Connecting Tasks in the Workflow

After adding tasks to your Workflow, you connect them to establish their execution sequence. The Workflow editor provides graphic tools that help you design your Workflows. The floating toolbar in the editor is one of them. It contains several buttons. The third button activates the Connection mode. Click it to start connecting tasks. The connection lines determine the sequence in which the tasks are executed in the Workflow. Rearranging tasks in the Workflow does not modify the Workflow logic because it is not their position that determines their sequence.

Shortcut: If you are in a different mode, press 3 on your keyboard to switch to the Connection mode.

This page includes the following:

Connecting Tasks

Connecting tasks means establishing a dependency among them. You connect tasks by drawing a line between them. The object where the line starts is the predecessor. The target object is the successor. A successor object starts only if the predecessor has executed successfully.

To help you better distinguish the connection logic in large Workflows, where the lines often cross each other, incoming and outgoing lines have different colors. Incoming lines (lines that connect a task with its predecessor) are blue. Outgoing lines (lines that connect a task with its successor) are yellow.

To Connect One Task to Another

  1. Activate the Selection mode.
  2. Hover the mouse over the task from which you want to connect. Arrow symbols are displayed. You draw the lines from and to these arrows.
  3. Click and keep the mouse button pressed while you drag toward the task to which you want to link.
  4. Release the mouse button once you have reached the task. The two tasks are now connected.

Fine-tune the dependencies between tasks after you have connected them. For example, you can set a condition for a successor task depending on the status of the predecessor one.

To Connect One Task to Many (1 : m)

  1. Activate the Selection mode.
  2. Select the tasks to which you want to connect.
  3. Activate the Connection mode. The tasks remain selected.
  4. Draw the connection line from the predecessor task to your selection.

To Connect Many Tasks to One (m : 1)

  1. Activate the Selection mode.
  2. Select the tasks from which you want to connect.
  3. Activate the Connection mode. The tasks remain selected.
  4. Draw the connection line from your selection to the successor task.

For more information, see

Disconnecting Tasks

You have the following possibilities to delete connections (and thus unlink tasks).

  • Select the line and press the delete button on your keyboard.
  • Right-click the line to select Remove Connection from the context menu.

You can also delete connections in bulk. To select multiple connections, press Ctrl and click on the connections.

Important Considerations

  • After you have connected tasks, you probably want to define properties that are specific to each of them. For more information, see .
  • The dependency between two tasks is visible on the Time & Dependencies tab in the successor task in the sequence. The predecessor is automatically inserted in the table in the Dependencies section.

  • By default, any OK status of the predecessor leads to the execution of the successor. You can specify that the predecessor should have a different status in the Time & Dependencies tab.

    If you usually need the predecessor to have a status other than ANY_OK for the successor to start, you can specify it on the Settings dialog.

  • You cannot connect a task to itself.
  • FOREACH and IF are different. Their tasks are already connected when you create them.

For more information, see:

Connecting Distant Objects in Large Workflows

In Workflows that expand beyond their visible part, to connect tasks that are far away from each other, you can use the connection toolbar.

To Connect Distant Tasks

  1. Right-click a task in the Workflow and select Connect from the context menu.
  2. The connect toolbar is displayed at the top of the editor.

  3. From Start Task do one of the following:

    • Select the task from the dropdown list.
    • Start typing its name, alias, or sequence number within the Workflow.

    The focus of the editor changes to the selected task to help you verify that it is actually the task you want to link from.

    Tip: Hover your mouse over the task box to display the tooltip. If you need more information, right-click it and select Properties.

  4. Do the same to select a task from the End Task dropdown list.
  5. The Save button is now enabled. Click it to confirm the connection.

  6. Click Cancel to hide the toolbar.

    Important! If you click Cancel before saving, the tasks are not connected and the toolbar is hidden.

Restrictions:

  • External dependencies are not available for selection in either of the dropdown lists.

  • To prevent linking a task to itself, the task you select in the Start Task dropdown list is not available in the End Task one.

  • The Start node is not available for selection in the End Task list. The End node is not available for selection in the Start Task list.
  • The Connect button is disabled if one of the dropdown lists is empty or if your selection is an invalid combination of tasks.
  • In child Workflows (Workflows that are embedded in a parent Workflow), only the tasks that belong to the child Workflow are available for selection.

See also: