Can i import from Elsa to Bpmn and vice versa ?

[tacek]

Hi!
I am write about Elsa.
There are 3 questions that interest me.

1. Can i import from Elsa to Bpmn and vice versa?
2. Loading a process from JSON to C#, that is to say - there is a description in json and i need to import it at start app, is there any way to do this through code?
3. Is there a standard solution to start a process by POST request or do i need to write a separate web application to handle POST request?

I would really appreciate your help!
Thank you.

[sfmskywalker]

Hi @tacek !

1. Not at the moment. I do intend to investigate the possibilities in this area. Or if anyone else is interested in looking into this they would be more than welcome.
2. Yes, you can write & read JSON files representing workflow definitions. See Sample09 for an example that reads JSON from an embedded resource and then uses that JSON to deserialize & run a workflow.
3. Yes, all you need to do is create your ASP.NET Core application and register some Elsa services, most importantly the HTTP activity services. Please have a look at this guide. Although that guide shows you how to implement the workflow in C# code, it works the same way when defining the workflow using the dashboard application. For more information on setting up the dashboard, please refer to this guide. It demonstrates exactly your question.

[sfmskywalker]

Closing this issue, but feel free to reopen if you have follow-up questions!

[sfmskywalker]

Short answer: as of today, Elsa still does not ship BPMN import/export as a supported feature.

For the current codebase, elsa-core explicitly states that it is not a BPMN 2.0 engine and does not parse BPMN XML (doc/security-assessment/elsa-core-profile.md:37-40). The roadmap still lists BPMN interoperability as a future item rather than a shipped capability (ROADMAP.md:89, ROADMAP.md:181).

For the other two parts of your question, workflow definitions can be imported and exported through the current workflow definition endpoints:

• import: workflow-definitions/import and workflow-definitions/{definitionId}/import (src/modules/Elsa.Workflows.Api/Endpoints/WorkflowDefinitions/Import/Endpoint.cs:38-42)
• export: /workflow-definitions/{definitionId}/export and /bulk-actions/export/workflow-definitions (src/modules/Elsa.Workflows.Api/Endpoints/WorkflowDefinitions/Export/Endpoint.cs:15-19)

So the current supported interchange story is Elsa JSON/ZIP workflow definitions, not BPMN. And for HTTP-triggered workflows, Elsa supports that through its HTTP activities and server hosting model rather than requiring a separate custom app just to receive POST requests.

Since the original question was already answered and the current status is clear, I'm closing this discussion as resolved.