private List<WorkflowAnnotation> loadAnnotations(String propKey) throws IOException {
    List<WorkflowAnnotation> annotations = new ArrayList<WorkflowAnnotation>();

    final String json = workflowDesignerPropertySet.getProperty(propKey);
    if (!StringUtils.isBlank(json)) {
      final JSONAnnotationSerializer deserializer = new JSONAnnotationSerializer();
      annotations = deserializer.deserialize(json);
    }

    return annotations;
  }
 private void saveAnnotations(String propKey, List<WorkflowAnnotation> annotations)
     throws Exception {
   final JSONAnnotationSerializer serializer = new JSONAnnotationSerializer();
   final String json = serializer.serialize(annotations);
   workflowDesignerPropertySet.setProperty(propKey, json);
 }