Module overview
ÃÛ¶¹ÊÓƵ Workfront Fusion distinguishes five types of modules:
- Action modules
- Search modules
- Trigger modules
- Aggregators
- Iterators
Aggregators and Iterators are for advanced scenarios.
Action modules
Action modules are the most common type of module. A typical action module performs an action and returns a single bundle, which then passes on to the next module for processing.
Unlike trigger modules, action modules can be placed at the beginning, middle or end of a scenario.
Scenarios can contain an unlimited number of action modules, although large numbers of modules (150+) may affect performance.
Examples:
- Workfront > Upload a file sends a file to Workfront and returns its identifier.
- Image > Resize receives an image, resizes it to specified dimensions, and passes the resized image on to the next action.
The Action type has four subtypes:
- Create
- Read
- Update
- Delete
The Update subtype includes the following three operations:
-
Erase the content of a field. This operation takes place when the content of the field is evaluated to the
erasekeyword (not to be confused withempty).
-
Leave the content of a field unchanged. This operation takes place when the field is left empty or the content of the field is evaluated to empty (represented via null in JSON).
-
Replace the content of a field. This operation takes place in all other cases than those two described above.
-
If you do not see the
erasekeyword in the mapping panel, the module is not an update module or it has not been updated to the latest specifications for the app. -
Emptydoes not change the field content. If it is necessary to erase the field, you can use the following formula:
-
Leaving a field unchanged when its content is evaluated as empty is currently not supported.
Search modules
Search modules return zero, one, or more bundles, which then pass on to the next module for processing.
You can place Search modules at the beginning, middle, or end of a scenario.
Scenarios can contain an unlimited number of Search modules, although large numbers of modules (150+) may affect performance.
Example:
Workfront > Read Related Records reads records that match the search query you specify, in a particular parent object.
Trigger modules
Triggers generate bundles when there has been a change in a given service, such as the creation or update of a record.
Triggers return zero, one, or more bundles, which then pass to the next module for processing.
Because Triggers cause scenarios to begin execution, they can be placed only at the beginning of a scenario.
Each scenario can contain only one Trigger.
Workfront Fusion uses two types of triggers: Polling triggers and Instant triggers.
Polling triggers
Polling triggers regularly poll a given service even if there has been no change since the previous scenario run. We recommend that you schedule a scenario containing a polling trigger to run at regular intervals. If there is a change that matches the configuration of the trigger, the trigger returns bundles containing information about the change. If there is no change that matches the configuration, the trigger does not output any bundles.
For instructions on scheduling a scenario, see Schedule a scenario.
Polling triggers allow you to select the first bundle that they should output via a panel that displays automatically after you save a trigger or change the trigger settings. This selection affects only the first execution of the module. After the module has executed once, subsequent executions watch only for changes that occur after the most recent execution.
For more information, see Choose where a trigger module starts.
Examples:
-
Workfront > Watch records returns records that were newly added after the last time the scenario was run.
-
Google Sheets > Watch Rows returns new rows added after the last time the scenario was run.
Instant triggers
Instant triggers enable a service to notify Workfront Fusion about a change immediately after it occurs. We recommend that you schedule a scenario containing an instant trigger to run immediately.
For instructions, see Schedule a scenario.
For details on how the incoming data is handled by an instant trigger, see Instant triggers (webhooks).
Examples:
- Workfront > Watch Events returns information when a certain type of event occurs in Workfront, such as the creation of a task.
- Google Sheets > Watch Changes returns information whenever a cell is updated.
Aggregators
An Aggregator module accumulates multiple bundles into a single bundle.
Aggregators return only one bundle, which then passes on to the next module for further processing.
You can place Aggregators only in the middle of a scenario.
Scenarios can contain an unlimited number of aggregators, although large numbers of modules (150+) may affect performance.
Examples:
- Archive > Create an archive compresses multiple files into a zip archive.
- CSV > Aggregate to CSV merges multiple strings from a CSV file into a single row.
- Tools > Text aggregator combines several strings together into a single string.
For more information, see Aggregator module.
Iterators
An Iterator is a type of module that splits arrays into separate bundles.
Iterators return one or more bundles, which then pass on to the next module for processing.
You can place Iterators only in the middle of a scenario.
Scenarios can contain an unlimited number of iterators, although large numbers of modules (150+) may affect performance.
Example:
Email > Retrieve attachments breaks an array of attachments into separate bundles.
For more information, see Iterator module and Map an array.