How to resize Task box in Camunda Modeler?

#1

Hi all,

I have found this older topic:

Text box in task - camunda-bpm-users, Google Groups

When I create a new activity and would like to write a text inside it
e.g. login to the system. I cannot change the size of that text box.
Cannot chage to make its alignment right or left. Any suggestions?

It is not possible to resize text box of the task. Instead of
resizing the text box you are always able to resize the task, so that
the text does fit into the text box.

I don’t think this (“resize the text box”) applies anymore, because on my Camuynda Modeler v0.34.3, running on Ubuntu 14.04, I get something like this:

Basically, when I edit text inside the Task box (shown on left), I do get a handle on the bottom right corner, which I can drag, and which apparently changes the size of the text box (not of the task box, whose borders are still somewhat visible in the back - and btw, this is in complete opposition of the advice given in the post at the link given above).

But then, when I press Enter so changes are accepted, and the Task box is redrawn in full (shown on right), I can see that the change of the text box size did not influence at all the size of the task box; and furthermore, there are not any handles that I could use for dragging to resize the task box - nor can I see any other method to resize the Task box.

So, is it possible to resize the Task box in Camunda - and if so, how?

#2

Hi,

It is a deliberate decision to disallow reisizing tasks. See this discussion in the bpmn.io forums for the reason.

Cheers,
Thorben

#3

Hi @thorben,

Many thanks for the answer:

OK, now I see why I was not able to do anything about resizing task boxes…

Cheers!

#4

The behavior you would like to see will apply for text annotations and external labels (on start events and gateways) with any of the next Camunda Modeler releases.

We will stick to tasks not being resizable for the reasons @thorben pointed you to.

1 Like
#5

@nikku

Is this really the case? I cannot resize start event labels using v1.0.0… Am I missing something??

Thanks

#6

What would you like to achieve and why?

1 Like
#7

I’d like to be able to resize text labels for neatness purposes while process drafting. For example,I can resize the text box as such below…

But once I click outside of it, it goes back to being five lines

#8

That one decision not to allow resizing od task boxes must have lost many thousands of users for camunda. Its such a basic need for modelling. Crazy decision

1 Like
#9

The choice to prevent people from re-sizing their activities is to save you from yourself :slight_smile:
Generally speaking if the name of your activity has gotten so big that it doesn’t fit in the box it’s a bad name. A core practice of using BPMN is to ensure that the model is easy to read and understand quickly. if activity names are succinct and the symbols are uniform the model is demonstrably easier and faster to comprehend.

If you need additional information on your task - BPMN has annotations and cawemo.com lets you add comments and documents to tasks.

I hope this helps you understand that our decision is the right one.

3 Likes
#10

I’m actually bumping into this topic - I think that’s not a good decision, especially for languages like German where you have pretty long words. For example, I have a step “Entscheidung (Vorstellungsgespräch) treffen” - the problem is that the word “Vorstellungsgespräch” already breaks with the first s, which makes it look amateurish. And in the context of an application workflow… well, you just can’t use better describing word. Btw. the same applies for the noun “Einstellungsentscheidung” (which could be written as “Einstellung entscheiden”, but is rather … unusual).

While I agree, that it is not very good to define utterly long names for a task, I think this is a rather rash decision. Especially when thinking about areas where you just have stupid names. In Axon Ivy for example, you can resize them at free will. Another great example is when your customer wants two steps in one and still want the name to be describing. Or if you’re using a prefix, example “[#{Name}] Mittelung an Lohnbuchhaltung”… while I understand the reason why you did this, I find this kind of far away from actual needs.

1 Like
#11

For those of you who really feel the need to resize tasks: I’ve created a Camunda Modeler plugin that makes tasks resizable: https://github.com/philippfromme/camunda-modeler-plugin-resize-tasks

2 Likes
#12

You truly are the greatest @philippfromme - i’m honored to exist in your presence. :wink:

1 Like