1. Developing Business Processes with Oracle Business Process Management Studio
  2. Working with Business Components
  3. Sending Notifications

14 Sending Notifications

Understand different types of notification tasks and learn how to configure them, and learn how to use the notification task to communicate with end users of the business process.

Introduction to Notifications

The notification task allows you to send different types of notifications to the users of the application.

It supports the following types of notifications:

  • Email

  • User

  • SMS

  • IM

This tasks uses the Oracle Notification Service.

To configure this task you must provide expressions for the different fields of the notification and in some cases you can use the Identity Lookup browser to select one or more users. When you write the expressions you can use any variables accessible from the notification task context such as process data objects or predefined data objects.

Sending Email Notifications

Using the notification service, you can send an email message to users at a certain point in the business process.

You can use the Identity Lookup browser to select one or more users.

How to Send an Email Notification

To send an email notification:

  1. Open your BPMN business process.
  2. Add a Mail Notification task.
  3. Right-click the Mail Notification task.
  4. Select Properties.
  5. Click the Implementation tab.
  6. In the General tab configure the properties described in How to Configure Email Notification General Properties
  7. Click the Content tab to configure the properties described in How to Configure Email Notification Content Properties.
  8. Click the Attachments tab to configure the properties described in How to Configure Email Notification Attachment Properties.
  9. Click the Headers tab to configure the properties described in How to Configure Email Notification Header Properties.
  10. Click OK.

How to Configure Email Notification General Properties

Use the following table to configure the general properties of an email notification. Note that some of the properties are optional.

Table 14-1 Email Notification General Properties

Property Data Type Optional Description

From

string

No

Specifies the email address used to send the email notification.

To

string

No

Specifies the email addresses of the receivers of the email notification. You can specify these email addresses using expressions or using the Identity Lookup browser.

Bc

string

Yes

Specifies the email addresses of the additional receivers of the email notification. You can specify these email addresses using expressions or using the Identity Lookup browser.

Bcc

string

Yes

Specifies the email addresses of the hidden additional receivers of the email notification.ou can specify these email addresses using expressions or using the Identity Lookup browser

Reply

string

Yes

Specifies the email addresses to use when replying the email notification. You can specify this email address using expressions or using the Identity Lookup browser

How to Configure Email Notification Content Properties

Use the following table to configure the content properties of an email notification.

Table 14-2 Email Notification Content Properties

Property Data Type Optional Description

Subject

string

No

Specifies the subject of the email notification. You must specify this value using expressions.

If you are creating an actionable email, avoid using '&' in the subject. It can cause truncated subject lines in some email clients including some versions of Outlook.

Body

string

No

Specifies the body of the email notification. You must specify this value using expressions.

How to Configure Email Notification Attachment Properties

Use the following table to configure the attachment properties of an email notification. Note that some of the properties are optional.

Table 14-3 Email Notification Attachment Properties

Property Data Type Optional Description

Name

string

No

Specifies the name of the attachment. You must specify this value using expressions. The default value is "attachment" followed by a number.

Mime Type

string

No

Specifies the attachment content type. You must specify this value using expressions. The default value is "text/html".

Encoding

string

Yes

Specifies the encoding of the email notification. You must specify this value using expressions.

Value

Any

No

Specifies the attachment file. You must specify this value using expressions.

How to Configure Email Notification Header Properties

To configure the header properties you can add one or more headers. Note that configuring header properties is optional.

To add a header:

  1. Click the Add button.

    The Create Header dialog box appears.

  2. Provide the name and value properties.

    Table 14-4 Header Properties

    Property Data Type Description

    Name

    string

    Specifies the name of the header. You must specify this value using expressions.

    Value

    string

    Specifies the value of the header. You must specify this value using expressions.

  3. Click OK.

Sending a User Notification

User notification allows you to send a message to the users in a certain point of the process.

You must use the communication media defined for that user.

How to Send a User Notification

To send an email notification:

  1. Open your BPMN business process.
  2. Add a User Notification task.
  3. Right-click the User Notification task.
  4. Select Properties.
  5. Click the Implementation tab.
  6. In the General tab configure the properties described in How to Configure User Notification General Properties.
  7. Click the Properties tab to configure the properties described in How to Configure User Notification Properties.
  8. Click OK.

How to Configure User Notification General Properties

Use the following table to configure the general properties of a user notification. Note that some of the properties are optional.

Table 14-5 Email Notification General Properties

Property Data Type Optional Description

To

string

No

Specifies the email addresses of the receivers of the user notification. You can specify these email addresses using expressions or using the Identity Lookup browser.

Subject

string

Yes

Specifies the subject of the user notification. You must specify this using expressions.

Message

string

Yes

Specifies the message to send using the user notification. You must specify this using expressions.

How to Configure User Notification Properties

You can add one or more properties. Note that configuring properties is optional.

To add a header:

  1. Click the Add button.

    The Create Property dialog box appears.

  2. Provide the name and value properties.

    Table 14-6 Properties

    Property Data Type Description

    Name

    string

    Specifies the name of the property. You must specify this value using expressions.

    Value

    string

    Specifies the value of the property. You must specify this value using expressions.
  3. Click OK.

Sending an SMS Notification

Using the notification service, you can send an SMS a message to users in a certain point of the business process.

You can use the Identity Lookup browser to select one or more users.

How to Send an SMS Notification

To send an email notification:

  1. Open your BPMN business process.
  2. Add a SMS Notification task.
  3. Right-click the Mail Notification task.
  4. Select Properties.
  5. Click the Implementation tab.
  6. Configure the General Properties described in How to Configure SMS Notification General Properties.
  7. Click OK.

How to Configure SMS Notification General Properties

Use the following table to configure the general properties of an SMS notification. Note that some of the properties are optional.

Table 14-7 Email Notification General Properties

Property Data Type Optional Description

From #

string

No

Specifies the cellphone number used to send the SMS notification.

To #

string

No

Specifies the cellphone numbers of the receivers of the SMS notification. You can specify these cellphone numbers using expressions or using the Identity Lookup browser.

Subject

string

Yes

Specifies the subject of the SMS notification. You must specify this using expressions.

Body

string

Yes

Specifies the body of the SMS notification. You must specify this using expressions.

Sending an IM Notification

Using the notification service, you can send an Instant Message to users in a certain point of the business process.

You can use the Identity Lookup browser to select one or more users.

How to Send an IM Notification

To send an email notification:

  1. Open your BPMN business process.
  2. Add a IM Notification task.
  3. Right-click the Mail Notification task.
  4. Select Properties.
  5. Click the Implementation tab.
  6. Configure the General Properties described in How to Configure IM Notification General Properties.
  7. Click OK.

How to Configure IM Notification General Properties

Use the following table to configure the general properties of an IM notification. Note that some of the properties are optional.

Table 14-8 Email Notification General Properties

Property Data Type Optional Description

To

string

No

Specifies the user IDs of the receivers of the IM notification. You can specify these user IDs using expressions or using the Identity Lookup browser.

Body

string

Yes

Specifies the body of the IM notification. You must specify this using expressions.