Oracle Workflow For beginners

I have been reading recently about oracle workflow concept and i wanted to share some important definitions that you as a beginner must know before you learn workflow:

      What is Traditional Workflow is?

     Traditional applications-based workflow processes are launched from a business application through APIs hard-coded within the application. These processes model the business rules in the individual local application and are made up of activities executed by the Workflow Engine only in that application’s system.

   What is Workflow Process?

    A workflow Process must be saved to the same database as the workflow Engine .A workflow process is initiated when an application calls a set of Oracle Workflow Engine APIs. The Workflow Engine takes over by driving the relevant work item defined by the application, through a specific workflow process definition. According to the workflow process definition, the Workflow Engine performs automated steps and invokes appropriate agents when external processing is required.

     What is Event based Workflow?

    The Business Event System and the Workflow Engine can function independently of each other. However,  If you use both of them you can achieve the most powerful and flexible processing by using the Business Event System and the Workflow Engine together to execute cross-system processes for e-business integration.

  What is Business Event System Components?

  1-Event Manager that lets you register:

       Business events

        Systems

        Named Communication agents within systems

        Subscriptions to events that is significant to your system

  2- Workflow Engine event activities that let you model business events within   workflow    processes.

What are the mandatory steps you need to set up oracle workflow?
1-Set system Global references and user preferences for your installation of oracle workflow using oracle configuration page  .
2- Ensure that directory service is setup up to provide information about individuals    and their roles in your organization.

3- Set up background Workflow Engines to manage the load on the primary Workflow engine by processing deferred and timed out activities and stuck processes.

4- Configure the Business Event System for Event communication.

Where is the workflow mailer log located:
You can use the below query as apps user to locate the logfile location:

SQL> set linesize 155;

SQL> set pagesize 200;

SQL> set verify off;

SQL> column MANAGER format a15;

SQL> column MEANING format a15;

SQL> SELECT concurrent_queue_name manager, fcp.last_update_date, fcp.concurrent_process_id pid, meaning, fcp.logfile_name

  2  FROM fnd_concurrent_queues fcq, fnd_concurrent_processes fcp, fnd_lookups flkup

  3  WHERE concurrent_queue_name in ('WFMLRSVC')

  4  AND fcq.concurrent_queue_id = fcp.concurrent_queue_id

  5  AND fcq.application_id = fcp.queue_application_id

  6  AND flkup.lookup_code=fcp.process_status_code

AND lookup_type ='CP_PROCESS_STATUS_CODE'

  7    8  AND meaning='Active';

What is flexfield?

A flexfield is a field made up of subfields, or segments.

A flex field appears on your form as a popup window that contains a prompt for each segment. Each segment has a name and a set of valid values.

FlexFields are  two types : Descriptive Flex Fields (DFF)and Key Flex Fields (KFF).

DFF : DFF Provide a flexible way for providing customization expansion space in forms,as well as to implement context sensitive fields that appear only when needed.

KFF : It is mandatory as it Provides a flexible way of representing primary keys using different set of segments like accounting codes, part numbers, job descriptions , and more.