XmlStylist - New update for ebXML business process modelling editor

The European Commission funded project RIDE (IST-4-027065-CA) has just released the next upgrade of an open source editor "XmlStylist" for ebXML BPSS based process modelling. The tool can be downloaded from the SourceForge resource site.

The "RIDE" project is a Roadmap for Interoperability of eHealth Systems in Support of COM 356 with Special Emphasis on Semantic Interoperability.

In addition the ebBP Editor User Manual has been also updated to reflect the new features including:

• Capability of creating and modifying any valid ebBP instances according to ebBP TechnicalSpecification v2.0.3.
• Validation procedure in XmlStylist has been strengthened. After each modification and closure of XmlStylist, the available ebBP instance is subjected to a validation check.
• Packages, which are the modular ebBP elements, can be imported to an ebBP instance via XmlStylist.
• From Start to Completion (Success and/or Failure), the flow in aBusiness Collaboration can be visualized in the ebBP Editor. This version supports displaying Roles, Business Transaction Activities, Completion elements, and the links between those elements in a Business Collaboration"automatically" after XmlStylist generates a Process Specification. The widgets used for visualization are based on BPMN.
• Multiparty Collaborations are handled in this version.
• Look and Feel support is added.
• Splash screen is added.
• Note the difference that, XmlStylist can handle any ebBP instance,but the graphical component pane (tabbed pane) can handle only ProcessSpecifications.

Some future enhancements and additions that are under consideration are:

• The visualized ebBP elements should be enriched in type. CollaborationActivity, Complex Business Transaction Activity etc. may be included to the set of displayable elements.
• The current version is tested with ebBP Technical Specification v2.0.3. Usage of another version of this document may cause unhandled exceptions.
• The graphical component pane should be improved in a user-friendly manner and also, the level of coupling between this module and XmlStylist module may be decreased.
• A communication bridge between ebXML Registries and the ebBP Editor can be constructed as a functionality of the ebBP Editor. Over this bridge, one can access ebBP instances in an ebXML Registry or upload a newly created instance to that registry.
• The ebBP Editor should have the web accessibility capability.