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.

This page includes the following:

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 one or more objects is a fast and convenient way to move them from one folder to another or to add tasks to Workflows and Schedules.

When hovering over potential drop targets, these targets are highlighted. This applies to folders and to the Workflow editor too, which indicates where the objects will be dropped through shadows and lines.

Dropping into Folders and Subfolders

Select and object in a folder in the Explorer (Process Assembly).
Drag the object to a different folder.

When you hover over your target folder, this folder is selected. If it contains subfolders, they are expanded to let you choose where to drop the object.

Important! You need writing objects to the target folder to be able to drop objects there.

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 Workflows and Schedules

You can drag objects from the Explorer list, Global Search dropdown list or Advanced Search view and drop them into the Workflow editor or Schedule object.

You have two options:

Open the list and the Workflow/Schedule in two different browser windows and arrange them side by side. Then drag and drop from one window to the other.
Open the list and the Workflow/Schedule in two different browser tabs within the same browser window. In the object list, drag the object and drop it onto the Workflow/Schedule browser tab

Dropping into the Explorer List (Process Assembly perspective)

You can drag objects from the Global Search and the Advanced Search list and drop them into 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

Other Destinations

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

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
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.
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