What is a Converge Action?

The

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 action is used to combine two or more paths together within an Actionflow, passing through attributes that are common to all incoming paths. It does not merge any records.  

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 actions are useful where data has been split to be processed separately but then needs to be brought back together for an action that only accepts one input, e.g. a 

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 action.

Creating Converge Actions

1. Click and drag the 

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    icon from the toolbar onto the canvas
2. Enter a name for the Converge action, then select Create Action
   1. In the Converge Action 

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       on the right, click the 

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       icon in the Output Attributes section to add new attributes, if required
3. Connect to the Converge action by hovering over each input action node and selecting out, then create a new input connection point on the Converge action

Output Attributes

The Converge Node will only pass through attributes that are common to all paths, therefore, use Output Attributes to converge attributes to a common name. Once created, map to the Output Attributes using the attributes from incoming paths.

To check if a record in an Actionflow has a value mapped to an Output Attribute in a Converge Node, use the ifUnavailable function in a 

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 action. See 1.11 Calculate Action Configuration.

For example, if there are three paths being passed into a Converge Node, and one of the paths does not have an attribute mapped to an output attribute, trying to reference that output attribute later in the Actionflow will throw an error on a record where there was no attribute mapped. The ifUnavailable function can be used to capture and handle this scenario.

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Worked Example

Here's a worked example using the Shop Data (available from the Learning Centre).

In this example, we are using:  

• A Customer Form screen containing blank input fields, set up to create a new customer  - this screen was created using the Edit Form template

Tip

If you are completing this chapter as part of the Actionflow course and using a training instance, the data and screens have already been pre-loaded into the Actionflow Intermediate Application. For this example, we'll be working on the Save button on the Customer Form screen. If you have completed 2.07 Embedded Actionflows prior to starting this worked example, ensure the Actionflow on the Save button on the Customer Form screen is  Insert excerpt _remove _remove nopanel true d. Then re-add a simple Save Action using the Form Actions wizard. Expand title How? Right-click on the screen and choose  Insert excerpt _actionflow_icon _actionflow_icon nopanel true  Add Form Actions. Drag Insert excerpt _save_icon _save_icon nopanel true  Save Record onto the Save button.

Process New Customers Differently Depending on Mailing List Subscription

For this example, we'll create an Actionflow that splits our data depending on if a new customer has joined a mailing list, allowing the customers who have joined to be processed separately. The new customer data for both the customer who have and haven't joined the mailing list is them converged back together so that the customer record can be updated with the current date and time (for the LastUpdated attribute), and the new customer record saved back to the table.

We recommend that you have prior knowledge of 

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 actions and 

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 actions or have completed 2.03 Gateway Action Configuration and 2.05 Email Action Configuration.

Initial Setup

1. Open the Customer Form and

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    the screen
2. Open the Actionflow on the Save button
3. Click on the input connection point (under Connections) and map in the following attributes into the Actionflow:
   1. email
   2. first_name
   3. LastUpdated
   4. mailingList
4. Disconnect the 

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   from the

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    action on the canvas

Gateway Setup

1. Create a 

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    action
   1. Name: Mailing List
2. Drag the 

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    node onto the Gateway action
3. Map the mailingList attribute into the 

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   action on the in connector
4. Click on the 

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    node to open its Properties
   1. Toggle on, Exclusive
   2. Modify the existing Rule and

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       another Rule, as detailed below:

      1. 
         

         Code Block
         theme Emacs title Name: EmailMe
         in.mailingList == true

         
         

      2. 
         

         Code Block
         theme Emacs title Name: DontEmailMe
         in.mailingList != true

         
         

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    the gateway settings

6. Hover over the Gateway action to show the 2 output connections

   1. Click on DontEmailMe, then click on any white space on the canvas and use the popup menu to create a new 

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       action
      1. Name: CombineData
      2. Map across the customerID attribute
   2. Repeat with the EmailMe output connection and create a new 

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       Embedded Actionflow

      1. Name: SendWelcomeEmail


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Embedded Actionflow Setup

1. Click on the EmailMe connector and map in the attributes that will be needed to send a welcome email to the new customer:
   1. customerID
   2. email
   3. first_name
2. Hover over the Embedded Actionflow node and choose out to connect the SendWelcomeEmail Embedded Actionflow node to the CombineData

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    action
   1. After clicking on the Converge node, choose Add Input and name the connection 
   2. Map across the customerID attribute
3. Right-click on the SendWelcomeEmail Embedded Actionflow and choose 

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4. On the SendWelcomeEmail Actionflow, create a new 

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    action
   1. Name: WelcomeEmail
5. Connect the

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    node to the

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    action
6. Map the same attributes as above into the Email action
7. Click on the Email Action to open its

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    and

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    the tab
8. For the From field, we need to use the email address specified as the login email in your Outbound Emailer; to find this, in the 

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   , expand 

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   1. Double-click on 

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       Outbound emailer and copy the login email 
9. Paste this into the From field on your pinned 

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    properties, and enter the following:

   1. To:

      Code Block
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      ${in.email}

      
      

   2. Subject:

      Code Block
      language js theme Emacs
      Welcome ${in.first_name}!

      
      

   3. is HTML: Toggle on off 

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   4. Message:

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      Hello ${in.first_name} and welcome to the PhixFlow Shop Newsletter. Thank you for joining our mailing list. We'll send you news and offers every week!

      
      

      1. Leave all other fields blank

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10. Hover over the Email action and select out

11. Click on the

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     node under Connections to map the data back to the Save Actionflow 

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Converge & Calculate Setup

1. Click back into the Actionflow for the Save button
2. From the CombineData 

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    action, click out and create a 

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    action
   1. Name: SetLastUpdated
   2. Map the attribute, LastUpdated, into the 

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       action
3. On the Calculate action, add an Output Attribute:
   1. Name: SetLastUpdated
   2. Type: Datetime

   3. Expression: now()


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Save Setup

1. Connect the Calculate action to the Save action
   1. Map across the customerID attribute from the Converge action to the Save

   2. Map across the SetLastUpdated attribute from the Calculate action to the LastUpdated attribute on the Save
      

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Testing

To test the Actionflow we need to add two new customers. 

1. Close and reopen the Customer Form

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    the screen and enter the details for a new customer, ensuring:
   1. for the Email Address field, you enter your own email address
   2. for the "Would the customer like to join the mailing list?" field, you toggle the switch on 
3. After pressing Save, you should see the customer is saved on the Customer screen and you should receive an email 
4. Repeat these steps to create another customer, using your email address but this time, toggle off "Would the customer like to join the mailing list?"
5. Check that the customer is still created and saved on the Customer screen but that no email is received

2.11 Custom Validation