Multi Instance Task does not assign approvers

[dhrobbins]

I have a workflow in Alfresco Share where I need 4 parallel reviews / approval tasks.  I am currently able to create 4 tasks but they all go to the same candidate group.  Members of that group are able to approve, but they have all 4 tasks in their "My Tasks".  Each of these tasks is unassigned.  The remaining 3 groups receive no tasks.

Do I need to include code in the multiInstanceLoopCharacteristics that assigns the tasks to the pooled actors?  I have read the documentation Activiti User Guide and see that a list of users can be created.  Where would I set that variable and would that be with execution.setVariable()?  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

<userTask id="miTasks" name="My Task ${loopCounter}" activiti:assignee="${assignee}">
  <multiInstanceLoopCharacteristics isSequential="false">
    <loopDataInputRef>assigneeList</loopDataInputRef>
    <inputDataItem name="assignee" />
  </multiInstanceLoopCharacteristics>
</userTask>‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

Here is my code:

<userTask id="userTask10" name="Approvers Review" activiti:candidateGroups="GROUP_accountsManager,GROUP_manfacturingManager,GROUP_engineeringManager,GROUP_qualityManager" activiti:formKey="lec:appoversreview">
   <documentation>Review task
      Note:  When a reject occurs, workflow is routed back to Originator assign, bypassing other approvers.
   </documentation>
   <extensionElements>
      <activiti:taskListener event="create" class="org.alfresco.repo.workflow.activiti.tasklistener.ScriptTaskListener">
         <activiti:field name="script">
            <activiti:string>
               <![CDATA[if (typeof bpm_workflowDueDate != 'undefined') task.dueDate = bpm_workflowDueDate;
                  if (typeof bpm_workflowPriority != 'undefined') task.priority = bpm_workflowPriority;;]]>
            </activiti:string>
         </activiti:field>
      </activiti:taskListener>
      <activiti:taskListener event="complete" class="org.alfresco.repo.workflow.activiti.tasklistener.ScriptTaskListener">
         <activiti:field name="script">
            <activiti:string>
               <![CDATA[execution.setVariable('lec_appoversreviewtransitions',task.getVariableLocal('lec_appoversreviewtransitions') );
                  if(task.getVariableLocal('lec_appoversreviewtransitions') == 'Approve') {
                  execution.setVariable('lec_appoversreviewapprovalcount', lec_appoversreviewapprovalcount + 1);
                  }
                  
                  if(task.getVariableLocal('lec_appoversreviewtransitions') == 'Reject') {
                    execution.setVariable('lec_appoversreviewapprovalcount',5);
                    execution.setVariable('lec_appoversreviewtransitions', task.getVariableLocal('lec_appoversreviewtransitions'));
                  }
                  
                  logger.info("Count: " + execution.getVariable('lec_appoversreviewapprovalcount') )]]>
            </activiti:string>
         </activiti:field>
      </activiti:taskListener>
   </extensionElements>
   <multiInstanceLoopCharacteristics isSequential="false">
      <loopCardinality>4</loopCardinality>
      <completionCondition>${lec_appoversreviewapprovalcount &gt;= lec_appoversreviewrequiredapprovalcount}</completionCondition>
   </multiInstanceLoopCharacteristics>
</userTask>
<exclusiveGateway id="exclusiveGateway1"></exclusiveGateway>
<sequenceFlow id="sequenceFlow22" sourceRef="userTask10" targetRef="exclusiveGateway1"></sequenceFlow>
<sequenceFlow id="sequenceFlow23" name="Rejected" sourceRef="exclusiveGateway1" targetRef="userTask9">
   <conditionExpression xsi:type="tFormalExpression">
      <![CDATA[${lec_appoversreviewtransitions == 'Rejected'}]]>
   </conditionExpression>
</sequenceFlow>
<sequenceFlow id="sequenceFlow24" name="Approved" sourceRef="exclusiveGateway1" targetRef="exclusiveGateway2"></sequenceFlow>
<exclusiveGateway id="exclusiveGateway2"></exclusiveGateway>‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

[jearles]

David,

One slightly more simple way around the multi-instance loop situation would be to just create a parallel gateway that splits into those 4 tasks and rejoins after they're completed; each task could use the same form and be directly assigned to those individual candidate groups that you're assigning. The functionality of rerouting after a rejection that you've shown above is entirely still plausible with this configuration as well.

There are a couple of other posts, particularly this one, where people have discussed the multi-instance functionality before and highlighted a couple points in getting it working. But yes, you are correct - the multi-instance is probably a solid route to go here and has the potential capabilities you're looking for.
The Activiti Modeler has assign functionality or you can establish the list of users as a variable.

Hope this helps,
-JEarles
bp3

[dhrobbins]

Thanks for your reply.  I am testing now ..

[dhrobbins]

I am still a bit confused.  I have assigned bpm_GroupAssignees to the activiti:collection and created and activiti:elementVariable "reviewGroup", my assumption being that the foreach loop would use bpm_groupAssignees as the source collection and reviewGroup at the variable.  When I start the review step the workflow throws an exception "java.lang.NullPointerException: null".

I've seen other code that uses but I thought that the activiti:elementVariable would achieve the same thing.

<resourceAssignmentExpression>
   <formalExpression>${groupAssignee.properties.authorityName}</formalExpression>
</resourceAssignmentExpression>‍‍‍

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

My updated code:

<userTask id="userTask1" name="Review step" activiti:candidateGroups="GROUP_approver_accounts,GROUP_approver_engineering,GROUP_approver_document" activiti:formKey="agsystemselect:reviewstep">
      <documentation>Review task</documentation>
      <extensionElements>
        <activiti:taskListener event="create" class="org.alfresco.repo.workflow.activiti.tasklistener.ScriptTaskListener">
          <activiti:field name="script">
            <activiti:string><![CDATA[if (typeof bpm_workflowDueDate != 'undefined') task.dueDate = bpm_workflowDueDate;
if (typeof bpm_workflowPriority != 'undefined') task.priority = bpm_workflowPriority;;]]></activiti:string>
          </activiti:field>
        </activiti:taskListener>
        <activiti:taskListener event="complete" class="org.alfresco.repo.workflow.activiti.tasklistener.ScriptTaskListener">
          <activiti:field name="script">
            <activiti:string><![CDATA[if(task.getVariableLocal('agsystemselect_reviewsteptransitions') == 'Approve') {
execution.setVariable('agsystemselect_reviewstepapprovalcount', agsystemselect_reviewstepapprovalcount + 1);
}

if(task.getVariableLocal('agsystemselect_reviewsteptransitions') == 'Reject'){
     execution.setVariable('agsystemselect_reviewstepapprovalcount', 4);
}]]></activiti:string>
          </activiti:field>
        </activiti:taskListener>
      </extensionElements>
      <multiInstanceLoopCharacteristics isSequential="false" activiti:collection="bpm_groupAssignees" activiti:elementVariable="reviewGroup">
        <loopCardinality>3</loopCardinality>
        <completionCondition>${agsystemselect_reviewstepapprovalcount &gt;= agsystemselect_reviewsteprequiredapprovalcount}</completionCondition>
      </multiInstanceLoopCharacteristics>
    </userTask>
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