Version: 0.25

Get Started with the Go client

In this tutorial, you will learn to use the Go client in a Go application to interact with Zeebe.

You will be guided through the following steps:

You can find the complete source code, on GitHub.

Prerequisites#

Before you begin to setup your project please start the broker, i.e. by running the start up script bin/broker or bin/broker.bat in the distribution. Per default the broker is binding to the address localhost:26500, which is used as contact point in this guide. In case your broker is available under another address please adjust the broker contact point when building the client.

Set up a project#

First, we need a new Go project. Create a new project using your IDE, or create new Go module with:

mkdir -p $GOPATH/src/github.com/zb-user/zb-example
cd $GOPATH/src/github.com/zb-user/zb-example
go mod init

To use the Zeebe Go client library, add the following dependency to your go.mod:

module github.com/zb-user/zb-example
go 1.13
require github.com/zeebe-io/zeebe/clients/go v0.24.1

Create a main.go file inside the module and add the following lines to bootstrap the Zeebe client:

package main
import (
"context"
"fmt"
"github.com/zeebe-io/zeebe/clients/go/pkg/zbc"
"github.com/zeebe-io/zeebe/clients/go/pkg/pb"
)
const BrokerAddr = "0.0.0.0:26500"
func main() {
client, err := zbc.NewClient(&zbc.ClientConfig{
GatewayAddress: BrokerAddr,
UsePlaintextConnection: true,
})
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
ctx := context.Background()
topology, err := client.NewTopologyCommand().Send(ctx)
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
for _, broker := range topology.Brokers {
fmt.Println("Broker", broker.Host, ":", broker.Port)
for _, partition := range broker.Partitions {
fmt.Println(" Partition", partition.PartitionId, ":", roleToString(partition.Role))
}
}
}
func roleToString(role pb.Partition_PartitionBrokerRole) string {
switch role {
case pb.Partition_LEADER:
return "Leader"
case pb.Partition_FOLLOWER:
return "Follower"
default:
return "Unknown"
}
}

Run the program.

go run main.go

You should see similar output:

Broker 0.0.0.0 : 26501
Partition 1 : Leader

Model a workflow#

Now, we need a first workflow which can then be deployed. Later, we will extend the workflow with more functionality.

Open the Zeebe Modeler and create a new BPMN diagram. Add a start event and an end event to the diagram and connect the events.

model-workflow-step-1

Set the id to order-process (i.e., the BPMN process id) and mark the diagram as executable. Save the diagram in the project's source folder.

Deploy a workflow#

Next, we want to deploy the modeled workflow to the broker. The broker stores the workflow under its BPMN process id and assigns a version (i.e., the revision).

package main
import (
"context"
"fmt"
"github.com/zeebe-io/zeebe/clients/go/pkg/zbc"
)
const brokerAddr = "0.0.0.0:26500"
func main() {
client, err := zbc.NewClient(&zbc.ClientConfig{
GatewayAddress: brokerAddr,
UsePlaintextConnection: true,
})
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
ctx := context.Background()
response, err := client.NewDeployWorkflowCommand().AddResourceFile("order-process.bpmn").Send(ctx)
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
fmt.Println(response.String())
}

Run the program and verify that the workflow is deployed successfully. You should see similar the output:

key:2251799813686743 workflows:<bpmnProcessId:"order-process" version:3 workflowKey:2251799813686742 resourceName:"order-process.bpmn" >

Create a workflow instance#

Finally, we are ready to create a first instance of the deployed workflow. A workflow instance is created of a specific version of the workflow, which can be set on creation.

package main
import (
"context"
"fmt"
"github.com/zeebe-io/zeebe/clients/go/pkg/zbc"
)
const brokerAddr = "0.0.0.0:26500"
func main() {
client, err := zbc.NewClient(&zbc.ClientConfig{
GatewayAddress: brokerAddr,
UsePlaintextConnection: true,
})
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
// After the workflow is deployed.
variables := make(map[string]interface{})
variables["orderId"] = "31243"
request, err := client.NewCreateInstanceCommand().BPMNProcessId("order-process").LatestVersion().VariablesFromMap(variables)
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
ctx := context.Background()
msg, err := request.Send(ctx)
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
fmt.Println(msg.String())
}

Run the program and verify that the workflow instance is created. You should see the output:

workflowKey:2251799813686742 bpmnProcessId:"order-process" version:3 workflowInstanceKey:2251799813686744

You did it! You want to see how the workflow instance is executed?

Start the Zeebe Monitor using java -jar zeebe-simple-monitor-app-*.jar.

Open a web browser and go to http://localhost:8080/.

Here, you see the current state of the workflow instance. zeebe-monitor-step-1

Work on a task#

Now we want to do some work within your workflow. First, add a few service tasks to the BPMN diagram and set the required attributes. Then extend your main.go file and activate a job which are created when the workflow instance reaches a service task.

Open the BPMN diagram in the Zeebe Modeler. Insert a few service tasks between the start and the end event.

model-workflow-step-2

You need to set the type of each task, which identifies the nature of the work to be performed. Set the type of the first task to payment-service.

Add the following lines to redeploy the modified process, then activate and complete a job of the first task type:

package main
import (
"context"
"fmt"
"github.com/zeebe-io/zeebe/clients/go/pkg/entities"
"github.com/zeebe-io/zeebe/clients/go/pkg/worker"
"github.com/zeebe-io/zeebe/clients/go/pkg/zbc"
"log"
)
const BrokerAddr = "0.0.0.0:26500"
var readyClose = make(chan struct{})
func main() {
client, err := zbc.NewClient(&zbc.ClientConfig{
GatewayAddress: BrokerAddr,
UsePlaintextConnection: true,
})
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
// deploy workflow
ctx := context.Background()
response, err := client.NewDeployWorkflowCommand().AddResourceFile("order-process-4.bpmn").Send(ctx)
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
fmt.Println(response.String())
// create a new workflow instance
variables := make(map[string]interface{})
variables["orderId"] = "31243"
request, err := client.NewCreateInstanceCommand().BPMNProcessId("order-process-4").LatestVersion().VariablesFromMap(variables)
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
result, err := request.Send(ctx)
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
fmt.Println(result.String())
jobWorker := client.NewJobWorker().JobType("payment-service").Handler(handleJob).Open()
<-readyClose
jobWorker.Close()
jobWorker.AwaitClose()
}
func handleJob(client worker.JobClient, job entities.Job) {
jobKey := job.GetKey()
headers, err := job.GetCustomHeadersAsMap()
if err != nil {
// failed to handle job as we require the custom job headers
failJob(client, job)
return
}
variables, err := job.GetVariablesAsMap()
if err != nil {
// failed to handle job as we require the variables
failJob(client, job)
return
}
variables["totalPrice"] = 46.50
request, err := client.NewCompleteJobCommand().JobKey(jobKey).VariablesFromMap(variables)
if err != nil {
// failed to set the updated variables
failJob(client, job)
return
}
log.Println("Complete job", jobKey, "of type", job.Type)
log.Println("Processing order:", variables["orderId"])
log.Println("Collect money using payment method:", headers["method"])
ctx := context.Background()
_, err = request.Send(ctx)
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
log.Println("Successfully completed job")
close(readyClose)
}
func failJob(client worker.JobClient, job entities.Job) {
log.Println("Failed to complete job", job.GetKey())
ctx := context.Background()
_, err := client.NewFailJobCommand().JobKey(job.GetKey()).Retries(job.Retries - 1).Send(ctx)
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
}

In this example we open a job worker for jobs of type payment-service. The job worker will repeatedly poll for new jobs of the type payment-service and activate them subsequently. Each activated job will then be passed to the job handler which implements the business logic of the job worker. The handler will then complete the job with its result or fail the job if it encounters a problem while processing the job.

When you have a look at the Zeebe Monitor, then you can see that the workflow instance moved from the first service task to the next one:

zeebe-monitor-step-2

When you run the above example you should see similar output:

key:2251799813686751 workflows:<bpmnProcessId:"order-process" version:4 workflowKey:2251799813686750 resourceName:"order-process.bpmn" >
workflowKey:2251799813686750 bpmnProcessId:"order-process" version:4 workflowInstanceKey:22517998136
86752
2019/06/06 20:59:50 Complete job 2251799813686760 of type payment-service
2019/06/06 20:59:50 Processing order: 31243
2019/06/06 20:59:50 Collect money using payment method: VISA

What's next?#

Yay! You finished this tutorial and learned the basic usage of the Go client.

Next steps:

Edit this page