Master Flowable BPM: Integrate with Spring Boot 3 for Seamless Workflow Automation

Flowable Overview

Flowable is a lightweight open‑source BPM and workflow engine that supports BPMN 2.0, providing features such as process definition, execution, task management and history queries, suitable for enterprise‑level applications.

Official site: https://www.flowable.com/open-source/docs/

Project example based on Spring Boot 3, MyBatis‑Plus, Vue & Element includes RBAC, multi‑tenant, data permission, workflow, third‑party login, payment, SMS, and e‑commerce functions.

Project address: https://github.com/YunaiV/ruoyi-vue-pro

Video tutorial: https://doc.iocoder.cn/video/

Spring Boot 3 Integration

Environment: JDK 21, Spring Boot 3.4.1, Flowable 7.1.0

1. Add Maven Dependency

<!-- Flowable启动引擎 -->
<dependency>
  <groupId>org.flowable</groupId>
  <artifactId>flowable-spring-boot-starter</artifactId>
  <version>7.1.0</version>
</dependency>

2. yml Configuration

Data source uses MySQL and Druid; adjust according to your environment.

spring:
  datasource:
    driver-class-name: com.mysql.cj.jdbc.Driver
    url: jdbc:mysql://127.0.0.1:3306/flowable?useUnicode=true&characterEncoding=utf-8&serverTimezone=UTC&useSSL=false&allowPublicKeyRetrieval=true
    username: root
    password: 123456
    type: com.alibaba.druid.pool.DruidDataSource

flowable:
  async-executor-activate: true
  database-schema-update: true

3. Thread Pool Configuration

Provide a global default thread pool and a Flowable‑specific pool named applicationTaskExecutor.

@Configuration
public class ThreadPoolTaskConfig {

    @Bean("applicationTaskExecutor")
    public ThreadPoolTaskExecutor applicationTaskExecutor() {
        ThreadPoolTaskExecutor executor = new ThreadPoolTaskExecutor();
        int core = Runtime.getRuntime().availableProcessors();
        executor.setCorePoolSize(core);
        executor.setMaxPoolSize(core * 2 + 1);
        executor.setKeepAliveSeconds(120);
        executor.setQueueCapacity(120);
        executor.setThreadNamePrefix("thread-default-execute");
        executor.setRejectedExecutionHandler(new ThreadPoolExecutor.AbortPolicy());
        return executor;
    }
}

Missing thread‑pool configuration may cause errors.

Process Definition

Use the official Flowable UI designer (docker run ...) to create and edit BPMN diagrams.

docker run -p 9096:8080 -d --name flow flowable/flowable-ui:6.8.0

Access the UI at the container’s IP and port; default credentials admin/test. Create a process, add user tasks, set assignee (e.g., user1), connect nodes, and export the XML.

Deploy Process

Place the exported XML under resources and deploy it programmatically.

@Resource
private RepositoryService repositoryService;
@Resource
private RuntimeService runtimeService;
@Autowired
private TaskService taskService;
@Resource
private HistoryService historyService;
@Resource
private IdentityService identityService;

@GetMapping("initFlow")
@Transactional(rollbackFor = Exception.class)
public void initFlow() {
    ClassPathResource bpmnFolder = new ClassPathResource("bpmn/");
    var files = bpmnFolder.getFile().listFiles((dir, name) -> name.endsWith(".bpmn20.xml"));
    if (files != null && files.length > 0) {
        var deploymentBuilder = repositoryService.createDeployment();
        for (var file : files) {
            deploymentBuilder.addInputStream(file.getName(), file.toURI().toURL().openStream());
        }
        Deployment deployment = deploymentBuilder.deploy();
    }
}

Query Deployed Processes

@GetMapping("/queryAllDeployedProcesses")
public List<JSONObject> queryAllDeployedProcesses() {
    List<JSONObject> jsonObjects = new ArrayList<>();
    List<ProcessDefinition> processDefinitions = repositoryService.createProcessDefinitionQuery()
        .orderByProcessDefinitionKey().asc()
        .latestVersion()
        .list();
    for (ProcessDefinition pd : processDefinitions) {
        JSONObject obj = new JSONObject();
        obj.put("id", pd.getId());
        obj.put("key", pd.getKey());
        obj.put("name", pd.getName());
        obj.put("version", pd.getVersion());
        jsonObjects.add(obj);
    }
    return jsonObjects;
}

Start a Process

@GetMapping("/startFlow")
@Transactional(rollbackFor = Exception.class)
public String startFlow(@RequestParam("key") String key) {
    Map<String, Object> vars = Map.of(
        "businessType", "业务类型（业务审批、请假、出差等）",
        "day", 1,
        "refuseFlag", false
    );
    String userId = SysConstan.USER_ID;
    String businessKey = "PO00001";
    identityService.setAuthenticatedUserId(userId);
    ProcessInstance pi = runtimeService.startProcessInstanceByKey(key, businessKey, vars);
    log.info("流程实例id-{}", pi.getId());
    identityService.setAuthenticatedUserId(null);
    return pi.getId();
}

Key refers to the process definition key obtained after deployment. The variable map can be extended to control branching (e.g., leave days).

Query All Processes

@GetMapping("/queryAllprocess")
public List<JSONObject> queryAllprocess() {
    List<HistoricProcessInstance> all = historyService.createHistoricProcessInstanceQuery()
        .orderByProcessInstanceStartTime().asc()
        .list();
    List<JSONObject> result = new ArrayList<>();
    for (HistoricProcessInstance pi : all) {
        JSONObject json = new JSONObject();
        json.put("status", pi.getEndTime() == null ? "审批中" : "审批完成");
        json.put("id", pi.getProcessDefinitionId());
        json.put("processInstanceId", pi.getId());
        json.put("startUser", pi.getStartUserId());
        json.put("key", pi.getProcessDefinitionKey());
        json.put("businessKey", pi.getBusinessKey());
        json.put("name", pi.getProcessDefinitionName());
        json.put("deleteReason", pi.getDeleteReason());
        json.put("startTime", DateUtil.format(pi.getStartTime(), "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss"));
        json.put("endTime", pi.getEndTime() != null ? DateUtil.format(pi.getEndTime(), "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss") : "");
        List<HistoricVariableInstance> vars = historyService.createHistoricVariableInstanceQuery()
            .processInstanceId(pi.getId())
            .list();
        for (HistoricVariableInstance var : vars) {
            json.put(var.getVariableName(), var.getValue());
            if ("refuseFlag".equals(var.getVariableName()) && Boolean.TRUE.equals(var.getValue())) {
                json.put("status", "审批驳回");
            }
        }
        result.add(json);
    }
    return result;
}

My Tasks

@GetMapping("/allTasks")
public List<JSONObject> getTasks() {
    List<Task> tasks = taskService.createTaskQuery().list();
    List<JSONObject> result = new ArrayList<>();
    for (Task task : tasks) {
        JSONObject json = new JSONObject();
        json.put("id", task.getId());
        json.put("name", task.getName());
        json.put("user", task.getAssignee());
        json.put("processDefinitionId", task.getProcessDefinitionId());
        json.put("processInstanceId", task.getProcessInstanceId());
        json.putAll(taskService.getVariables(task.getId()));
        result.add(json);
    }
    return result;
}

Complete a Task

@GetMapping("/testComplete")
@Transactional(rollbackFor = Exception.class)
public boolean testComplete(@RequestParam("id") String taskId) {
    Task task = taskService.createTaskQuery().taskId(taskId).singleResult();
    if (task == null) {
        System.out.println("任务不存在");
        return false;
    }
    String processInstanceId = task.getProcessInstanceId();
    taskService.addComment(taskId, processInstanceId, "备注信息test");
    taskService.complete(taskId);
    boolean isFinish = processInstanceFinished(processInstanceId);
    return isFinish;
}

public boolean processInstanceFinished(String processInstanceId) {
    ProcessInstance pi = runtimeService.createProcessInstanceQuery()
        .processInstanceId(processInstanceId)
        .singleResult();
    return pi == null;
}

Reject a Process

@GetMapping("stopFlow")
@Transactional(rollbackFor = Exception.class)
public void stopFlow(@RequestParam("id") String processInstanceId) {
    runtimeService.setVariable(processInstanceId, "refuseFlag", true);
    runtimeService.deleteProcessInstance(processInstanceId, "驳回任务备注原因");
}

The article concludes with screenshots of the final UI and notes about rendering issues with BPMN‑JS and Flowable’s built‑in diagram generator.