Java-based And XML-based Form Builder In Workflow Management System

The workflow management is one of the most quickly development technologies in applied realm in recent years, its main characteristic is to realizes the automation of the interaction of persons and computer.With the development of Web technology, more and more applications adopted the mode of Web. The form is the carrier of information exchange in the Web application. According to the Web workflow management system, the form building is already a more and more important task.The main research work is the design and implementation of an XML-based workflow form builder under the architecture of Java. The form builder uses as application on the server, and uses as Java Applet on the client too. Client software is implemented by Java Applet, which embedded in HTML files and downloaded to client web browser automatically. As a result, with a Web browser, one can log on form builder system and take part in process form without any pre-configured client software. Form building server is implemented by Java Servlet, which can offer service to all Internet/Intranet field through a web server. Firstly discussed the general problem about workflow management, and then, made an in-depth study in some key technology, such as Java-based tri-tier architecture, XML-based workflow form definition method, and HTTP-based message interaction.Since it uses Java and makes an effort to format standardization with XML, this system has characteristics of platform independence, better extensibility and transplantable. This article combined Java technology with Web technology, independently designed workflow form definition in XML, put forward Web browser-based workflow form builder system architecture.