Oracle
Workflow comes seeded with commonly used standard activities that you can use
in any workflow process. The standard activities are:
·
And
·
Assign
·
Block
·
Compare
Date
·
Compare
Number
·
Compare
Text
·
Continue
Flow
·
End
·
Get
Monitor URL
·
Loop
Counter
·
NoOp
·
Or
·
Role
Resolution
·
Start
·
Default
Voting Message Yes/No
·
Wait
·
Wait
For Flow
And
When
multiple transitions flow into the And function activity, the And function
activity is considered complete when all of the transitions are completed.
Assign
The
Assign function activity has four attributes: Item Attribute, Date Value,
Numeric Value, and Text Value. Use the Assign function activity to assign an
item attribute specified in the Item Attribute value with the Date Value,
Numeric Value, or Text Value. Determine whether to use the Date Value, Numeric
Value, or Text Value based on the date type of the item attribute.
Block
The
Block function activity blocks the activity until a complete activity API call
is made.
Compare Date
The
Compare Date function activity has two attributes: Test Value and Reference
Value. Reference Value contains an item attribute. The Test Value is a
constant. The Compare Date function activity compares the value of the item
attribute in Reference Value to the constant in Test Value and produces results
labeled Equal, Greater Than, Less Than, or Null (if the reference value is
null). The Compare Date attributes are both of datatype Date.
Compare Number
The
Compare Number function activity has two attributes: Test Value and Reference
Value. The Reference Value contains an item attribute. The Test Value is a
constant. The Compare Number function activity compares the value of the item
attribute in Reference Value to the constant in Test Value and produces results
labeled Equal, Greater Than, Less Than, or Null (if the reference value is
null). The Compare Number attributes are both of datatype Number.
Compare Text
The
Compare Text function activity has two attributes: Test Value and Reference
Value. The Reference Value contains an item attribute. The Test value is a
constant. The Compare Text function activity compares the value of the item
attribute in Reference Value to the constant in Test Value and produces results
labeled Equal, Greater Than, Less Than, or Null (if the reference value is
null). The Compare Text attributes are both of datatype Text.
Continue Flow
Continue
Flow is used for master and detail coordination. The master process can start
detail processes, and you can use the Continue Flow and Wait for Flow function
activities to coordinate a process flow between master and details. The
Continue Flow function activity signals the flow of a waited process to continue.
The Continue Flow function activity has two attributes: Waiting Activity Label
and Waiting Flow. The Waiting Activity Label identifies the label of the
activity that was waiting for the completion of this Continue Flow function
activity. Waiting Flow identifies whether the waiting activity is a master
process or a detail process.
End
The
End function activity marks the end of a process. You can use it to return
result codes. The End function activity is not required; it is only for visual
purposes.
Get Monitor URL
The
Get Monitor URL function activity retrieves the Workflow Monitor and stores the
URL in the item attribute specified. You can use the other attribute,
administration Mode, to specify whether the Workflow Monitor should be run in
admin mode.
Loop Counter
You
can use the Loop Counter function activity to limit the number of times the
Workflow Engine can transition through any particular activity. Use the Loop
Limit attribute to specify the limit. If the loop limit is not reached, the
activity completes with a result code of Loop; otherwise, the activity will
complete with a result code of Exit.
NoOp
The
NoOp function activity has no functionality. Use it as a placeholder in the
workflow process.
Or
When
multiple transitions flow into the Or function activity, the Or function
activity is considered complete when any one of the transitions is completed.
Role Resolution
The
Role Resolution function activity selects one user from a role with multiple
users. You can use its Method attribute to specify whether you want the user to
be selected based on the number of open notifications or just sequentially
assigned. The first method is Load Balance and the second method is Sequential.
Start
The
Start function activity marks the beginning of a process. The Start function
activity is not required; it is only for visual purposes.
Default Voting
Message
The
Voting Message is a message you can use to create a notification activity that
tallies responses from users or roles, depending on whether Expand Roles is checked. The message
subject and the body make up the message that will be sent to the users or
roles. It has a Respond message attribute with the internal name of RESULT.
You
can specify the list of possible responses for this Respond message attribute
using a specific lookup type. In the notification activity that uses the voting
message, you must create a Number Type attribute with each possible response
value as the name. These attributes will capture the percentages necessary for
the response values to become the result. If the value of the attribute is set
to Null, then the value will be treated as the default value. In other words,
if you have two response values, Yes and No, and you have the attribute Yes set
with a value 50 and the attribute No set as Null, anything less than 50 percent
Yes will be a No.
You
can specify the voting option using the Voting Option attribute. You can select
Require All Votes to have the
Workflow Engine tally all responses only after all votes have been cast. If not
all votes are received before the notification times out, then the timed-out
transition is used. Tally on Every Vote
instructs the Workflow Engine to keep a running tally after each vote is cast.
If the notification times out, the response percentage to date is used. Wait for All Votes instructs the
Workflow Engine to wait until all votes come in before tallying response
percentages.
The
only difference between this option and the Require
All Votes option is that, if the notification times out before all of the
votes came back, the Wait for All Votes
option will still tally the response percentages before the time-out occurred.
Wait
The
Wait function activity defines the specified waiting period for a response. It
has six attributes. The wait mode specifies whether the wait is calculated by
absolute date, day of month, day of week, relative time, or time of day. If the
Wait mode is set to absolute date, enter the final date into the Absolute Date
attribute. If the Wait mode is set to day of month, enter the day into the Day
of Month attribute. If the Wait mode is set to day of week, enter the day of
the week into the Day of Week attribute. If the Wait mode is set to relative
time, enter the number of days you want to wait in the Relative Time attribute.
If the Wait mode is set to time of day, enter the time of day into the Time of
Day attribute.
Wait for Flow
Wait
for Flow is used for master and detail coordination. The master process can
start detail processes, and you can use the Continue Flow and Wait for Flow
function activities to coordinate the process flow between the master and
details. The Wait for Flow function activity signals the process flow to wait.
The Wait for Flow function activity has two attributes: Continuation Activity
Label and Continuation Flow. The Continuation Activity Label identifies the
activity label that must be completed before the Wait for Flow function
activity continues. The Continuation Flow activity identifies whether the
waiting activity is a master process or a detail process.
Review Questions
1.
How do they Continue Flow and Wait for Flow function activities work together?
2.
How does the Voting activity work?
3.
How can you use the Role Resolution function activity?
4.
Do you need the Start and End function activities?
