How to add activiti spring boot starter basic in spring boot 2 and activiti 7?

Question

I have a spring boot project with the following pom.xml that uses spring boot 1.5.9.RELEASE and activiti version 5.17.0

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

    <groupId>com.test</groupId>
    <artifactId>test</artifactId>
    <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>jar</packaging>

    <name>test</name>
    <description>Test Application</description>

    <parent>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
        <version>1.5.9.RELEASE</version>
        <relativePath /> <!-- lookup parent from repository -->
    </parent>

    <properties>
        <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
        <project.reporting.outputEncoding>UTF-8</project.reporting.outputEncoding>
        <java.version>1.8</java.version>
    </properties>

    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter</artifactId>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-test</artifactId>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>

        <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.activiti/spring-boot-starter-basic -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.activiti</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-basic</artifactId>
            <version>5.17.0</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>com.h2database</groupId>
            <artifactId>h2</artifactId>
            <scope>runtime</scope>
        </dependency>

    </dependencies>

    <build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
                <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>
</project>

The project runs well. Now when I update the spring boot version to 2.1.0.RELEASE, I get the following BeanCreationException error for SecurityAutoConfiguration

org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'org.activiti.spring.boot.SecurityAutoConfiguration': Initialization of bean failed; nested exception is java.lang.ArrayStoreException: sun.reflect.annotation.TypeNotPresentExceptionProxy
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:584) ~[spring-beans-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:498) ~[spring-beans-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.lambda$doGetBean$0(AbstractBeanFactory.java:320) ~[spring-beans-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:222) ~[spring-beans-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:318) ~[spring-beans-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:199) ~[spring-beans-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory.preInstantiateSingletons(DefaultListableBeanFactory.java:846) ~[spring-beans-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.finishBeanFactoryInitialization(AbstractApplicationContext.java:863) ~[spring-context-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:546) ~[spring-context-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.refresh(SpringApplication.java:775) [spring-boot-2.1.0.RELEASE.jar:2.1.0.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.refreshContext(SpringApplication.java:397) [spring-boot-2.1.0.RELEASE.jar:2.1.0.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:316) [spring-boot-2.1.0.RELEASE.jar:2.1.0.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:1260) [spring-boot-2.1.0.RELEASE.jar:2.1.0.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:1248) [spring-boot-2.1.0.RELEASE.jar:2.1.0.RELEASE]
    at com.test.TestApplication.main(TestApplication.java:10) [classes/:na]
Caused by: java.lang.ArrayStoreException: sun.reflect.annotation.TypeNotPresentExceptionProxy
    at sun.reflect.annotation.AnnotationParser.parseClassArray(AnnotationParser.java:724) ~[na:1.8.0_181]
    at sun.reflect.annotation.AnnotationParser.parseArray(AnnotationParser.java:531) ~[na:1.8.0_181]
    at sun.reflect.annotation.AnnotationParser.parseMemberValue(AnnotationParser.java:355) ~[na:1.8.0_181]
    at sun.reflect.annotation.AnnotationParser.parseAnnotation2(AnnotationParser.java:286) ~[na:1.8.0_181]
    at sun.reflect.annotation.AnnotationParser.parseAnnotations2(AnnotationParser.java:120) ~[na:1.8.0_181]
    at sun.reflect.annotation.AnnotationParser.parseAnnotations(AnnotationParser.java:72) ~[na:1.8.0_181]
    at java.lang.Class.createAnnotationData(Class.java:3521) ~[na:1.8.0_181]
    at java.lang.Class.annotationData(Class.java:3510) ~[na:1.8.0_181]
    at java.lang.Class.createAnnotationData(Class.java:3526) ~[na:1.8.0_181]
    at java.lang.Class.annotationData(Class.java:3510) ~[na:1.8.0_181]
    at java.lang.Class.getAnnotation(Class.java:3415) ~[na:1.8.0_181]
    at java.lang.reflect.AnnotatedElement.isAnnotationPresent(AnnotatedElement.java:258) ~[na:1.8.0_181]
    at java.lang.Class.isAnnotationPresent(Class.java:3425) ~[na:1.8.0_181]
    at org.springframework.core.annotation.AnnotatedElementUtils.hasAnnotation(AnnotatedElementUtils.java:599) ~[spring-core-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.aop.support.annotation.AnnotationClassFilter.matches(AnnotationClassFilter.java:65) ~[spring-aop-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.aop.support.AopUtils.canApply(AopUtils.java:225) ~[spring-aop-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.aop.support.AopUtils.canApply(AopUtils.java:288) ~[spring-aop-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.aop.support.AopUtils.canApply(AopUtils.java:269) ~[spring-aop-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.aop.framework.AbstractAdvisingBeanPostProcessor.isEligible(AbstractAdvisingBeanPostProcessor.java:133) ~[spring-aop-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.aop.framework.AbstractAdvisingBeanPostProcessor.isEligible(AbstractAdvisingBeanPostProcessor.java:115) ~[spring-aop-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.aop.framework.autoproxy.AbstractBeanFactoryAwareAdvisingPostProcessor.isEligible(AbstractBeanFactoryAwareAdvisingPostProcessor.java:70) ~[spring-aop-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.aop.framework.AbstractAdvisingBeanPostProcessor.postProcessAfterInitialization(AbstractAdvisingBeanPostProcessor.java:85) ~[spring-aop-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.applyBeanPostProcessorsAfterInitialization(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:434) ~[spring-beans-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.initializeBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1749) ~[spring-beans-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:576) ~[spring-beans-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    ... 14 common frames omitted

I then updated to activiti version 6.0.0, which gave me the error Missing artifact org.activiti:spring-boot-starter-basic:jar:6.0.0. I found out that the artifactId now starts with activiti-, so the dependency now looks like the following:

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.activiti</groupId>
    <artifactId>activiti-spring-boot-starter-basic</artifactId>
    <version>6.0.0</version>
</dependency>

After that I get the following error

org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'springProcessEngineConfiguration' defined in class path resource [org/activiti/spring/boot/DataSourceProcessEngineAutoConfiguration$DataSourceProcessEngineConfiguration.class]: Bean instantiation via factory method failed; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.BeanInstantiationException: Failed to instantiate [org.activiti.spring.SpringProcessEngineConfiguration]: Factory method 'springProcessEngineConfiguration' threw exception; nested exception is java.io.FileNotFoundException: class path resource [processes/] cannot be resolved to URL because it does not exist
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.ConstructorResolver.instantiate(ConstructorResolver.java:625) ~[spring-beans-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.ConstructorResolver.instantiateUsingFactoryMethod(ConstructorResolver.java:605) ~[spring-beans-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.instantiateUsingFactoryMethod(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1288) ~[spring-beans-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBeanInstance(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1127) ~[spring-beans-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:538) ~[spring-beans-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:498) ~[spring-beans-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.lambda$doGetBean$0(AbstractBeanFactory.java:320) ~[spring-beans-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:222) ~[spring-beans-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:318) ~[spring-beans-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:199) ~[spring-beans-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory.preInstantiateSingletons(DefaultListableBeanFactory.java:846) ~[spring-beans-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.finishBeanFactoryInitialization(AbstractApplicationContext.java:863) ~[spring-context-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:546) ~[spring-context-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.refresh(SpringApplication.java:775) [spring-boot-2.1.0.RELEASE.jar:2.1.0.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.refreshContext(SpringApplication.java:397) [spring-boot-2.1.0.RELEASE.jar:2.1.0.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:316) [spring-boot-2.1.0.RELEASE.jar:2.1.0.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:1260) [spring-boot-2.1.0.RELEASE.jar:2.1.0.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:1248) [spring-boot-2.1.0.RELEASE.jar:2.1.0.RELEASE]
    at com.test.TestApplication.main(TestApplication.java:10) [classes/:na]
Caused by: org.springframework.beans.BeanInstantiationException: Failed to instantiate [org.activiti.spring.SpringProcessEngineConfiguration]: Factory method 'springProcessEngineConfiguration' threw exception; nested exception is java.io.FileNotFoundException: class path resource [processes/] cannot be resolved to URL because it does not exist
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.SimpleInstantiationStrategy.instantiate(SimpleInstantiationStrategy.java:185) ~[spring-beans-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.ConstructorResolver.instantiate(ConstructorResolver.java:620) ~[spring-beans-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    ... 18 common frames omitted
Caused by: java.io.FileNotFoundException: class path resource [processes/] cannot be resolved to URL because it does not exist
    at org.springframework.core.io.ClassPathResource.getURL(ClassPathResource.java:195) ~[spring-core-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.core.io.support.PathMatchingResourcePatternResolver.findPathMatchingResources(PathMatchingResourcePatternResolver.java:497) ~[spring-core-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.core.io.support.PathMatchingResourcePatternResolver.getResources(PathMatchingResourcePatternResolver.java:298) ~[spring-core-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.getResources(AbstractApplicationContext.java:1315) ~[spring-context-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.context.support.GenericApplicationContext.getResources(GenericApplicationContext.java:235) ~[spring-context-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.activiti.spring.boot.AbstractProcessEngineConfiguration.discoverProcessDefinitionResources(AbstractProcessEngineConfiguration.java:79) ~[activiti-spring-boot-starter-basic-6.0.0.jar:na]
    at org.activiti.spring.boot.AbstractProcessEngineAutoConfiguration.baseSpringProcessEngineConfiguration(AbstractProcessEngineAutoConfiguration.java:74) ~[activiti-spring-boot-starter-basic-6.0.0.jar:na]
    at org.activiti.spring.boot.DataSourceProcessEngineAutoConfiguration$DataSourceProcessEngineConfiguration.springProcessEngineConfiguration(DataSourceProcessEngineAutoConfiguration.java:57) ~[activiti-spring-boot-starter-basic-6.0.0.jar:na]
    at org.activiti.spring.boot.DataSourceProcessEngineAutoConfiguration$DataSourceProcessEngineConfiguration$$EnhancerBySpringCGLIB$$a3ebe640.CGLIB$springProcessEngineConfiguration$1(<generated>) ~[activiti-spring-boot-starter-basic-6.0.0.jar:na]
    at org.activiti.spring.boot.DataSourceProcessEngineAutoConfiguration$DataSourceProcessEngineConfiguration$$EnhancerBySpringCGLIB$$a3ebe640$$FastClassBySpringCGLIB$$ec637ac2.invoke(<generated>) ~[activiti-spring-boot-starter-basic-6.0.0.jar:na]
    at org.springframework.cglib.proxy.MethodProxy.invokeSuper(MethodProxy.java:244) ~[spring-core-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassEnhancer$BeanMethodInterceptor.intercept(ConfigurationClassEnhancer.java:363) ~[spring-context-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.activiti.spring.boot.DataSourceProcessEngineAutoConfiguration$DataSourceProcessEngineConfiguration$$EnhancerBySpringCGLIB$$a3ebe640.springProcessEngineConfiguration(<generated>) ~[activiti-spring-boot-starter-basic-6.0.0.jar:na]
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method) ~[na:1.8.0_181]
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62) ~[na:1.8.0_181]
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) ~[na:1.8.0_181]
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498) ~[na:1.8.0_181]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.SimpleInstantiationStrategy.instantiate(SimpleInstantiationStrategy.java:154) ~[spring-beans-5.1.2.RELEASE.jar:5.1.2.RELEASE]
    ... 19 common frames omitted

It says that there's no processes/ folder so I created one under resources and also added the simplest bpmn file MyProcess.bpmn like the following:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<definitions xmlns="http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/20100524/MODEL" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:activiti="http://activiti.org/bpmn" xmlns:bpmndi="http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/20100524/DI" xmlns:omgdc="http://www.omg.org/spec/DD/20100524/DC" xmlns:omgdi="http://www.omg.org/spec/DD/20100524/DI" typeLanguage="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" expressionLanguage="http://www.w3.org/1999/XPath" targetNamespace="http://www.activiti.org/test">
  <process id="myProcess" name="My process" isExecutable="true">
    <startEvent id="startevent1" name="Start"></startEvent>
    <scriptTask id="scripttask1" name="Script Task" activiti:autoStoreVariables="false">
      <script>console.log('Hello');</script>
    </scriptTask>
    <sequenceFlow id="flow1" sourceRef="startevent1" targetRef="scripttask1"></sequenceFlow>
    <endEvent id="endevent1" name="End"></endEvent>
    <sequenceFlow id="flow2" sourceRef="scripttask1" targetRef="endevent1"></sequenceFlow>
  </process>
  <bpmndi:BPMNDiagram id="BPMNDiagram_myProcess">
    <bpmndi:BPMNPlane bpmnElement="myProcess" id="BPMNPlane_myProcess">
      <bpmndi:BPMNShape bpmnElement="startevent1" id="BPMNShape_startevent1">
        <omgdc:Bounds height="35.0" width="35.0" x="130.0" y="170.0"></omgdc:Bounds>
      </bpmndi:BPMNShape>
      <bpmndi:BPMNShape bpmnElement="scripttask1" id="BPMNShape_scripttask1">
        <omgdc:Bounds height="55.0" width="105.0" x="210.0" y="160.0"></omgdc:Bounds>
      </bpmndi:BPMNShape>
      <bpmndi:BPMNShape bpmnElement="endevent1" id="BPMNShape_endevent1">
        <omgdc:Bounds height="35.0" width="35.0" x="360.0" y="170.0"></omgdc:Bounds>
      </bpmndi:BPMNShape>
      <bpmndi:BPMNEdge bpmnElement="flow1" id="BPMNEdge_flow1">
        <omgdi:waypoint x="165.0" y="187.0"></omgdi:waypoint>
        <omgdi:waypoint x="210.0" y="187.0"></omgdi:waypoint>
      </bpmndi:BPMNEdge>
      <bpmndi:BPMNEdge bpmnElement="flow2" id="BPMNEdge_flow2">
        <omgdi:waypoint x="315.0" y="187.0"></omgdi:waypoint>
        <omgdi:waypoint x="360.0" y="187.0"></omgdi:waypoint>
      </bpmndi:BPMNEdge>
    </bpmndi:BPMNPlane>
  </bpmndi:BPMNDiagram>
</definitions>

Now when I run this, I get the same BeanCreationException error for SecurityAutoConfiguration again.

Next I tried using activiti version 7.0.60 which now gives me the error Missing artifact org.activiti:activiti-spring-boot-starter-basic:jar:7.0.60. So now even activiti- is not working for artifactId. Now I cannot find what the artifactId is from version 7.

The mvn repository only has details for activiti version 5.17.0. Why is the artifactId changing so much between versions 5,6 and 7 and where can I find details for such changes? And how can I solve this BeanCreationException problem? Or is there some other configuration that needs to be done to use activiti 7 with spring boot 2 that I'm missing?

Answer 1

Activiti 7 is currently in beta and under active development. You can use

<dependency>
      <groupId>org.activiti</groupId>
      <artifactId>activiti-spring-boot-starter</artifactId>
</dependency>

You can take the latest from maven central. Or you can use the latest version number from the activiti-examples (but that version is only in alfresco nexus so to use that you'd have to add that repo to your pom).