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## Testing Workflow Definitions

Oracle Workflow provides a web-based interface called Launch Processes for you to test any workflow definition you define and save to the database. Launch Processes is accessible only to users belonging to the Workflow Administrator role.

Although you can run the Launch Processes web page against any Oracle Workflow database, we advise that you create a separate environment for testing purposes. To test a workflow definition, you should set up the following in your test environment:

- Define test users/roles. You can test against the users and roles predefined in the Oracle Workflow demonstration data model. See: Installing the Requisition Data Model.

- If you are using the standalone version of Oracle Workflow and you plan to use the Notifications web page to view notifications, you need to define your test users/roles in your web security system. Refer to your web server documentation for more information.

- If you plan to use e-mail to view notifications, you can send all notifications to a single test e-mail address by setting the TEST_ADDRESS parameter in the Notification Mailer configuration file. See: To create a configuration file for the Notification Mailer.

#### To Test a Workflow Definition:

1. Use a web browser to connect to the Oracle Workflow home page. See: Accessing the Oracle Workflow Home Page.

2. Select the Launch Processes link to display the Launch Processes web page.

> Attention: Note that you can also connect to this page directly using the secured URL:

    			<webagent>/wf_initiate.ItemType

`<webagent>` represents the base URL of the web agent configured for Oracle Workflow in your Web server. See: Setting Global User Preferences.

> Attention: This is a secured page, so if you have not yet logged on as a valid workflow administrator in the current web session, you will be prompted to do so before the page appears.

3. The Launch Processes page displays all the item type definitions stored in the database except the Oracle Workflow seeded item types: Wferror, Wfmail, and Wfstd. The internal name and description for each item type also appears. Select the item type that owns the workflow process definition you wish to test.

4. Use the Initiate Workflow web page to specify the details for the process you wish to launch. To initiate an instance of a workflow process, you need to specify:

- A unique item key for the process instance.

- A user-defined key that you want to use to identify the process.

- The name of the process to test.

- An optional process owner.

- Values for any item type attributes associated with the item type of the process.

Select OK. To initiate the workflow process, the Initiate Workflow web page calls the Workflow Engine CreateProcess and Startprocess APIs for the item type and item key specified. It also calls the Workflow Engine SetItemOwner and SetItemAttr APIs to set the process owner and all the item type attributes to the values specified.

5. The Workflow Monitor Activities List for your initiated process instance appears. The Activities List displays the status of the activities that have been executed. You can also select the View Diagram button to display the status of the process graphically in the Workflow Monitor. See: To Filter Activities in the Activities List.

6. If the process you are testing contains notifications, you can navigate back to the Workflow Home page and select the Find Notifications link to find the outstanding Notifications that require responses to complete the process. Alternatively, if you prefer to test the notification responses via e-mail, you can connect to the e-mail test account you specified in the Notification Mailer to respond to the outstanding notifications for your process.

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