The workflow template is the area where the workflow is designed. The workflow template outlines one or several workflows. You can add more workflows via the Add Workflow button.

Workflow configuration

Creating a Workflow

To create a workflow,

1. Click Build → New Configuration. Select Workflow from the Configurations dialog or click the  (New) button in the upper left part of the Workflow Template window.
2. Select a Workflow Type: Batch, Realtime, or Task, and then Ok.
3. Click Add agent to open the Agent Selection dialog, and select the agents for deployment.

A workflow template can have multiple labels located next to the workflow template name. These labels serve to identify the workflow template. The following are labels that may appear:

To edit a read only workflow configuration, click the Edit button to open and edit the configuration.

A read only workflow dialog bar

Here are more things that you can do on the workflow template:

Configuration

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 the route. Subsequently you can also click on the button when selecting an agent or a route. This opens a dialog that contains different agents and route-based options. See Agent Options and Route Options for more information.

When an agent is deployed into the workflow template it receives a default name located underneath it. The same applies to routes when they are added. These names may be modified to ease identification in monitoring facilities and logs.

All editing and triggering from the workflow template generate changes to the workflow configuration. Examples of this are adding and removing agents, altering agent positions, and editing agent settings and preferences. If you have the Workflow Monitor open, the changes made after saving the workflow template will be reflected. 

The workflow table is affected if it includes columns that correspond to an agent removed from the workflow template.

Agent Options

Clicking an agent in the workflow template provides you with a few options.

Agent options

Agent Selection Dialog

The Agent Selection dialog contains all the available agents, represented as icons. Different icons are available, depending on which kind of workflow type that you have selected. There are different agents for Batch, Realtime, or Task workflow types.

For more information about the different types of agents, refer to the Agent Selection Dialog (3.3) section.

Routing Agents

To create a data flow, agents need to be connected to each other. To connect the agents, click the left mouse button on the center of the source agent and without releasing the left mouse button, move the pointer to the target agent and release there. This creates a route between the two agents indicating the data flow.

You can also create a route between agents by using the button under agent options and selecting the target agent in the dialog. You can modify a route name by clicking on its name 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.

Route Options

Clicking on a route in the workflow template provides you with a couple of options.

Route Options

Workflow Tables

The workflow table is located at the bottom of the workflow template.

There must always be at least one valid and runnable workflow per workflow configuration, otherwise it will not be valid.

For more information about the workflow monitor, refer to the Workflow Table (3.3) section.

Workflow Properties

Workflow specific data is altered in the Workflow properties dialog. To open the Workflow properties dialog, click the Properties button in an existing workflow template or click Build → New Configuration → Workflow → Properties.

For more information about the workflow monitor, refer to the Workflow Properties (3.3) section.

Workflow Monitor

The Workflow Monitor controls workflow execution and presents a detailed view of the workflow execution status. 

For more information about the workflow monitor, refer to the Workflow Monitor (3.3) section.

Visualization

You can manipulate visuals of the workflow template by zooming in or out, or moving the workflow template around. A toolbar is present on the right side of the workflow template to allow you to manipulate the visuals.

Workflow template visualization toolbar

There is also a zoom percentage along with an x and y coordinate, which are displayed as soon as you zoom in or out. The default range on the zoom percentage is 100% while the x and y coordinates, which are determined from the point on the top left corner of the workflow template canvas, start at 0, 0, respectively. These values appear at the bottom left corner of the canvas whenever you manipulate the visuals.

Percentage and x and y coordinates found in the workflow template

Common Agent Services

Some agent configuration dialogues are optionally equipped with additional tabs holding configurations for different common services. This section describes the general services that are available. The user guide for each agent, in turn describe what services it uses.

Thread Buffer Tab

By default, a batch workflow uses one active thread at a time. By configuring a buffer storage for an agent, it is possible for yet another thread to be created. This is also called multithreading. One thread populates the buffer, and another pulls it for data. Adding yet another buffer for another agent adds yet another thread, and so on.

This is especially useful in complex workflows with many agents. All batch agents that receive UDRs can use this functionality.

Open the Configuration dialog of the agent and select the Thread Buffer tab. The tab is present in batch processing and batch forwarding agents.

The Thread Buffer tab

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 percentages for the threads using the thread buffer. For information about multithreading in a batch workflow, refer to the section Threads in a Batch Workflow, in Multithreading (3.3).

11:03:04: Buffer usage statistics [5] for 2089 turnover(s) of UDRs: 
Incoming queue: Available 54%. Full 46%. 
Outgoing queue: Available 59%. Empty 41%.

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.

Filename 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 contain a sequence number in the file name. The sequence number is expected to be found at a specific position in the file name and has a fixed or dynamic size.

Filename Sequence tab

Sort Order Tab

The Sort Order service is available for some batch collection agents and is used to sort matched files before collection.

The sort pattern is expected to occur at 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.

Sort Order tab

 FILEA_1354.log
 FILEB_23.log
 FILEC_1254.log,

FILEC_1254.log
FILEA_1354.log
FILEB_23.log

Filename 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, the values of which 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.

Filename Template tab

The list contains MIM resources or user defined values that 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 - with MIM resources, user defined values, separators and/or directory delimiters - is used to create the filepath or filename. The order of the items in the table defines the filepath or filename.

Since the service uses 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.

Filename Template tab - Add or Edit dialog

Disk_Out-FILE1-000100.DAT 
Disk_Out2-FILE1-000250.DAT 
Disk_Out-FILE2-000100.DAT 
Disk_Out2-FILE2-000250.DAT

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.

import ultra.FNT;

    mimPublish( global, "FNTUDR Value" , any );

consume {

    FNTUDR fntudr = udrCreate(FNTUDR);

    fntAddString(fntudr, "dir");
    fntAddString(fntudr, "1");
    fntAddDirDelimiter(fntudr);
    fntAddString(fntudr, "dir2");
    fntAddDirDelimiter(fntudr);
    fntAddString(fntudr, "partOfFileName");

    mimSet ("FNTUDR Value", fntudr);

    udrRoute(input);

}

dir0/dir1/dir2/partOfFileName20070101_1

For further information about how to manipulate FNTUDRs with APL functions and how to publish MIM resources, see the APL Reference Guide(3.3) and the section Meta Information Model in Administration and Management(3.3).