Connect a source to a destination in a workflow — gull system handbook

Step 6 Workflow in gull system: connecting a workflow, the canvas, the Unassigned list, lines from a source through Model generation and File export into a Folder structure, branch order.

Connect a source to a destination in a workflow

A workflow is a canvas on which you draw a line from an input source through model generation and exports into a folder structure. An order follows only the lines from its own source; without a line it saves nothing.

Connect a workflow

1. In the configurator open step 6 Workflow and click Create a new workflow, or Connect an existing one. Workflows are also in the main menu under Workflows.
2. Open opens the Workflow editor.

The warning "No workflow is connected to this configurator — orders from it will save nothing" is literal. The same holds for a connected workflow without a line.

The canvas

On the left is the Unassigned list — everything the configurator has to place, grouped as Input sources, Output destinations, Model generation, Drawing generation and Exports (step 5). Click an item to add it to the canvas, drag to position it. When everything is placed the list says "Everything is placed on the canvas".

The shortest working workflow

1. Place the input source (a form, an Excel sheet or a web configurator).
2. Place Model generation and draw a line from the source into it. This is where the rules are evaluated and the model rebuilt.
3. Place a File export for every format from step 5 and draw a line from Model generation into each. An export not on the canvas is not exported.
4. Place the Folder structure and draw a line into it from every export. Only an export leads into a structure.
5. Save with the header's Save.

A drawing from step 1 is exported through Drawing generation between the model and the export: it narrows which drawing follows, or All drawings.

Allowed lines

• From: input source - To: Check, Model generation, Value, Condition
• From: Model generation - To: Check, Drawing generation, File export, Condition
• From: Drawing generation - To: Check, Drawing generation, File export, Condition
• From: File export - To: Folder structure only

The editor enforces the order: "An export before Generate model — nothing to export", "Only an Export may follow a drawing check".

Branch order

When several lines leave one node, they run top to bottom. The line's Order property changes that; the number on the line says which branch it is.

Warnings on the canvas

• "No line leaves this source — orders from it will save nothing."
• "No line enters this destination — nothing will be saved here."
• "The check has no line on both sides — it will hold nothing."
• "This source or destination is no longer attached to any connected configurator." — the node was left behind after a disconnect; delete it.

A workflow is also the unit of sharing: the Share with the company switch in its editor sends the workflow and everything it uses — configurators, forms, structures, lists — to the server. See Share a workflow with the company.