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Is it feasible to use the workflow engine from Spring Web Flow without any of the Web-related infrastructure? Specifically, I want to consume Spring Web Flow from my code without having to touch any of the Servlet API, including HttpServletRequest and HttpServletResponse.

The ideal use case would be to call an analog to FlowController.handleRequest(HttpServletRequest, HttpServletResponse) without having to worry about the Servlet API.

earldouglas
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Spring web flow is not relevant in non-web context. This is because the web makes making a "flow" complicated due to its statelessness. Hence Spring web flow appears to solve that problem.

Bozho
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As @Bozho says, it makes no sense to have WebFlow without the Web - it's a web framework.

If what you want is a declarative workflow framework, then take a look at OSWorkflow. It's getting a bit old now, but it works well, in my limited experience.

skaffman
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  • That's what I was thinking too. The problem isn't that I want to design a Webless workflow with Web Flow, it's that I *have* a Web Flow design and I need it to also work in a Webless configuration. It looks like that will not be feasible. – earldouglas Jan 05 '11 at 16:24
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    @James - I am sure there are others out there that are also thinking along the same lines as you (I know I am) and would *LOVE* to see the flow engine broken out as a more reuseable part. – cdeszaq Jun 30 '11 at 19:39