Overview

To reuse Action nodes, within an Actionflow, the action nodes within it can be extracted.

In order to make actions re-usable (this will be important when we have API actions for example) we will need to wrap them in an action flow and then re-use the flow. To make this easier we need a wizard to take an action (or group of actions) on a model and quickly convert them to a nested action flow.

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This wizard would have to:       

•  automatically create the action flow 

• move all the actions into the action flow (preferably laid out as they are in the original model)

• create all of the necessary input and output connection points and connection point attributes on the action flow to correspond to the connection points on the actions within it

• Wire up the action flow connection points to the internal actions and map the attributes

• Connect anything that was on the original diagram that connected to a moved action to the appropriate connection point of the action flow that has replaced it.

Added the ability to extract actions to a new actionflow in the actionflow node context menu. This will create a new actionflow and transfer all selected nodes into that actionflow. All extracted nodes must be connected and not include any start phase nodes. If a start loop is extracted its corresponding end loop must be extracted too and vice-versa.

logic that ensures that we have a valid subset of actions e.g. it can’t include a start loop node without the end loop node.

• Can’t include phases

• You must selected all nodes between any two connected nodes

• You can’t select a start envelope without the end envelope

• Passthrough attributes need mapping at the interface of the new nested action

• You cannot extract subsets from different loops

New Actionflow Setup

After the Actionflow has been extracted, the newly created Actionflow retains the original action nodes but contains the input of the original actionflow.

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Original Actionflow Setup

The action nodes on the original actionflow are replaced with an embedded actionflow node. See Actionflow Node Properties.

Image Removedre-used by converting them into a new Actionflow. The actions in the original Actionflow are transferred to an embedded Actionflow node.

The newly created Actionflow automatically contains:

• input, output and lookup connection points to connections outside of the new Actionflow, e.g. to action nodes and the original Actionflow
• all transferred action nodes 

• the original attributes, which are mapped to match the original Actionflow setup

Creating a Reusable Actionflow

1. To make a reusable Actionflow, select the required action nodes and right-click to choose 

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   1. A new Actionflow is automatically created
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   2. On the original Actionflow, the selected action nodes are replaced with the new embedded Actionflow node - see Actionflow Node
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Moving Actions to Another Actionflow

An action node or group of action nodes can be moved to another Actionflow. This useful where you wish to reverse an action node extraction.

The nodes must be disconnected from the Actionflow's inputs and/or outputs before moving.

How-to Move Actions

1. Disconnect the action or group of actions from the Actionflow's inputs and/or outputs
2. Right-click on the actions nodes to be moved and choose 

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3. On the Select Actionflow popup, use the dropdown to select the Actionflow to move the action nodes to and select OK
4. On the Select Action Phase popup, use the dropdown to select the phase within the chosen Actionflow to move the action nodes to and select OK
5. The Actionflow that the action node(s) have been moved to will open