what is it mean for display name is not dynamic?

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  • 0
    Certified Lead Developer

    Hi,

    In Process Properties, by default the process display name will be process model name given while creating but you need to have display name dynamic so that each process instance can be uniquely defined. In order you to make it dynamic, try appending any unique identifier for that process. For example, request id, ticket id etc.

  • how to make display name dynamic? do you mean process model name have to be different as display name?

  • 0
    Certified Lead Developer
    in reply to immortalvirgil

    You can make it dynamic by appending a unique identifier used in that process model. Something like a request id. For Example, if your process model named "Edit Request" is used to edit a request, the display name should be something like "Edit Request# "&pv!requestId. Hope this helps!

    Please go through below link from documentation for further details

    docs.appian.com/.../process-model-object.html

  • Let's start with some basics:

    1. a Process Model is a "template" from which Process instances can be created
    2. a Process Model has various attributes, including:
      1. the 'Process Model Name' which is static (you can change it but only as a design-time activity)
      2. the 'Process Display Name' - this is what will be used to display the name of an instance of a process model in the 'Process Activity' tab of  'Monitoring' option in the Appian Designer. 
    3. When you create a Process Model Appian defaults the 'Process Display Name' to the same value as the 'Process Model Name' but it is best practice to make the Display Name dynamic, so that, in Production, the Support Team can disambiguate between instances. Typically I create a rule that concatenates the Process Model name with a relevant unique business value, something like this:

    fn!concat(
        ri!processModelName,
        " for Opportunity ",
        ri!opportunityName,
        " for Account ",
        ri!accountName
      )

    Note: when you call such a rule form the 'Process Display Name' use the pm!name value to set the ri!processModelName to in case someone decides to change the Process Model name in the future.

  • 0
    Certified Lead Developer

    Better to define what "Dynamic" means.

    As Stewart says, each process instance gets a name, and you define how the names are built in the process model.  What "Dynamic" means is that you put variables in the definition of the process instance display name.  So, each one will be different in some ways, and the ways that they're different are based on your variables.

    For example, let's say your process handles user requests.  If you take the unique ID from each user request object and stick that in the display name, when you go to monitoring you'll see "Process User Request 1124" and "Process User Request 995" and "Process User Request 1127".  If you were looking for 995, you'd know which one to click on.

    You do that by making the name "Process User Request" & pv!userRequest.uniqueID (depends on how the process variable is built)

    That's all it means.  It's good to use as much as possible, but there are some instances where you're not doing a thing that has multiple different ones you'd need to separate out, like "Process All Outstanding Invoices".  What variable do you cram onto the end of that name?  So when applicable, you can ignore it.

  • 0
    Certified Lead Developer

    Hello!

    Appian is providing this notice, because it is best practice to provide "Process Display Names" a unique identifier. This is so when you are monitoring your process, especially in production environment,  you are able to identify and analyze which process your process more effectively and efficiently.

    Now, in order to do this, you must open your process model, and view your Process Model Properties. There are 2 ways to go about doing this:

    1. Click "File" > "Properties"

    2. From the PM task bar, select the "Properties" icon, which is adjacent to the zoom (magnifying lens icon).

    Once you have opened this window, you will notice, in the 'Genera' tab, that there is a "Process Model Name" and a "Process Display Name". These two should be the same for your process, due to the fact that Appian is giving you this "is not dynamic" notice. The process display name can be changed through an expression (there can be utility rules that create unique names based on input parameters), or you can modify the name to be unique within that expression editor.

    Ex: "My Process Model - Submission Id: " & pv!Id 

    This would display in your monitoring tab after it's been executed, and your pv!Id (for this examples is 21) would show:

    My Process Model - Submission Id: 21

    Therefore, now you have made your process display name dynamic, because it will be unique for every different instantiation of a different "Submission Id".