做了几个项目，一直被流程的控制所困扰，决定学习工作流方面的知识，从网上了解到osworkflow是一个轻量级的又极为灵活的工作流引擎（详细情况请访问：http://www.opensymphony.com/osworkflow），所以拿来学习。
折腾了一个下午，终于把自带的example运行起来了。我的测试环境：winxp tomcat4.1.30 oracle8.05 jdk1.4.2。
首先，下载https://osworkflow.dev.java.net/files/documents/635/4647/osworkflow-2.7.0.zip 。解压后，将osworkflow-2.7.0-example.war拷贝至tomcat的webapp下，启动tomcat，访问http://localhost/osworkflow-2.7.0-example，一切都很easy。
osworkflow提供了多种持久化机制memorystore (default), serializablestore, jdbcstore, ofbizstore等等。由于下载的example是为了方便初学者尽快的将程序运行起来，所以采用了memorystore。呵呵，实际的系统可不会让数据全呆在内存里哦。改成jdbcstore试试。
1、修改tomcat的sever.xml,添加：
<context path="/osworkflow-2.7.0-example" docbase="osworkflow-2.7.0-example"
debug="5" reloadable="true" crosscontext="true">
<logger classname="org.apache.catalina.logger.filelogger"
prefix="localhost_osworkflow_log." suffix=".txt"
timestamp="true"/>
resource name="jdbc/mydb" auth="container"
type="javax.sql.datasource"/>
<resourceparams name="jdbc/mydb">
<parameter>
<name>factory</name>
<value>org.apache.commons.dbcp.basicdatasourcefactory</value>
</parameter>
<parameter>
<name>driverclassname</name>
<value>oracle.jdbc.driver.oracledriver</value>
</parameter>
<parameter>
<name>url</name>
<value>jdbc:oracle:thin:@127.0.0.1:1521:orcl</value>
</parameter>
<parameter>
<name>username</name>
<value>oswf</value>
</parameter>
<parameter>
<name>password</name>
<value>oswf</value>
</parameter>
<parameter>
<name>maxactive</name>
<value>20</value>
</parameter>
<parameter>
<name>maxidle</name>
<value>10</value>
</parameter>
<parameter>
<name>maxwait</name>
<value>-1</value>
</parameter>
</resourceparams>
</context>
2、修改web-inf/classes/osworkflow.xml(红色部分根据您的数据库作相应修改)
<osworkflow>
<persistence class="com.opensymphony.workflow.spi.jdbc.jdbcworkflowstore">
<!-- for jdbc persistence, all are required. -->
<property key="datasource" value="jdbc/mydb"/>
<property key="entry.sequence" value="select seq_os_wfentry.nextval from dual"/>
<property key="entry.table" value="os_wfentry"/>
<property key="entry.id" value="id"/>
<property key="entry.name" value="name"/>
<property key="entry.state" value="state"/>
<property key="step.sequence" value="select seq_os_currentsteps.nextval from dual"/>
<property key="history.table" value="os_historystep"/>
<property key="current.table" value="os_currentstep"/>
<property key="historyprev.table" value="os_historystep_prev"/>
<property key="currentprev.table" value="os_currentstep_prev"/>
<property key="step.id" value="id"/>
<property key="step.entryid" value="entry_id"/>
<property key="step.stepid" value="step_id"/>
<property key="step.actionid" value="action_id"/>
<property key="step.owner" value="owner"/>
<property key="step.caller" value="caller"/>
<property key="step.startdate" value="start_date"/>
<property key="step.finishdate" value="finish_date"/>
<property key="step.duedate" value="due_date"/>
<property key="step.status" value="status"/>
<property key="step.previousid" value="previous_id"/>
</persistence>
<factory class="com.opensymphony.workflow.loader.xmlworkflowfactory">
<property key="resource" value="workflows.xml" />
</factory>
</osworkflow>
3、在web-inf/classes里新建propertyset.xml
<propertysets>
<propertyset name="jdbc"
class="com.opensymphony.module.propertyset.database.jdbcpropertyset">
<arg name="datasource" value="jdbc/mydb"/>
<arg name="table.name" value="os_propertyentry"/>
<arg name="col.globalkey" value="global_key"/>
<arg name="col.itemkey" value="item_key"/>
<arg name="col.itemtype" value="item_type"/>
<arg name="col.string" value="string_value"/>
<arg name="col.date" value="date_value"/>
<arg name="col.data" value="data_value"/>
<arg name="col.float" value="float_value"/>
<arg name="col.number" value="number_value"/>
</propertyset>
</propertysets>
4、修改web-inf/classes下的osuser.xml
<opensymphony-user>
<provider class="com.opensymphony.user.provider.jdbc.jdbcaccessprovider">
<property name="user.table">os_user</property>
<property name="group.table">os_group</property>
<property name="membership.table">os_membership</property>
<property name="user.name">username</property>
<property name="user.password">passwordhash</property>
<property name="group.name">groupname</property>
<property name="membership.username">username</property>
<property name="membership.groupname">groupname</property>
<property name="datasource">java:comp/env/jdbc/mydb</property>
</provider>
<provider class="com.opensymphony.user.provider.jdbc.jdbccredentialsprovider">
<property name="user.table">os_user</property>
<property name="group.table">os_group</property>
<property name="membership.table">os_membership</property>
<property name="user.name">username</property>
<property name="user.password">passwordhash</property>
<property name="group.name">groupname</property>
<property name="membership.username">username</property>
<property name="membership.groupname">groupname</property>
<property name="datasource">java:comp/env/jdbc/mydb</property>
</provider>
<provider class="com.opensymphony.user.provider.jdbc.jdbcprofileprovider">
<property name="user.table">os_user</property>
<property name="group.table">os_group</property>
<property name="membership.table">os_membership</property>
<property name="user.name">username</property>
<property name="user.password">passwordhash</property>
<property name="group.name">groupname</property>
<property name="membership.username">username</property>
<property name="membership.groupname">groupname</property>
<property name="datasource">java:comp/env/jdbc/mydb</property>
</provider>
<!--
authenticators can take properties just like providers.
this smart authenticator should work for 'most' cases - it dynamically looks up
the most appropriate authenticator for the current server.
-->
<authenticator class="com.opensymphony.user.authenticator.smartauthenticator" />
</opensymphony-user>
5、在sql-plus里运行下载包里的 src\etc\deployment\jdbc\oracle.sql
6、启动tomcat