The document discusses the need for consistent web-based workflow editors. It notes that different workflow systems and editors currently use different technologies, concepts, and interfaces. This poses challenges for reusability of workflows across communities and interoperability between systems. The document evaluates two approaches: a workflow engine-based approach which enables coarse-grained interoperability but requires access to original editors when workflows change, and a workflow editor-based approach using a generic editor that could enable editing and conversion between different workflow systems without needing the original editors.

1. The
Demand
for
Consistent
Web-­‐based
Workflow
Editors
Sandra
Gesing,
Malcolm
Atkinson,
Iraklis
Klampanos,
Michelle
Galea,
Michael
R.
Berthold,
Roberto
Barbera,
Diego
Scardaci,
Gabor
Terstyanszky,
Tamas
Kiss
and
Peter
Kacsuk
sandra.gesing@nd.edu
WORKS
2013
November
17,
2013,
Denver,
CO

2. Workflow
Systems
•
Different
workflow
concepts
•
Different
workflow
languages
•
Different
workflow
constructs
Taverna
Sandra
Gesing
The
Demand
for
Consistent
Web-­‐based
Workflow
Editors
-­‐
hSp://bit.ly/WBWFE
2

3. Workflow
Editors
•
Different
technologies
(workbenches,
web-­‐based)
•
Different
look-­‐and-­‐feel
Sandra
Gesing
The
Demand
for
Consistent
Web-­‐based
Workflow
Editors
-­‐
hSp://bit.ly/WBWFE
3

4. Heterogeneous
Communi[es
•
Diverse
research
areas
•
Diverse
workflow
engines
and
editors
established
The
logical
flow
of
workflows
are
o3en
the
same
inside
a
community
Sandra
Gesing
The
Demand
for
Consistent
Web-­‐based
Workflow
Editors
-­‐
hSp://bit.ly/WBWFE
4

5. Heterogeneous
Communi[es
Sandra
Gesing
The
Demand
for
Consistent
Web-­‐based
Workflow
Editors
-­‐
hSp://bit.ly/WBWFE
5

6. Heterogeneous
Communi[es
•
Diverse
research
areas
•
Diverse
workflow
engines
established
The
logical
flow
of
workflows
are
o3en
the
same
inside
a
community
⇒
Re-­‐usability
of
workflows
needed
for
communi<es
Sandra
Gesing
The
Demand
for
Consistent
Web-­‐based
Workflow
Editors
-­‐
hSp://bit.ly/WBWFE
6

7. Heterogeneous
Communi[es
•
Diverse
research
areas
•
Diverse
workflow
engines
established
The
logical
flow
of
workflows
are
o3en
the
same
inside
a
community
⇒
Re-­‐usability
of
workflows
needed
for
communi<es
⇒
Workflow
Interoperability
Sandra
Gesing
The
Demand
for
Consistent
Web-­‐based
Workflow
Editors
-­‐
hSp://bit.ly/WBWFE
7

8. Workflow
Engine-­‐based
Approach
Coarse-­‐grained
workflow
interoperability
Workflow
system
A
Workflow
editor
A
WF
A
DCI
A
Workflow
system
B
Workflow
editor
B
WF
B
Sandra
Gesing
The
Demand
for
Consistent
Web-­‐based
Workflow
Editors
-­‐
hSp://bit.ly/WBWFE
DCI
B
8

9. Workflow
Engine-­‐based
Approach
Coarse-­‐grained
workflow
interoperability
Workflow
system
A
Workflow
editor
A
WF
A
Meta
WF
WF
B
DCI
A
Meta
WF
WF
B
Workflow
system
B
Workflow
editor
B
WF
B
Sandra
Gesing
The
Demand
for
Consistent
Web-­‐based
Workflow
Editors
-­‐
hSp://bit.ly/WBWFE
DCI
B
9

10. Workflow
Engine-­‐based
Approach
Fine-­‐grained
workflow
interoperability
Workflow
system
A
Workflow
editor
A
WF
A
DCI
A
Workflow
system
B
Workflow
editor
B
WF
B
Sandra
Gesing
The
Demand
for
Consistent
Web-­‐based
Workflow
Editors
-­‐
hSp://bit.ly/WBWFE
DCI
B
10

11. Workflow
Engine-­‐based
Approach
Fine-­‐grained
workflow
interoperability
Workflow
system
A
Workflow
editor
A
WF
A
DCI
A
Convert
to
type
A
Workflow
system
B
Workflow
editor
B
WF
B
Sandra
Gesing
The
Demand
for
Consistent
Web-­‐based
Workflow
Editors
-­‐
hSp://bit.ly/WBWFE
DCI
B
11

12. Workflow
Engine-­‐based
Approach
•
SHIWA
based
on
gUSE
suppor[ng
,e.g.,
Triana,
Taverna,
Kepler,
MOTEUR
•
Tavaxy
based
on
Galaxy
suppor[ng
Galaxy
and
Taverna
•
MoSGrid
based
on
gUSE
suppor[ng
Galaxy
to
gUSE,
UNICORE
in
gUSE
Excellent
solu<ons
but
can
be
extended…
What
happens
if
a
workflow
changes?
⇒
Coarse-­‐grained:
users
need
access
to
the
original
workflow
editor
⇒
Fine-­‐grained:
users
needs
to
change
the
workflow
in
the
original
and
in
the
targeted
workflow
editor
Sandra
Gesing
The
Demand
for
Consistent
Web-­‐based
Workflow
Editors
-­‐
hSp://bit.ly/WBWFE
12

13. Workflow
Editor-­‐based
Approach
Workflow
system
A
WF
A
DCI
A
Generic
workflow
editor
Workflow
system
B
WF
B
Sandra
Gesing
The
Demand
for
Consistent
Web-­‐based
Workflow
Editors
-­‐
hSp://bit.ly/WBWFE
DCI
B
13

14. Workflow
Editor-­‐based
Approach
Workflow
system
A
WF
A
Generic
workflow
editor
WF
B
DCI
A
Meta
WF
WF
B
Workflow
system
B
DCI
B
Sandra
Gesing
The
Demand
for
Consistent
Web-­‐based
Workflow
Editors
-­‐
hSp://bit.ly/WBWFE
14

15. Workflow
Editor-­‐based
Approach
Workflow
system
A
WF
A
DCI
A
Generic
workflow
editor
Workflow
system
B
WF
B
Sandra
Gesing
The
Demand
for
Consistent
Web-­‐based
Workflow
Editors
-­‐
hSp://bit.ly/WBWFE
DCI
B
15

16. Workflow
Editor-­‐based
Approach
Workflow
system
A
WF
A
Generic
workflow
editor
DCI
A
Convert
to
type
A
Workflow
system
B
WF
B
Sandra
Gesing
The
Demand
for
Consistent
Web-­‐based
Workflow
Editors
-­‐
hSp://bit.ly/WBWFE
DCI
B
16

17. Workflow
Editor-­‐based
Approach
GeWWE
(Generic
Web-­‐based
Workflow
Editor)
Goal
•
One
editor
for
diverse
workflow
languages
•
Visual
representa[on
of
workflows
is
the
same
as
in
the
original
workflow
editor
•
Easy
integra[on
of
new
workflow
languages
⇒
Same
look-­‐and-­‐feel
for
edi<ng
diverse
workflows
⇒
One
editor
for
workflows
that
are
composed
of
methods
in
different
workflow
languages
⇒
One
plaKorm
for
the
whole
life
cycle
of
edi<ng
workflows
Sandra
Gesing
The
Demand
for
Consistent
Web-­‐based
Workflow
Editors
-­‐
hSp://bit.ly/WBWFE
17

18. Model-­‐View-­‐Controller
Concept
Model
Workflow
language
Workflow
Process
Connec[on
Connector
Text
Registry
View
Workflow
Process
Connec[on
Connector
Text
Controller
Mapping
between
model
and
view
Sandra
Gesing
The
Demand
for
Consistent
Web-­‐based
Workflow
Editors
-­‐
hSp://bit.ly/WBWFE
18

19. MVC
-­‐
Model
Sandra
Gesing
The
Demand
for
Consistent
Web-­‐based
Workflow
Editors
-­‐
hSp://bit.ly/WBWFE
19

20. GeWWE
Sandra
Gesing
The
Demand
for
Consistent
Web-­‐based
Workflow
Editors
-­‐
hSp://bit.ly/WBWFE
20

21. GeWWE
Sandra
Gesing
The
Demand
for
Consistent
Web-­‐based
Workflow
Editors
-­‐
hSp://bit.ly/WBWFE
21

22. GeWWE
Sandra
Gesing
The
Demand
for
Consistent
Web-­‐based
Workflow
Editors
-­‐
hSp://bit.ly/WBWFE
22

23. Implementa[on
•
Vaadin
framework
•
Server
&
clients
components
in
Java
•
GWT
(Google
Web
Toolkit)
•
JavaScript
libraries
•
JQuery
•
JQuery
UI
•
jsPlumb
•
Hibernate
with
MySQL
Sandra
Gesing
The
Demand
for
Consistent
Web-­‐based
Workflow
Editors
-­‐
hSp://bit.ly/WBWFE
23

24. Acknowledgements
Malcolm
Atkinson
Iraklis
Klampanos
Michelle
Galea
Paul
Mar[n
Michael
Berthold
Roberto
Barbera
Diego
Scardaci
Sandra
Gesing
Gabor
Terstyanszky
Tamas
Kiss
Peter
Kacsuk
Dave
Snelling
Liew
Chee
Sun
Neil
Chue
Hong
The
Demand
for
Consistent
Web-­‐based
Workflow
Editors
-­‐
hSp://bit.ly/WBWFE
24

25. hSp://bit.ly/WBWFE
sandra.gesing@nd.edu
Sandra
Gesing
The
Demand
for
Consistent
Web-­‐based
Workflow
Editors
-­‐
hSp://bit.ly/WBWFE
25