Flow Action form
Completing the Action tab

Field

Description

Optional. To cause the system to do certain preprocessing when users select this flow, enter the Activity Name — the second key part — of an activity. At runtime, the system runs this activity before it does other processing for this flow action. This activity is not visible on the Visio flow diagram.

If the activity uses parameters, click  Params   and enter parameter values.

This activity executes only once, the first time a user selects this flow action for this assignment. The activity executes only once even if the action area is redisplayed more than once — for example because inputs that users submitted the first time failed validation. (The activity also executes when you use the toolbar Preview button .)

In this activity, do not perform a Commit operation and do not transfer the assignment. See Pega Developer Network article PRKB-21740 Troubleshooting: Error:Assign Mismatch " when a Before This Action activity transfers a work object for details on these restrictions.

The standard activity Work-.jumpToTask can be useful here to allow a user to return control to a completed assignment that is marked as an entry point. If you use this activity, complete either the TaskName parameter (with the internal task name, such as ASSIGNMENT52 or UTILITY12) or select the previousEntryPoint box. Review the standard flow action Work-.Previous for an example.

Field

Description

Optional. To require users to enter non-blank values into one or more of the HTML fields that appear when they select this flow action, enter the name of a validate rule. This rule is processed after each  Submit .

If the Enable Client Side Validation? box is selected on the HTML tab, properties marked as required in this validation rule are enforced on the workstation client.

For screen flow rules only: By default, when this flow action appears as a step in a screen flow rule, and the user at runtime clicks away to a different step in the screen flow rule, this validation rule does not run. To cause this validation rule to execute when the user clicks away to a different step, select the Post Action on Click Away? check box on the Assignment shape properties panel.

Field

Description

Optional. Standard reports do not use this property.

Enter a number or expression for the cost of this flow action, in units of your choice. The system automatically maintains a total of these costs in the property pyTotalFlowActionCost, using a standard Declare Expression rule. Your application may use this computed value in billing or reporting.

Alternatively, you can enter a property reference here, identifying a numeric property used in your computation. (Within in a single application use only numbers or only property references.) The standard activity Work-.ValidateAction contains Java code that accepts either a Java double value or a property reference in this field:

  strCost = “Value of pyCost from a flow action passed in as a parameter”
   double newCost
      try {
           newCost = Double.parseDouble(strCost);
          } catch (NumberFormatException e) {
  // If the cost is not a hard-coded double,
  // perhaps it is a property
          ClipboardProperty thisRef =.getProperty(strCost);
           if (thisRef != null)
           newCost = thisRef.toDouble();

Optional. Enter the name of an activity to run after other successful processing of this flow action. If the activity uses parameters, click   Params   and enter parameter values. This activity name does not appear on the Visio flow diagram.

If you use an activity that depends on parameter values to be entered by a user after that user chooses this flow action, enter the activity here rather than placing the activity in the flow.

If this is a local flow action, you can force a refresh of the entire work object form by referencing here an activity that sets the parameter param.Purpose to NoPurpose.

For screen flow rules only: By default, when this flow action appears as a step in a screen flow rule, and the user at runtime clicks away to a different step in the screen flow rule, this activity rule does not run. To cause this activity to execute when the user clicks away to a different step, select the Post Action on Click Away? check box on the Assignment shape properties panel.

Select to cause Process Commander to search next for another assignment for the same work object (and same flow execution) on the user's worklist. This feature is sometimes called back-to-back assignment processing.

The system only finds and presents assignments that the current user is qualified to perform and for which the value of Assign-.pyActionTime is past.

Clear this box to bypass the search.

As a best practice, select this box. In many situations, two or more assignments may be open for one work object, assigned to the same person.
When a user who performs one of these assignments is also qualified to perform other assignments, it is usually most efficient to have that user perform the assignments one after another, because the work object is familiar.

For example, a flow may require three items of outgoing correspondence to be edited and sent out. In the flow rule, a Split-Join shape may cause Process Commander to create three correspondence editing assignments, all in a single worklist. After a user edits the first correspondence item, completing one of the three assignments, it usually is productive to have that user complete the other two assignments.

Select to cause Process Commander to search next for open assignments on this user's worklist from other flow executions active for the same work object.

The system finds and presents assignments that the current user is qualified to perform and for which the value of Assign-.pyActionTime is past.

Clear to bypass the extended search.

This box appears only when the Look for an assignment to perform? box is selected.

As a best practice, select this box.

Select to cause Process Commander to include, when searching for back-to-back assignments, open assignments for the cover work object to which this work object belongs.

The system finds and presents assignments on the current user's worklist for which the value of Assign-.pyActionTime is past.

Clear to bypass the extended search.

This box appears only when the Look for an assignment to perform? box is selected.

Select to include assignments in workbaskets in the search for back-to-back assignment processing. The search scope expands to examine the assignments in the workbaskets associated with the user's work group (through the Work Group field on the Workbasket tab of the Workbasket form), as well as assignments on the user's worklist.

Clear this box to bypass the search of workbaskets.

This box appears only when the Look for an assignment to perform? box is selected.

Optionally, your application can override the detailed search criteria that the system uses when this box is selected. The standard decision tree rule Assign-Workbasket.PerformCriteria defines these criteria.

Indicate what the system is to present to users after all assignments are complete. Select:

• Show Harness — The system presents a refreshed harness form for the current work object, using the harness rule identified in the next field. Typically, the new harness displays the results of processing or computations based on the user input.
• Get Next Work — The system uses information on the  Work Access tab of the Operator ID instance of the current user to search for an assignment to work on next.
• Close Harness — Close the work object form, returning to an earlier workspace contents, such as the Process Work home view. No confirmation form appears.

Optional. If you selected Show Harness in the previous field, select the Purpose key part of a harness rule to be used. Typically, a post-assignment harness rule has Confirm as the Purpose key part.

To force the work object form to close, select the standard harness rule Work-.AutoClose. (This is equivalent to choosing Close Harness in the previous field.)

Don't specify a "Perform-type" harness here — one that presents the work object in read-write mode.

Field

Description

Select Local Action, Connector Action or Local and Connector to record your intent for the use of this flow action.

• A local flow action may update the assignment and the work object, but retains the flow at the same assignment task, allowing the current user (or another user in some cases) to choose another flow action.
• A connector flow action, corresponding to a connector arrow in the flow rule, updates the work object, completes the assignment and advances the work object in the flow.

Your selection determines which SmartPrompt lists include this flow action rule when a developer adds an assignment to a flow rule.

When the classic form of the Action section is used, your selection also determines the order in which this flow action appears to application users on work processing forms. Local flow actions appear below a dotted line, connector flow actions appear above the line.

Alternatively, flow actions can appear at runtime as labelled buttons. Forms for local flow actions can appear in a pop-up window after a user clicks a button of type Local Action. See Harness, Section, and Flow Action forms — Placing a button in a cell.

Optional. Select if you want to exclude a specific flow action from the list of flow actions available for bulk processing (as presented in the My Process Actions area of the Process Work workspace).

By default some standard flow actions are not eligible for bulk processing because the process is designed to be used with only one work object at a time. To change the default setting, copy the flow action to your RuleSet and make the change.