Parameter

Description

General

Step Name

Enter a name for the Flow Data utility.

Description

Enter a description for the Flow Data utility.

Step ID

A read-only field displaying the ID of the step in the flow.

Component ID

An internal identifier number generated automatically.

Component Type

A read-only field displaying the name of the step type.

Condition

Enter a condition to specify the flow's execution behavior. You can either click to open the Expression Editor, or you can right-click on the component and select Condition from the context menu.

Processing mode

Select whether the step should be executed linear, parallel or stand-alone. This is only available if the Flow Data utility is not the first step in the flow.

Wait for completion

Select whether the step should be run in Wait for Completion mode. The options are Yes or No. The Wait for completion mode is only available when the Flow Data utility is a Linear step and if it is not the first step in the flow.

Advanced

Save point

Select Yes to indicate that the step is a Save Point in your flow. This is available only if the flow's Recovery Policy is set to Save Point.

Call logic flow

You can use this option if you want to call generic logic after the execution of a specific step. Once this step has been executed, the flow logic that you defined in the flow properties is called before the Server continues to the following steps. The options are Yes or No (default).

Parameter

Description

Action

Select the type of action to execute:

• Update: Adds or inserts data in the target flow data. For example, you can insert information to the User BLOB using the Flow Data utility. When you select Update as your action type, a tooltip displaying the line number can be seen.

• Clear: Clears all of the data in the target data flow.

• Reset: Resets a variable (business process variables, context variables, or global variables) to its original value.

• Delete: Deletes an ODS entry from the database. This is available if ODS Global or ODS Local are selected as the Type.

• Insert: Inserts data to an ODS Array. You must specify which index entry to update. For example, if you have an ODS entry (User Key) with an array, each piece of data is entered into an Index. The Index is referred to by number. For example, if the ODS User Key called ODataS has an array, each Index will be called ODataS_1, ODataS_2 etc When you select Insert, you add a new index entry to an ODS User Key.

Type

Indicate the type of target variable selected:

• Context

• Global

• Business Process

• ODS Global

• ODS Local

• Environment

Dyn

Check this box to indicate whether the Name is dynamic. You can use this check box with all of the variable types listed in the Type section above. The Dynamic variable name uses the variable's value, not its name.

Name

Enter the name of the variable or the ODS key. This column is available for all the variables that can be selected in the Type column.

• If Flow, Context, Global, or Business Process are selected as the variable type, click to the right of the Name column to open the Variables List. Select a defined variable from the list and click OK.
  If you have selected dynamic naming, click to use the Expression Editor to enter the required variable. You should specify the variable type when you use dynamic naming.

• If ODS Global or ODS Local are selected as the variable type, click to the right of the Name column to open the ODS List dialog box. Choose the required ODS variable from the list, and click Select.

Data Type

Select a standard data type from the drop-down list:

• Alpha

• Number

• Date

• Logical

• Time

• BLOB

This is available only if ODS Global or ODS Local is selected as the Type and the Action is not Delete.

Encoding

Indicate the encoding type for updated BLOB and Alpha variables.

Select one of the following from the drop-down list:

• ANSI (default)

• Unicode

• Binary

Since version: 4.0a

Index

Enter the ODS Index that you want to Insert, Update, or Clear. This Action supports the ODS Global and ODS Local data types. Enter an Index to indicate which Index in the ODS Array to Update or Clear, or enter an Index to indicate the Index number added when you Insert new data into the array.

Update Expression

Enter an expression that indicates the flow data to be manipulated. For example, if you are updating the User BLOB, you enter the data to be entered in the User BLOB.

You can click to the right of the column to use the Expression Editor to enter the data or use conditions that include variables or expressions to enter dynamic data.

Condition

This is free text field. Enter a Boolean expression that indicates under which conditions the target update will occur (True indicates that the update will occur, False indicates that the update will not occur).

You can click to the right of the column to use the Expression Editor to enter the condition. You then create an expression that will define the parameter, such as only update if a rejection letter is sent. The User BLOB is updated only when this condition is met.