How to Design a Process to Start Based on a Time Condition

Adding Delays, Deadlines, and Time Based Cycles to Your Process 18-9

18.6.4 What Happens When You Run Additional Activities While a Process is Running

When the timer start event in the event subprocess fires, the BPMN Service Engine creates a copy of the token in the main process flow. The copy of the token in the main process flow follows the additional process flow the subprocess event defines. The timer start event may fire multiple times while the main process flow is running.

18.7 Configuring Timer Events

You can configure timer event to fire on a specific date and time, or to fire after a certain time passes. In both cases you can choose to provide a fixed time value or an expression that calculates it.

18.7.1 How to Configure a Timer Event To Use a Specific Date and Time

You can configure a timer event to use a specific date and time. You can provide the date and time or use an expression to calculate it. To configure a timer event to use a specific date and time: 1. Right-click the timer event.

2. Select Properties.

3. Click the Implementation tab.

4. Select Time Date.

5. Provide a date. The following options are available to provide a date: ■ Click the calendar button next to the Date field. Select a date and enter a time and close the calendar dialog. ■ Enter the date in the Date field. For example: Jan. 18, 2010 4:31:10 PM ■ Select Use Expression and provide an expression that returns a Date. See Section 22.4, Writing Expressions in Timer Events in Chapter 18, Adding Delays, Deadlines, and Time Based Cycles to Your Process for more information.

6. Click OK.

18.7.2 What Happens When You Configure a Timer Event to Use a Specific Date and Time

The timer event fires on the specified date and time. If you used an expression to specify the date and time, then the engine evaluates this expression to determine when to fire the timer event.

18.7.3 How to Configure a Timer Event to Use an Interval

You can configure a timer event to use an interval. You can specify the interval or use an expression to calculate it. Note: The date and time you specify correspond to the time zone the BPMN Service Engine uses. 18-10 Modeling and Implementation Guide for Oracle Business Process Management To configure a timer event to use an interval: 1. Right-click the timer event.

2. Select Properties.

3. Click the Implementation tab.

4. Select Cycle.

5. Provide a time interval or select Use Expression and write an expression that returns an Interval. See Section 22.4, Writing Expressions in Timer Events for more information

6. Click OK.

18.7.4 What Happens When You Configure a Timer Event to Use an Interval

The timer event fires periodically, waiting the time the interval specifies. If the timer event is a start event or a non-interrupting boundary event, then it fires multiple times. If the timer event is an intermediate timer event or an interrupting boundary event, then it waits for the specified interval before firing, but it fires only one time.