Connector Nodes

The Workflow Template Editor provides connector nodes that can be used in a workflow template to define the workflow sequence.

Connector nodes are used to control activity node execution by determining pre-set requirements for triggering the next node. For example, all activities leading into an And connector must be completed for the workflow template execution to proceed past the connector.

Conditional routing can be activated for any of the connectors. For more information about conditional routing, how to define events and expressions and to automatically fire them, see Routing.

If any link leading into a connector node is a loop link, it resets the internal counter for the connector. This may prevent an And, End, Conditional, or Threshold connector node from completing.

The Start connector node represents the starting point in a workflow template. Each template has only one Start connector.

When the workflow template editor is opened, the Start connector is automatically displayed. This connector cannot be removed or duplicated.

The And connector node

does not fire until all predecessor links have fired (that is, it waits until all predecessor activity nodes have completed before allowing the sequence to continue).

The And connector is essentially a threshold connector node with a threshold equal to the number of preceding activities.

You can change an And connector to an Or connector, Threshold connector, or a Conditional router.

The End terminator is an implicit And connector; it does not fire until all predecessors complete. This can give the false impression of a hung workflow process. Use the Workflow Process Administration utility to troubleshoot this issue.

The Or connector node

fires if any one of the predecessor links fire.

The Or connector is essentially a threshold connector node with a threshold equal to 1.

When the Or connector fires, the remaining preceding activities, which are now irrelevant, may still be running. To terminate these activities when the Or connector fires, select the Terminate Open Predecessor Activities When Fired checkbox.

You can change an Or connector to an And connector, Threshold connector, or Conditional router.

The Threshold connector node

fires if a user-defined number of predecessor links fire.

• To set the number of predecessor activity nodes that must complete, enter a number in the Firing Threshold field of the Threshold Properties window.

• To set a dynamic threshold, in which the firing threshold is set to 0 at runtime and is reset to the number of started predecessor activities, select Add one from the Action in Threshold list on the preceding Link Properties window.

When the required number of activities have completed, some preceding activities, which are now irrelevant, may still be running. To terminate these activities when the Threshold connector fires, select the Terminate Open Predecessor Activities When Fired checkbox.

You can change a Threshold connector to an And connector, Or connector, or a Conditional router.

The Conditional router node

fires user-defined events based on an automatic event firing expression.

You can change a Conditional router to an And, Or, or Threshold connector.