some questions like this one, but found no answer. If there already is an answer somewhere, please let me know.

Nils

[tohu]

Ok, I got it by having a FlowService bean, knowing the default flowRegistry. It got this method:

public void register(String id, String path) {
		
		FileSystemResource resource=new FileSystemResource(servletContext.getRealPath(path));
		
		System.out.println("PATH:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::"+
				servletContext.getRealPath("/WEB-INF/flows/purchase-flow.xml")+" exists?: "+ resource.exists());
		
		FlowDefinitionResource flowDefinitionResource = new FlowDefinitionResource(id, resource, null);
		XmlFlowModelBuilder flowModelBuilder = new XmlFlowModelBuilder(flowDefinitionResource.getPath(), null);
		DefaultFlowModelHolder flowModelHolder = new DefaultFlowModelHolder(flowModelBuilder);
		FlowModelFlowBuilder flowBuilder=new FlowModelFlowBuilder(flowModelHolder);
		//attributes=null .... ??
		FlowBuilderContextImpl flowBuilderContext= new FlowBuilderContextImpl(path, CollectionUtils.EMPTY_ATTRIBUTE_MAP, flowRegistry, flowBuilderServices);
		DefaultFlowHolder definitionHolder = new DefaultFlowHolder(new FlowAssembler(flowBuilder, flowBuilderContext));
		flowRegistry.registerFlowDefinition(definitionHolder);
	}

The init-method of FlowService is this one:

public void init() {
		register("flow", "/WEB-INF/flows/purchase-flow.xml");
		register("flow", "/WEB-INF/flows/addToBasket-flow.xml");
		register("flow", "/WEB-INF/flows/trader-flow.xml");
		System.out.println("FLOWIDS###############################################");
		for(String s: flowRegistry.getFlowDefinitionIds()) {
			System.out.println("FLOWID:::::::::::::::::::::::::"+s);
		}
	}

The sysout delivers:
[INFO] FLOWIDS########################################### ####
[INFO] FLOWID:::::::::::::::::::::::::/WEB-INF/flows/addToBasket-flow.xml
[INFO] FLOWID:::::::::::::::::::::::::/WEB-INF/flows/purchase-flow.xml
[INFO] FLOWID:::::::::::::::::::::::::/WEB-INF/flows/trader-flow.xml


How can I change the IDs of the flows (Since by now, my "String id" is pretty useless) ?

EDIT: Erased something useless.

Nils

[tohu]

To change the ID I had to change

FlowBuilderContextImpl flowBuilderContext= new FlowBuilderContextImpl(path, CollectionUtils.EMPTY_ATTRIBUTE_MAP, flowRegistry, flowBuilderServices);

to

FlowBuilderContextImpl flowBuilderContext= new FlowBuilderContextImpl(id, CollectionUtils.EMPTY_ATTRIBUTE_MAP, flowRegistry, flowBuilderServices);

But how can I get access to the Holder, once it is registered instead of the Definition itself(To refresh it)?

edit: I just tried to re-register it for change - this does not work.

[tohu]

I can now refresh all Flows by doing flowRegistry.destroy and rebuilding it using a String[] of all previously registered IDs.
Of course it would be nice to refresh one flow at a time, but the most important problem to solve now would be:

How to wait with the update until no one is executing a flow any more?

Has someone got a starting point for me? Within wich class(es) are running executions administrated?

Thanks,
Nils

[tohu]

I'd like to stop all flow executions running.

I found the DefaultFlowExecutionRepository.java
Does it and its ConversationManager.java know all the flows beeing executed on the server?

Is it a bad idea to mess with the flows and flow models at runtime in general? If yes, please, someone stop me.

Thanks,
Nils