wftk -- Process definition -- alert

Topic: wftk -- Process definition: `<alert>`

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The <alert> tag is one place where adapters come into play. I should be able to write an alert adapter for any means of passing a message to another person or system. The ones I've enumerated already are plenty to illustrate that point. At any rate, I see the syntax of an alert as thus:


  <alert type="adapter name" to="target" config="stuff">

    <data name="value1"> ... </data>

    ...

  </alert>

The "type" parameter selects the adapter to be used to send the alert. The "to" parameter is adapter-specific and tells the adapter who the alert is for (an email address, for instance.) The "config" parameter is adapter-specific and is intended for telling the adapter how to format the message.

The contents of the alert consist of either <data> tags or arbitrary text, or maybe some mixture of both. I'm uncomfortable with a mixture. However, I do see a need for (OK, I have a couple of applications for) a formatted-value type of alert, and I also see the need for a nonformatted text. A plain email, for instance, can easily be tossed right into the content of the <alert> without the need to create a format specification.

This basic form of alert is enough to include alerts explicitly in workflows. It doesn't address the ability to place a watch on a workflow or workflows, though. For the time being, I'm going to omit that, and I'll come back to it after I have a prototype to work with. I don't really have a syntax I'm happy with yet. It may turn out that this is something best done from an administrative facility, and not as part of the process definition.

Topic: wftk -- Process definition: <alert>

Topic: wftk -- Process definition: `<alert>`