On the 

Loop Mappings

Attributes passed into a loop are available as passthrough, as well as attributes mapped in from the End Loop. This allows the original passthrough values to be referenced and if the loop is manipulating the incoming attributes, for example, incrementing a number, this is also available.

The mapped attributes that are manipulated by the loop are shown with a loop icon on the Mappings window, and passthrough attributes are shown with the icon of where they have come from, for example, a

Creating Loop Actions

1. Click and drag the 

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   _action_loop _action_loop name loop nopanel true

    icon from the toolbar onto the canvas
2. In the Create Loop Action window:
   1. Enter a Name
   2. Select Create Action
3. Map attributes from other actions to the 

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   _action_loop_start _action_loop_start nopanel true

   to be processed by the loop
4. On the 

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   _action_loop_end _action_loop_end nopanel true

   , set:
   1. Records to output: Choose whether to output all records from the loop or just the final record
   2. Until Expression: An expression that is checked on each cycle of the loop, and once the expression returns true, the loop will end
      1. Example: in.myValue == 10
   3. Max Loops: This is a safety net designed to stop infinite loops. After the number of loops set here, the loops will stop
      1.  This default to 10000

Worked Example

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

In this example, we are using:  

• A Company Bank Holiday API - Loops screen containing a grid backed by an empty Bank_Holiday_Results table, drop down fields for the user to select the Year From and Year To values and a Run button - this screen was created using the Tile no Buttons template

Loop Through Selected Years and Return Bank Holidays

In this example, a user selects two year parameters to obtains the UK bank holidays for. We'll create an Actionflow that takes in these two parameters and loops through each year. For the purposes of this example, our Actionflow will call an API that exists within PhixFlow but this API represents an external API.

Obtain the API URL

We have provided an Actionflow that acts as a UK Bank Holiday API. This can be called by a Actionflow, in the same way that an external API can be called. The UK Bank Holiday API has been configured to receive a year parameter and use that parameter to pass out the bank holiday dates for the corresponding year.

See 3.01 Setting up an API End Point for more details on how this API has been setup or to set one up yourself.

1. Search for the Bank Holiday API Actionflow on the Actionflow page
   1. 
2. Open the Actionflow

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   _property_settings _property_settings nopanel true

    and in the API section, copy the URL and save it locally to be used later

Actionflow Setup

Create an Actionflow using a

1. Open the Company Bank Holidays API - Loops screen
2. Add an Actionflow to the Run button
   1. Name: Get Bank Holidays

Testing

1. Close all screens and reopen the Company Bank Holidays API - Loops screen
2. Select the Year From and Year To criteria and press Run