Editing inputs

Edit and configure the inputs in your service.

An input is automatically populated in your service for each variable in the workflow definition file. Inputs are presented to the submitter when they start a service. Submitters must provide values for all required inputs before they submit a published service to run.

When you build a service, you can edit inputs to add further customizations, restrictions, and make it easier for someone to submit the service. Some input properties are determined by the workflow definition file, while others can be set when you create the service. For more information, see Creating workflow definition files for services.

Go to the Inputs tab when you create your service to edit inputs. Select an input to open the input detail and properties right panel. Use the arrow Arrow icon to expand and collapse the Details pane and Properties pane.

Preview a service

You can preview unpublished services to get a view of what it would look like as a published service. To preview a service, click the preview button preview

to open the service preview window. You can play around with the inputs in the service preview window, including clicking into the inputs to test the logic and entering values for validation. You can navigate throughout the service by using the Back and Next buttons, regardless of whether or not the inputs are blank or erroneous.

Note: If the service you are building contains errors, you can still preview the service, but you cannot test it. If you choose to preview the service, the preview window shows the erroneous inputs as if the service were published. Be aware of the erroneous inputs before and after entering the preview, as you cannot publish them as is. The messages within the builder inform you of these errors.

If another user takes write access while you are previewing a service, the entire preview window is disabled, and a message appears that explains what is happening. You can exit the preview to view the service in the builder. In this view, you cannot preview the service, you can only copy or archive it.

Multi-select movement for inputs in the builder

You can select, edit, and move multiple inputs at once by holding the Shift button or the Command button while you click and select inputs. If you click and hold the Shift button and click two inputs, all inputs in between those two inputs that you have selected are selected. Alternatively, if you click and hold the Command button, only the inputs you click are selected. You can move multiple inputs at once as a cluster, even if they are not adjacent when you select them.

Details

You can label inputs and include help text with the input details in the Details pane. The input details can help a submitter determine the best value for the input.

Label: The input label is automatically populated with the label tag of a variable in the workflow definition file. You can enter a different name for the input in the Label field.
Help text: Variable help text is automatically populated with the description tag of a variable in the workflow definition file. You can enter different or additional help text in the Help field. Use help text to give submitters information about what the input is, how to determine the appropriate value for the input, or an example. You can also include information about any validation criteria on the input.

Properties

Input properties in the Properties pane determine how the input value is selected or entered. They include the requirement, form element, default value, and validation criteria. You cannot override properties set or required by the workflow definition.

Requirement: You can set the requirement as "Required" or "Optional". A service cannot run without a value for a required input. An input cannot be "Optional" if the associated variable is set as "Required at Create" in the workflow definition file.

Form element

The form element controls how the submitter can interact with the input and how the input value is provided. The types of form elements are field, selection, and hard-coded value.

Text field
- A text field form element allows the submitter to enter the input value. This is usually a text field, but can also be a date or time picker, depending on the type of the variable in the workflow definition file.
- Use a text field if you want the submitter to enter a value and you are not providing any options to select.

Selection

A selection form element allows the submitter to select an input value from options you provide. Use this form element if there's a finite number of possible values, or the same values are used repeatedly. Set the custom option to "enabled" if you want the submitter to be able to enter in a value other than the options you provide.
At least one option is required for inputs with a selection form element. Enter options in the Enter option field and click Add. Hover over options to click the delete icon , edit icon , or move icon . Click Apply when editing an option for your changes to take effect. Your ability to add, edit, and delete options for an input is restricted if "valueMustBeChoice" is set to "true" in the workflow definition file. In this case, you can further limit which options from the workflow definition file can be used by de-selecting them in the list of options. Only selected options are available to the submitter.

Inputs with a selection form element appear differently to the submitter based on the requirement and number of options available:

Table 1. Presentation of selection form element to submitters based on requirement and number of options
Number of options	Requirement	Presentation
1	Optional	Checkbox
2-7	Required	Radio buttons
2-7	Optional	Drop-down menu
8+	Required	Drop-down menu
8+	Optional	Drop-down menu

Hard-coded value
- A hardcoded value cannot be changed, but are displayed to the submitter when they submit the service. Use a hardcoded value if you want the same input value used every time that the service runs.
- As described in the Details tab, all inputs that are used in runAsUser steps by the workflow definition file require a hardcoded value. You should use a hardcoded value instead if you require an input that only has one selection value and custom options disabled.

Default value: You can assign a default value to any input. If the form element is a text field, enter the default value. If the form element is a selection, select the default value from the list of options. The submitter can override a default value when you provide input values.; If you set a default value for an optional input, that value is used if the submitter does not change or remove it. If you do not set a default value for an optional input, no value is used if the submitter does not enter or select one.
Validation criteria: Add validation criteria to inputs to limit acceptable values and prevent errors when the service runs. Validation criteria set in the workflow definition file cannot be changed in the service. The validation criteria available to services are the same as the validation criteria available in the Workflows task.

Available validation criteria are:

ALPHA
ALPHAB
ALPHANUM
BIT
DSMEMBERNAME
DSNAME
DSQUAL
GROUP
HEX
IPADDR
IPADDR4
IPADDR6
TSOUSERID
UNIXID
USERID
VOLSER
Character count
Regular expression

Variable types

Variable types set in the workflow definition file impact the input format, form element, and other requirements.

Table 2. The allowed form elements and other details for variable types as assigned in the workflow definition file
Variable type	Allowed form element	Details
Boolean	Selection	Options must be true or false. Cannot have validation criteria.
Date	Selection Text field	Presented as date picker. Start of date range and end of date range optional.
Decimal	Selection Text field	Minimum and maximum value range optional. Requires number of decimal places.
Integer	Selection Text field	Minimum and maximum value range optional.
Password	Text field	Cannot have a default value. Minimum and maximum character counts optional.
String	Selection Text field
Time	Selection Text field	Presented as time picker. Start of time range and end of time range optional.