Packaging and deploying a Red Hat Process Automation Manager project


Red Hat Process Automation Manager 7.1

Red Hat Customer Content Services

Abstract

This document describes how to package and deploy a project in Red Hat Process Automation Manager 7.1

Preface

As a business rules developer, you must build and deploy a developed Red Hat Process Automation Manager project to a Process Server in order to begin using the services you have created in Red Hat Process Automation Manager. You can develop and deploy a project from Business Central, from an independent Maven project, from a Java application, or using a combination of various platforms. For example, you can develop a project in Business Central and deploy it using the Process Server REST API, or develop a project in Maven configured with Business Central and deploy it using Business Central.

Prerequisite

The project to be deployed has been developed and tested. For projects in Business Central, consider using test scenarios to test the assets in your project. For example, see Testing a decision service using test scenarios.

Chapter 1. Red Hat Process Automation Manager project packaging

Red Hat Process Automation Manager projects contain the business assets that you develop in Red Hat Process Automation Manager. Each project in Red Hat Process Automation Manager is packaged as a Knowledge JAR (KJAR) file with configuration files such as a Maven project object model file (pom.xml), which contains build, environment, and other information about the project, and a KIE module descriptor file (kmodule.xml), which contains the KIE base and KIE session configurations for the assets in the project. You deploy the packaged KJAR file to a Process Server that runs the decision services, process applications, and other deployable assets (collectively referred to as services) from that KJAR file. These services are consumed at run time through an instantiated KIE container, or deployment unit. Project KJAR files are stored in a Maven repository and identified by three values: GroupId, ArtifactId, and Version (GAV). The Version value must be unique for every new version that might need to be deployed. To identify an artifact (including a KJAR file), you need all three GAV values.

Projects in Business Central are packaged automatically when you build and deploy the projects. For projects outside of Business Central, such as independent Maven projects or projects within a Java application, you must configure the KIE module descriptor settings in an appended kmodule.xml file or directly in your Java application in order to build and deploy the projects.

Chapter 2. Project deployment in Business Central

You can use Business Central to develop your business assets and services and to manage Process Servers configured for project deployment. When your project is developed, you can build the project in Business Central and deploy it automatically to the Process Server. To enable automatic deployment, Business Central includes a built-in Maven repository. From Business Central, you can start, stop, or remove the deployment units (KIE containers) that contain the services and their project versions that you have built and deployed.

You can also connect several Process Servers to the same Business Central instance and group them into different server configurations (in MenuDeployExecution Servers). Servers belonging to the same server configuration run the same services, but you can deploy different projects or different versions of projects on different configurations.

For example, you could have test servers in the Test configuration and production servers in a Production configuration. As you develop business assets and services in a project, you deploy the project on the Test server configuration and then, when a version of the project is sufficiently tested, you can deploy it on the Production server configuration. In this case, to keep developing the project, change the version in the project settings. Then the new version and the old version are seen as different artifacts in the built-in Maven repository. You can deploy the new version on the Test server configuration and keep running the old version on the Production server configuration. This deployment process is simple but has significant limitations. Notably, there is not enough access control: a developer can deploy a project directly into a production environment.

Important

You cannot move a Process Server into a different server configuration using Business Central. You must change the configuration file of the server to change the server configuration name for it.

2.1. Configuring a Process Server to connect to Business Central

If a Process Server is not already configured in your Red Hat Process Automation Manager environment, or if you require additional Process Servers in your Red Hat Process Automation Manager environment, you must configure a Process Server to connect to Business Central.

Note

If you are deploying Process Server on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, see Deploying a Red Hat Process Automation Manager managed server environment on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform for instructions about configuring it to connect to Business Central.

Prerequisite

Process Server is installed. For installation options, see Planning a Red Hat Process Automation Manager installation.

Procedure

  1. In your Red Hat Process Automation Manager installation directory, navigate to the standalone-full.xml file. For example, if you use a Red Hat JBoss EAP installation for Red Hat Process Automation Manager, go to $EAP_HOME/standalone/configuration/standalone-full.xml.
  2. Open standalone-full.xml and under the <system-properties> tag, set the following properties:

    • org.kie.server.controller.user: The user name of a user who can log in to the Business Central.
    • org.kie.server.controller.pwd: The password of the user who can log in to the Business Central.
    • org.kie.server.controller: The URL for connecting to the API of Business Central. Normally, the URL is http://<centralhost>:<centralport>/business-central/rest/controller, where <centralhost> and <centralport> are the host name and port for Business Central. If Business Central is deployed on OpenShift, remove business-central/ from the URL.
    • org.kie.server.location: The URL for connecting to the API of Process Server. Normally, the URL is http://<serverhost>:<serverport>/kie-server/services/rest/server, where <serverhost> and <serverport> are the host name and port for Process Server.
    • org.kie.server.id: The name of a server configuration. If this server configuration does not exist in Business Central, it is created automatically when Process Server connects to Business Central.

    Example:

    <property name="org.kie.server.controller.user" value="central_user"/>
    <property name="org.kie.server.controller.pwd" value="central_password"/>
    <property name="org.kie.server.controller" value="http://central.example.com:8080/business-central/rest/controller"/>
    <property name="org.kie.server.location" value="http://kieserver.example.com:8080/kie-server/services/rest/server"/>
    <property name="org.kie.server.id" value="production-servers"/>
  3. Start or restart the Process Server.

2.2. Configuring an external Maven repository for Business Central and Process Server

You can configure Business Central and Process Server to use an external Maven repository, such as Nexus or Artifactory, instead of the built-in repository. This enables Business Central and Process Server to access and download artifacts that are maintained in the external Maven repository.

Note

For information about configuring an external Maven repository for an authoring environment on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, see Deploying a Red Hat Process Automation Manager authoring environment on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform.

Prerequisite

Business Central and Process Server are installed. For installation options, see Planning a Red Hat Process Automation Manager installation.

Procedure

  1. Create a Maven settings.xml file with connection and access details for your external repository. For details about the settings.xml file, see the Maven Settings Reference.
  2. Save the file in a known location, for example, /opt/custom-config/settings.xml.
  3. In your Red Hat Process Automation Manager installation directory, navigate to the standalone-full.xml file. For example, if you use a Red Hat JBoss EAP installation for Red Hat Process Automation Manager, go to $EAP_HOME/standalone/configuration/standalone-full.xml.
  4. Open standalone-full.xml and under the <system-properties> tag, set the kie.maven.settings.custom property to the full path name of the settings.xml file.

    For example:

    <property name="kie.maven.settings.custom" value="/opt/custom-config/settings.xml"/>
  5. Start or restart Business Central and Process Server.

Next steps

For each Business Central project that you want to export or push as a KJAR artifact to the external Maven repository, you must add the repository information in the project pom.xml file. For instructions, see Section 2.3, “Exporting a Business Central project to an external Maven repository”.

2.3. Exporting a Business Central project to an external Maven repository

If you configured an external Maven repository for Business Central and Process Server, you must add the repository information in the pom.xml file for each Business Central project that you want to export or push as a KJAR artifact to that external repository. You can then progress the project KJAR files through the repository as necessary to implement your integration process, and deploy the KJAR files using Business Central or the Process Server REST API.

Prerequisite

You configured Business Central and Process Server to use an external Maven repository. If you deployed Business Central on-premise, for more information about configuring an external Maven repository, see Section 2.2, “Configuring an external Maven repository for Business Central and Process Server”. If you deployed your authoring environment on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, for more information, see Deploying a Red Hat Process Automation Manager authoring environment on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform.

Procedure

  1. In Business Central, go to MenuDesignProjects, click the project name, and select any asset in the project.
  2. In the Project Explorer menu on the left side of the screen, click the Customize View gear icon and select Repository Viewpom.xml.
  3. Add the following settings at the end of the project pom.xml file (before the </project> closing tag). The values must correspond to the settings that you defined in your settings.xml file.

    <distributionManagement>
    <repository>
    <id>${maven-repo-id}</id>
    <url>${maven-repo-url}</url>
    <layout>default</layout>
    </repository>
    </distributionManagement>
  4. Click Save to save the pom.xml file changes.

Repeat this procedure for each Business Central project that you want to export or push as a KJAR artifact to the external Maven repository.

2.4. Building and deploying a project in Business Central

After your project is developed, you can build the project in Business Central and deploy it to the configured Process Server. Projects in Business Central are packaged automatically as KJARs with all necessary components when you build and deploy the projects.

Procedure

  1. In Business Central, go to MenuDesignProjects and click the project name.
  2. In the upper-right corner, click Deploy to build and deploy the project.

    Note

    To compile the project without deploying it to Process Server, click Build.

    If only one Process Server is connected to Business Central, or if all connected Process Servers are in the same server configuration, the services in the project are started automatically in a deployment unit (KIE container).

    If multiple server configurations are available, a deployment dialog is displayed in Business Central, prompting you to specify server and deployment details.

  3. If the deployment dialog appears, verify or set the following values:

    • Deployment Unit Id / Deployment Unit Alias: Verify the name and alias of the deployment unit (KIE container) running the service within the Process Server. You normally do not need to change these settings.
    • Server Configuration: Select the server configuration for deploying this project. You can later deploy it to other configured servers without rebuilding the project.
    • Start Deployment Unit?: Verify that this box is selected to start the deployment unit (KIE container). If you clear this box, the service is deployed onto the server but not started.

2.5. Deployment units in Business Central

The services in a project are consumed at run time through an instantiated KIE container, or deployment unit, on a configured Process Server. When you build and deploy a project in Business Central, the deployment unit is created automatically in the configured server. You can start, stop, or remove deployment units in Business Central as needed. You can also create additional deployment units from previously built projects and start them on existing or new Process Servers configured in Business Central.

2.5.1. Creating a deployment unit in Business Central

One or more deployment units should already exist as part of your Red Hat Process Automation Manager configuration, but if not, you can create a deployment unit from a project that was previously built in Business Central.

Prerequisite

The project or projects for which you are creating the new deployment unit has been built in Business Central.

Procedure

  1. In Business Central, go to MenuDeployExecution servers.
  2. Under Server Configurations, select an existing configuration or click New Server Configuration to create a new configuration.
  3. Under Deployment Units, click Add Deployment Unit.
  4. In the table within the window, select a GAV and click Select next to the GAV to populate the deployment unit data fields.
  5. Select the Start Deployment Unit? box to start the service immediately, or clear the box to start it later.
  6. Click Finish.

    The new deployment unit for the service is created and placed on the Process Servers that are configured for this server configuration. If you have selected Start Deployment Unit?, the service is started.

2.5.2. Starting, stopping, and removing deployment units in Business Central

When a deployment unit is started, the services in the deployment unit are available for use. If only one Process Server is connected to Business Central, or if all connected Process Servers are in the same server configuration, services are started in a deployment unit automatically when a project is deployed. If multiple server configurations are available, you are prompted upon deployment to specify server and deployment details and to start the deployment unit. However, at any time you can manually start, stop, or remove deployment units in Business Central to manage your deployed services as needed.

Procedure

  1. In Business Central, go to MenuDeployExecution servers.
  2. Under Server Configurations, select a configuration.
  3. Under Deployment Units, select a deployment unit.
  4. Click Start, Stop, or Remove in the upper-right corner. To remove a running deployment unit, stop it and then remove it.

2.6. Editing the GAV values for a project in Business Central

The GroupId, ArtifactId, and Version (GAV) values identify a project in a Maven repository. When Business Central and Process Server are on the same file system and use the same Maven repository, the project is automatically updated in the repository each time you build a new version of your project. However, if Business Central and Process Server are on separate file systems and use separate local Maven repositories, you must update a project GAV value, usually the version, for any new versions of the project to ensure that the project is seen as a different artifact alongside the old version.

Note

For development purposes only, you can add the SNAPSHOT suffix in the project version to instruct Maven to get a new snapshot update according to the Maven policy. Do not use the SNAPSHOT suffix for a production environment.

You can set the GAV values in the project Settings screen.

Procedure

  1. In Business Central, go to MenuDesignProjects and click the project name.
  2. Click the project Settings tab.
  3. In General Settings, modify the Group ID, Artifact ID, or Version fields as necessary. If you have deployed the project and are developing a new version, usually you need to increase the version number.

    Note

    For development purposes only, you can add the SNAPSHOT suffix in the project version to instruct Maven to get a new snapshot update according to the Maven policy. Do not use the SNAPSHOT suffix for a production environment.

  4. Click Save to finish.

2.7. Duplicate GAV detection in Business Central

In Business Central, all Maven repositories are checked for any duplicated GroupId, ArtifactId, and Version (GAV) values in a project. If a GAV duplicate exists, the performed operation is canceled.

Duplicate GAV detection is executed every time you perform the following operations:

  • Save a project definition for the project.
  • Save the pom.xml file.
  • Install, build, or deploy a project.

The following Maven repositories are checked for duplicate GAVs:

  • Repositories specified in the <repositories> and <distributionManagement> elements of the pom.xml file.
  • Repositories specified in the Maven settings.xml configuration file.

2.7.1. Managing duplicate GAV detection settings in Business Central

Business Central users with the admin role can modify the list of repositories that are checked for duplicate GroupId, ArtifactId, and Version (GAV) values for a project.

Procedure

  1. In Business Central, go to MenuDesignProjects and click the project name.
  2. Click the project Settings tab and then click Validation to open the list of repositories.
  3. Select or clear any of the listed repository options to enable or disable duplicate GAV detection.

    In the future, duplicate GAVs will be reported for only the repositories you have enabled for validation.

    Note

    To disable this feature, set the org.guvnor.project.gav.check.disabled system property to true for Business Central at system startup:

    $ ~/EAP_HOME/bin/standalone.sh -c standalone-full.xml
    -Dorg.guvnor.project.gav.check.disabled=true

Chapter 3. Project deployment without Business Central

As an alternative to developing and deploying projects in the Business Central interface, you can use independent Maven projects or your own Java applications to develop Red Hat Process Automation Manager projects and deploy them in KIE containers (deployment units) to a configured Process Server. You can then use the Process Server REST API to start, stop, or remove the KIE containers that contain the services and their project versions that you have built and deployed. This flexibility enables you to continue to use your existing application work flow to develop business assets using Red Hat Process Automation Manager features.

Projects in Business Central are packaged automatically when you build and deploy the projects. For projects outside of Business Central, such as independent Maven projects or projects within a Java application, you must configure the KIE module descriptor settings in an appended kmodule.xml file or directly in your Java application in order to build and deploy the projects.

3.1. Configuring a KIE module descriptor file

A KIE module is a Maven project or module with an additional metadata file META-INF/kmodule.xml. All Red Hat Process Automation Manager projects require a kmodule.xml file in order to be properly packaged and deployed. This kmodule.xml file is a KIE module descriptor that defines the KIE base and KIE session configurations for the assets in a project. A KIE base is a repository that contains all rules, processes, and other business assets in Red Hat Process Automation Manager but does not contain any runtime data. A KIE session stores and executes runtime data and is created from a KIE base or directly from a KIE container if you have defined the KIE session in the kmodule.xml file.

If you create projects outside of Business Central, such as independent Maven projects or projects within a Java application, you must configure the KIE module descriptor settings in an appended kmodule.xml file or directly in your Java application in order to build and deploy the projects.

Procedure

  1. In the ~/resources/META-INF directory of your project, create a kmodule.xml metadata file with at least the following content:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <kmodule xmlns="http://www.drools.org/xsd/kmodule">
    </kmodule>

    This empty kmodule.xml file is sufficient to produce a single default KIE base that includes all files found under your project resources path. The default KIE base also includes a single default KIE session that is triggered when you create a KIE container in your application at build time.

    The following example is a more advanced kmodule.xml file:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <kmodule xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns="http://www.drools.org/xsd/kmodule">
      <configuration>
          <property key="drools.evaluator.supersetOf" value="org.mycompany.SupersetOfEvaluatorDefinition"/>
      </configuration>
      <kbase name="KBase1" default="true" eventProcessingMode="cloud" equalsBehavior="equality" declarativeAgenda="enabled" packages="org.domain.pkg1">
        <ksession name="KSession1_1" type="stateful" default="true" />
        <ksession name="KSession1_2" type="stateful" default="true" beliefSystem="jtms" />
      </kbase>
      <kbase name="KBase2" default="false" eventProcessingMode="stream" equalsBehavior="equality" declarativeAgenda="enabled" packages="org.domain.pkg2, org.domain.pkg3" includes="KBase1">
        <ksession name="KSession2_1" type="stateless" default="true" clockType="realtime">
          <fileLogger file="debugInfo" threaded="true" interval="10" />
          <workItemHandlers>
            <workItemHandler name="name" type="new org.domain.WorkItemHandler()" />
          </workItemHandlers>
          <listeners>
            <ruleRuntimeEventListener type="org.domain.RuleRuntimeListener" />
            <agendaEventListener type="org.domain.FirstAgendaListener" />
            <agendaEventListener type="org.domain.SecondAgendaListener" />
            <processEventListener type="org.domain.ProcessListener" />
          </listeners>
        </ksession>
      </kbase>
    </kmodule>

    This example defines two KIE bases. Specific packages of rule assets are included with both KIE bases. When you specify packages in this way, you must organize your rule files in a folder structure that reflects the specified packages. Two KIE sessions are instantiated from the KBase1 KIE base, and one KIE session from KBase2. The KIE session from KBase2 is a stateless KIE session, which means that data from a previous invocation of the KIE session (the previous session state) is discarded between session invocations. That KIE session also specifies a file (or a console) logger, a WorkItemHandler, and listeners of the three supported types shown: ruleRuntimeEventListener, agendaEventListener and processEventListener. The <configuration> element defines optional properties that you can use to further customize your kmodule.xml file.

    As an alternative to manually appending a kmodule.xml file to your project, you can use a KieModuleModel instance within your Java application to programatically create a kmodule.xml file that defines the KIE base and a KIE session, and then add all resources in your project to the KIE virtual file system KieFileSystem.

    Creating kmodule.xml programmatically and adding it to KieFileSystem

    import org.kie.api.KieServices;
    import org.kie.api.builder.model.KieModuleModel;
    import org.kie.api.builder.model.KieBaseModel;
    import org.kie.api.builder.model.KieSessionModel;
    import org.kie.api.builder.KieFileSystem;
    
    KieServices kieServices = KieServices.Factory.get();
    KieModuleModel kieModuleModel = kieServices.newKieModuleModel();
    
    KieBaseModel kieBaseModel1 = kieModuleModel.newKieBaseModel("KBase1")
      .setDefault(true)
      .setEqualsBehavior(EqualityBehaviorOption.EQUALITY)
      .setEventProcessingMode(EventProcessingOption.STREAM);
    
    KieSessionModel ksessionModel1 = kieBaseModel1.newKieSessionModel("KSession1_1")
      .setDefault(true)
      .setType(KieSessionModel.KieSessionType.STATEFUL)
      .setClockType(ClockTypeOption.get("realtime"));
    
    KieFileSystem kfs = kieServices.newKieFileSystem();
    kfs.writeKModuleXML(kieModuleModel.toXML());

  2. After you configure the kmodule.xml file either manually or programmatically in your project, retrieve the KIE bases and KIE sessions from the KIE container to verify the configurations:

    KieServices kieServices = KieServices.Factory.get();
    KieContainer kContainer = kieServices.getKieClasspathContainer();
    
    KieBase kBase1 = kContainer.getKieBase("KBase1");
    KieSession kieSession1 = kContainer.newKieSession("KSession1_1"),
        kieSession2 = kContainer.newKieSession("KSession1_2");
    
    KieBase kBase2 = kContainer.getKieBase("KBase2");
    StatelessKieSession kieSession3 = kContainer.newStatelessKieSession("KSession2_1");

    If KieBase or KieSession have been configured as default="true" in the kmodule.xml file, as in the previous kmodule.xml example, you can retrieve them from the KIE container without passing any names:

    KieContainer kContainer = ...
    
    KieBase kBase1 = kContainer.getKieBase();
    KieSession kieSession1 = kContainer.newKieSession(),
        kieSession2 = kContainer.newKieSession();
    
    KieBase kBase2 = kContainer.getKieBase();
    StatelessKieSession kieSession3 = kContainer.newStatelessKieSession();

For more information about the kmodule.xml file, download the Red Hat Process Automation Manager [VERSION] Source Distribution ZIP file from the Red Hat Customer Portal and see the kmodule.xsd XML schema located at $FILE_HOME/rhpam-$VERSION-sources/kie-api-parent-$VERSION/kie-api/src/main/resources/org/kie/api/.

3.1.1. KIE module configuration properties

The optional <configuration> element in the KIE module descriptor file (kmodule.xml) of your project defines property key and value pairs that you can use to further customize your kmodule.xml file.

Example configuration property in a kmodule.xml file

<kmodule>
  ...
  <configuration>
    <property key="drools.dialect.default" value="java"/>
    ...
  </configuration>
  ...
</kmodule>

The following are the <configuration> property keys and values supported in the KIE module descriptor file (kmodule.xml) for your project:

drools.dialect.default

Sets the default Drools dialect.

Supported values: java, mvel

<property key="drools.dialect.default"
  value="java"/>
drools.accumulate.function.$FUNCTION

Links a class that implements an accumulate function to a specified function name, which allows you to add custom accumulate functions into the process engine.

<property key="drools.accumulate.function.hyperMax"
  value="org.drools.custom.HyperMaxAccumulate"/>
drools.evaluator.$EVALUATION

Links a class that implements an evaluator definition to a specified evaluator name so that you can add custom evaluators into the process engine. An evaluator is similar to a custom operator.

<property key="drools.evaluator.soundslike"
  value="org.drools.core.base.evaluators.SoundslikeEvaluatorsDefinition"/>
drools.dump.dir

Sets a path to the Red Hat Process Automation Manager dump/log directory.

<property key="drools.dump.dir"
  value="$DIR_PATH/dump/log"/>
drools.defaultPackageName

Sets a default package for the business assets in your project.

<property key="drools.defaultPackageName"
  value="org.domain.pkg1"/>
drools.parser.processStringEscapes

Sets the String escape function. If this property is set to false, the \n character will not be interpreted as the newline character.

Supported values: true (default), false

<property key="drools.parser.processStringEscapes"
  value="true"/>
drools.kbuilder.severity.$DUPLICATE

Sets a severity for instances of duplicate rules, processes, or functions reported when a KIE base is built. For example, if you set duplicateRule to ERROR, then an error is generated for any duplicated rules detected when the KIE base is built.

Supported key suffixes: duplicateRule, duplicateProcess, duplicateFunction

Supported values: INFO, WARNING, ERROR

<property key="drools.kbuilder.severity.duplicateRule"
  value="ERROR"/>
drools.propertySpecific

Sets the property reactivity of the process engine.

Supported values: DISABLED, ALLOWED, ALWAYS

<property key="drools.propertySpecific"
  value="ALLOWED"/>
drools.lang.level

Sets the DRL language level.

Supported values: DRL5, DRL6, DRL6_STRICT (default)

<property key="drools.lang.level"
  value="DRL_STRICT"/>

3.1.2. KIE base attributes supported in KIE modules

A KIE base is a repository that you define in the KIE module descriptor file (kmodule.xml) for your project and contains all rules, processes, and other business assets in Red Hat Process Automation Manager. When you define KIE bases in the kmodule.xml file, you can specify certain attributes and values to further customize your KIE base configuration.

Example KIE base configuration in a kmodule.xml file

<kmodule>
  ...
  <kbase name="KBase2" default="false" eventProcessingMode="stream" equalsBehavior="equality" declarativeAgenda="enabled" packages="org.domain.pkg2, org.domain.pkg3" includes="KBase1">
    ...
  </kbase>
  ...
</kmodule>

The following are the kbase attributes and values supported in the KIE module descriptor file (kmodule.xml) for your project:

Table 3.1. KIE base attributes supported in KIE modules
AttributeSupported valuesDescription

name

Any name

Defines the name that retrieves KieBase from KieContainer. This attribute is mandatory.

includes

Comma-separated list of other KIE base objects in the KIE module

Defines other KIE base objects and artifacts to be included in this KIE base. A KIE base can be contained in multiple KIE modules if you declare it as a dependency in the pom.xml file of the modules.

packages

Comma-separated list of packages to include in the KIE base

Default: all

Defines packages of artifacts (such as rules and processes) to be included in this KIE base. By default, all artifacts in the ~/resources directory are included into a KIE base. This attribute enables you to limit the number of compiled artifacts. Only the packages belonging to the list specified in this attribute are compiled.

default

true, false

Default: false

Determines whether a KIE base is the default KIE base for a module so that it can be created from the KIE container without passing any name. Each module can have only one default KIE base.

equalsBehavior

identity, equality

Default: identity

Defines the behavior of Red Hat Process Automation Manager when a new fact is inserted into the working memory. If set to identity, a new FactHandle is always created unless the same object is already present in the working memory. If set to equality, a new FactHandle is created only if the newly inserted object is not equal, according to its equals() method, to an existing fact.

eventProcessingMode

cloud, stream

Default: cloud

Determines how events are processed in the KIE base. If this property is set to cloud, the KIE base treats events as normal facts. If this property is set to stream, temporal reasoning on events is allowed.

declarativeAgenda

disabled, enabled

Default: disabled

Determines whether the declarative agenda is enabled or not.

3.1.3. KIE session attributes supported in KIE modules

A KIE session stores and executes runtime data and is created from a KIE base or directly from a KIE container if you have defined the KIE session in the KIE module descriptor file (kmodule.xml) for your project. When you define KIE bases and KIE sessions in the kmodule.xml file, you can specify certain attributes and values to further customize your KIE session configuration.

Example KIE session configuration in a kmodule.xml file

<kmodule>
  ...
  <kbase>
    ...
    <ksession name="KSession2_1" type="stateless" default="true" clockType="realtime">
    ...
  </kbase>
  ...
</kmodule>

The following are the ksession attributes and values supported in the KIE module descriptor file (kmodule.xml) for your project:

Table 3.2. KIE session attributes supported in KIE modules
AttributeSupported valuesDescription

name

Any name

Defines the name that retrieves KieSession from KieContainer. This attribute is mandatory.

type

stateful, stateless

Default: stateful

Determines whether data is retained (stateful) or discarded (stateless) between invocations of the KIE session. A session set to stateful enables you to iteratively work with the working memory, while a session set to stateless is typically used for one-off execution of assets. A stateless session stores a knowledge state that is changed every time a new fact is added, updated, or deleted, and every time a rule is executed. An execution in a stateless session has no information about previous actions, such rule executions.

default

true, false

Default: false

Determines whether a KIE session is the default session for a module so that it can be created from the KIE container without passing any name. Each module can have only one default KIE session.

clockType

realtime, pseudo

Default: realtime

Determines whether event time stamps are assigned by the system clock or by a pseudo clock controlled by the application. This clock is especially useful for unit testing on temporal rules.

beliefSystem

simple, jtms, defeasible

Default: simple

Defines the type of belief system used by the KIE session. A belief system deduces the truth from knowledge (facts). For example, if a new fact is inserted based on another fact which is later removed from the process engine, the system can determine that the newly inserted fact should be removed as well.

3.2. Packaging and deploying a Red Hat Process Automation Manager project in Maven

If you want to deploy a Maven project outside of Business Central to a configured Process Server, you can edit the project pom.xml file to package your project as a KJAR file and add a kmodule.xml file with the KIE base and KIE session configurations for the assets in your project.

Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. In the pom.xml file of your Maven project, set the packaging type to kjar and add the kie-maven-plugin build component:

    <packaging>kjar</packaging>
    ...
    <build>
      <plugins>
        <plugin>
          <groupId>org.kie</groupId>
          <artifactId>kie-maven-plugin</artifactId>
          <version>${rhpam.version}</version>
          <extensions>true</extensions>
        </plugin>
      </plugins>
    </build>

    The kjar packaging type activates the kie-maven-plugin component to validate and pre-compile artifact resources. The <version> is the Maven artifact version for Red Hat Process Automation Manager currently used in your project (for example, 7.11.0.Final-redhat-00002). These settings are required to properly package the Maven project for deployment.

    Note

    Instead of specifying a Red Hat Process Automation Manager <version> for individual dependencies, consider adding the Red Hat Business Automation bill of materials (BOM) dependency to your project pom.xml file. The Red Hat Business Automation BOM applies to both Red Hat Decision Manager and Red Hat Process Automation Manager. When you add the BOM files, the correct versions of transitive dependencies from the provided Maven repositories are included in the project.

    Example BOM dependency:

    <dependency>
      <groupId>com.redhat.ba</groupId>
      <artifactId>ba-platform-bom</artifactId>
      <version>7.1.0.GA-redhat-00002</version>
      <scope>import</scope>
      <type>pom</type>
    </dependency>

    For more information about the Red Hat Business Automation BOM, see What is the mapping between Red Hat Process Automation Manager and the Maven library version?.

  2. Add the following dependencies to the pom.xml file to generate an executable rule model from your rule assets:

    • drools-canonical-model: Enables an executable canonical representation of a rule set model that is independent from Red Hat Process Automation Manager
    • drools-model-compiler: Compiles the executable model into Red Hat Process Automation Manager internal data structures so that it can be executed by the process engine
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.drools</groupId>
      <artifactId>drools-canonical-model</artifactId>
      <version>${rhpam.version}</version>
    </dependency>
    
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.drools</groupId>
      <artifactId>drools-model-compiler</artifactId>
      <version>${rhpam.version}</version>
    </dependency>

    Executable rule models are embeddable models that provide a Java-based representation of a rule set for execution at build time. The executable model is a more efficient alternative to the standard asset packaging in Red Hat Process Automation Manager and enables KIE containers and KIE bases to be created more quickly, especially when you have large lists of DRL (Drools Rule Language) files and other Red Hat Process Automation Manager assets.

    For more information about executable rule models, see "Executable rule models" in Designing a decision service using DRL rules.

  3. In the ~/resources directory of your Maven project, create a META-INF/kmodule.xml metadata file with at least the following content:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <kmodule xmlns="http://www.drools.org/xsd/kmodule">
    </kmodule>

    This kmodule.xml file is a KIE module descriptor that is required for all Red Hat Process Automation Manager projects. You can use the KIE module to define one or more KIE bases and one or more KIE sessions from each KIE base.

    For more information about kmodule.xml configuration, see Section 3.1, “Configuring a KIE module descriptor file”.

  4. In the relevant resource in your Maven project, configure a .java class to create a KIE container and a KIE session to load the KIE base:

    import org.kie.api.KieServices;
    import org.kie.api.runtime.KieContainer;
    import org.kie.api.runtime.KieSession;
    
    public void testApp() {
    
      // Load the KIE base:
      KieServices ks = KieServices.Factory.get();
      KieContainer kContainer = ks.getKieClasspathContainer();
      KieSession kSession = kContainer.newKieSession();
    
    }

    In this example, the KIE container reads the files to be built from the class path for a testApp project. The KieServices API enables you to access all KIE building and runtime configurations.

    You can also create the KIE container by passing the project ReleaseId to the KieServices API. The ReleaseId is generated from the GroupId, ArtifactId, and Version (GAV) values in the project pom.xml file.

    import org.kie.api.KieServices;
    import org.kie.api.runtime.KieContainer;
    import org.kie.api.runtime.KieSession;
    
    public void testApp() {
    
      // Identify the project in the local repository:
      ReleaseId rid = new ReleaseId();
      rid.setGroupId("com.sample");
      rid.setArtifactId("my-app");
      rid.setVersion("1.0.0");
    
      // Load the KIE base:
      KieServices ks = KieServices.Factory.get();
      KieContainer kContainer = ks.newKieContainer(rid);
      KieSession kSession = kContainer.newKieSession();
    
    }
  5. In a command terminal, navigate to your Maven project directory and run the following command to build the project from an executable model:

    mvn clean install -DgenerateModel=<VALUE>

    The -DgenerateModel=<VALUE> property enables the project to be built as a model-based KJAR instead of a DRL-based KJAR, so that rule assets are built in an executable rule model.

    Replace <VALUE> with one of three values:

    • YES: Generates the executable model corresponding to the DRL files in the original project and excludes the DRL files from the generated KJAR.
    • WITHDRL: Generates the executable model corresponding to the DRL files in the original project and also adds the DRL files to the generated KJAR for documentation purposes (the KIE base is built from the executable model regardless).
    • NO: Does not generate the executable model.

    Example build command:

    mvn clean install -DgenerateModel=YES

    If the build fails, address any problems described in the command line error messages and try again to validate the files until the build is successful.

  6. After you successfully build and test the project locally, deploy the project to the remote Maven repository:

    mvn deploy

3.3. Packaging and deploying a Red Hat Process Automation Manager project in a Java application

If you want to deploy a project from within your own Java application to a configured Process Server, you can use a KieModuleModel instance to programatically create a kmodule.xml file that defines the KIE base and a KIE session, and then add all resources in your project to the KIE virtual file system KieFileSystem.

Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. In your client application, add the following dependencies to the relevant classpath of your Java project to generate an executable rule model from your rule assets:

    • drools-canonical-model: Enables an executable canonical representation of a rule set model that is independent from Red Hat Process Automation Manager
    • drools-model-compiler: Compiles the executable model into Red Hat Process Automation Manager internal data structures so that it can be executed by the process engine
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.drools</groupId>
      <artifactId>drools-canonical-model</artifactId>
      <version>${rhpam.version}</version>
    </dependency>
    
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.drools</groupId>
      <artifactId>drools-model-compiler</artifactId>
      <version>${rhpam.version}</version>
    </dependency>

    Executable rule models are embeddable models that provide a Java-based representation of a rule set for execution at build time. The executable model is a more efficient alternative to the standard asset packaging in Red Hat Process Automation Manager and enables KIE containers and KIE bases to be created more quickly, especially when you have large lists of DRL (Drools Rule Language) files and other Red Hat Process Automation Manager assets.

    For more information about executable rule models, see "Executable rule models" in Designing a decision service using DRL rules.

    The <version> is the Maven artifact version for Red Hat Process Automation Manager currently used in your project (for example, 7.11.0.Final-redhat-00002).

    Note

    Instead of specifying a Red Hat Process Automation Manager <version> for individual dependencies, consider adding the Red Hat Business Automation bill of materials (BOM) dependency to your project pom.xml file. The Red Hat Business Automation BOM applies to both Red Hat Decision Manager and Red Hat Process Automation Manager. When you add the BOM files, the correct versions of transitive dependencies from the provided Maven repositories are included in the project.

    Example BOM dependency:

    <dependency>
      <groupId>com.redhat.ba</groupId>
      <artifactId>ba-platform-bom</artifactId>
      <version>7.1.0.GA-redhat-00002</version>
      <scope>import</scope>
      <type>pom</type>
    </dependency>

    For more information about the Red Hat Business Automation BOM, see What is the mapping between Red Hat Process Automation Manager and the Maven library version?.

  2. Use the KieServices API to create a KieModuleModel instance with the desired KIE base and KIE session. The KieServices API enables you to access all KIE building and runtime configurations. The KieModuleModel instance generates the kmodule.xml file for your project.

    For more information about kmodule.xml configuration, see Section 3.1, “Configuring a KIE module descriptor file”.

  3. Convert your KieModuleModel instance into XML and add the XML to KieFileSystem.

    Creating kmodule.xml programmatically and adding it to KieFileSystem

    import org.kie.api.KieServices;
    import org.kie.api.builder.model.KieModuleModel;
    import org.kie.api.builder.model.KieBaseModel;
    import org.kie.api.builder.model.KieSessionModel;
    import org.kie.api.builder.KieFileSystem;
    
      KieServices kieServices = KieServices.Factory.get();
      KieModuleModel kieModuleModel = kieServices.newKieModuleModel();
    
      KieBaseModel kieBaseModel1 = kieModuleModel.newKieBaseModel("KBase1")
        .setDefault(true)
        .setEqualsBehavior(EqualityBehaviorOption.EQUALITY)
        .setEventProcessingMode(EventProcessingOption.STREAM);
    
      KieSessionModel ksessionModel1 = kieBaseModel1.newKieSessionModel("KSession1")
        .setDefault(true)
        .setType(KieSessionModel.KieSessionType.STATEFUL)
        .setClockType(ClockTypeOption.get("realtime"));
    
      KieFileSystem kfs = kieServices.newKieFileSystem();
      kfs.writeKModuleXML(kieModuleModel.toXML());

  4. Add any remaining Red Hat Process Automation Manager assets that you use in your project to your KieFileSystem instance. The artifacts must be in a Maven project file structure.

    import org.kie.api.builder.KieFileSystem;
    
      KieFileSystem kfs = ...
      kfs.write("src/main/resources/KBase1/ruleSet1.drl", stringContainingAValidDRL)
        .write("src/main/resources/dtable.xls",
          kieServices.getResources().newInputStreamResource(dtableFileStream));

    In this example, the project assets are added both as a String variable and as a Resource instance. You can create the Resource instance using the KieResources factory, also provided by the KieServices instance. The KieResources class provides factory methods to convert InputStream, URL, and File objects, or a String representing a path of your file system to a Resource instance that the KieFileSystem can manage.

    You can also explicitly assign a ResourceType property to a Resource object when you add project artifacts to KieFileSystem:

    import org.kie.api.builder.KieFileSystem;
    
      KieFileSystem kfs = ...
      kfs.write("src/main/resources/myDrl.txt",
        kieServices.getResources().newInputStreamResource(drlStream)
          .setResourceType(ResourceType.DRL));
  5. Use KieBuilder with buildAll( ExecutableModelProject.class ) specified to build the content of KieFileSystem from an executable model, and create a KIE container to deploy it:

    import org.kie.api.KieServices;
    import org.kie.api.KieServices.Factory;
    import org.kie.api.builder.KieFileSystem;
    import org.kie.api.builder.KieBuilder;
    import org.kie.api.runtime.KieContainer;
    
      KieServices kieServices = KieServices.Factory.get();
      KieFileSystem kfs = ...
    
      KieBuilder kieBuilder = ks.newKieBuilder( kfs );
      // Build from an executable model
      kieBuilder.buildAll( ExecutableModelProject.class )
      assertEquals(0, kieBuilder.getResults().getMessages(Message.Level.ERROR).size());
    
      KieContainer kieContainer = kieServices
        .newKieContainer(kieServices.getRepository().getDefaultReleaseId());

    After KieFileSystem is built from the executable model, the resulting KieSession uses constraints based on lambda expressions instead of less-efficient mvel expressions. To build the project in the standard method without an executable model, do not specify any argument in buildAll().

    A build ERROR indicates that the project compilation failed, no KieModule was produced, and nothing was added to the KieRepository singleton. A WARNING or an INFO result indicates that the compilation of the project was successful, with information about the build process.

3.4. Starting a service in Process Server

If you have deployed Red Hat Process Automation Manager assets from a Maven or Java project outside of Business Central, you use a Process Server REST API call to start the KIE container (deployment unit) and the services in it. You can use the Process Server REST API to start services regardless of your deployment type, including deployment from Business Central, but projects deployed from Business Central either are started automatically or can be started within the Business Central interface.

Prerequisite

Process Server is installed and kie-server user access is configured. For installation options, see Planning a Red Hat Process Automation Manager installation.

Procedure

In your command terminal, run the following API request to load a service into a KIE container in the Process Server and to start it:

$ curl --user "<username>:<password>" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -X PUT -d '{"container-id" : "<containerID>","release-id" : {"group-id" : "<groupID>","artifact-id" : "<artifactID>","version" : "<version>"}}' http://<serverhost>:<serverport>/kie-server/services/rest/server/containers/<containerID>

Replace the following values:

  • <username>, <password>: The user name and password of a user with the kie-server role.
  • <containerID>: The identifier for the KIE container (deployment unit). You can use any random identifier but it must be the same in both places in the command (the URL and the data).
  • <groupID>, <artifactID>, <version>: The project GAV values.
  • <serverhost>: The host name for the Process Server, or localhost if you are running the command on the same host as the Process Server.
  • <serverport>: The port number for the Process Server.

Example:

curl --user "rhpamAdmin:password@1" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -X PUT -d '{"container-id" : "kie1","release-id" : {"group-id" : "org.kie.server.testing","artifact-id" : "container-crud-tests1","version" : "2.1.0.GA"}}' http://localhost:39043/kie-server/services/rest/server/containers/kie1

3.5. Stopping and removing a service in Process Server

If you have started Red Hat Process Automation Manager services from a Maven or Java project outside of Business Central, you use a Process Server REST API call to stop and remove the KIE container (deployment unit) containing the services. You can use the Process Server REST API to stop services regardless of your deployment type, including deployment from Business Central, but services from Business Central can also be stopped within the Business Central interface.

Prerequisite

Process Server is installed and kie-server user access is configured. For installation options, see Planning a Red Hat Process Automation Manager installation.

Procedure

In your command terminal, run the following API request to stop and remove a KIE container with services on Process Server:

$ curl --user "<username>:<password>" -X DELETE http://<serverhost>:<serverport>/kie-server/services/rest/server/containers/<containerID>

Replace the following values:

  • <username>, <password>: The user name and password of a user with the kie-server role.
  • <containerID>: The identifier for the KIE container (deployment unit). You can use any random identifier but it must be the same in both places in the command (the URL and the data).
  • <serverhost>: The host name for the Process Server, or localhost if you are running the command on the same host as the Process Server.
  • <serverport>: The port number for the Process Server.

Example:

curl --user "rhpamAdmin:password@1" -X DELETE http://localhost:39043/kie-server/services/rest/server/containers/kie1

Chapter 4. Additional resources

Appendix A. Versioning information

Documentation last updated on Wednesday, March 27, 2019.

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