Running and debugging service flows
You can develop your service flow as an iterative process that includes several playback sessions. If errors occur, you can debug the service flow in the Process Designer Inspector.
Before you begin
Important: Ensure that your browser is configured
to allow pop-ups from the host on which the Workflow Center is
installed. Because the playback window opens as a pop-up window, you
might receive an error message if your web browser is configured to
block pop-ups.
Running service flows
About this task
Procedure
To run the service flow, complete the following steps:
- Open the appropriate process application in the Designer view.
- In the Process Designer library,
click Services and open the service flow that
you want to run, or create a service flow as described in Creating a service flow. The service flow opens in the web editor.
- Click Run in the upper-right corner.
Results
Debugging service flows
About this task
Using the Inspector, you can step through the service flow activities to observe how the service flow behaves as it runs. The Inspector pauses the execution of the service flow before running each step and displays the variable values at each point. If an error occurs, the debugging capability helps you to identify which step is at fault. The error message is displayed in the playback window and on the sidebar in the Inspector.
To debug a service flow, you can perform the
following actions from the sidebar in the Inspector:
Icon | Action | Description |
---|---|---|
Step Over | Moves the service execution to the next activity in the flow. | |
Step Into | Appears when the service flow execution is stopped at a linked service, and enables you to step into the linked service and debug it. | |
Run | Runs the service flow. |
Procedure
To debug the service flow, complete the following steps:
- Open the service flow in the Process Designer.
- Click Debug in the upper-right corner. The Inspector opens in the browser window, pausing on the first step after the Start event.
- Examine the variable values at that point. When you are
ready to move on to the next activity in the service flow, click Step
Over . As the execution progresses, the followed path is highlighted and indicators mark the progress of the service flow execution in the diagram.
- If the service flow includes a linked service, when the
service flow execution stops at the linked service node, you can click Step
Into to step into the linked
service and debug it. When the linked service flow completes successfully, the execution moves to the next step in the parent service flow.
- When you are ready to return to the Designer perspective, click Designer in the upper-left corner of the browser window.