Call subprocess with pmid (sync)

RE: Call subprocess with pmid (sync)

David Jimenez — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 09:55:18 GMT

Perfect!!! see you there...

RE: Call subprocess with pmid (sync)

Stefan Helzle — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 09:54:00 GMT

I would be interested in discussing that in more detail. Contact me at stefan@appian.rocks if you feel like it too.

RE: Call subprocess with pmid (sync)

David Jimenez — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 09:47:58 GMT

I meant that is more powefull and flexible when designing processes.

About the case, I explained it in a previous post in this discussion.... It's related with being able to control de flow execution of the process in a dynamic way, being able to maintain user experience, and with a really huge number of processes

RE: Call subprocess with pmid (sync)

Stefan Helzle — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 20:05:34 GMT

Not sure what you mean, Appian is stable for many years, but it is built with a specific purpose in mind. And building overly dynamic stuff and creating levels of abstractions on top of it is not in focus.

Can you share your use case in more detail?

RE: Call subprocess with pmid (sync)

David Jimenez — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 19:45:31 GMT

I agree with you,,.. but I think that with the actual smart services would be possible if that smart services acept the pmid as a parameter... (having in mind that in the last years Appian evolved a lot and now is quite stable),

RE: Call subprocess with pmid (sync)

Stefan Helzle — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 19:41:49 GMT

I wanted to implement something similar some years ago trying a similar approach and this di not end exactly well.

In my experience, Appian is not really made for such highly dynamic behaviour.

RE: Call subprocess with pmid (sync)

David Jimenez — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 19:41:37 GMT

The question is that it's the same behaviour we can actually implement with the smart services in appian, but passing the pmid as a parameter instead of selecting it when configuring the smart service.

For example, when you need to keep the chaining during all the process..

RE: Call subprocess with pmid (sync)

Mike Schmitt — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 19:23:17 GMT

[quote userid="97441" url="~/discussions/f/process/34037/call-subprocess-with-pmid-sync/129440"]we need the subprocess call to be sync [/quote]

Why, exactly?

RE: Call subprocess with pmid (sync)

David Jimenez — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 19:22:14 GMT

I know , and that is the problem.. that under some circunstances we need the subprocess call to be sync

RE: Call subprocess with pmid (sync)

Mike Schmitt — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 19:20:09 GMT

You can do that with the Start Process node, it just won't be synchronous.

RE: Call subprocess with pmid (sync)

David Jimenez — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 19:19:08 GMT

Thx a lot Mike.

IN this case , imagine that you have a lot of subprocesses , and each request you have to process has to go to different subprocess, even depending of the results from previous subprocess executed in the same request and process instance (and can contain user interfaces)

It's like you need to have a dynamic programing of the request you are processing, and that makes almost impossible to implement all the different flows that can be executed.

If you can control via aBRMS or a decision table which one will be the next subprocess to execute, having in mind the actual context, and you have the pmid, the problem would be solved.

RE: Call subprocess with pmid (sync)

Mike Schmitt — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 19:14:32 GMT

Finally, I'd recommend you tell us a bit more detail about your real-world use case, because I often find that there are other workable workarounds that fit the requirements even if they're a slight departure from the imagined design people were initially stuck on.

RE: Call subprocess with pmid (sync)

Stefan Helzle — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 19:13:25 GMT

The future is one of the hardest things to predict 😜

What do you try to achieve?

RE: Call subprocess with pmid (sync)

Mike Schmitt — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 19:12:50 GMT

[quote userid="97441" url="~/discussions/f/process/34037/call-subprocess-with-pmid-sync/129433"]do you know if it can be implemented via Appian API [/quote]

An API call can already be used to launch a process, but it still wouldn't be synchronous.

If your use case absolutely requires the synchronous flow, the only thing I can think to suggest is that you can just call a handler subprocess that branches to the different possible child processes (synchronously). If you didn't require synchronous (chained) process flow then it would be even easier, since you could just use the Start Process Node.

RE: Call subprocess with pmid (sync)

Mike Schmitt — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 19:10:42 GMT

[quote userid="97441" url="~/discussions/f/process/34037/call-subprocess-with-pmid-sync/129433"]Do you know if the feature will be available in next versions? [/quote]

There's no way to say for sure, but I can fairly confidently say there's absolutely no reason to expect such a thing to just turn up in any of the 24+ versions. The various subprocess launching mechanisms in place already are sufficient for >95% of use cases (even being stingy with that estimate) and I have not seen any particular demand for such a thing.

RE: Call subprocess with pmid (sync)

David Jimenez — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 19:07:37 GMT

Thx Stefan, we made a quick search, and realize that there was no option actually.

Do you know if the feature will be available in next versions? I think that it could be a great improvement in the platform.

On the other hand, if this is not planned, do you know if it can be implemented via Appian API creating a new smart service? I think that it would only be necesssary to locate the actual implementation of the call subprocess smart service, but we don't really know where is actually located.

RE: Call subprocess with pmid (sync)

Stefan Helzle — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 19:02:33 GMT

There is no direct way to trigger a process that way. Depending on how many choices you have, a dispatching model might implement the logic to branch off a sync process depending on conditions.