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Transitions

Transitions describe the flow of processing. A transition is represented by an arrow between two activities or groups of activities in a process definition. The arrows are unidirectional, and you cannot draw a transition to a previously executed activity. Control flow in a process definition must proceed sequentially beginning with the starting activity and ending with the End activity. If you wish to perform looping, use groups to specify multiple executions of grouped activities (see Chapter 6, Grouping Activities for more information on groups).

After an activity or group completes processing, all transitions whose conditions are met are taken. You can have transitions from one activity to many other activities. Therefore, you can have several branches of activity processing in your diagram.

Having multiple branches in a process definition does not imply that each branch is processed concurrently. Transitions describe control flow of the process definition, not the concurrency of execution of activities. Process execution is controlled by the process engine. See TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks Administration for more information about configuring the TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks process engine.

Each activity in a process definition must have a transition to it, or the activity is not executed when the process executes.

Figure 18 illustrates examples of valid transitions in a process. Figure 19 illustrates an invalid transition.

Figure 18 Valid transitions

 

If you have multiple branches in a complex process definition, you may find the Null activity in the General Activities palette useful for joining the multiple branches into a single execution path. See TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks Palette Reference for more information about the Null activity.

Figure 19 An invalid transition

A transition is taken depending upon the condition specified on the transition. When a transition is created, you may specify whether the transition is taken always, only when an error is encountered, only if no other transitions are taken, or when a custom-specified condition based on process data values is true. See Conditions for more information.

Creating a Transition

To create a transition, follow this procedure:

1.	First create or open a process definition that contains at least two activities.

2.	Click on the Create Transition icon on the TIBCO Designer toolbar.

3.	Position the cursor over the first activity.

4.	Click and hold the mouse button.

5.	Drag the mouse until the cursor is positioned over the activity that you would like to transition to.

6.	Release the mouse button.

Once the transition is created, the condition dialog is presented. The condition dialog allows you to specify when this transition is taken. See Conditions for more information about specifying conditions.

7.	Optionally, choose the line type and color for the transition. You can choose any of the following line types for your transition:

−	Default (straight line)

−

Straight

−	Multiple Bends

−

One Bend

−

Curved

−

S-Shaped

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