[Framework-Team] My PLIPs for 3.1

Danny Bloemendaal danny.bloemendaal at informaat.nl
Thu Dec 13 12:37:05 UTC 2007


On 12 dec 2007, at 00:03, Encolpe Degoute wrote:

> I'd like to see the following for 3.1:
>
>
> #214: Merge of CMFPlacefulWorkflow into CMFPlone/WorkflowTool
>
> CMFPlacefulWorkflow is now mature enough to be merge into the  
> workflow tool:
>
>    * since two major version there's no critical bug on it
>    * GenericSetup support is implemented in the trunk
>    * let him outside the workflow tool would leave 2 more monkey
> patches in Plone bundle
>    * all page templates can be merged into a plone_workflow skin with
> the #210
>
>

Ok, how shall I say this? ;-)
First of all, I truely like the idea of placeful workflows. The idea  
is good and I had a need for that in several occasions in the past.  
However, back in the days when it was introduced in plone I  
experimented with it and to be honest, the UI was a horrible mess. I  
understood the concept but the UI made me scream. And from what I've  
heard and seen afterwards, it hasn't become any better. That's why we  
(me,limi and others) decided to not have it installed by default to  
begin with.

So, before I would say +1 I think that this beast needs a true  
overhaul for the UI. Workflow as it is is already hard to understand  
for many (end)users (mostly because it is not really a 'flow' (at  
least for users) but more a state-engine, but that's another  
discussion, and because it is being misused as a permissions managing  
system) and introducing placeful wfs makes it even harder. So, unless  
we fix this, I give this a -2.

And it is far from trivial to do this right. Configlets need to be  
aware and redesigned. Containers need to have proper UI where you can  
assign (overrule) workflow(s!! see the other plip) in that place. And  
it doesn't end here. What about reassinging wfs? What happens with  
objects that have states that only exist in that workflow in that  
context? Are they reset to other states? Do you have to reassign new  
states as you can right now in the wf-configlet that we designed in  
Norway two years ago? What happens if you move an object to another  
folder where there's another workflow active. What happens with the  
permissions? How does it behave with multiple-workflows (see the other  
plip discussion)? How does it play with the current wf-confliget? As  
you can see, a lot of issues need to be addressed properly. And it is  
really a challenge to do this right. Especially because we introduce  
multiple-object workflows as well.

Danny.




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