Rational Developer for System z, Version 7.6

Associating a flow with a plain Invoke node

This topic describes how to associate a flow with a plain Invoke node, thereby creating an Invoke flow node.

General information

Restriction: Note the three following restrictions:
  • An Invoke flow node is supported only where a nonterminal flow (a flow containing Invoke nonterminal nodes) invokes a terminal flow (a flow containing Invoke screen operation nodes.)
  • The service flow project tools does not allow you to create a recursive invocation of a flow, that is, a flow invoking itself, either directly or through intermediate calls. If you attempt to add an Invoke flow node that would create a recursive call, then the flow editor does not allow the attempt to succeed. When you click OK or complete the drag function, the flow editor does not add the new Invoke node, but does not display an error message (see A service flow cannot call itself (recursive call)).
  • Invoked flows are supported only in the CICS® Service Flow Runtime environment (see Which nodes are valid in the supported runtime environments).
The Select Subflow menu selection or, alternatively, the corresponding drag feature, allows you to associate a flow with a plain Invoke node, thereby creating an Invoke flow node. A plain Invoke node looks like this:
Invoke node
When you associate a flow with an Invoke node, the flow editor:
  1. Configures the Invoke node so that it will invoke the flow.
  2. Associates the Receive node of the flow with the input terminal of the node.
  3. Creates an output terminal on the node for each Reply and Throw node in the flow.
  4. Renames the node to the flow name.
  5. Adds to the lower right corner of the node icon a flow symbol to indicate that the node is now an Invoke flow node:
    Invoke nonterminal node
To associate an Invoke node with a flow, you can either:
  • Use the Select Subflow menu selection; or
  • Drag an operation from the EST Project Explorer to the plain Invoke node on the flow editor canvas.

Using the Select Subflow menu selection

To use the Select Subflow menu selection:
  1. In the flow editor, right-click the Invoke node, then click Select Subflow.
    Note: Alternatively, you can select Flow > Select Subflow from the main menu of the workbench.
  2. The Select Flow window opens. This window displays a filtered version of the EST Project Explorer that includes the following artifacts:
    Type of artifact: From which types of folder and subfolder: From which service flow projects:
    • All flows
    Flows folders
    • The service flow project to which the flow belongs.
  3. In the Select Flow window:
    1. Expand the service flow project to which the opened flow belongs.
    2. Expand the Flows folder.
    3. Select the flow that you want to associate with the plain Invoke node.
    4. Click OK to close the Select Flow window.
  4. The flow editor converts the plain Invoke node to an Invoke flow node invoking the flow that you selected.

Using the drag feature

To drag a flow:
  1. In the EST Project Explorer:
    1. Expand the service flow project containing the flow that you have opened in the flow editor.
    2. Expand the Flows folder.
    3. Select a flow.
  2. Drag the flow to the plain Invoke node on the flow editor canvas.
  3. The flow editor converts the plain Invoke node to an Invoke flow node invoking the flow that you selected.

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