Creating a flow

You can create a flow to model a business process in your application. As a best practice, create a flow by adding a process to the life cycle of a case type, because this technique is faster, more focused, and easier to maintain. Manually create flow rules for stand-alone flows only.

For more information about processes in a life cycle, see Defining a life cycle for a case type.

  1. Create the rule that stores the flow.

    1. In the header of Designer Studio, click + Create > Process > Flow .

    2. On the Create form, enter values in the fields to define the context of the flow.

      Options include:

      1. In the Label field, enter text that describes the purpose of the flow.

      2. To change the default identifier for the flow, click Edit, and then provide a unique value in the Identifier field.

      3. In the Apply to field, press the Down Arrow key and select the class that defines the scope of the flow.

        The class controls which rules the flow can use. It also controls which rules can call the flow.

      4. In the Add to ruleset field, select the name and version of a ruleset that stores the flow.

    3. Click Create and open to open the Flow form.

    4. To support a class that is different from the class to which the flow applies, enter a class name in the Work class field on the Design tab of the Flow form.

      This approach is helpful when your flow runs on an embedded page that is not in the same class path as the applies to class of your flow.

    5. Click Save.

  2. Add a primary path to the flow by connecting and configuring shapes.

    For more information about the different shapes that you can use, see Flow shapes.

  3. Enhance your flow with advanced functionality.

    1. Add alternate paths to the flow.

    2. Call external resources from the flow.

  4. Integrate the flow with your application by using one of the following techniques: