3 1 1 Activities and Transformation Maps

3.1.1 Activities and Transformation Maps

You can use any shipped or custom Activities and Transformation Maps in a Processing Sequence. The simplest Processing Sequences might simply perform a single Activity or Transformation.

When you add an Activity or Transformation Map to a Processing Sequence, the detailer window in the Processing sequence editor shows the parameters that are defined for the Activity or Transformation.

 

In this window you can specify values that are to be used for the parameters in two ways:

1.  You can enter a numeric or alphanumeric (according to the use of the parameter) literal value. If you enter an alphanumeric literal value you can surround it with quote marks. The quote marks do not become part of the parameter value that the Activity receives. If you need to embed quote marks in the parameter value, you should surround the value with quote marks and double-up the embedded quote marks.

If the parameter class is other than General, you can press F4 or click the adjacent Prompt (…) button to browse and choose from a list of possible values.  For example, if the parameter class is Trading Partner, LANSA Composer will display a list of defined Trading Partners.  Or if the parameter class is File path, LANSA Composer will allow you to browse and choose from files present in the server file system.

2.  You can specify the name of a variable or built-in variable that supplies or receives the value for the parameter. To specify a variable, precede the variable name with an ampersand (&) – for example &VARIABLE1. To specify a built-in variable, enter the name, including the asterisk, as shown on the Built-ins tab – do not precede a built-in variable name with ampersand.

If the variable you wish to use is already known to the Processing Sequence, you can simply drag it from the Variables tab.

Each parameter for an Activity (or the variable specified for it) becomes part of a pool of variables that are available to all Activities, Transformation Maps and Processing Directives in the Processing Sequence. In this way any parameters that are output from one Activity might be used as input to another Activity or Transformation Map later in the same Processing Sequence.