Conditional Link from a Start Task

Hello All,
I am working on a workflow that depending on the branch will either go straight to a DeployTask or detour to ApproveTask.

For example, if the IW_Branch has the word "secure" in it, the workflow should include the approve task. Otherwise, it can skip it. All other steps are the same.

I have the regex and evaluation of when the conidition is true/false figured out. Somehow, I consistenly get the following error in half the scenarios:

com.interwoven.cssdk.common.CSException: Unknown Hopi error(Task is not a start task)

Below are the variations I have tried and when it errors out.: Brackets denote what the condition evaluates to

Works:
Start -> Conditional Link (true) - > DeployTask
Start -> Default Link -> Approve Task

Error:
Start -> Conditional Link (false) - > DeployTask
Start -> Default Link -> Approve Task

Error:
Start -> Conditional Link (false) - > DeployTask
Start -> Conditional Link (true) -> Approve Task

Works:
Start -> Conditional Link (true) - > DeployTask
Start -> Conditional Link (false) -> Approve Task

Works:
Start -> Default Link -> Approve Task

Maybe I misunderstand how conditional link is meant to be used. Any pointers are appreciated.

Thanks,

Env: 7.2.1
WM Build: 102

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Comments

nipper

How about Start -> Or task -> (Deploy or approval)

moulikk

I tried that. Its an 'invalid' model.
Error: Cannot connect Start task to an OR gateway. Start task can only be connected to an AND gateway.

Not well familiar with gateways, so I did this
Start -> And -> OR -> (Deploy or Approval)

Its a valid model.
On instantiation, I get a different kinda HOPI error

com.interwoven.cssdk.common.CSException: Unknown Hopi error(Failure in operation

ComputedColumnsDynamic.zip

Adam Stoller

[...]
Works:
Start -> Conditional Link (true) - > DeployTask
Start -> Conditional Link (false) -> Approve Task
[...]

If the above works, why bother with anything else?
It would seem the question may have something to do with how you wrote the code in the conditional link.

Note - you need two conditional links - and maybe this is where the confusion lies (difficult to tell from what you posted)

[Start]->{condition-X}->DeployTask
[Start]->{condition-Y}->ApproveTask

Each conditional link has it's own script.
The script for {condition-X} should evaluate to true if DeployTask should be the first task, and false otherwise.
The script for {condition-Y} should evaluate to true if ApproveTask should be the first task, and false otherwise.

CrossTabHyperlink.rptdesign

nipper

I tried that. Its an 'invalid' model.
Error: Cannot connect Start task to an OR gateway. Start task can only be connected to an AND gateway.

Not well familiar with gateways, so I did this
Start -> And -> OR -> (Deploy or Approval)

Its a valid model.
On instantiation, I get a different kinda HOPI error

com.interwoven.cssdk.common.CSException: Unknown Hopi error(Failure in operation

K

If ghotii's suggestion does not work, then have a start task -> dummy task with a 1 second timeout -> OR -> (deploy or approval)

It's a hack but should work

Adam Stoller

K

If ghotii's suggestion does not work, then have a start task -> dummy task with a 1 second timeout -> OR -> (deploy or approval)

It's a hack but should work

Actually - I would recommend against this.
A dummy task cannot have files associated with it, and generally it's the start task that gets pre-selected files associated with it - so I don't think that would work (unless the plan is to have the user add files to the task after the workflow has already been instantiated - which is very rare)

Snap 2016-04-13 at 15.17.05.png

Rick Poulin

Error:
Start -> Conditional Link (false) - > DeployTask
Start -> Conditional Link (true) -> Approve Task

Works:
Start -> Conditional Link (true) - > DeployTask
Start -> Conditional Link (false) -> Approve Task

Run your workflow in debug mode and inspect the resulting jobspec, because the above doesn't make any sense. There must be more to your scenario that's causing this weirdness, whether you realize it or not.

Actually - I would recommend against this.
A dummy task cannot have files associated with it, and generally it's the start task that gets pre-selected files associated with it - so I don't think that would work (unless the plan is to have the user add files to the task after the workflow has already been instantiated - which is very rare)

Substitute 'dummy task' for 'external task', give it a cmd that does nothing (e.g. 'echo'), and give it a default transition that never gets called (in addition to the timeout transition). Same concept, but no caveats.

moulikk

@Ghoti:

I tried two conditional links as well. In fact thats where I started and then I read somewhere that there has to be a default link (in case all conditions are false).

To keep matters simple, I explicitly set the condition to be true or false.

It works when the condition to DeployTask is true but errors when the condition to Approve Task is true and the DeployTask false.

moulikk

@Rpoulin:

Yup it doesn't make sense. I do want to avoid creating an external task if possible.

When I run it in debug mode I see no errors. The output xml has the appropriate task marked as start.

Here's how the main task nodes look like when condition to DeployTask is false and condition to ApproveTask is true. Notice that the ApproveTask (grouptask) has start=t set as expected

<usertask name="Author Task" transferonly="f" lock="f" owner="mxkotha" readonly="f">
<usertask name="Author Task Pre Approval" transferonly="f" lock="f" owner="mxkotha" readonly="f">
<submittask name="Submit To Staging" unlock="f" skiplocked="f" owner="mxkotha" skipconflicts="f" override="f" savecomments="t">
<grouptask name="Approve Deployment" transferonly="f" lock="f" readonly="f" retainowner="f" start="t">
<externaltask name="EmailNotify on Deploy Success" transferonly="f" retry="t" lock="f" owner="mxkotha" readonly="f">
<externaltask name="Deployment Failed Notification" transferonly="f" retry="t" lock="f" owner="mxkotha" readonly="f">
<externaltask name="Approval Denied Notification" transferonly="f" retry="t" lock="f" owner="mxkotha" readonly="f">
<externaltask name="Deploy Task" transferonly="f" retry="f" lock="f" owner="mxkotha" readonly="f">
<externaltask name="Deploy to next branch" transferonly="f" retry="f" lock="f" owner="mxkotha" readonly="f">

moulikk

@Nipper/Ghoti

I tried the dummy task too. It comes with its own restrictions. It can't go to a gateway and it cannot have conditional links (only timeout link).