Workflow Designer

The Workflow Designer is a component in UBIK^® which appears on many occasions, namely every time when there is a Workflow to be displayed or edited. It features a full re-hosted version of the designer for the Microsoft Workflow Foundation, extended with manipulation capabilities for UBIK^® objects.

Workflow Designer used in the Workflow Editor control

Basics

Toolbox

The Toolbox features a wide range of Activities that cane be used within your Workflows. There are generic activities as well as activities specific for the manipulation of UBIK^® objects.

Standard activities

Activity	Category	Purpose
AddToCollection<T>	Collection	Adds an Item to a Collection
ClearCollection<T>	Collection	Removes an Item from a Collection
ExistsInCollection<T>	Collection	Clears a Collection, removing all items stored in it
RemoveFromCollection<T>	Collection	Verifies if an Item exists in a Collection; if the item exists, its Result argument will yield True
DoWhile	ControlFlow	Executes its Body until the Condition evaluates to True; the Body will be executed at least once
ForEach<T>	ControlFlow	ForEach activity contains a list of Values and a Body; at runtime, the list is iterated and the body is executed for each value in the list
If	ControlFlow	The If activity selects a child activity for execution based on the value of a Boolean expression; if the Boolean expression Condition yields True (and “Then” activity is configured), the Then activity is scheduled; if the expressions yields False (and Else activity is set), the Else expression is scheduled
Parallel	ControlFlow	-
ParallelForEach<T>	ControlFlow	-
Pick	ControlFlow	The Pick Activity provides event-based control flow modeling in WF; the only valid children for a Pick activity are PickBranches; at the beginning of a Pick execution, all the Trigger activities from all its Branches are scheduled; when the first Trigger completes its corresponding Action activity is scheduled, and all other Trigger activities are canceled
PickBranch	ControlFlow	PickBranch represents a branch in a Pick; it consists of a Trigger and Action; PickBranch can only be added to a Pick activity
Sequence	ControlFlow	The Sequence activity allows for the execution of one or more Activities in order
Switch<T>	ControlFlow	Switch activity is similar to switch statement in C#; it contains an Expression and a set of Cases (each case has a key and an activity); after the expression is evaluated, the Switch activity looks for a Case with a key that matches the result of the expression and if found, it schedules the activity associated with that Case
While	ControlFlow	The While activity executes it's Body while a Boolean Condition is True
Rethrow	ErrorHandling	-
Throw	ErrorHandling	-
TryCatch	ErrorHandling	-
FlowChart	FlowChart	-
FlowSwitch<T>	FlowChart	-
FlowDecision	FlowChart	-
Assign	Primitives	-
Assign<T>	Primitives	-
Delay	Primitives	-
InvokeMethod	Primitives	-
WriteLine	Primitives	-
Persist	Runtime	-
TerminateWorkflow	Runtime	-
CancellationScope	Transaction	-
CompensableActivity	Transaction	-
Compensate	Transaction	-
Confirm	Transaction	-
TransactionScope	Transaction	-

UBIK^® activities

Activity	Category	Purpose (Short)
DebugMessage	UBIK Control Flow	Writes a debug Text
InvokeInterface	UBIK Control Flow	Invokes a UBIK® Interface component
InvokeWorkflow	UBIK Control Flow	Invokes a UBIK® Workflow object
SendEmail	UBIK Control Flow	Sends an Email To recipients via an SMTP Host
CreateCSVScope	UBIK Data Exchange	Creates a new csv document for flat data export
CreateCSVRow	UBIK Data Exchange	Creates a single row in a csv file
CreateCSVValue	UBIK Data Exchange	Creates a single value (column) in a csv row
CreateXMLScope	UBIK Data Exchange	Creates a new xml document for hierarchical data export
CreateXMLElement	UBIK Data Exchange	Creates a new xml element in an xml document
CreateXMLAttribute	UBIK Data Exchange	Creates a new xml attribute on an xml element
ReadCSVDocument	UBIK Data Exchange	Reads a csv file for flat data import
ReadXPathDocument	UBIK Data Exchange	Reads an xml file for hierarchical data import
GetXPathResult	UBIK Data Exchange	Evaluates an XPath-expression in a csv or xml document
AssignToNamedRelation	UBIK Object Primitives	Assigns a Child object via the named RelationName to a Parent object
AssignToSystemRelation	UBIK Object Primitives	Assigns a Child object via the given Relation to a Parent object
CreateInstance	UBIK Object Primitives	Creates a new instance of a given MetaClass
DeleteObject	UBIK Object Primitives	Deletes a UBIKObject (Deep delete by default, ShallowDelete optional)
GetObjectsByPropertyValue	UBIK Object Primitives	Queries instances of MetaClass where PropertyName has a certain value
GetObjectsByQuery	UBIK Object Primitives	Delivers the result of Query
RemoveFromNamedRelation	UBIK Object Primitives	Removes a Child object via the named RelationName from a Parent object
RemoveFromSystemRelation	UBIK Object Primitives	Removes a Child object via the given Relation from a Parent object
SaveObject	UBIK Object Primitives	Saves the UBIKObject (Deep save by default, ShallowSave optional)
SetPropertyValue	UBIK Object Primitives	Sets the Value to the property named PropertyName of the UBIKObject
AssignIconToBaseClass	UBIK UI Primitives	Assigns a selectable icon image to the UBIKObject
SelectSourceFile	UBIK UI Primitives	Brings up an open file dialog
SelectTargetFile	UBIK UI Primitives	Brings up a save file dialog
ShowUnsavedObjectsHierarchy	UBIK UI Primitives	Brings up the Unsaved Objects dialog
UserDecisionYesNo	UBIK UI Primitives	Brings up a Yes/No dialog with configurable Title and Text
UserInputText	UBIK UI Primitives	Brings up an input box with configurable Title and Text

Toolbar

Item	Purpose
Open file	Opens a dialog to load a previously saved UBIK® workflow file (.uwf) into the design canvas
Save to file	Saves the current design canvas into a file (.uwf)
Toggle breakpoint	Sets/Removes a breakpoint at the currently selected activity (async execution only)
Resume	Resumes execution if a breakpoint was hit (async execution only)
Delay between activities	Execution delay in Milliseconds between activities (async execution only)

Context menu

This control doesn't feature any context menu yet.

Designing workflows

Designing a workflow is fairly easy and typically involves placing, configuring and connecting various Activities. All available activities are listed in the Toolbox on the left side. Use Drag&Drop to place an Activity on the canvas in the middle. Select an activity on the canvas and use the context menu or the Del key to remove it again.

Unless the activity is of type FlowChart or Sequence, you will not be able to add more than one Activity to the canvas

Typically we want to start with a Sequence or a Flowchart, which are both able to host child (nested) Activities

• The Sequence executes its nested Activities sequentially, one after the other
• The FlowChart executes its nested Activities in the order you link them with connecting lines

See also

• Workflow Editor
• Code- and Workflow Debugger