Process Flow Header Tips

Products

• CA Automic Applications Manager (AM)

Issue/Introduction

Process Flow Header Tips

Environment

Release: AAMOS499000-8.0-Automic Applications Manager-OS400 Agent
Component:

Resolution

Detailed Description and Symptoms

Are there any limitations or best practices for the use of Process Flows in Applications Manager? 

Solution

There a few things to keep in mind when making use of Process Flows.  First, Process Flows headers are containers.  This means process flows do not function the same was as Jobs and should not be treated as such in many conditions. 

The most important thing to notice is that Process Flows never go to a RUNNING status.  When jobs in the Process Flow are in a RUNNING status the Process Flow itself is in an initiated status.  This is important to know if you are running a query against the backlog from a substitution variable for example.  You cannot check to see if the Process Flow is running since it only goes to Initiated.

This also comes into play when looking at Substitution Variable timing.  When assigning a substitution variable to a prompt in a Process Flow header it is important to note whether you have surrounded the substitution variable with {} characters.  If you have surrounded this with {} characters you will notice the substitution variable never gets evaluated in the Process Flow prompts.  This is ok if you plan to pass the prompt down to the Process Flow components using the #1, #2,.. etc prompts as described in the Development Guide Chapter 7.9: Passing Values Through a Process Flow With Numeric Subvars.  These will then get evaluated when the job begins running.

If you want the prompt to be evaluated at the Process Flow level so that exact value can be passed down to the components in the Process Flow you will want to put the Subvar into the prompt without the {} characters.

This may take some testing to work how you desire so we strongly encourage you to test this functionality out so you can determine what works for you.  The easiest way to test this is to use the built-in subvar #AW_NOW.  This subvar will evaluate to a current timestamp.  You can see how the timing of when this subvar is evaluated can change depending how the subvar is setup in the prompt at the Process Flow level.

If you have any further questions regarding any of the above information do not hesitate to contact Support by opening a ticket online through the web-based ticketing system.