Using BPMN Visualization in R

With the bpmn-visualization TypeScript library, you can visualize process execution data on BPMN diagrams in a web browser, by adding custom overlays and customizing the style of the diagram.

The new BPMN Visualization - R Package is being developed to offer another way to visualize process execution data in R.

Let's see how it works.

Prerequisites

R Studio or R Console

Installation

First, you need to install the package from Github:

	> devtools::install_github("process-analytics/bpmn-visualization-R")
	> library(bpmnVisualization)

view raw Installation.R hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Load a BPMN file

The bpmnVisualization package accepts a BPMN file in XML format.
There are several ways to load this file. However, in this article, we will focus on how to load an example file from the package.

> bpmn_file <- system.file("examples/Email_Voting.bpmn", package = "bpmnVisualization")

view raw Load BPMN file.R hosted with ❤ by GitHub

You will find the other ways to load a BPMN file in the README of the package.

Display the BPMN diagram

At the moment, there are 2 ways to display the BPMN diagram: Just the diagram without overlay or The diagram with overlay(s).

Just the diagram

> bpmnVisualization::display(bpmn_file)

view raw Display diagram.R hosted with ❤ by GitHub

The diagram with overlays

	> overlays <- list(bpmnVisualization::create_overlay("bpmn_element_id_1", "42"), bpmnVisualization::create_overlay("bpmn_element_id_2", "9"))
	> bpmnVisualization::display(bpmn_file, overlays)

view raw Display diagram with overlays.R hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Overlays customization and positioning will be possible in a future version of the package.

Integrate in a Shiny App

You can also use the bpmnVisualization package in a Shiny app.

If you are not familiar with Shiny, it is an R package that makes it easy to build interactive web apps straight from R. You can host standalone apps on a webpage or embed them in R Markdown documents or build dashboards.

The following example displays a BPMN diagram provided as an example by the package, with an overlay on top of a BPMN element.

	# Install and load packages
	> install.packages("shiny")
	> library(shiny)
	> devtools::install_github("process-analytics/bpmn-visualization-R")
	> library(bpmnVisualization)
	> displayBpmn <- function() {
	bpmn_file <- system.file("examples/Travel_Booking.bpmn", package = "bpmnVisualization")
	overlays <- list(bpmnVisualization::create_overlay("_6–203", "9"))
	bpmnVisualization::display(bpmn_file, overlays)
	}
	> ui <- shinyUI(fluidPage(
	titlePanel("Display bpmn diagrams with execution data"),
	bpmnVisualizationOutput('bpmnContainer')
	)
	)
	> server = function(input, output) {
	# renderBpmnVisualization is the R bridge function to the html widgets
	output$bpmnContainer <- renderBpmnVisualization({ displayBpmn() })
	}
	> shinyApp(ui, server)

view raw Shiny App.R hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Participation in Hacktoberfest 2021

If you want to participate in Hacktoberfest to promote Open Source development and you don't know where to make a contribution, you can try with the labeled issues from the BPMN Visualization - R Package repository.

We are also waiting for contributions in other repositories. For more information, see this article.

If you have any questions - let us know directly on GitHub issues or via Twitter.

Conclusion

Now, you have everything you need to start your first project with BPMN Visualization in R.

Thank you for reading and I hope I helped or inspired you 😊

We also plan to publish the BPMN Visualization package in CRAN soon.

Follow us to keep up to date on the latest news:

• Website: https://process-analytics.dev
• Twitter: @ProcessAnalyti1
• GitHub: https://github.com/process-analytics