Creating Tasks (Workflows) for Use in Event Rules

In EFT, once an event is triggered, assuming all conditions are met, EFT can launch one or user-definable Actions. One of those Actions is "Execute Advanced Workflow."

When you create the Workflow, Advanced Workflows creates a file with an extension of .aml and saves it in EFT's Advanced Workflows folder (by default, C:\ProgramData\Globalscape\EFT Server\AWE). The filename is the name of the task, prepended with an underscore and the name of the Site. For example, if you create a task called FTP on a Site called Boston, the task's filename is Boston_FTP.aml. You can then reference that Workflow in the Event Rule Builder in EFT so that, for example, when a certain file is uploaded, the Workflow is executed on that file.

When a new task is created, a message appears (prior to the Create a workflow dialog box) informing you that the Advanced Workflow module is an optional module and that the trial begins when the first task is created.

To create a task

  1. In the EFT administration interface, connect to EFT and click the Server tab.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • On the main menu, click Configuration > New Workflow.

    • In the left pane, click the Advanced Workflow node.

    The Advanced Workflow pane appears.

  3. In the right pane, click New. The Create a Workflow dialog box appears.

  4. In the What do you want to call this workflow box, specify a name for the workflow. When you add the workflow to Event Rules, the name you specify here appears in the Rule.

  5. (Optional) Provide a description of the workflow, then click OK. The Advanced Workflows Task Builder appears.

    The tree in the left pane lists the steps that you can add to the task. The right pane displays the steps in the task.

  6. Double-click or drag items from the Available Actions list to the Steps pane to create your task. (Refer to these Examples.)

  7. Use the Run icon on the Debug toolbar to test the steps. You can run it all at once, run only a selected step, or a portion of the task starting with a step other than the first step.

    The Output tab displays the result of each step. For example:

    Executing line 5

    Starting Input Box with message "What is your name?"

    Creating message box "What is your name?" >

    Populating variable "theUserName

    Finished Input Box "What is your name?".

    The step was okay.

  8. After you have created your task, click Update and Close. The workflow appears in the Advanced Workflows node of the Site tree and is ready to be used in Event Rules.

  9. (Optional) In the Advanced Options area, specify the number of seconds after which to terminate the workflow if it fails to execute. The Terminate the process check box is selected by default. If you clear the check box, the process will run indefinitely, which is probably not the desired behavior.

  10. (Optional) Specify the level of debug logging in the Debug log level box, None, Minimal, Normal, or Verbose (None is the default). Click View log folder to view the CSV logs created by this workflow, saved in. If you enable logging, you should manually delete the files after you're done with them or create a Scheduled event in EFT to delete them automatically.

  11. Click Apply to save changes on EFT.

Your workflow is now ready to insert into an Event Rule. Refer to Using Advanced Workflows in Event Rules for more information.