Flow Actions - Completing the New or Save As form

Records can be created in various ways. You can add a new record to your application or copy an existing one. You can specialize existing rules by creating a copy in a specific ruleset, against a different class or (in some cases) with a set of circumstance definitions. You can copy data instances but they do not support specialization because they are not versioned.

A flow action has two key parts:

Field Description
Apply to Select the name of a class, typically a class derived from the Work- base class.

The list of available class names depends on the ruleset you select. Each class can restrict applying rules to an explicit set of rulesets as specified on the Advanced tab of the class form.

Note: When work items in your application contain an embedded page or pages that can be any one of multiple Data- classes, choosing a Data- class for the Apply to key part of a flow action can be beneficial. See the Pega Community article How to create flows that operate on embedded pages of a work item.
Identifier Enter a name for this flow action. Begin the name with a letter and follow the rules for a Java identifier.

Additional creation options

Field Description
Template

To mark the new rule as JSR 168 compliant, select the name of a template rule to copy.

Specify PortletAction to create a flow action that uses portlet-compliant HTML and can be displayed in a portlet window on a portal server through Service Portlet rules.

Note:

The rule type Service Portlet is deprecated. Use Pega Web Mashup instead.

Rule resolution

When searching for instances of this rule type, the system uses full rule resolution which:

  • Filters candidate rules based on a requestor's ruleset list of rulesets and versions
  • Searches through ancestor classes in the class hierarchy for candidates when no matching rule is found in the starting class
  • Finds circumstance-qualified rules that override base rules
  • Finds time-qualified rules that override base rules

About Flow Actions

To create a Flow Action:

  1. In the header of Dev Studio, click Create > Process > Flow Action.
  2. On the Create form, enter values in the fields to define the context of the flow.
    1. In the Label field, enter text that describes the purpose of the circumstance definition.
    2. Optional: To change the default identifier for the circumstance definition, click Edit, and then provide a unique value in the Identifier field.
    3. Optional: Click View additional configuration options to include all other configuration options supported by this record type on the form. These options vary by record type and appear for only records that support Quick Create options.
    4. Select a Context to specify where the record will reside in your application ruleset stack and how it may be reused in the class hierarchy.
    5. In the Apply to field, press the Down Arrow key and select the class that defines the scope of the circumstance definition.
    6. In the Add to ruleset field, select the name and version of a ruleset that stores the circumstance definition.
  3. Optional: To override the default work item that your application associates with this development change, press the Down arrow key in the Work item to associate field, and then select a work item.
    For more information about your default work item, see Setting your current work item.
  4. Click Create and open.