Process start with the help of events
What is an event and what is it used for?
When an action is performed or a certain state occurs, a functional entity can send a signal. Such “signals” are also considered events. Other functionalities react to them and carry out actions.
For example: After a successful import of a new document, d.velop documents can send a signal to which other processes then react.
It is now possible to start processes with the help of events. Within the start event of a process, the start via an event can now also be used. In this way, a process can be started automatically when a functional entity sends a corresponding event.
What does the process look like?
An event for the process start can be selected in the configuration area of a start event.
If you have added an event in the modeling, give the event a meaningful name. Select the event to which the process should react.
Once the event has been added to the process, you can define the conditions and the start variables.
You can use conditions to define restrictions for the event. For example, a process can start after the import of documents or explicitly only when importing personnel documents in the document status Processing (as in the screenshot below). You can add further conditions using the + next to Conditions.
In the Start variables area, you can assign values from the delivered event to the start variables. In the screenshot below, for example, the process variable docTitle is assigned the value of the document property Title and the process variable dv_attachment is assigned the link to the imported document. This information can now be used in the process.
If an event is delivered that meets the conditions, the process is started automatically.
Where do the events come from?
If no events are yet available in an environment, the following message is displayed in the configuration of the start event:
The button in the message takes you to the configuration of the events for d.velop documents:
In this configuration interface, the administration of the environment (tenant administrator) can activate individual events for use in modeling. They can also configure, for example, whether the events should also contain the customer-specific properties.
Initially, it is necessary to perform a one-time synchronization with d.velop documents in order to load the necessary information for the description of the events. The current user login is used for this.
You can configure the following events:
- After the creation of a document or a file
- After creating a new document version
- After a document status has been changed
- After a document has been released
- After deleting a document or a file
- After creating a generated document
The configuration interface can be called up at any time via the Configuration tile on the dashboard (Configuration > Tasks and processes > Events > Configure repository).
Will there be further events?
Currently, the events mentioned above are offered, which you can use to react to document imports, for example. In the future, further events from other applications and associated API documentation will be provided so that partners and app builders, for example, can also offer events for their components.
Can I deactivate an automatic process start for a short time?
As with the time-controlled process starts, the processes that are started by an event are also displayed in the overview of scheduled process starts (d.velop process studio > Scheduled process starts).
The process definitions for which the following applies are now displayed in the overview:
- The currently deployed version is started time-controlled or via an event.
- The user has the necessary authorizations.
If a process should not react to an event, you can pause this process in the overview. For a quicker overview, you can now also filter the overview by type (time-controlled/event-controlled) and by status (active/paused).