Active Roles 7.2 - Administration Guide

Configuring a Script activity

When configuring a Script activity, you select the Script Module that contains the script to be used by the activity, and then, from the functions held in that script, you choose the function to be run by the activity and, optionally, the function that declares the activity parameters. If any parameters are declared, then you need to supply parameter values. For information and instructions on how to create a script for a Script activity, refer to Active Roles SDK.

To configure a Script activity

1. In the Active Roles console tree, expand Configuration | Policies | Workflow, and select the workflow containing the Script activity you want to configure.

   This opens the Workflow Designer window in the details pane, representing the workflow definition as a process diagram.

2. In the process diagram, right-click the name of the activity and click Properties.
3. Go to the General tab in the Script Activity Properties dialog box.
4. Do one of the following:
   • If the activity has no Script Module selected (for example, the activity has just been added to the process diagram), click Browse and select the Script Module containing the script you want the activity to use.
   • If the activity already has a Script Module selected and you want to use a different Script Module, click the Browse button to select the Script Module you want.
5. In the Function to run box, view the name of the script function that will be run by this activity. You can choose the appropriate function from the Function to run list.

   The list contains the names of all script functions found in the selected Script Module. The activity runs the function specified in the Function to run box.

6. In Function to declare parameters box, view the name of the function that defines the activity parameters. Click Specify Parameters, and then do the following:
   • If necessary, from the Function to declare parameters list, choose the function that defines the parameters specific to this activity.

     The list contains the names of all script functions found in the selected Script Module. The activity has the parameters that are defined by the function specified in the Function to declare parameters box. Normally, this is a function named onInit.

   • Under Parameter values, view or change the values of the activity parameters. To change the value of a parameter, select the name of the parameter and click Edit.

     Clicking Edit displays a page where you can add, remove or select a value or values for the selected parameter. For each parameter, the function that is used to declare parameters defines the name of the parameter and other characteristics, such as a description, a list of possible values, the default value, and whether a value is required. If a list of possible values is defined, then you can only select values from that list.

7. Optionally, go to the Notification tab in the Script Activity Properties dialog box, and use the steps for Configuring a Notification activity to subscribe recipients to the notifications of the following events:
   • Activity completed successfully  When configured to notify of this event, the activity causes Active Roles to send a notification e-mail if no significant errors occurred during execution of this activity.
   • Activity encountered an error  When configured to notify of this event, the activity causes Active Roles to send a notification e-mail if any significant errors occurred during execution of this activity.
8. Optionally, go to the Error handling tab in the Script Activity Properties dialog box, and select or clear the Continue workflow even if this activity encounters an error check box to specify whether you want Active Roles to suppress errors encountered by this Script activity.

   If this check box is not selected (default setting), then an error condition encountered by the activity causes Active Roles to terminate the workflow. If you select this check box, the workflow continues regardless of whether or not the activity encounters an error condition.

Configuring an If-Else activity

An If-Else activity is a composite activity. It is composed of several branches, each of which has individual conditions specified. An If-Else branch may contain any number of other activities. Every operation that satisfies the conditions specified on a given branch causes Active Roles to run the activities included in that branch. Only one branch of a single If-Else activity can be run even though an operation may satisfy the conditions on more than one branch.

Typically, an If-Else activity has two branches, with certain conditions specified on the first (leftmost) branch. The second branch has no conditions specified on it, so as to act as the “Else” branch. If an operation satisfies the conditions, the activities included in the first branch are run; otherwise, the operation flows through the activities found in the second branch.

Configuring an If-Else activity involves the following tasks:

• Adding a branch
• Adding activities to a branch
• Configuring branch conditions (see Configuring conditions for an If-Else branch)
• Configuring error handling (see Steps to configure error handling)

To add a branch to an If-Else activity

1. In the Active Roles console tree, expand Configuration | Policies | Workflow, and select the workflow containing the If-Else activity you want to configure.

   This opens the Workflow Designer window in the details pane, representing the workflow definition as a process diagram.

2. In the process diagram, right-click the name of the If-Else activity and click Add Branch.

This adds a branch with the default name of “If-Else Branch.” Right-click the name of the branch and click Properties to change the name as necessary. You can delete a branch by clicking the name of the branch and then clicking Delete.

To add an activity to an If-Else branch

• Drag the activity from the left panel onto the branch.

If you add an activity to the upper part of the diagram (above the Operation execution line), the activity will be run in the pre-execution phase of operation processing (see Workflow processing overview earlier in this chapter).

If you add an activity to the lower part of the diagram (beneath the Operation execution line), the activity will be run in the post-execution phase of operation processing. Certain activities, such as an Approval activity, which are intended to run in the pre-execution phase, cannot be added to the lower part of the diagram.

You can delete an activity from a branch by clicking the name of the activity and then clicking Delete.

The following topic provides instructions on how to configure conditions for an If-Else branch: Configuring conditions for an If-Else branch.

Steps to configure error handling

When configuring an If-Else activity, you can configure error handling to suppress errors encountered by that If-Else activity and all activities included in that If-Else activity.

To configure error handling for an If-Else activity

1. In the process diagram, right-click the name of the If-Else activity and click Properties.
2. Go to the Error handling tab in the If-Else Activity Properties dialog box, and select or clear the Continue workflow even if this activity encounters an error check box on that tab.

If the Continue workflow even if this activity encounters an error check box is not selected (default setting), then an error condition encountered by the activity causes Active Roles to terminate the workflow. If you select this check box, the workflow continues regardless of whether or not the If-Else activity or any activity within the If-Else activity encounters an error condition.

Configuring conditions for an If-Else branch

An If-Else activity is intended to select exactly one branch of the activity from a given set of branches. For each branch, the activity checks the branch conditions and executes the first of the branches whose condition evaluates to TRUE.

The workflow designer provides a condition builder for configuring branch conditions, located in the If-Else Branch Activity Properties dialog box.

To access the condition builder for an If-Else branch

1. Right-click the name of the branch and click Properties.
2. Go to the Conditions box in the If-Else Branch Activity Properties dialog box that opens.

When you configure an If-Else branch, you need to add at least one condition. By default, a single, implied condition group is created when you add a branch condition. You can create additional condition groups to group a set of conditions and nest grouped conditions within other condition groups.

A condition group contains one or more conditions connected by the same logical operator. By grouping conditions, you specify that those conditions should be evaluated as a single unit. The effect is the same as if you put parentheses around an expression in a mathematical equation or logic statement.

To add a condition to a condition group

• In the Conditions box, click the name of the condition group and then click Insert condition.

OR

Click the plus sign (+) next to the name of the condition group.

You can remove a condition, if needed, by clicking the Delete condition button labeled X on the right side of the list item representing the condition in the Conditions box.

To add a condition group into another condition group

• In the Conditions box, click the name of the condition group, point to Insert condition group, and then click an option to specify the logical operator:
  • AND group  The condition group evaluates to TRUE if all conditions in the group are TRUE.
  • OR group  The condition group evaluates to TRUE if any condition in the group is TRUE.
  • NOT AND group  The condition group evaluates to TRUE if any condition in the group evaluates to FALSE.
  • NOT OR group  The condition group evaluates to TRUE if all conditions in the group evaluate to FALSE.

By default, AND is the logical operator between the conditions in a condition group. It is possible to change the logical operator by converting the condition group to a different group type: Click the name of the group, point to Convert condition group to, and then click the option appropriate to the desired logical operator.

You can remove an entire condition group, if needed, by clicking the name of the group and then clicking Delete condition group.

Once you have added a condition to a condition group, you can use the following steps to configure the condition.

To configure a condition

1. Click Configure condition to evaluate, and then choose from the following options to specify the entity or field you want the condition to evaluate:
   • Property of workflow target object  Evaluate the value of a certain property of the target object of the request that started the workflow. The condition builder prompts you to choose the desired property. This option is unavailable in case of automation workflow.
   • Property of workflow initiator  Evaluate the value of a certain property of the user whose request started the workflow. The condition builder prompts you to choose the desired property.
   • Changed value of workflow target object property  Evaluate the value that is requested to be assigned to a certain property of the workflow target object, which represents the requested change to the property of the target object of the request that started the workflow. The condition builder prompts you to choose the desired property. This option is unavailable in case of automation workflow.
   • Activity execution status  Evaluate whether or not Active Roles encountered an error when executing a certain activity. The condition builder prompts you to select the desired activity. Note that this option requires the activity configuration to allow the workflow to continue even if the activity encounters an error.
   • Approver action choice  Evaluate the name of the action button applied by the approver to complete the approval task created by a certain Approval activity. Use this option to determine which action button the approver applied to allow the operation that was subject to approval. The condition builder prompts you to select the desired Approval activity. This option is unavailable in case of automation workflow.
   • Workflow parameter value  Evaluate the value of a certain parameter of the workflow. The condition builder prompts you to select the desired parameter from the workflow definition.
   • Property of object from workflow data context  Evaluate the value of a certain property of the object that will be selected by the If-Else activity on the basis of the data found in the workflow environment at the time of executing the workflow. The condition builder prompts you to choose the desired property and specify which object you want the activity to select upon evaluating the condition at workflow run time.
   • Value generated by rule expression  Evaluate the string value of a certain rule expression. The condition builder prompts you to configure a rule expression. By using a rule expression you can compose a string value based on properties of various objects found in the workflow environment at the time of executing the workflow. Active Roles calculates the value of your rule expression upon evaluating the condition at workflow run time.
2. Click the current comparison operator, if needed, and then click the operator you want the condition to use.
3. Click Define value to compare to, and then choose an option to specify the desired comparison value.

The list of options that are available to specify a comparison value depends upon the entity or field you have configured the condition to evaluate. The following table summarizes the comparison value options.

For a brief description of comparison operators and comparison value options, see Search filter.