Workflow Types
There are two types of workflows that can be created/managed:
- Action Workflows (for future reference, action workflows will be referred to as workflows): they are visible and can be executed from Portal if active
- Snippet workflows: they allow users to reuse predefined sets of actions in workflows. They are not designed to be executed in Portal, but triggered to be executed when the linked workflow's execution reaches the Start Snippet Workflow activity. All workflows that will be created/imported under category Snippets will be considered snippet workflows.
Workflow Parameters
In general terms of workflow parameters we refer to Variables and Arguments. Whenever a new workflow is created or an existing workflow is checked-out, the Workflow Designer panel becomes visible allowing users to add/edit/delete workflow parameters:
Variables are used to store data within a workflow, they are not visible outside the workflow. Arguments are used to passing data IN and OUT of the workflow, in other words, arguments represent the workflow's IN and OUT parameters. In Workflow Designer panel there is a custom panel to define Variables, Arguments and Imports to import namespaces, enabling the user to simply enter a type name in expressions rather than a fully qualified version type name. When the workflow is saved, namespaces imported are saved as well.
Variables
Variables can be defined at different scopes (sequence, flowchart etc.). Create a new variable:
- from the Variables tab: click on the “Variables” button in Workflow Designer -> Variables panel, after you have selected an activity to set the variable's scope (for example: main Sequence activity of the workflow):
- from the activity: in the text editor insert the variable name and click the + button. A new variable will be automatically created with the matching type (for example variable of type String) and will be visible in the Variables tab:
If the workflow has predefined variables, they will be visible in the Variables panel. In order to edit existent variables, click on the correspondent variable row and perform desired editing. In order to delete a variable, right-click twice on the correspondent row to enable Delete option from the context menu, instead of single right-click like in previous versions of Designer.
Arguments
Arguments are used to define workflow parameters. When designing a workflow, arguments are defined to allow data to be passed into the workflow when it is executed from Portal or third party scripts via RestAPI . Arguments are defined in the same way as Variables in Workflow Designer->Arguments panel.
If the workflow has predefined arguments, they will be visible in the Arguments panel.
In order to edit existent arguments, click on the correspondent argument row and perform desired editing. In order to delete an argument, right-click twice on the correspondent argument row to enable Delete option from the context menu, instead of single right-click like previous versions of Designer
NOTE: The change in the Delete action applies to all Rehosted Workflow Designer applications built with the newest version of .Net Framework 4.7.2, in comparison to the previous version of .Net Framework 4.5 and is not customizable by Flowster Studio.