Pastes the agent and its configurations from the clipboard into the workflow editor, where the insertion point has been set. Alternatively, you can use the Paste function in the button bar.
You can also use the Ctrl+V keys to perform this action.
MIM Browser...
Opens the MIM Browser from which the available MIM Resources may be inserted into the code area.
UDR Assistance...
Opens the UDR Internal Format Browser from which the UDR Fields may be inserted into the code area.
Add Comment...
Adds comments to the workflow.
Preferences
Click this to open the Preferences dialog. It allows you to change the appearance of the workflow template. You can also use the Preferences function in the button bar.
Due to the agents' relationships within a workflow configuration, ensure that you have added all agents and routes in order to initiate a workflow.
Each agent in the workflow configuration has a specific configuration dialog named after the agent type. You can access these configurations by double-clicking the agent or route, or selecting the agent or route and right-clicking to reveal a pop-up menu. The pop-up menu contains different options depending on if you have selected an agent or route.
Agents
You can modify an agent name by selecting the name (clicking on it) and typing a new name. Agent names can also be edited in the configuration dialog. The dialog is displayed when the agent is double-clicked. Agent names must be unique within a workflow configuration and may only contain the a-z, A-Z, 0-9, "-" and "_" characters.
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Right-click Menu for Agents
The right-click menu for agents contain the following options.
...
Item
Description
Configuration...
Click this to open the agent Configuration dialog. It contains configuration information located in tabs. The leftmost tab contains configuration parameters that are unique for each agent, while other additional tabs are for more generic type of configurations and may be recognized in other agent windows.
Info
title
Info!
A description of components in the first tab is available in the user documentation section for the respective agent, while the remaining tabs are described in the section below, Agent Services.
Cut
Moves the selected agent and its configurations to the clipboard. Alternatively, you can use the Cut function in the button bar.
You can also use the Ctrl+X keys to perform this action.
Copy
Copies the selected agent and its configurations to the clipboard. Alternatively, you can use the Copy function in the button bar.
You can also use the Ctrl+C keys to perform this action.
Paste
Pastes the agent and its configurations from the clipboard into the workflow editor, where the insertion point has been set. Alternatively, you can use the Paste function in the button bar.
You can also use the Ctrl+V keys to perform this action.
Opens the UDR Internal Format Browser from which the UDR Fields may be inserted into the code area.
Add Comment...
Adds comments to the selected agent.
Preferences
Click this to open the Preferences dialog. It allows you to change the appearance of the workflow template. You can also use the Preferences function in the button bar.
Some agent configuration dialogs are optionally equipped with additional tabs holding configurations for different common services. This section describes the general services that are availablein . The user guide for each agent, will in turn describe what services it uses.
Ui tabs
Ui tab
title
Thread Buffer
Thread Buffer Tab
By default, a batch workflow utilizes one active thread at a time. By configuring a buffer storage for an agent, it will be possible for yet another thread to be created, this is also called multithreading. One thread will be populating the buffer, and another pulling it for data. Adding yet another buffer for another agent will add yet another thread, and so on.
This is especially useful in complex workflows with many agents. All batch agents that receive UDRs can utilize this functionality.
Note!
A workflow that is configured with multithreading can only handle data of the UDR type. If bytearrays are routed into an agent utilizing this service, an exception will be thrown.
Open the Configuration dialog of the agent and select the Thread Buffer tab. The tab is present in batch processing and batch forwarding agents.
Item
Description
Use Buffer
Enables multithreading. For further information, see .
Print Statistics
Statistics to be used when trying out where to use the Thread Buffer in the workflow. After each batch execution, the fulland emptypercentage of the threads utilizing the buffer is logged in the event area in the bottom of the Workflow Monitor.
For information on how to interpret the results, see the section below, Analyzing Thread Buffer Statistics.
A UDR may be queued up while another thread is busy processing a reference to it. Workflows routing the same UDR on several routes and involving further processing of its data, must consequently be reconfigured to avoid this. A simple workaround is to route the UDR to an Analysis agent for cloning before routing it to the other agents (one unique clone per route).
Analyzing Thread Buffer Statistics
By using the Print Statistics alternative in the Thread Buffer Tab, buffer statistics are logged for the whole batch execution and show the full and empty percentage for the threads utilizing the thread buffer. For information about multithreading in a batch workflow, refer to the section, Threads in a Batch Workflow, in .
Example - A thread buffer printout
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The number within brackets, which is [5] in the example, is the batch counter id.
Turnover is the total number of UDRs that have passed through the buffer.
Available indicates how often (of the total turnover time) the buffer has been available for the incoming queue to forward a UDR and for the outgoing queue to fetch a UDR.
Incoming queue:
Full is logged for the incoming thread and indicates how often (of the total turnover time) the buffer has been full and an incoming UDR had to wait for available buffer space.
In the example, Full indicates that for 46% of the incoming UDRs there was a delay because of a full buffer.
Outgoing queue:
Empty is logged for the outgoing thread and indicates how often (of the total turnover time) an outgoing queue had to wait for data because of an empty buffer.
In the example, Empty indicates that for 41% of the attempts to fetch a UDR, the buffer was empty.
The percentage values for Empty and Full must be as low as possible, and as equal as possible. The latter may be hard to achieve, since the agents may differ too much in processing complexity. If possible, add and configure another agent to take over some of the processing steps from the most complex agent.
See the section below, Thread Buffer Tab, for how to configure the thread buffer.
Ui tab
title
Filename Sequence
filenameseqFilename Sequence Tab
For batch collection agents such as Disk, FTP, and SFTP, there is a service available, found in the agents' configuration dialog in the Filename Sequence tab. The filename sequence is used when you want to collect files that contains a sequence number in the file name. The sequence number is expected to be found on a specific position in the file name and has a fixed or dynamic size.
In case of dynamic workflows, you must select the Enable Dynamic Workflow Configuration checkbox in the Workflow Properties dialog, set an Export Alias and only then the value is set in the Web Interface. See to know more.
Note!
When collecting from several sources, the Filename Sequence service is applied on the data that arrives from all the sources, as though all the information arrives from a single source. This means that the Filename Sequence number count is not specific to any of the sources.
Item
Description
Enable Filename Sequence
Determines if the service will be used or not. Selecting this checkbox will enable the following configuration fields.
Start Position
The offset in the file name where the sequence number starts. The first character has offset 0 (zero). In the example file name TTFILE0001 the start position is 6.
Length
The length of the sequence number, if the sequence number has a static length (padded with leading zeros). If the sequence number length is dynamic this value is set to 0 (zero).
Example
TTFILE0001-TTFILE9999 Length: 4
TTFILE1-TTFILE9999 Length: 0
Wrap On
If the Filename Sequence service is enabled, a value must be specified on which the sequence will wrap. This number should be larger than or equal to Next Sequence Number and it must be larger than Wrap To.
Wrap To
Value that the sequence will wrap to. This value must be less than the Wrap On value and less than or equal to Next Sequence Number.
Warn On Out Of Sequence
If enabled, the agent will log an informative message to the System Log when detecting an out of sequence file, before deactivating. The collection agent will not continue to collect any files upon the next activation, until either the missing file is found, or the Next Sequence Number is set to a valid value.
Note!
The Filename Sequence can be updated using both the web interface and Desktop.
Ui tab
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Sort Order
Sort Order Tab
The Sort Order service is available on some batch collection agents and is used to sort matched files before collection.
The sort pattern is expected to occur on a specific position in the file name or to be located using a regular expression. The sort pattern is expected to occur on a specific position in the file name or to be located using a regular expression. However, if the sort pattern cannot be applied, the workflow will abort, except for files with a name which is shorter than Position plus Length. For information on this exception, see the description below for Position.
Determines if the service will be utilized or not. If enabled, the sort order that you select also applies to subfolders if you have selected the Include Subfolders check box for the FTP, SFTP and Disk collection agents. For further information, see the section for the relevant agent in .
Modification Time
Select to enable file collection order according to the modification time stamp. If Sort Direction is set to Ascending, the oldest files are collected first. The time resolution depends on the server and protocol.
Note!
Most FTP and SCP servers follow the Unix modification date format for file time stamps. The modification date resolution is one minute for files that are time stamped during the last six months. After six months a resolution of one day is applied.
Value Pattern
The method used to locate the item (part of the file name) to be the target for the sorting. This could be either Position that indicates that the item is located at a fixed position in the file name or Regular Expression indicating that the item will be fetched using a regular expression.
Position
If Positionis enabled, the files are sorted based on the part of the filename indicated by Position plus Length. The Start Positionvalue states the offset in the file name where the sorting item starts. The first character has offset 0 (zero).
The Lengthvalue states the length of the sorting item (part of the file name) if it has a static length. For sorting items with a dynamic length, use the value zero (0) will be used.
Note!
Files with a name which is shorter than Position plus Length are ignored.
Regular Expression
If enabled, the sorting item is extracted from the file name using the regular expression. If the file name does not end with a digit, this is the correct option.
Example - Sorting using regular expression
\d+ locates the first digit sequence in a file name.
Sort the following files in an alphabetical or numerical order:
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Use \d+ in the regular expression. Depending on the selected Sort Direction, the files are sorted in the following order:
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Sort Type
Type of sorting. Could be either Alphanumeric or Numeric.
Ignore Case
If enabled, the sorting is not case sensitive.
Sort Direction
Indicates if the sort order will be Ascendingor Descending.
Ui tab
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Filename Template
filename_templateFilename Template Tab
The Filename Template service is available to batch forwarding agents that are responsible for creating a file, and the Disk forwarding agent for real-time workflows. The configuration contains MIM resources for all available agents in the workflow, whose values may be used when constructing a filename for the outgoing file.
Since this service includes a selection of MIM resources from available agents in the workflow, it is advised to add all agents to the workflow, and to assign route and agent names, before the filename template configuration is completed.
Note!
Filename Template also provides you with the so called Dynamic Directory support. This means that you can change the output directory during execution of a workflow, which input data is bytearray. See Input Data in the configuration Target tab of your relevant forwarding agent.
By creating directories and subdirectories, with names which consist of MIM values, and by adding appropriate APL code, you configure the output directory to sort the out data into directories that are created during the workflow execution. For further information, see the section below, Defining a MIM Resource of FNTUDR Type.
The list contains MIM resources or user defined values that will create the file name. The order of the items in the list controls the order in the file name.
There are two ways in which you can determine the order of the items. You can use the Up and Down arrow buttons, or you can use the column headers. If you begin to sort the items using the column headers, the Up and Down arrows are disabled.
The table containing MIM resources, user defined values, separators and/or directory delimiters will create the filepath or filename. The order of the items in the table define the filepath or filename.
Since the service utilizes a selection of MIM resources from available agents in the workflow, it is advised to add all agents to the workflow before the filename template configuration is completed.
Item
Description
Create Non-Existing Directories
When this check box is selected, non-existing directories stated in the path will be created. If not selected, the agent will abort if a required directory is missing.
Item
Description
MIM Defined
Determines if the Value will be selected from a MIM resource.
The MIM resource of type FNTUDR will be represented in the template table in the same way as other MIMs, however will have an other appearance when the filename or filepath is presented. A MIM FNTUDR value can represent a sub path with delimiters or a part of a filename or a directory. For further information about how to use the FNTUDR in filename templates, see the section below, Defining a MIM Resource of FNTUDR Type.
User Defined
Determines if the Value will be a user defined constant entered in the text field.
Directory Delimiter
Determines if the Value will be a directory delimiter indicating that the file sub path will have a directory delimiter at that specified position. You cannot have two directory delimiters directly after each other, or a delimiter in the beginning or end of a filename template.
The MIM resource of the special UDR type FNTUDR can include, begin or/and end with directory delimiters this must be noted when adding delimiters in the template. For further information about using the FNTUDR in filename templates, see the section below, Defining a MIM Resource of FNTUDR Type.
Size
Number of allocated characters in the file name for the selected MIM resource (or user defined constant). If the actual value is smaller than this number, the remaining space will be padded with the chosen padding character. If left empty, the number of characters allocated in the file name will be equal to the MIM value or the constant.
Padding
Character to pad remaining space with if Size is set. If Size is not set, this value is ignored.
Alignment
Left or right alignment within the allocated size. If Size is not set, this value is ignored.
Separator
Separating character to add to the file name after the MIM value or constant.
Date Format
Adds a timestamp to the file name in the selected way. For further information about the format, see Date and Time Format Codes in .
Example - Configuring a Filename Template tab
In this example, there is a workflow containing a Disk collection agent named DI1 and two Disk forwarding agents named DO1 and DO2. The desired output file names from both forwarding agents are as follows:
A-B-C.DAT Where A is the name of the Disk forwarding agent, B is the name of the currently collected file, C is the number of UDRs in the outgoing file and .DAT is a customer suffix. It is desired that the number of UDRs in the files takes up six characters and is right aligned.
The following file name template configuration applies to the first agent:
The following file name template configuration applies to the second agent:
If two files FILE1 and FILE2 are processed where 100 UDRs goes to DO1 and 250 goes to DO2 from each file, the resulting file names would be:
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Defining a MIM Resource of FNTUDR Type
A MIM resource with a value of the FNTUDR type included in the filename template is treated somewhat differently than other MIM resources. A FNTUDR value is a text string that can contain delimiters. The delimiters in the FNTUDR value will be replaced by directory delimiters when determining the target file path. The FNTUDR is defined in the FNT folder.
Example - How to create an FNTUDR value to publishe as a MIM resource
The following example shows a set of APL code that creates a FNTUDR value and publishes it as a MIM resource. To use the FNTUDR value in a filename template, the MIM resource must be added in the filename template configuration.
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The following filename template configuration utilizes the FNTUDR published by the APL code.
The resulting output file in the previous example will be saved in a file with the following sub path from the root directory.
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The part dir1/dir2/partOfFileName derives from the FNTUDR Value.
For further information about how to manipulate FNTUDRs with APL functions and how to publish MIM resources, see the and the section, Meta Information Model, in .
Routes
A route name is modified by selecting the name (clicking on it) and typing a new name. Route names must be unique within a workflow configuration and may only contain the a-z, A-Z, 0-9, "-" and "_" characters.
Each route in the workflow is by default either asynchronous or synchronous, but this can be configured per route for real-time workflows.
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Right-click Menu for Routes
The right-click menu for routes are different for Batch and Real-time workflows.
...
Item
Description
Configuration...
Note
title
Note!
This option is applicable to real-time workflows.
Click this to open the Route dialog. It allows you to override the default configuration and set the route as Synchronous or Asynchronous.
Route Dialog
Synchronous - The same thread continues to process the UDR in subsequent agents before the route operation returns in order to process the next UDR. If this option is selected, an 'S' indicated at the front of the route.
Asynchronous - There is a queue associated with the route. Routing places the UDR in the queue for future processing, and the route operation returns immediately for the next UDR. If this option is selected, an 'A' is indicated at the front of the route.
Warning
title
Warning!
If you modify the default setting for a route, this can cause a deadlock or performance issues. If you choose to modify the type of route, do so with caution.
Info
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Info!
In an Analysis or Aggregation agent, the route operation is done through the udrRoute command. For a synchronous route, which is the default for the Analysis agent, udrRoute can take a significant amount of time to finish since it waits until all synchronous processing in subsequent agents in the workflow is complete. If the route is asynchronous, which is the default for the Aggregation agent, the call to udrRoute returns immediately.
UDRs that are left on queues are picked up and processed by the workflow threads. The number of workflow threads can be configured in the Execution tab of the Workflow Properties dialog for the workflow.
Note
title
Note!
Even though it is possible to configure bytearrays to be routed over an asynchronous route, bytearrays will always be routed in synchronous mode, regardless of how the route is configured, since the workflow UDR queues do not support bytearrays.
Cut
Moves the selected agent and its configurations and route to the clipboard. Alternatively, you can use the Cut function in the button bar.
You can also use the Ctrl+X keys to perform this action.
Note
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Note!
This does not apply when only the route is selected. You must select the agent and its route to perform this action.
Copy
Copies the selected agent and its configurations and route to the clipboard. Alternatively, you can use the Copy function in the button bar.
You can also use the Ctrl+C keys to perform this action.
Note
title
Note!
This does not apply when only the route is selected. You must select the agent and its route to perform this action.
Paste
Pastes the agent and its configurations and route from the clipboard into the workflow editor, where the insertion point has been set. Alternatively, you can use the Paste function in the button bar.
You can also use the Ctrl+V keys to perform this action.
Note
title
Note!
This does not apply when only the route is selected. You must select the agent and its route to perform this action.
Click this to open the Preferences dialog. It allows you to change the appearance of the workflow template. You can also use the Preferences function in the button bar.
Info
title
Info!
To view the type for all routes, not limited to the ones you have stated explicitly, you can select the option Show All Route Types in the Preferences dialog. This is only applicable to realtime workflows.
Sets the style or appearance of the routes in a workflow. Route style can also be changed for one specific route, not affecting the entire workflow. The default route style isBezier.
In a real-time workflow a fourth kind of routing type appears by default when a response is returned to an agent that sent out a request. The route is shown as a dot-dashed line.
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Visualization
In the workflow configuration, zoom in or out the workflow illustration by modifying the zoom percentage number that you find on the tool bar. The default value is 100(%). To change the zoom value click the increase or decrease icons. Clicking the button between these icons will reset the zoom level to the default value. Changing the view scale does not affect the configuration.
