Step Types
In FlowForce Server, steps define what a job must do (e.g., delete a file, execute a MapForce mapping, send an email). In its simplest form, a step is an operation with failed or successful outcome. The step requires an execution of a function. You can execute steps conditionally, unconditionally, and in a loop. You can create as many steps as required for your job, and you can set the order in which the steps must take place.
Types of steps
To add an execution step, create a job or open an existing job, and select the relevant step type in the Execution Steps section of the Configuration page. The screenshot below shows the available types of steps. For more information, see the subsections below.
Execution step
An Execution step allows you to execute a specific FlowForce function. Available functions include FlowForce built-in functions, deployed MapForce mappings and StyleVision transformations, and execution steps of other jobs.
Choose step
A Choose step allows you to define the conditions under which other job steps will be executed. Choose steps have the following structure:
When {some expression}
Execute (some step)
Otherwise
Execute (some other step)
Under each Choose step, you can nest other Choose steps (sub-conditions), for example:
When {expression}
When {expression}
Execute (step)
Otherwise
Execute (step)
Otherwise
Execute (step)
You can define any number of conditional steps. Within any When/Otherwise pair, FlowForce Server executes only the condition that is true; the other condition is ignored. For more information, see Conditional Steps.
For-Each step
A For-Each step allows you to iterate through a sequence (e.g., a list of files within a directory) and repeat an execution step any number of times. For-Each steps have the following structure:
For each item in sequence {sequence expression}
Execute (step)
FlowForce executes the step until it finishes looping through all items of the sequence expression.
Error/Success handling step
When a step of a job fails, FlowForce Server aborts the job. You can define on-error, on-success, on-retry and unconditional steps before the job exits.
Postponed steps
In some cases, you might want to let the job return the result first and execute certain steps only afterwards. This may be particularly useful in AS2 jobs (FlowForce Server Advanced) and Web services. For details, see Postponed Steps.
Buttons
Use the following buttons to manage steps.
| Allows you to expand or collapse all execution steps. This option could be useful when you want to do a search in the browser or print the page. |
 | Add a step. |
 | Delete a step. |
 | Duplicate a step. |
  | Move a step up or down. |
 | Undo the previous delete action. |
