Spring Webflow - How to Get List of FLOW IDs

Question

What is the best way to get the full list of FLOW IDs generated by Spring Webflow?

Here is my configuration:

<webflow:flow-registry id="flowRegistry" 
           flow-builder-services="flowBuilderServices" 
           base-path="/WEB-INF/pageFlows">
     <webflow:flow-location-pattern value="/**/*-flow.xml"/>    
</webflow:flow-registry>

[UPDATE 1] I should clarify that I want to do this in Java code, not by inspecting my configuration.

[UPDATE 2] answer: requestContext.getActiveFlow().getApplicationContext()

Ty. That helps for accessing through MVC. Can you tell me how or if there is a way to access the ApplicationContext from within a org.springframework.webflow.action.MultiAction using org.springframework.webflow.execution.RequestContext? — daddygames, May 30 '14 at 14:06
requestContext.getActiveFlow().getApplicationContext() will do the job. — Prasad, May 30 '14 at 14:21

score 5 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 15 '16 at 18:40

List of flow ids can be identified by the way they are defined in flow-registry. By default, flows will be assigned registry identifiers equal to their filenames minus the file extension, unless a registry base path is defined.

Let me explain this with examples:

Scenario 1: flow-location and base-path is not specified:

    <webflow:flow-registry id="flowRegistry" flow-builder-services="flowBuilderServices">
        <webflow:flow-location path="/WEB-INF/pageFlows/example.xml" />  
    </webflow:flow-registry>

Flow id: example

Scenario 2: flow-location-pattern and base-path is not specified :

    <webflow:flow-registry id="flowRegistry" flow-builder-services="flowBuilderServices">
        <webflow:flow-location-pattern value="/WEB-INF/pageFlows/**/*-flow.xml"/>
    </webflow:flow-registry>

If you have flows like /WEB-INF/pageFlows/example1-flow.xml, /WEB-INF/pageFlows/example2-flow.xml, flow ids are: example1-flow, example2-flow respectively.

Scenario 3: Your own id is specified:

    <webflow:flow-registry id="flowRegistry" flow-builder-services="flowBuilderServices">
        <webflow:flow-location path="/WEB-INF/pageFlows/example.xml" id="myExampleId" />  
    </webflow:flow-registry>

Flow id: myExampleId

Scenario 4: base-path is specified:

    <webflow:flow-registry id="flowRegistry" flow-builder-services="flowBuilderServices" base-path="/WEB-INF">
        <webflow:flow-location path="/pageFlows/example.xml" />
    </webflow:flow-registry>

Flows will now be assigned registry identifiers equal to the the path segment between their base path and file name. Flow id: pageFlows

Scenario 5: flow-location-pattern and base-path is specified:

    <webflow:flow-registry id="flowRegistry" base-path="/WEB-INF">
        <webflow:flow-location-pattern value="/**/*-flow.xml" />
    </webflow:flow-registry>

Flows will now be assigned registry identifiers equal to the the path segment between their base path and file name. So if you have flows located in /pageFlows1/example1, /pageFlows2/example2 directories within WEB-INF, flow ids are: pageFlows1, pageFlows2 respectively.

EDIT :

To get flow ids programmatically:

Assuming your flow controller and flowexecutor definitions as below in webflow-config xml file:

    <bean name="flowController" class="org.springframework.webflow.executor.mvc.FlowController">
        <property name="flowExecutor" ref="flowExecutor" />
    </bean>
    //flowRegistry is alredy mentioned in your question
    <flow:executor id="flowExecutor" registry-ref="flowRegistry">
        <flow:repository type="continuation" max-conversations="1" max-continuations="30" />
    </flow:executor>

You can retrieve flow definition ids registered as below: (I am calling this from a Controller which extends AbstractController, thats why you see getServletContext() method)

    ApplicationContext context = 
        (ApplicationContext)getServletContext().getAttribute(
            DispatcherServlet.SERVLET_CONTEXT_PREFIX + "yourWebContextName");       
    FlowController controller = (FlowController)context.getBean("flowController");
    FlowExecutorImpl flowExecutorImpl = (FlowExecutorImpl)controller.getFlowExecutor();
    FlowDefinitionRegistryImpl flowDefinitionRegistryImpl = (FlowDefinitionRegistryImpl)flowExecutorImpl.getDefinitionLocator();
    //Assuming you have log configured
    log.info("Registered Flow Ids are:"+flowDefinitionRegistryImpl.getFlowDefinitionIds());

FlowController has access to FlowExecutor(initial point of entry for webflow). FlowExecutor has access to flowDefinitionRegistry where all flows are registered before being served to requests.

Hope this helps.

So to sum it up .If explicit ID is provided it is used as is. If not by default, flows will be assigned registry identifiers equal to their filenames minus the file extension, unless a registry base path is defined. If base path is provided flows will now be assigned registry identifiers equal to the the path segment between their base path and file name. — Aniket Thakur, Jan 15 '16 at 18:47

Spring Webflow - How to Get List of FLOW IDs

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