SOA/BPMN Modeler/Developing with the BPMN modeler

This page is about developing with the STP BPMN modeler, by contributing and/or removing actions, shapes, etc.

Creating a new drag and drop (DND) interaction

Creating a DND to add a semantic element (eg annotation)

Full sample

You need to expose a IDnDHandler object through an IAdapterFactory.

The IDnDHandler must return a command that will effectively drop the annotation on the diagram's selected shape.

In the case of an EAnnotation drop, it is recommended to extend the AbstractEAnnotationDnDHandler class, and provide your own method:

public Command getDropCommand(IGraphicalEditPart hoverPart, int index,
            Point dropLocation) {
        
        Map<String, String> details = new HashMap<String, String>();
        try {
            details.put("lastModified", String.valueOf(_file.getLocalTimeStamp()));
            details.put("name", _file.getName());
            details.put("fileExtension", _file.getFileExtension());
            details.put("content-type", _file.getContentDescription().getContentType().getName());

            Reader in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(_file.getContents()));
            StringBuffer buffer= new StringBuffer(1024);
            [..]
            details.put("text", buffer.toString());
        } catch(Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        
        return createEAnnotationDropCommand(
                createAnnotation(TEXT_ANNOTATION_SOURCE, details),
                (EModelElement) hoverPart.resolveSemanticElement());
    }

The createAnnotation and createEAnnotationDropCommand are two methods exposed by the super class for your convenience.

Annotation decoration

Sample

You can decorate annotations through our own extension point.

<extension point="org.eclipse.stp.bpmn.diagram.EAnnotationDecorator">
      <decorator
            class="org.eclipse.stp.bpmn.sample.annotationdecoration.AnnotationDecorator" <!-- the class of the IEAnnotationDecorator implementation -->
            source="textAnnotationSource"/> <!-- the source of the annotation to use -->
</extension>

Our decorator looks like this:

public class AnnotationDecorator implements IEAnnotationDecorator {
 
    public String getAssociatedAnnotationSource() {
        return "textAnnotationSource";
    }
 
    public Direction getDirection(EditPart part, EModelElement elt,
            EAnnotation ann) {
        return Direction.WEST;
    }
 
    public ImageDescriptor getImageDescriptor(EditPart part,
            EModelElement element, EAnnotation annotation) {
        return PlatformUI.getWorkbench().getSharedImages().
            getImageDescriptor(ISharedImages.IMG_OBJ_FILE);
    }
 
    public IFigure getToolTip(EditPart part, EModelElement element,
            EAnnotation annotation) {
        if (annotation != null) {
            Label label = new Label();
            label.setText(annotation.getDetails().get("name"));
            return label;
        }
        return null;
    }
}

Hiding elements of the palette

Full sample

You can remove elements by overriding the palette provider

   <extension point="org.eclipse.gmf.runtime.diagram.ui.paletteProviders">
      <paletteProvider class="org.eclipse.stp.bpmn.sample.editor.NoTextAnnotationPaletteContributor">
         <Priority name="Lowest"/>
         <editor id="org.eclipse.stp.bpmn.sample.noTextAnnotationInPalette.editor1"/>
      </paletteProvider>
   </extension>

You can override the BpmnPaletteProvider class, call the super method and remove a specific entry from the palette containers. Obviously you can also override the BpmnPaletteFactory and have it your way.

    public void contributeToPalette(IEditorPart editor, Object content,
            PaletteRoot root, Map predefinedEntries) {
        //this is the short way
        super.contributeToPalette(editor, content, root, predefinedEntries);
        ((PaletteContainer) root.getChildren().get(1)).getChildren().remove(0);
 
        //the long way consists in populating the palette with your own factory.
    }

Be aware that it is difficult to catch exceptions while the palette is being filled. No stacktrace will appear in the error log in case something goes wrong.

Hiding elements in the popup toolbar and the end connections menus

Full sample

You need to create your own editor, subclassing the BpmnDiagramEditor.

In this editor you will override the method createDiagramEditDomain:

    protected void createDiagramEditDomain() {
        BpmnDiagramEditDomain domain = new BpmnDiagramEditDomain(this);
        domain.setActionManager(createActionManager());
 
        Set<IElementType> types = new HashSet<IElementType>();
        for (Object gatewayType : ActivityType.VALUES_GATEWAYS) {
            types.add(ElementTypeEx.wrap(BpmnElementTypes.Activity_2001, 
                    ((ActivityType) gatewayType).getLiteral()));
        }
        types.add(BpmnElementTypes.Group_1004);
        types.add(BpmnElementTypes.Group_2006);
        domain.setRemovedElementTypes(types);
 
        setEditDomain(domain);
    }

Provide your own edit parts

Full sample

When extending the modeler, you might want to change the look and feel of a particular figure, or modify the behavior of an edit part by manipulating its edit policies. You can achieve that by providing your own edit parts.

To do this, you declare your own edit part provider:

<extension point="org.eclipse.gmf.runtime.diagram.ui.editpartProviders">
      <editpartProvider class="org.eclipse.stp.bpmn.sample.neweditpartprovider.NewEditPartProvider">
         <Priority name="Highest"/>
      </editpartProvider>
   </extension>

In your own implementation of the edit part provider, return your own factory in the constructor:

    public NewEditPartProvider() {
        setFactory(new NewEditPartFactory());
        setAllowCaching(true);
    }

You should override the createEditPart method of the factory to return what you want:

    private class NewEditPartFactory extends BpmnEditPartFactory {
 
        /**
         * Creates a special text annotation edit part
         */
        public EditPart createEditPart(EditPart context, Object model) {
             if (model instanceof View) {
                 final View view = (View) model;
                 int viewVisualID = BpmnVisualIDRegistry.getVisualID(view);
                 switch (viewVisualID) {
                 case TextAnnotationEditPart.VISUAL_ID :
                     return new TextAnnotationEditPartWithBackground(view);
                 case TextAnnotation2EditPart.VISUAL_ID :
                     return new TextAnnotation2EditPartWithBackground(view);
                 }
             }
             return super.createEditPart(context, model);
        }
    }

FAQ

why do you have IElementTypeEx ?

IElementType is a GMF interface to describe a view type. It is passed in requests to create elements.

The BpmnElementTypes class contains all the element types for the BPMN modeler. That also means that each element type corresponds to a view and an edit part.

We did not want to generate an edit part per activity type. Instead we have created two edit parts for activities, one for normal activities and the other one for event handlers.

Then we use IElementTypeEx to add a secondary semantic hint that is the literal of the ActivityType.

To create a IElementTypeEx object, you can use this:

ElementTypeEx.wrap(BpmnElementTypes.Activity_2001,
                   ActivityType.EVENT_INTERMEDIATE_MESSAGE_LITERAL.getLiteral());