Bulk Operations and Drag & Drop

As a developer and object designer, or as an administrator, to spare time you can perform the same operation on multiple objects or tasks at the same time. The drag & drop function also helps you work more efficiently. It lets you move objects within a Client, insert tasks in a Workflow and move them, move tasks from one Workflow to another, and so forth.

Bulk Operations

Select various objects or tasks and right-click, the context-menu shows the common available options to all selected objects or tasks. When you execute several objects simultaneously, if one or more of them has PromptSets, the corresponding requests are sent to the Requests view.

Examples:

In the Explorer (Process Assembly) you select and right-click on a Workflow, a Job and a Filter object. The context menu does not contain the Execute and Monitoring options because Filter objects are not executable.
In the Tasks list (Process Monitoring) you select and right-click an Active Workflow and a Workflow with status Waiting for manual release. The context-menu does NOT contain the Open User Input Dialog option because it is not available for active Workflows.

Drag and Drop

Dragging and dropping objects (or Object Links) is a fast and convenient way to move them from one place to another and to insert them in a Workflow. When hovering over potential drop targets, these targets are highlighted. This applies to folders and to the Workflow canvas too, which indicates where the objects will be dropped through shadows and lines. You can drop objects only to folders to which you have writing permissions.

Dropping into Long Lists

To drop an object into a folder in a list that is not visible because the list is too long, hold the dragged object over the end of the list. The list scrolls automatically.

Dropping into Subfolders

You have the following options to drop an object into a subfolder:

Open the subfolder in a separate browser tab and drag the object there.
Drag the object to the Explorer tree view in the left pane (Process Assembly) and hover over the folder that contains the subfolder. The folder tree expands automatically and you can drop the object.

Drag & Drop From / To

You can drag and drop objects from / to the following locations:

From any list (Explorer, Global Search drop down, Advanced Search list) onto the Workflow canvas
From the Global Search and the Advanced Search list onto the Explorer list

Tip: Refresh the Advanced Search list after dragging and dropping objects from it to be able to see their new location in the In Folder column
From any list into the Favorites folder (Process Assembly)
From any list into the Recycle Bin in Process Assembly

This is the same as deleting.
From any list onto the Transport Case in Process Assembly
From an Explorer list to another Explorer list that is opened in a different browser window

You can drop the objects into a closed folder too.
From the navigation pane (Process Assembly) onto the Explorer list
From the Explorer list into folders in the navigation pane

For more information, see Restrictions.
From any list onto a text editor
From any list onto an e-mail program

Examples:

You use prefixes in your object names that let you recognize them easily. You want to move all the objects with names that start with JOBS.FILESYSTEM to a particular folder.
1. Perform an Advanced Search using the Object Name as criterion.
2. Open a second browser window and go to the Explorer in the Process Assembly perspective. For more information, see Opening and Arranging Multiple Views.
3. In the Explorer, open the folder into which you want to drop the objects.
4. Select and drag all the relevant objects from the Advanced Search list and drop the into the folder.
You want to mail several objects to a colleague.
1. Open the e-mail program and arrange your screen to display the list of objects and the e-mail program side-by-side.
2. Select and drag the objects from the list and drop them onto the e-mail. The objects are sent as links that the recipient can click.

For more examples, see Example: Designing and Monitoring Objects and Example: Working with Multiple Connections.

Restrictions

You can only drag and drop objects within the same Client and Automation Engine connection
If you are dropping objects onto a separate browser window, both windows must be in the same browser
The Internet Explorer provides a very limited drag and drop functionality