How to avoid deleting a document to finish a Process Model event

Question

So when the user selects a particular interface, a document is generated and if the user selects the 'cancel' button then the document is deleted. There are cases where the document might get deleted through another form so if you try to select the cancel button, then an error message appears. Right now this is the idea for the process model but its not fixing the issue so please let me know if you see anything that might fix the issue. the 3PI exchange node generates the document, then the XOR node checks to see if the pv!download_doc is null or not and if it is, then move to the end event, if not then to delete the document and end the event.

I tried a few other options for the XOR node but this is basically as far as I know what to do?

Mike Schmitt · Accepted Answer

Yikes. 
 Well, as long as you're working with an awareness of how it's not really a best practice set-up... 
 The good workaround I can suggest is that you check the document ID prior to the delete document node, using the "is object exists" rule from the "Check Object Existence" plug-in. I actually keep a designated expression rule that can handle checking a doc ID against being blank or zero or non-existent: 
 IF it fails this check, you would just step around the Delete Document node altogether using an XOR gateway (you'd use the one already set up in your screenshot, just replace the "is blank" rule with something more comprehensive like i've shown you here).

Mike Schmitt · Answer

nickk1385 said: There are cases where the document might get deleted through another form 
 How (and WHY) would a document being generated specifically for this process instance, be "deleted through another form"? Is that REQUIRED? Because yes, that is making things much harder than they should be. If AT ALL possible, I'd just get rid of that part.

Mike Schmitt · Answer

I also made myself a generalized Utility subprocess called something like "Safe Delete Document" which simply consumes a Doc ID, does this check, then deletes the document (or goes safely around the Delete node), so I don't have to build that clunky XOR pattern into all the process models where I need to use it.

How to avoid deleting a document to finish a Process Model event

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