Debugging the Workflow scheme

Debugging the Workflow scheme

Workflow debugging is a mandatory step in workflow design and should be performed on different sets of acceptable values of workflow input parameters or screen forms.

Controlling the debugging progress

Debugging is controlled using the buttons:

In addition to these buttons, there is an additional option to stop the workflow on a pre-selected task or even several tasks using breakpoints.

In order to set a breakpoint for a task, you need to:

1. Select the task (1) on the scheme - as a result, new buttons will appear on the toolbar (2):
   1. Block shutdown.
2. Breakpoint 
   
3. Click on the "Breakpoint" button - as a result, the selected task will have a "Breakpoint" icon: 
4. The workflow can now be launched. The workflow will reach a breakpoint and stop. New buttons will appear on the toolbar:
   
   • Continue
   • Stop
   • Restart
   • Step forward
     
     
5. Click one of the buttons to continue:
   • "Step forward" - the workflow will continue to run either to the next breakpoint
   • or "Continue" - the workflow will continue either to the next breakpoint or to the end.
6. To remove a breakpoint from the task, you should click the "Breakpoint" button again.

In addition to breakpoints in the debugging workflow, you can temporarily disconnect one or more blocks in the workflow.

1. To temporarily turn off a step from the workflow, you should click on the "Disable block" button - the background color of the button and the color of the task itself will turn gray: 
   
2. To restart the debugging of a disabled block, you must click the "Disable block" button again.

This is the end of the overview of the buttons for controlling the workflow during debugging.

Debugging stages

1. Launching the workflow
2. Observing the workflow runtime
3. Viewing intermediate results and getting the final result

Launching a workflow in debugging mode

The workflow is launched in debugging mode by clicking on the "Start" button located in the toolbar: 

When you click on the "Start" button, a modal window appears in which you can set the input parameters of the workflow and select the special launch parameters: 

It should be noted that the "Data for special launch" panel appears only if there are robots in the workflow and the designer wants to launch them only on the host he has selected. If the designer leaves the host and account fields empty, the Orchestrator will select the host based on the principle of the lowest load. That is, the one that is either free or least loaded, but still has enough computational resources to launch a new robot, will be selected.

The "Fill in the input data for the launch of the workflow" panel is used to change the values of the workflow parameters if they are not set or if the designer wants to change them.

After selecting the launch parameters and setting the initial values of the workflow input parameters, the designer clicks on the "Launch" button. The workflow is launched.

Observation of workflow progress

There are two ways to observe the progress of a workflow:

• by block scheme - running blocks will be highlighted by a frame rotating around them.
• by logs - the "Logs" panel will appear below the workflow scheme as soon as the workflow is launched. 

The logs show task events:

• task start
• task status change
• task completion

The log table has columns:

• event date and time
• task name
• task type
• event

Viewing intermediate results and obtaining the final result

1. You can view the initial values of workflow parameters for tasks with the "Start" type.
2. You can view the values of the input parameters of tasks in the "Events" column for tasks with the status "Task started".
3. You can view the values of the output parameters of tasks in the "Events" column for tasks with the status "Task completed".
4. You can view the final results of the workflow for tasks with the "Finish" type.

Debugging a workflow with a screen form

When debugging a workflow with a screen form, when a screen form is reached, the designer must do the following actions to execute it:

1. LMB select the executing SF - the panel "Block "Screen form"" should appear  
   
   
2. Click on the "Fill Form" button - a modal window with SF should appear, in which you should fill in the missing fields (in this case it is the "Second component" field): 
3. Enter the number 5 in the second field and click the "Send" button - the data will be sent to the server, and the workflow will continue according to the scheme.

Viewing the logs showed the following results of task execution:

1. The robot " Adding 2 numbers" has completed its work with the result "c" = "15".
2. The "Exponentiation" robot completed the work with the result "y" = "100000".
3. The "Adding two numbers" subprocess completed with the result "y" = "100015".
4. The "Finish" block finished with the result "y" = "100015".

If no errors were detected during the debugging process and the testing on different sets of valid values of the input parameters of the workflow and the screen forms was successful, the workflow can be published and allowed for operation.