The process variables contain the context information during process executions. The process variables are similar to a java.util.Map that maps variable names to values, which are java objects. The process variables are persisted as a part of the process instance. To keep things simple, in this example we only show the API to work with variables, without persistence.

More information about variables can be found in Chapter 10, Context

// This example also starts from the hello world process.
// This time even without modification.
ProcessDefinition processDefinition = ProcessDefinition.parseXmlString(
  "<process-definition>" +
  "  <start-state>" +
  "    <transition to='s' />" +
  "  </start-state>" +
  "  <state name='s'>" +
  "    <transition to='end' />" +
  "  </state>" +
  "  <end-state name='end' />" +
  "</process-definition>"
);

ProcessInstance processInstance =
  new ProcessInstance(processDefinition);

// Fetch the context instance from the process instance 
// for working with the process variables.
ContextInstance contextInstance = 
  processInstance.getContextInstance();

// Before the process has left the start-state, 
// we are going to set some process variables in the 
// context of the process instance.
contextInstance.setVariable("amount", new Integer(500));
contextInstance.setVariable("reason", "i met my deadline");

// From now on, these variables are associated with the 
// process instance.  The process variables are now accessible 
// by user code via the API shown here, but also in the actions 
// and node implementations.  The process variables are also  
// stored into the database as a part of the process instance.

processInstance.signal();

// The variables are accessible via the contextInstance. 

assertEquals(new Integer(500), 
             contextInstance.getVariable("amount"));
assertEquals("i met my deadline", 
             contextInstance.getVariable("reason"));