Introduction

This tutorial introduces you to the end-to-end process of creating a LiveCycle application to automate a business process. A LiveCycle application is a solution that consists of associated assets, such as form designs, images, data schemas, SWF files, and processes. When the application is deployed on a LiveCycle server, it can be invoked as a service. A LiveCycle server is the server where LiveCycle is installed.

Services can be invoked from LiveCycle LiveCycle - Workspace 11, programmatically using (Java,.NET, and Flex), using web services, by email, or using a watched folder.

In this tutorial, you will create, manage, and test a LiveCycle application using these tools:

LiveCycle Workbench 11:
To create the application, create and debug processes, and import assets into the application.

LiveCycle Designer 11:
To create the form design used in the application.

LiveCycle Administration Console:
To import and configure permissions to applications, use the Applications and Services web pages from the Administration Console.

LiveCycle Workspace 11:
To test your application to see how it appears to a user.

    Summary of steps

    The steps to create an end-to-end application include these tasks:

    • Create an application.

    • Create a form design and process.

    • Test a human-centric process within Workspace.

      Audience

      This tutorial is intended for developers who are interested in creating a LiveCycle application.

      Before you step through this tutorial, it is recommended that you review the following information:

        Understanding the business problem

        This tutorial provides the typical steps for understanding the business problem. In a real-life scenario, you would take time to understand your business problem before you start to plan and implement it.

        Plan the application details:
        Plan the tasks that are required to create your application by determining the data-capture requirements and understanding the steps in the business process you are automating.
        Determine the data capture requirements:
        You can use many ways to capture information from a user. In Workspace, you can use applications built with HTML, Flex, interactive forms created in Adobe Acrobat, form designs created in Designer, or Guides (deprecated). In this tutorial, you will use Designer to create a form design with a provided data schema. Typically, you create a data schema to organize the data you capture. The schema is important because adds structure to the data.
        Important: Effective March 10, 2012, Adobe is deprecating the Guides capabilities of Adobe® LiveCycle® ES. The Guides functionality is available for upgrade purposes only and will be removed from the product after two major releases.

        Identifying the business process:
        Before you develop your application, identify the business process and the major steps to automate the process.

        Scenario for the tutorial

        Users fill forms to start automated processes. Forms are used for data-capture activities. One process Fin@nce Corporation is automating is a preliminary loan-approval process. The preliminary loan-approval process helps to streamline future loans for clients by preapproving them for set amounts. Workspace is used to fill and approve forms.

        In this tutorial, a simple preliminary loan approval application form is required as part of the business process. It includes the following information:

        Loan Amount:
        The amount of the loan

        Applicant information:
        The applicant’s name and contact details

        Other information:
        A field indicating whether the loan is PENDING APPROVAL, APPROVED, or NOT APPROVED

        In this tutorial, you will create a human-centric process. Human-centric processes are automated processes that involve people. The process you will implement is as follows:

        1. An applicant fills an electronic form and sends it to Fin@nce Corporation.

        2. The loan officer receives the form and approves or denies the loan by completing one of these actions:

          • Clicks the Approve button. This action sets the Approval Status field on the form to APPROVED. When a loan application is approved, a PDF file of the loan details is created and archived on the network.

          • Clicks the Deny button. This action sets the Approval Status field on the form to NOT APPROVED.

            Whether the form is approved or denied, it is routed back to the user so that they can see the status of the loan.

          The following illustration summarizes the process:

          Business process that is automated in this tutorial.

          Stepping through the tutorial

          Before you start this tutorial, you must install and configure your DEP development environment.

          This tutorial is organized into several modules, each containing a number of tasks. Each module has an estimated time frame for completion. To maximize your understanding of the information in this tutorial, complete the modules in the following order:

          Note: Optional sections are used only if you have separate environments for development and testing.

          Getting started with Workbench (10 minutes)

          Creating a LiveCycle application in Workbench (10 minutes)

          Creating a form design in Designer (20 minutes)

          Creating a process using Workbench (50 minutes)

          Deploying and configuring a LiveCycle application (10 minutes)

          (Optional) Moving a LiveCycle application (10 minutes)

          Testing using in Workspace (10 minutes)

          Troubleshooting a process (15 minutes)

            Installing a development environment for the tutorial

            For the purposes of this tutorial, it is recommended that you use one server. For example, develop and test your application on the same LiveCycle server, which is typical of development environments.

            Install a LiveCycle server for development by completing these tasks:

            Installing a LiveCycle server

            You or an administrator can install a LiveCycle server to use for this tutorial.

            The steps in this tutorial correspond to LiveCycle ES4.

            Install the Turnkey installation. (See Installing and Deploying LiveCycle Using JBoss Turnkey at http://www.adobe.com/go/learn_lc_installTurnkey_11.) At a minimum, you must install the LiveCycle Output 11 and LiveCycle Process Management 11 modules to complete this tutorial.

            During the Turnkey installation, ensure that you import the samples, which configure a sample environment required to complete this tutorial.

            Installing Workbench and the testing environment

            The steps in this tutorial correspond to Adobe LiveCycle Workbench 11.

            Install these tools, which are required to develop and test LiveCycle applications on your computer:

            • Adobe Reader 10.1 or later on the computer where you test your application. Download Adobe Reader from the Adobe Reader download page at http://get.adobe.com/reader/.

              Note: If you have Adobe Acrobat® 10.1 or later, you do not need to install Adobe Reader 10.1.

            • Adobe Flash® Player 10.2 or later on the computer where you test your application. Download Flash Player from the Flash download page at http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/.

            • Workbench on a computer that can access the LiveCycle server using a network connection. When you install Workbench, ensure that you also install Designer. For information about installing Workbench, see Installing LiveCycle Workbench 11. at http://www.adobe.com/go/learn_lc_install_workbench_11.

              Note: You can also install Workbench on the same computer as the LiveCycle server if you have the necessary hardware and operating system requirements.

            Downloading and extracting the tutorial assets

            Download the createfirstapp.zip file at http://www.adobe.com/go/learn_lc_firstapp_ds_zip_11 to get the assets required to complete this tutorial.

            Extract the createfirstapp.zip file to a folder on your computer, such as C:\firstappAssets. Ensure that you extract the ZIP file to the computer where you installed Workbench. Choose a folder name that is easy to remember because you will access the files at various times during this tutorial.

            The createfirstapp.zip file also contains these files:

            • financeCorpLogo.jpg

            • firstAppLoanSchema.xsd

            • FirstAppSolution.lca

            • firstAppTestData.xml

            • houseImage.jpg

            • importFirstApp_readme.txt

            • PreLoanForm.xdp

            • PreLoanForm.xdp_dci

            • PreLoanProcess.process

            • PreLoanProcess.process_dependency

            The FirstAppSolution.lca file is the completed application that you can compare your work to. To import the FirstAppSolution.lca file, follow the steps in the importFirstApp_readme.txt file.

            Understanding the sample environment

            When you use the Turnkey installation of LiveCycle, a default user profile and default password are provided. When you installed your LiveCycle server, you must import the samples, which configure a sample environment for you. The sample environment includes a sample domain and users with roles that are required for developing and testing LiveCycle applications on the LiveCycle server. Do not install the sample environment on a production LiveCycle server.

            If you did not install the samples for your Turnkey installation, you can re-run the Configuration Manager and complete the LiveCycle Samples Import step. Alternatively, you can download, install, and run the Sample Setup Utility before you start this tutorial. (See LiveCycle DevNet at http://www.adobe.com/go/learn_dep_devnet.)

            User roles in sample organization

            The following users are part of the sampleorganization.com domain provided in the sample environment. You will use these users profiles to complete this tutorial.

            User name

            Password

            Full name

            Role

            atanaka

            password

            Akira Tanaka

            Application Administrator

            Workspace user

            jjacobs

            password

            John Jacobs

            Workspace user

            srose

            password

            Sarah Rose

            Workspace user

            kbowman

            password

            Kara Bowman

            Workspace user
            Note: To use other user profiles, ensure that you configure the roles appropriately. For example, you can use your own user profile instead of Akira Tanaka. Your own user profile must have the Application Administrator. (See “Setting up and configuring users” in LiveCycle Administration Help at http://www.adobe.com/go/learn_lc_admin_11.)

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