What is a Gateway Action?
The Gateway action acts as a decision point and controls the path that records take as they flow through an Actionflow. Data flow is controlled by the expressions on each output connection points and these provide the logic for which path the data flows. Several output connection points can be added, with decision logic on each one.
Exclusive vs Inclusive
Control whether or not a record can go through more than one output.
Exclusive Gateway (Single path)
to make a record go through the first connection point where the condition is met.
Inclusive Gateway (Multiple Paths)
to make a record go through all connection points where the condition is met.
Rules
For each output connection point, rules (expressions) can be defined to be evaluated. If the condition is met, the record will go through the connection point or points (depending on if the gateway is exclusive or inclusive, see above).
Example Setup
This is an example of a simple gateway Actionflow that receives an order status. Where the order status is Complete, the data is saved but where the order status is Open, an email is sent.
Creating Gateway Actions
- Click and drag the Gateway icon in the toolbar onto the canvas
- Enter a name for the Gateway action, then select Create Action
- In the Gateway action on the right: Properties
or Exclusive
Define Rules for each output connection point clicking the icon
- Apply and Close all settings
- Hover over the Gateway action on the canvas to see the output connection points
- Click on each connection point to connect it to another action node
- Once connected, the rules can be changed directly on the connector by right-clicking and choosing
Worked Example
Here's a worked example using the Shop Data (available from the Learning Centre).
In this example, we are using:
- A Shop Stock screen containing a grid of the Shop Stock data, a pie chart of the Shop Stock data and a grid of the Shop Departments data - this screen was created using the Multi-Tile template
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 grid on the Shop Stock screen.
GIF/SCREENSHOT OF FINISHED RESULT
- For the Auto Save Action Method, choose Actionflow
- For the Auto Save Actionflow, click the icon to create a new Actionflow
- Name: NumberCheck