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Synchronous Flow Destination Step
Synchronous Flow Destination Step

Used in a flow to execute another flow/process consecutively.

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Written by Praise Magidi
Updated yesterday

A Synchronous Flow Destination Step is used in a flow to execute another flow/process consecutively.

The concept of reusability and reuse is well established in software engineering. Keeping component functions tight and well-defined also helps understanding and makes testing easier.

Within any specific flow that you create, there may be a need to reuse another flow synchronously, just as you would call a programming language function.

In traditional programming, there are concepts of functions, objects, and procedures that fulfill this purpose. In SQL, there are stored procedures that can be created for reuse. The common thread here is that logic elements can be grouped and called from multiple other places.

In Synatic, the Synchronous Flow destination step fulfils this function. It is used to call a flow from within another flow. It is also used to create common reusable flows to make building integrations even faster. The Synchronous Flow destination step waits for the called flow to finish processing and then, depending on the configuration settings, will insert the results of the called flow into the calling flow.

Adding a Synchronous Flow Destination Step

To add a Synchronous Flow Destination Step, follow these instructions:

1. Click on the highlighted icon as shown in the below image.

2. The below page will appear. Select or search for a Destination step. Click on the Destination tab and select Synchronous Flow as shown in the image below.

Configuring the Synchronous Flow Destination Step

Each Synchronous Flow destination step has several settings you can configure to control its operation. When you insert the step, the following dialog box is displayed to edit the relevant control values.

Flow ID

The ID/name of the flow to execute. Click on the dropdown arrow outlined in red in the above image to see a full list of all available flows and select the required one.

Alternatively, click on the icon highlighted in yellow to create a new flow. Click on the icon highlighted in green to edit the selected flow. Click on the eye icon highlighted in blue to open the selected flow.

Parameter Mappings

The fields are mapped from the record to the parameters to pass as a parameter to the flow that is being called.

  • From Path - The path to the source value within the calling flow. Have the option of using any value on the processing object.

  • To Parameter - The name of the input parameter on the flow being called.

In the example below, the first parameter references a record, the second parameter references a current parameter in the flow and the third parameter is blank which references the entire object.

Condition Path

The path to a value on the processing object that the step can check to decide whether the Flow should be executed for the current record. A true value will execute the sub-flow, and a false value will skip the sub-flow.

Source Path

The path to a value on the processing object that will be passed to the sub-flow as its data source.

Returns

The options below let to define how the data should be returned from the Synchronous Flow.

Return Type

Select the option type you want the Synchronous Flow value to be returned as one of the following:

  • None - No return. This is equivalent to void in traditional programming.

  • Current - The default of the sub-flow being called.

  • Array - Converts the output to an array.

  • Object - Converts the output to an object.

  • String - Converts the output to a string.

  • Binary - Converts the output to a binary representation.

Return Source

Select the value types to return from the flow you are calling.

  • Auto - Auto detects the appropriate output.

  • Record - Returns the current record processed by the sub flow.

  • Output - Returns the output of the Writer Step (if any) in the sub flow.

  • Result - Returns the output of the Destination Step (if any) in the sub flow.

Add to Record As

Add the return to the current record in the parent flow as the field specified.

Ignore Run Error checkbox

Select this option to allow the flow run to ignore any errors that may occur in the sub flow. The parent flow will continue with the next record.

As Object

This option is deprecated and is now set by the return type. See above.

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