This chapter describes the business calendar of jBPM. The business calendar knows about business hours and is used in calculation of due dates for tasks and timers.
The business calendar is able to calculate a due date by adding a duration to or subtracting it from a base date. If the base date is ommited, the 'current' date is used.
As mentioned the due date is composed of a duration and a base date. If this base date is ommitted, the duration is relative to the date (and time) at the moment of calculating the duedate. The format is:
duedate ::= [<basedate> +/-] <duration>
A duration is specified in absolute or in business hours. Let's look at the syntax:
duration ::= <quantity> [business] <unit>
Where <quantity> is a piece of text that is parsable with Double.parseDouble(quantity). <unit> is one of {second, seconds, minute, minutes, hour, hours, day, days, week, weeks, month, months, year, years}. And adding the optional indication business means that only business hours should be taken into account for this duration. Without the indication business, the duration will be interpreted as an absolute time period.
A duration is specified in absolute or in business hours. Let's look at the syntax:
basedate ::= <EL> +/-
Where <EL> is any JAVA Expression Language expression that resolves to a JAVA Date or Calendar object. Referencing variable of other object types, even a String in a date format like '2036-02-12', will throw a JbpmException
NOTE: This basedate is supported on the duedate attributes of a plain timer, on the reminder of a task and the timer within a task. It is not supported on the repeat attributes of these elements.
The following examples of the usage are all possible
<timer name="daysBeforeHoliday" duedate="5 business days">...</timer>
<timer name="pensionDate" duedate="#{dateOfBirth} + 65 years" >...</timer>
<timer name="pensionReminder" duedate="#{dateOfPension} - 1 year" >...</timer>
<timer name="fireWorks" duedate="#{chineseNewYear} repeat="1 year" >...</timer>
<reminder name="hitBoss" duedate="#{payRaiseDay} + 3 days" repeat="1 week" />
The file org/jbpm/calendar/jbpm.business.calendar.properties specifies what business hours are. The configuration file can be customized and a modified copy can be placed in the root of the classpath.
This is the example business hour specification that is shipped by default in jbpm.business.calendar.properties:
hour.format=HH:mm #weekday ::= [<daypart> [& <daypart>]*] #daypart ::= <start-hour>-<to-hour> #start-hour and to-hour must be in the hour.format #dayparts have to be ordered weekday.monday= 9:00-12:00 & 12:30-17:00 weekday.tuesday= 9:00-12:00 & 12:30-17:00 weekday.wednesday= 9:00-12:00 & 12:30-17:00 weekday.thursday= 9:00-12:00 & 12:30-17:00 weekday.friday= 9:00-12:00 & 12:30-17:00 weekday.saturday= weekday.sunday= day.format=dd/MM/yyyy # holiday syntax: <holiday> # holiday period syntax: <start-day>-<end-day> # below are the belgian official holidays holiday.1= 01/01/2005 # nieuwjaar holiday.2= 27/3/2005 # pasen holiday.3= 28/3/2005 # paasmaandag holiday.4= 1/5/2005 # feest van de arbeid holiday.5= 5/5/2005 # hemelvaart holiday.6= 15/5/2005 # pinksteren holiday.7= 16/5/2005 # pinkstermaandag holiday.8= 21/7/2005 # my birthday holiday.9= 15/8/2005 # moederkesdag holiday.10= 1/11/2005 # allerheiligen holiday.11= 11/11/2005 # wapenstilstand holiday.12= 25/12/2005 # kerstmis business.day.expressed.in.hours= 8 business.week.expressed.in.hours= 40 business.month.expressed.in.business.days= 21 business.year.expressed.in.business.days= 220