Chapter 1: Whats JBPM

It is a business workflow and process engine. It stands for Java Business Process Model. Think of it as workflow application managed using Java. When I speak of workflow, I mean a simple flow of control from point A to point B, or could be with multiple wait points/tasks i.e. point A to point B but through point C , D. Each point can be a user or system driven activity.Process can be a set of plain rules for your existing application which else would have to be done using many complex if else statements.

Chapter 2: Why JBPM/ When to use

If you need to write a code where it needs

     multiple if/else logic or

     it needs to be dependent on user input or

     dependent on completion of multiple simultaneous tasks

     based on result of task 1, decision needs to be taken for task 2

Think about using JBPM. It could be used in multile ways - Rules (using DROOL), BPEL (Webservice based) or JPDL (if your app needs User Inputs)

Rules are more like application guidelines - if this happens , then if this happens then do this else if this calculation totals more than 100, take this path.

BPEL, JPDL are more like application flow -

Chapter 3: Softwares needed

Note :: All version shown are the ones used by me, you could use latest version

Download Java 1.5

Setup Java Path

Download Jboss 5.0.1 GA -> Unzip Jboss to a folder C:\Project\Jboss\ . Note :: You can use Weblogic or Tomcat too

Download JBPM 4.2 -> Unzip it to C:\Project\JBPM\

Download Maven -> it to C:\Project\Maven

Setup Maven

Download Eclipse ->  Unzip it to C:\Project\Eclipse\

Setup Eclipse

Download MySQL Database -> Install it.

Chapter 5: Sample project w JBPM Console

Chapter 6: Feedbacks

I will add details to each items as and when i get time.