Activity form - how to create activities for flows
Use these instructions to create activities that can be called directly in flows.
Flow processing automatically controls locking and transaction boundaries for work items. Do not use the Commit method (or the Obj-Save method with the WriteNow parameter selected) in any custom activity called by a flow.
Activity Type
The value of the Activity Type field on the
Security tab determines which flow shapes accept this activity. To
create an activity for a flow, set the Activity Type field to
Utility, Rule Connect, Assign,
Notify, or Router as appropriate.
First, explore the standard activities of the type you need, as examples and as starting points for your activity.
In all but rare situations, choose a class derived from the Work- base class for the Applies To key part of your activity. This makes your activity available to flows in that class plus all subclasses of the class (subject to security restrictions, rule resolution restrictions and so on).
Guidelines for Utility activities
Utility | Follow these guidelines to create a Utility activity, one that can be
referenced in a utility shape:
|
Guidelines for Assign activities
Assign | Follow these guidelines and constraints to create an activity of type
Assign, one that you can reference in an assignment shape:
|
Guidelines for Integrator activities
Integrator
| Use an Activity Type value of Rule
Connect to make the activity available to an Integrator shape. Generally,
use this for activities in a Work- class that call a rule to
start a connector interface to an external system. This activity type (and the corresponding Integrator shape) is a reminder that this shape depends on an external system. Response time, availability, and performance may be affected by outside factors. Like the |
Guidelines for Notify activities
| Notify | Select an Activity Type of Notify to
identify activities in a Work- class that generate
correspondence.A Notify activity is an activity of the notify activity type on the Security tab. The Notify activity, when referenced in a flow, sends out correspondence, such as an email message, when a running flow creates an assignment. Typically, the application sends this correspondence to one or more of the work parties identified in the work item, and then reports progress to that party. The notify activity you select can accept input parameters. Provide a value for each parameter. The system validates these parameter values when you save the flow. |
Guidelines for Route activities
| Route | Follow these guidelines to create an activity with Activity
Type of Route, one that can be referenced in a router shape:
Many routing activities accept these Boolean input parameters: When
Set this Boolean output
parameter to false in the normal case, or true to skip the assignment
and continue flow execution as if the user chose the
highest-likelihood flow action. A check box for each skill can mark the
skill as required to perform an assignment, or (if not selected)
desirable to perform the assignment. The activity can call standard
functions to test whether a specific operator possesses the required
skills, or possesses the desired skills, at the indicated level of
proficiency. The standard Routing library (in the Pega-ProCom RuleSet) contains several functions useful in router activities. |
Available parameters
When a flow calls an Integrator, Utility,
Notify, or Assign activity, or another flow, it provides
twelve parameters to the activity beyond those declared in the
Parameters tab. Click the Show System
Parameters button on the Parameters tab to review the
names and purpose of the six parameters most often used.
| Parameter | Description |
flowName | The subscript of this flow in the work page pxFlow property,
a Page Group. |
TaskName | The shape name of the shape that this activity or flow was called from, such as SendResolutionEmail or SplitForEach999. |
pyDraftMode | True if the flow is in draft mode. |
ReferenceInsKey | pzInsKey of the work item page. |
ReferenceClass | Class of the work item page (the work type ). |
ReferenceInsName | pxInsName of the work item page. |
ReferencePageName | Clipboard page name of the work item page. |
TimeFlowStarted | Date and time that the flow execution began. |
InterestPage | Property reference to the embedded page of the work item that is the primary
page of the flow. (This is null if the flow's primary page contains the work item.)
For example, a flow executing on the |
InterestPageClass | Class of the interest page, for example Data-Party. This is an empty string if the flow's primary page is the work item itself. |
FlowHasEnded | A Boolean used by internal flow processing to control whether one flow calling another is to wait or to continue. |
flowType | Second key part of the flow. |
- Intelligent routing
Intelligent routing is the process of comparing the characteristics of a new assignment with the characteristics of the workforce to route the assignment to the most appropriate operator. Like a supervisor who thoughtfully distributes work to her team, intelligent routing in your application can significantly affect the productivity and throughput of a team.
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