PowerFolder

Workflow Server Version 0.5

Test Drive

By Gary Steinmetz

PowerFolder 工作流服務器版本0.5 試駕之旅
作者： 蓋瑞。史太恩米特
譯者： Helloworld2004
翻譯日期: 2004年11月13日

IntrodUCtion 介紹
 1.1 Overview 概述
Workflow rePResents defined processes within businesses and elsewhere. Examples of these
processes are an employee requesting and being approved for vacation time-off, submission of a
purchase request, and an automated system for keeping inventory within a specified range.
工作流表示了在業務內部和其他地方定義工作流程。這些流程的例子是：一個職員提
出休假要求，然后被批準；發送一個購買要求，然后一個自動處理系統在一個指定范圍內
保存庫存清單。

PowerFolder is a workflow server. Simply speaking, it's a set of java components bundled with
other open source software. It is open source and distributed under LGPL (Limited GNU Public
License).
PowerFolder是一個工作流服務器。簡單說來，它是一組與其他開源軟件一起打包的
Java組件。它是開放源代碼的，在LGPL協議許可的前提下發布。

 1.2 About This Version 關于此版本
 1.2.1 Purpose 目的
Development of Power Folder began August 2001. This version is functional and capable of
developing and running each of these test-drives (i.e. test cases). In fact the below examples were
developed completely within the Power Folder framework. Beyond a little jsp scripting (using
just one variable - 'client'), logic flow, and simple variables (just 3 types - Boolean, Decimal, and
String), no in-depth programming knowledge is required (e.g. object-oriented concepts,
compiling, persistence).
PowerFolder的開發始于2001年8月。這個版本是有效的，而且可供開發，可以運行
每個測試運行（或者說測試案例）。實際上，下面的例子都是完全在PowerFolder框架內
部開發的。除了很少一點JSP腳本 (僅僅用了一個變量—client)，邏輯流程，和簡單的
變量（只有3種類型-布爾，雙精度和字符串），需要一些并不深入的編程知識。（例如
面向對象的概念，編譯，持久性）

 This is version 0.5 and a beta at that. So why release it? Two reasons - feedback and promotion.
First, workflow products intend to model a wide array of real-life situations, some very nuanced.
With feedback, the direction and 'what's-important' will become a lot clearer. Second, generating
community and peer interest is a vital part of any software project.
這是版本0.5而且是一個beta版本。那么為什么要發布它呢？兩個原因--尋求反饋
和鼓勵。首先，工作流產品設計用來為大量的現實生活情景來建模，一些非常復雜。具有
反饋的話，開發方向和"何為重要的"將變得更加清楚。第二，產生交互和愛好是任何軟
件項目的靈魂部分。
While the examples below 'just' display messages to the command console and have a rather
generic user interface, the fundamentals of a workflow system are in place - state management,