Flows for APEX 23.1 release announcement

Flows for APEX 23.1 is now available for download at flowsforapex.org.

This release includes several exciting new features that are described in the paragraphs below.

Task Assignment, Due Dates and Priorities

With this release, we cover the missing part that was assignment, due dates and priorities. Not that it was not possible to handle it before by using lanes and some process variables but it is now much more easier.

Starting from version 23.1, in the modeler for User Task, you can now define:

• The potential Users
• The potential Groups
• The excluded Users
• The priority
• The due date

Like variable expressions, these attributes can be defined using

• A static value
• A variable expression
• A SQL query (returning a single value or a colon delimited list)
• A PL/SQL expression or function body

BPMN Message Flow

With this release, we started the implementation of inter process communication through messages by implementing the following BPMN objects:

• Send and Receive Tasks
• Message Catch and Throw Events

Your process can now send messages to the outside world but also wait for an incoming message. Combined with the new REST API, this feature offers the ability for external applications to send a message and a payload that can be then used in your process!

REST API

That feature was probably one of the most asked by our customers, the Flows for APEX PL/SQL API is now REST-enabled so you can remotely execute all the API calls.

We also provide, in the engine app, a configuration page to create REST clients and assign them their roles based on the API call you want to allow.

We hope that this feature will make the integration of Flows for APEX with third-party system way more easier than before, we can’t wait to see what you will build with it!

Major Upgrade to Graphical Workflow Modeler and Viewer

The bpmn.io library has been updated to the latest version in our APEX plug-ins (modeler and viewer). The result is:

• a much more modern properties panel
• an easier use of controls
• a better keyboard navigation
• a new capability to drill-down into collapsed SubProcesses and Call Activity (viewer only)
• a new support of BPMN Groups, Child Lanesets and Annotations

We hope that this release will make process designers really happy.

Developer Experience Enhancements

With this release, we also wanted to address a few things that we think APEX developers using Flows for APEX will find useful like:

• the introduction of a new process variable type: Timestamp with Time Zone
• the support of process variable binding has been extended to SQL and PL/SQL everywhere
• a better integration with APEX Approval Task and Unified Task List
• the support of APEX automation for the Manage Flow Instance plug-in. One of the possible use cases is starting a flow instance from an APEX automation declaratively!

Logging, Archiving, and Process Statistics improvements

This release brings a lot of improvements for Process Administrators. Firstly, we implemented the process model and diagram changes logging. With this feature, we think that we fully cover the logging needs.

We also introduce a new Process Timeline page in the engine app, accessible through the action menu of the flow instance detail page. It will basically display, in a nice format, everything that happens to an instance.

We leverage the APEX automation power to create Instance Summary Archive and automated purging of the logs. Everything can be configured on the configuration pages.

Finally we started to implement process statistics by generating process and tasks statistics that include processing and waiting times. We do encourage you to turn on the statistics on your system to start gathering data about your processes!

More Languages Supported

Four new languages are now supported in Flows for APEX by the introduction of:

• Italian
• Korean
• Simplified Chinese
• Traditional Chinese

Flows for APEX is now supporting all of the 10 languages that the APEX Application Builder supports.