Where to start for a demo? Confused by various imixs- subprojects

[yearski]

I'm trying to start using imixs-[something] as a demo/proof-of-concept. I think the main features I'm interested in are the main service engine, BPMN modeling and imixs-forms. Longer term, our org would care about the user controls and possibly SSO. I don't care (or I don't think I care right now) about the document management features as we handle that separately but I'm open to change.

My first question is: What's the difference between imixs-workflow and imixs-office-workflow and which is more appropriate to start with? I thought I'd start with imixs-office-workflow because it is "built on top of the 'Imixs-Workflow' project"... and more must be better. I can't find any documentation that describes what is added/built-on.

My second question is: Are there any debug checklists for starting the docker containers? I tried the docker image for imixs-office-workflow and can get a default "Welcome to Maven" page at :8080. It seems that imixs is not being served there like the guides indicate but I don't really know where to go next. (Some pieces of imixs-office-workflow seem unmaintained but I also see recent commits to the git repo so I'm not sure).

Possible third question: So then I thought I'd try imixs-workflow as it looks a bit more maintained/popular (but now I'm just trying things illogically). If this is an appropriate path, it looks like the instructions from the imixs-workflow repo point me to use the docker for imixs-process-manager but if I do that, how is that different than imixs-workflow?

Is there a better place to start? I'm quite confused by all of the imixs- subprojects and can't find an over-arching description/guide. Thanks.

[rsoika]

Hi @yearski
thanks for your interest in the Imixs-Workflow project.
To give you a brief overview about the technology stack: The imixs-workflow project is the core BPMN engine. This java project allows you to execute BPMN models created with Open-BPMN. The core engine includes a lot of functionality managing human-centric business processes. Plug-In extensions as also a Rest API.
A lot of the projects from the imixs project provide adapter and extensions to bring more functionality into your project. You can add these extensions as you need.

Imixs-Office-Worklfow is a full featured enterprise BPM suite including organisation management, task management and DMS features. It is a BPM suite that can be installed out of the box without the need to be a java developer. An installation guide can be found here: https://doc.office-workflow.com/install/quick_install.html

But if you want to build you own business application you may just start with the workflow engine and build around what your project need.
Imixs-Forms is an example how a JavaScript UI can use Imixs-Workflow just as a Microservice. This can be a starting point. But you can also use you own preferred UI framework - just look at Imixs-Form as an example for you own project.
The microservices have docker images - so you can run the engine just as a container and ignoring the Jakarta EE App Server stuff. But exactly this Jakarta EE stuff is what makes Imixs-Workflow so powerful in its core. You can control everything - from the data layer up to the security layer.

So don't be confused:

• imixs-microservice - Imixs-Worklfow as a Rest API
• imixs-forms - Imixs-Workflow as a JavaScritp UI
• imixs-process-manager - Imixs-Workflow running in Jakarta EE / Faces

are all just examples how you can run the imixs-workflow engine. It is fine to start with one of these projects to focus more on the BPMN modelling aspects which is the important part to understand. Later you can switch the application stack - including Imixs-Office-Workflow. It's always the imixs-workflow core engine driving the business app and your BPMN model.

Don't hasitate to ask if you struggle with one of the examples

[yearski]

• imixs-microservice - Imixs-Worklfow as a Rest API
• imixs-forms - Imixs-Workflow as a JavaScritp UI
• imixs-process-manager - Imixs-Workflow running in Jakarta EE / Faces

are all just examples how you can run the imixs-workflow engine.

Oh that clarifies things greatly, thanks. It would have taken me a long time to realize that imixs-process-manager is just an example UI of imixs-workflow.

Follow on question: I assume the REST API is provided by imixs-workflow regardless of the Java server but I'm confused by the description above of imixs-microservice as "a REST API". I'm now thinking of imixs-microservice as "imixs-workflow running in Payara providing no UI except a self-documented API".

[rsoika]

yes you are right. deploying imixs-workflow into a payara project will just publish the Rest API - with no UI.
imis-microservice is a helper project if don't whant to build you own service - you can simply start a docker container