What are Exclusion Groups?

Exclusion Groups are used to group Actionflows and limit their ability to run at the same time.

Where multiple Actionflows have the same exclusion group, only one Actionflow will be able to run at any one time. Attempting to run a second Actionflow, with the same exclusion group, will return a warning message and the Actionflow will not run. This applies whether the Actionflow is run manually or automatically using a schedule.

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Exclusion groups are evaluated before any Actionflows are started. When an Actionflow with an exclusion group is triggered, if no other Actionflow with the same exclusion group is already running then the Actionflow will continue. The action will be considered to be using this exclusion group from this point until the Actionflow has completed.

Setting Exclusion Groups

Adding Authentication to an API End Point

Step 1 - Enable Authentication

1. Open the Incoming API/API End Point Actionflow
2. On the toolbar click 

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3. In the API section, disable 

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    Allow Anonymous Connection 
   1. This will then only allow authenticated calls to the API

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    the changes

Step 2 - Create an Authentication User

1. In the

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   , expand the application with the Incoming API
2. Expand

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    and create an New Role by clicking 

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   1. Pin the tab as we will need it to remain open
   2. Provide a useful Name, e.g. GenerateToken
   3. In the Privileges section, click 

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   4. Search for the privilege in the Full Repository : Use API Key
   5. Drag the Use API Key into the Privileges section of the Role 

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       the changes
3. In the 

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    section, click 

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   1. Add a new Group for you Role
      1. Give it a useful Name e.g. API Users
      2. Add any users you require to be able to run the API. This could be a dedicated API user with limited privileges
         1. To create a user see Managing User Accounts → Creating Users
      3. Click 

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          and close the tab
   2. Now drag the new user group into the 

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       section of the new privilege

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       the changes
4. The setup should look similar to:
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Step 3 - Authentication Token KeyStore

A signing key is used to generate the PhixFlow API key and this is stored on the server to ensure secure access.

Using the page Configure a Keystore and Aliases, configure phixflow-api-key to be used as the signing key for PhixFlow API Keys in the same way as the pepperKey is configured. This secret string must be a minimum of 32 bytes length.

Step 4 - Generate Authentication Token

1. The Incoming API will run as a specified user, this means that when it is called the audit trail will show the specified user as having performed the Incoming API Actionflow
2. You do not need to login as this user, however, if you were already logged in as this user, you will need to logout and login again to pick up the user group change 
3. In the 

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   , scroll down to the Full Repository section and expand it
4. Expand the

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    section
5. Double click on the user who will run the Incoming API
6. Click the 3-dot more menu in the top right of the user properties
7. Click Generate API Key
8. Copy the value displayed and store it somewhere safe

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Step 5 - Send Authorization

When calling the Incoming API, the authorisation token must be passed in as a header called: Authorization. 

Worked Example

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

In this example, we are using:  

• A Company Orders screen containing two grids of the Orders and OrderLines data - this screen was created using the Multi-tile template

Stop Multiple Processes Running While Performing Data Import

In this example, we'll create an Actionflow to import the AdditionalCompanies_Processed data and add the Status of New to each company on that table before adding it to the Companies table. We'll add this Actionflow to an Exclusion Group with other Actionflows on the same screen so that other processes cannot be triggered while the import is taking place.

Actionflow Setup

1. Open the Company Approval Review screen
2. Create an Actionflow on the Import button to import the AdditionalCompanies_Processed data
   1. Name: ImportCompanies 
   2. If you have completed the Actionflow Intermediate Course, chapter 2.15 Analysis Action Configuration, this Actionflow setup is similar
3. Add a

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    action to the canvas and connect the 

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    node to it
4. On the Calculate action, add the following Output Attribute that will be used to update the Status of all imported companies:
   1. Name: Status
      1. Type: String
      2. Expression: "New"
5. On the Calculate action, add another Output Attribute that will be used to add a 20 second delay into the Actionflow, this will simulate a large data import and allow time to trigger the Actionflow twice:
   1. Name: Delay
   2. Type: Integer
   3. Expression: sleep(20)
      1. This will add a delay into the Actionflow for demonstration purposes. See sleep
6. Add a 

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    action to the canvas
7. On its Properties, in the Tables section, click the 

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    icon
   1. Drag across the AdditionalCompanies_Processed table from the Repository to the Analysis action properties

8. Connect the Calculate action to the Analysis action and map across the attribute

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Table Attributes Setup

1. On the Analysis Model, Actionflow Advanced Data, click on the table, AdditionalCompanies_Processed
2. Double-click on the attribute, Status, and change the Expression to _context.Status
   1. This is then referring to the attribute setup on the Calculate action
3. Save the Analysis Model

Combine Data & Display 

1. On the Actionflow, create a 

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    action with the Primary Table, AdditionalCompanies_Processed, and connect the Analysis action to the View action
   1. In its Properties, in the Data Retrieval Options section, set the Data Range to Latest
      1. This will ensure that this data isn't continuously added if the Actionflow is run repeatedly
   2. For the Output Attributes section, click the 

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       icon and drag across all attributes
2. Create a 

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    action to save the data to the Companies table
   1. In its Properties, in the Basic Settings section, set the Type to Insert and

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       toggle on Auto Save Attributes
3. Connect the View to the Save action and map across all attributes

   1. 

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Setting the Exclusion Group

1. Open the Actionflow 

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   1. Under Basic Settings, populate the Exclusion Group field with any text, e.g. Import
   2. 

2. Add the same Actionflow to the Import button the Company Management screen

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   On the ImportCompanies Actionflow, open the  Insert excerpt _property_settings _property_settings nopanel true , hover over the  Insert excerpt _more_options _more_options name icon nopanel true  icon and choose  Insert excerpt _repository_find _repository_find nopanel true Open the Company Management screen and drag the highlighted Actionflow from the Repository onto the Import button This will create another instance of the same Actionflow

   
   

Testing

1. Open the Company Approval Review and Company Management screens
2. Ensure both screens are 

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   ed
3. Click Import on one screen then press Import on the other screen
4. A warning message should appear