I opened the existing project and wanted to execute the workflow but surprisingly there was no “Execute Workflow” context menu – so how to start the workflow?
As you might know in EA 8.0 there is now the support of dock able windows and at the moment there is no context menu (I hope there is one in the final release!) – You can find the “UML Simulation” window under “View” –> “Add-In Windows”:

Tip: If your window is not docked you will always have to go to “View” –> “Add-In Windows”. So maybe it is better to have the button on the main menu:
1. Right click on the main menu.

2. Customize
3. Click on the “View” menu

4. Drag and drop the “Add-In Windows” item to the main menu.

Ok, after that you can always open the window by clicking the button.

I tried to start the workflow and got following error:

Aha ok – mhm..

So I deleted the existing classes which I referenced last time and added it again.

I really like the new “ObjectSelectGrid” because it let us now import more types at one time but it would be great if there is a checkbox where I can select all types with one click – maybe something like in the following screenshot:

I started the workflow again – still same error – so I had to make sure that the attribute “MyLoginForm” is from the correct class type:
1) I opened the “MyLoginForm” attribute under “AuthenticationExample”.

2) Selected the type “LoginForm”.

3) But why can I not save the attribute? – The name is still the same! – So select first another type for example “bool” – Save and select “LoginForm” again.

4) I started the workflow again but I got following error message in the output window:

Aha…what does it mean? -  Compile Error CS1525?
The good thing is we don’t have to look in the generated code just double click on the error message and it will highlight the file where the error occured!!

Ok have a look at “ShowMainForm” there is a method called “OpenMainForm()” – if you click on the “Behavior” tab you will see that the “Behavior” text box is blank – the method was deleted when we removed the class references! So we have to add the “ShowDialog” method for the “MainForm” again.


And the same error for “ShowMessageForm” – “OpenMessageForm()” – so we also have to add the method again:

Yep – now we have a running version for Amuse 1.5

In the meanwhile we did a Blog Post showcasing the Integration for Embedded Devices, as we are Compact Framework guys we choose Windows CE/ Windows Mobile. In a second Post we show how to get things from Simulation to a shippable Product.

On the other hand we been successful in enhancing LieberLieber AMUSE capabilities to a new field.

We can now record Sequence Diagrams from Activity Diagrams – see the Video to get an Idea of the functionality.

Play Video

You can also dowload the Video.

It is also possible to start the executable which is deployed on the mobile device as standalone application/statemachine.

When starting the application (either on the mobile or on the pc), without using Enterprise Architect, the statemachine will be executed within the application.

After starting the workflow in Enterprise Architect, you will find the executable in “C:\tmp\simulation\someautogeneratednumber”. You can use this executable as standalone application and it works.

Play Video

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.

I will describe it based on a Windows Mobile 6 and “Sending a Message” example.

To use this service it is necessary to build a Compact Framework compatible WinForm application.

Ad the class file (not the designer file) in EA and draw the state machine.

In this example we use a Trigger to change the state between „FillOutMessage“ state and „CheckContent“ state.

In „CheckContent“ state the “content” attribute will be checked. If the “content” attribute is not set, the “contentError” attribute will be set to true, otherwise false.

The guard checks if the “content” attribute is empty or not. If it is not empty, the “showErrorMsg” operation in the state “ShowError”will be executed. After that the state „FillOutMessage“ will be activated and waits until the Trigger will be fired again.

If the “contentError” attribute is set to false, the state „SendContent“ will be activated and after that the StateMachine will be finished.

This is the mobile application i used for this example:

The trigger “ClickSend” can be fired with the button on the mobile device.

The “content” attribute can be set with the „set content“ button on the mobile device. The “content” attribute will get the value from the TextBox.

Start the Workflow in EA

The server component of the http communication will be started. A TCP Listener will be started and listens on a port. The simulation will be linked with the server communication component.

The Form, which includes the state machine and the client communication, will be compiled for Compact Framework, deployed and remotely started on the mobile device with the information on which http adress the client have to send the HTTP requests (local IP where the Simulation is running + port).

Back to the Example – here are the first lines of the Simulation Output

1. Activate – StateMachine
2. Activate – InitForm
3. Entry – StateMachine/InitForm
4. Do – StateMachine/InitForm
5. Exit – StateMachine/InitForm
6. DeActivate – InitForm
7. Effect – StateMachine/InitForm_to_StateMachine/FillOutMessage
8. Effect – StateMachine/InitForm_to_StateMachine/FillOutMessage
9. Activate – FillOutMessage
10. Entry – StateMachine/FillOutMessage
11. NextStepPerformed – StateMachine/InitForm
12. Do – StateMachine/FillOutMessage
13. Do – StateMachine/FillOutMessage
14. Exit – StateMachine/FillOutMessage
15. DeActivate – FillOutMessage
16. Effect – StateMachine/FillOutMessage_to_StateMachine/CheckContent
17. Effect – StateMachine/FillOutMessage_to_StateMachine/CheckContent
18. Activate – CheckContent

The simulation will be set to activate when the „InitializeStateMachine“ command from the Simulation is send to the client, processed on the client, the state machine in the client is set to active and the change is fired to the server. The client also processes the InitForm, the Entry, Do, Exit, DeActivate state and executes the transition. The client notiefies the server about each change via HTTP requests.

When the state machine is active the simulation sends NextStep commands which will be fetched from the client via the polling. After a transition has been executed in the state machine the NextStep performed command will be notified to the simulation. So the simulation knows that the next NextStep command can be executed. And so on…

Here you can see a demonstration of the new functionallity:

Play Video

The flight booking process
The user of an online travel agency calls the appropriate website and enters his flight details on that page.  Then a search for possible flights, hotels and events taking place during the stay starts, which calls different web services. The Results are then finally displayed on the site.

This simple process is modeled in the following activity diagram:

Mock-up GUI

This GUI is used to feed the simulation with the user data and to present the results of a search to the user.

Web Services
To illustrate this process, the following Web Services are needed. However, this Web Services are only implemented to some extent.  The level of the implementation is quite sufficient for the demonstration purpose of this example:

EventService: Implements the method EventList, which displays all available events at a given time. In this example, every time the same events are described. It is enough for the demo.

[WebMethod]

public string EventList()

{

return “International film festival \n Rock konzerte  \n Music festival”;

}

FlightService: Implements the method FlightInfo, which displays the flights available from one location to another at a given time.

[WebMethod]

public string FlightInfo(string from, string to, DateTime departureDate,DateTime returnDate)

{

return from.ToUpper() + “–” + to.ToUpper() + ” HG8010 ” + departureDate + ” 08:15 \n” +to.ToUpper()+”-”+from.ToUpper()+” HG8011 “+returnDate+” 11:55 \n —————————————————– \n Rate:200€”;

}

HotelService: The method HotelInfo displays all available hotels during the stay

[WebMethod]

public string HotelInfo()

{

return ” Grand Hotel(4 Stars) \n Rate per night 59€”;

}

InputValidationService:  The method ValidateInputData should check the data entered by the users to their validity. For demonstration purposes I have implemented the method in a way that it in one case it returns “true” and in another case it returns”false”.

[WebMethod]

public bool ValidateInputData(string from, string to, bool oneWay, bool returnFlight, DateTime departureDate, DateTime returnDate, string numAdult,string numChildren,string numInfant)

{

if (from.Equals(to))

return false;

else

return true;

}

I added this web services to the Simulation, all external dlls. In order to pursue a more detailed and systematic approach, see Simons post .

The flight booking process modeled as a state machine

Demo
You can download the entire sample and try it yourself during the video.

Play Video

Download video: AMUSE web service orchestration

Here you can see the final solution.
Play Video

To download the video click here.

If you haven’t seen my previous posts please check out “LieberLieber AMUSE – Using Statemachines to Build Winforms flows” and “LieberLieber AMUSE – Using Statemachines and ASP.NET WebServices”.

Ok, first of all have a look at the Asp.net Mvc Solution.

As you can see I added an AuthenticationController (provides the controller methods), AuthenticationService (provides the authentication logic) and AuthenticationViewModel (provides the view model for the web form) to the solution.

The authentication workflow looks similar like in my first example.

First we want to show the login form (ValidateUser.aspx) which provides username and password.

If the user enters the wrong username and password we want to show him the access denied form (AccessDenied.aspx).

If the authentication succeeds we want to show the user the succeed form (LoginSuccessful.aspx).

In “Enterprise Architect” I created 4 “Packages” and loaded the necessary source files to have a good overview of the Asp.net Mvc solution.

1. “AmuseMvc” which holds the “StateMachine”.

2. “Controllers” which contains the Asp.net Mvc controllers.

3. “Models” which contains the Asp.net Mvc view models and authentication service.

4. “Views” which contains the Asp.net Mvc views.

If you want to use your “Asp.net Mvc Web Application” in Amuse you have to build it and load it under “External References” at the “State Machine” diagram.

1. “Add-Ins” – “Amuse” – “External Reference”.

2. Now select your Asp.net Mvc library. In our example “AmuseMvcExample.dll”.

3. Then import all three “Types” into “Enterprise Architect”:

a. “AmuseMvcExample.Controllers. AuthenticationController”

b. “AmuseMvcExample.Models. AuthenticationViewModel”

c. “AmuseMvcExample.Models. AuthenticationService”

But hold on, one important reference is missing. Maybe you remember my last post
“LieberLieber AMUSE – Using Statemachines and ASP.NET WebServices” where we used the
“ASP.NET Development Server” and had to use a batch file to start the “ASP.NET Web Development Server”? To avoid this and make it more confortable I created a “WebDevServer” class which provides the necessary functionality (for example: Start, Stop and RedirectToAction). You can find this in the “AmuseMvc.dll”
So add also “AmuseMvc. WebDevServer” to the “StateMachine” diagram.

After we loaded all the external references, your “Project Browser” should look like in the following screenshot:

Ok now I declared the attributes.

Name: “ValidUser”
Type: “bool”
Scope: “Public”
Initial: “false”

Name: “MyAuthenticationViewModel”
Type: “AuthenticationViewModel”
Scope: “Public”

Name: “MyAuthenticationService”
Type: “AuthenticationService”
Scope: “Public”
Initial: “new AuthenticationService()”

Name: “MyAuthenticationController”
Type: “AuthenticationController”
Scope: “Public”
Initial: “new AuthenticationController ()”

Name: “MyWebDevServer”
Type: “WebDevServer”
Scope: “Public”
Initial: “new WebDevServer(”C:\YourProjectPath“)”

–> The WebDevServer needs the path to the “Asp.net Mvc Web Application” (without last backslash)!

Now we create the operations:

Name: “StartWebDevServer”
Return Type: “void”
Behavior – Initial Code: “MyWebDevServer.Start();”

Name: “StopWebDevServer”
Return Type: “void”
Behavior – Initial Code: “MyWebDevServer.Stop();”

Name: “OpenLoginForm”
Return Type: “void”
Behavior – Initial Code:
“MyAuthenticationViewModel =
(AuthenticationViewModel) MyDevServer.GetViewModelFromAction(”Authentication”, “ValidateUser”,typeof (AuthenticationViewModel))

–> This operation redirects to the action and get the entered values back.

Name: “ValidateUser”
Return Type: “void”
Behavior – Initial Code: “ValidUser = MyAuthenticationService.ValidateUser(
MyAuthenticationViewModel.UserName,MyAuthenticationViewModel.Password);”

–> This operation validates against our “AuthenticationService” and set the “ValidUser” attribute.

Name: “OpenAccessDeniedForm”
Return Type: “void”
Behavior – Initial Code: “MyDevServer.RedirectToAction(”Authentication”,”AccessDenied”);”

–> This operation opens the access denied form and we don’t need any return value.

Name: “OpenAccessDeniedForm”
Return Type: “void”
Behavior – Initial Code: “MyDevServer.RedirectToAction(”Authentication”,”LoginSuccessful”);”

–> This operation opens the login successful form and we don’t need any return value.

So now we can call the operations in the workflow but first we will add two new “States” for “StartDevServer” and “StopDevServer” like in the following screenshot.

So now we call the operations on the states:

Before we can start the flowchart we have to do two more things.

First import the namespaces in the “AmuseMvc” class.
using AmuseMvcExample.Controllers;
using AmuseMvcExample.Models;
using AmuseMvc;

And second in the “Asp.net Mvc Web Application”, we have to add the “AmuseMvcWeb.dll” which provides the “AmuseHandler “. You have to set up this handler in the web.config.
Add following line to the <httpHandlers> section:

<add verb="*" path="*.amusemvc" type="AmuseMvcWeb.AmuseHandler"/>

And also don’t forget to add following line into the “Global.asax.cs” – “RegisterRoutes” method:

 Public class MvcApplication : System.Web.HttpApplication {
   public static void RegisterRoutes(RouteCollection routes) {
     routes.IgnoreRoute("{resource}.axd/{*pathInfo}");
     routes.IgnoreRoute("{resource}.amusemvc/{*pathInfo}");

The library also contains the “AmuseAttribute” for the controller classes. So if you want to use the controller in Amuse please mark the controller class with [Amuse]:

In our example over the “AuthenticationController”.

[Amuse]
public class AuthenticationController : Controller {
  private readonly IauthenticationService _authenticationService;
  public AuthenticationController() {
    _authenticationService = new AuthenticationService();
  }

After that we are ready to go and you can start the flowchart!

If you want to try this example please make sure that you change the path for the WebDevServer to the Asp.net Mvc Application first!!

Attribute: MyWebDevServer = new MyWebDevServer(“YOURPATH”);

To pass the validation use:
Username:amuse
Password:mvc

Here is the source code.

Currently implemented new Features:

• smaller and faster Setup
• Single Step Simulation
• Sub and extended Diagrams will be opened on simulation
• Simulation stops if user switches Diagram
• improved external Reference feature (easier for .net implementations)
• Possibility to update Referenced (easier for .net implementations)
• Testcases can  be defined via contraints and are taken into account during simulation
• AMUSE Addin Window in Enterprise Architect 8.0 is now dockable
• Toolbar gives for better usability than the previous context menus

Play Video

It can also be downloaded.

We are still working on other new Features like the possibility to simulate Activity Diagrams – and a HTTP Bridge to connect Embedded Hardware….

Other than that we are working on a showcase for Windows CE and Lego Mindstorms….

For further information please contact Christian.Zauner[at]lieberlieber.com

Let’s go for it!

Customers already using AMUSE can simple Download the Software and upgrade!

You can use it with either Enterprise Architect 8.0 or 7.5. If you don’t have the  Systems Engineering or Ultimate Edition – you can start evaluation with a Trial of Enterprise Architect.

If you haven’t obtained your Trial Key  and Version feel free to contact amuse@lieberlieber.com.

Release Notes:

Issues:

• [AMUSE-9] – AMUSE + EA8: Trigger handling changed
• [AMUSE-23] – Edition Messages

Features:

• [AMUSE-2] – Support EA 8
• [AMUSE-3] – Better Error Messages if class is Missing
• [AMUSE-4] – Detect EA Edition
• [AMUSE-18] – Change Trigger Handling so we can Handle Call and Signal used in StateMachine Task

In this example I will use the project from my last example (“LieberLieber AMUSE – Using Statemachines to Build Winforms flows“) and extend this solution to use a ASP.NET-Authentication-WebService.

1. First we will add to the existing .NET solution a new project from the type “ASP.NET Web Service Application” and call it “AMUSEAuthenticationWebService”.

2. Change the name from “Service1.asmx” to “AuthenticationService.asmx”.

3. Now we add another project from type “Class Library” and call it “AMUSEAuthenticationLogic”.

4. Change the name of the class file from “Class1.cs” to “Authentication.cs”.

5. Copy now the “ValidateUser”-method from “AMUSEAuthenticationService”-project to the “AMUSEAuthenticationLogic”-project.

6. Now we build the solution and add the “AMUSEAuthenticationLogic.dll”, as reference, to the “AMUSEEAuthenticationWebService” project.

7. Now we can change the class name and method name from the “AuthenticationService.asmx.cs”:
Class name: AuthenticationService
Method name: ValidateUser(string username, password) and call the “ValidateUser” method from the “AMUSEAuthenticationLogic”


8. We will now change the existing “ValidateUser” method in the “AMUSEAuthenticationService”-project but we before that we should create the web service proxy class, so that we don’t have to use any configuration files further on.

9. To do that we have to start the “AMUSEAuthenticationWebService”.
a) Set the “AMUSEAuthenticationWebService” as StartUp project
b) Set the “AuthenticationService.asmx” as Start Page.
c) F5

10. Open the Visual Studio Command and enter:
wsdl http://localhost:{YOURPORT}/AuthenticationService.asmx /out:[YOURPATH]\AuthenticationServiceProxy.cs

11. Add the generated file now to the “AMUSEAuthenticationService” project.

12. Also add the “System.Web.dll” and the “System.Web.Services.dll” to the project, otherwise you will get exceptions!

13. Now we can implement the “ValidateUser” by calling the “ValidateUser” method from the “AuthenticationService”. You should have now the code as in following screenshot:

14. Now before we go over to the interesting Enterprise Architect and AMUSE part, we will also create the wsdl-file from our “AMUSEAuthenticationWebService”.

15. Start the “AMUSEAuthenticationWebService” again and click the “Service Description” on the opening web site or by just typing the http://YOURURL/AuthenticationService.asmx?WSDL”

16. You can now save that content as AuthenticationService.wsdl.
We will need that file now to load it into the Enterprise Architect.

17. Copy now the new “AMUSEAuthenticationService.dll” into the “ExternalReferences” and close Visual Studio.NET.

18. So let’s move now to the interesting part – the Enterprise Architect and AMUSE-PlugIn.

19. Open the Enterprise Architect solution from the last example and import the WSDL:
a) Menu – “Project” – “Web Services” – “Import WSDL”
b) Choose our AuthenticationService.wsdl file and import.
Your “Project Browser” should now look like in the following screenshot:

20. Now let’s try our workflow.

21. The workflow stops with an error?

22. If you look closer at the “Stack Trace” you can find the error:

And if you look at the detail description – double click on the “Error”. You can see that there is no connection to the remote server. To resolve that problem we could start now Visual Studio.NET again or better we start the service from Enterprise Architect!

23. For that reason we create a StartWebDev.bat file and place it into the “External References” folder. We add now following code:
call “C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\vc\vcvarsall.bat”

“C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\DevServer\9.0\WebDev.WebServer.exe” /port:[YOURPORT] /path:”[YOURSOLUTIONPATH]” /vpath:/

24. Now we can go to the Enterprise Architect and add the StartWebDev.bat file for the “Run”.

25. a) Right mouse click on the
<<WSDLnamespace>> AuthenticationService”-package.
b) Build and Run
c) Run

26. Now we add a new Build Script:
Name: AuthenticationService
Directory: [YOURPATH]

27. At the “Run” section we can select now the “StartWebDev.bat” file.

28. If you choose now “Run” from the context menu again or press “STRG+Alt+N” the ASP.NET Development Server will start and the workflow works without errors!

To download the project files click here

As we saw in this example it is very easy to use Enterprise Architect and the AMUSE-PlugIn to call existing ASP.NET Web Services and execute them within Enterprise Architect.

Updates dieser Version beinhaltet:

• verbesserte Handling der Trigger
• die StateMachine Engine Klassen wurden ausgelagert.
• und derzeit arbeiten wir an einer direkten Einbettung mit Hilfe der neuen EA Addin Windows

aber ACHTUNG:

Nach einem Test haben wir herausgefunden das EA 8.0 Build 855 einen minor Bug enthält bezüglich der Call Behavoir Generierung (genauer gesagt das anlegen der Do/Entry/Exit Actions). Dieser wurde schnell von Australien wieder behoben in der neuen Version. Der raten wir sofort Build 856 zu installieren.

English:

We also got a version of AMUSE for Enterprise Architect 8.0.

New Features:

• better handling of the new Trigger in EA 8.0
• StateMachine Engine Classes are now stored externally.
• currently we’r working to embed AMUSE directly into EA with the new EA Addin Windows

CAUTION:

After some testing we found that EA 8.0 Build 855 has a minor Bug regarding the codegeneration for Call Behavoir (to be exact the generation of the Do/Entry/Exit actions). Australia fixed this issue pretty fast and the new version is good to go. We advise you to skip 855 and directly install Build 856.