Stop activity

Overview

The "Stop activity" feature allows you to stop a workflow at any point in the execution process. This is useful for situations where you need to stop the workflow early.

How to use Stop activity

  1. Add a stop activity to the workflow

To use the Stop activity feature, simply drag and drop the button "Stop" where you want to stop in the workflow.
Drag and drop the "Stop" button into the workflow

  1. Configure the stop activity

After you drag and drop the stop activity into the workflow, the "Create Activity Definition: Stop" window will be opened. Configure the "Stop activity"

  1. Update general information

The General tab: We use this tab to clarify the result after the stop activity ended.

Field name Field type Description
Name Text field Must be unique and meaningful
Return result Radio button The return result of the stop activity

The return result field:

Value Description
None Casewhere will use the current logic i.e. all required activities completed successfully, to determine if the workflow state should be Open or Complete
Success Casewhere will set the workflow state to Complete regardless of the state of activities
Failed Casewhere will set the workflow state to Open regardless of the state of activities
  1. Put navigation logic

The Navigation tab:

Inclusion Logic:

Required Logic:

Examples

We implement a simple workflow to demonstrate how to use the "Stop activity" feature.

We want to create a simple workflow:

  • Step 1: Calculate the sum of a, b.
  • Step 2: Multiply the sum of a, b if it is larger than 10.
  • Step 3: Print the result of step 1 and step 2 and it does not print anything if one of them is null (can understand that if step 2 is not executed, so does step 3).

Ideally, we must stop the workflow after step 1 if the sum of a, b is equal or less than 10. Now let's start the example.

Using stop activity

  1. Create a workflow

  1. Assign data class for that workflow

  1. Create steps and activities

  1. Activity: Scripted - Name: Sum

A simple script to calculate the sum of a, b.

int a = 10;
int b = 10;
var result = a + b;

ctx.Set("result", result);

  1. Activity: Scripted - Name: Multiplication

Multiply the sum of a, b with 2.

int result = ctx.Get<int>("result");
int MultipliedResult = result*2;

ctx.Set("MultipliedResult", MultipliedResult);

  1. Activity: Scripted - Name: Print

Print out the sum of a, b and the multiplication of it with 2 (We use a log warning to print the result).

int result = ctx.Get<int>("result");
int MultipliedResult = ctx.Get<int>("MultipliedResult");

Log.Warning("Sum: {@value1}, Multiplied result: {@value2}", result, MultipliedResult);

  1. Add condition: Multiplication is executed only if the sum of a, b is greater than 10
  • We add a stop activity right after the Activity: Scripted - Name: Sum.

  • Set up the inclusion logic for the stop activity: The stop activity is included when the sum is not greater than 10. It means the workflow is stopped if the sum is not greater than 10.

  • Set up the return result of the stop activity.

  1. Add condition: The activity: Scripted - Name: Print is executed only when The activity: Scripted - Name: Multiplication is executed

If the stop activity is included => The workflow is stopped => Both step 2 and step 3 cannot be executed.

If the stop activity is not included => Step 2 is executed => Meet step 3 requirement => Step 3 is executed.

  1. Create a test run for this workflow

  1. Run the test

  1. Check the result in the log viewer

Not using stop activity

If we do not use stop activity, we must implement the navigation rule for step 2 and step 3.

Conclusion

The Stop activity feature is a powerful tool that can help you end a workflow and return the result based on what you choose in General settings (None/Success/Failed). Here are some benefits of using Stop activity:

  • We can add rules to stop activity instead of adding rules to many activities
  • Return a different result based on the user's choice.
  • Easy to maintain: If we add a new activity, we do not need to remember.to implement the navigation rule for that activity to handle the exiting logic in the previous step.
  • Visualization: Can see the exiting point easily when generating a visual diagram.