Process ID in Sync Start Process

Question

Hi Everyone , 
 I have a sync start process(Process Id is used to select the Process Model) in my Parent Process. Now I am not able to save the Output. PVs are not shown in pv!.

Shubham Aware · Answer

It looks like this is not a configuration issue. I would recommend deleting the PVs from both processes and recreating them. Then save and publish both processes, reopen the main process, and try to configure it again. Let us know if the issue still persists.

Harsha Sharma · Answer

The configuration looks fine. Can you open the expression editor besides the &lsquo;Select a Value&rsquo; dropdown in the Outputs Section and try to populate the pv from the activity class parameters. You can map the pv within the expression window. Try and share how it goes!

James Lepone · Answer

Unfortunately I do not think either of these above answers are correct. The behavior you are seeing is due to the fact that you have "973" as the expression for your process model. When you select a process model by expression, we can not pre-populate the PV dropdown for you. Instead, you need to use ac!processInfo.pv.pvName as an expression in the value column of outputs. This will be evaluated at runtime properly and return your PV successfully. Let me know if this works for you.

James Lepone · Answer

I would suggest not using an expression for your process model and instead use the selector to search for the PM name. If you select the Process Model via that method, the dropdowns will populate as you would expect.

Harsha Sharma · Answer

Good catch....I missed to notice the 973 there! 
 Anusuya K Mahalingam If you are configuring process model using expressions then you can try to configure output using the expressions and let me know how it goes. Otherwise try to configure the process model appropriately using constant or selector and then the pv should be available. 
 Harsha Sharma said: Can you open the expression editor besides the ‘Select a Value’ dropdown in the Outputs Section and try to populate the pv from the activity class parameters. You can map the pv within the expression window. Try and share how it goes!

Mike Schmitt · Answer

Here is your answer: 
 You need to configure the Start Process node to refer directly to the process model, not hardcode a PM ID. Like this, Appian will not be smart enough to know what Process Model you're referring to or to access its available PVs. 
 (edit to add: I see James Lepone beat me to it - i didn't read down-thread before writing my reply lol) 
 I would also add: if you MUST populate the process model by expression (or just want to experiment), i would guess your output configuration MIGHT still work if you configure it BY EXPRESSION as I originally suggested way up here . I'd be curious to hear whether it works.

Harsha Sharma · Answer

For Outputs, this is the expected configuration of start process mode 
 
 For Save Target, select a process variable to contain the output. 
 For Value, select the ProcessInfo property that you want to store in the save target. Like ac!processInfo.pv. processVariable . 
 
 So after completion whichever pv data you want Response to have, refer to that using the processInfo property. The type of Response and pv should match for it to be available for configuration .

Mike Schmitt · Answer

Anusuya K Mahalingam said: Same datatype is passed. 
 Are you saying that the data type of "pv!Response" is integer ? Because it would need to be that type (specifically) in order for pp!id to show up in your output selection.

Harsha Sharma · Answer

Hi Anusuya in your screenshot the refresh icons are missing which are genrally there on the setup tab. Can you try to delete this start process node and drag a fresh one from the palette to setup this again and see if pv as well as refresh icons are available.

Mike Schmitt · Answer

Anusuya K Mahalingam said: I am trying to get the value from pv! 
 Any return value you hope to directly map from a PV value would need to (Exactly) match in data type with the PV value. However, if you enter a valid expression for the subprocess value, you can access values that don't exactly match 1:1 with the data types in the parent process - this is very useful, but you have to know what you're doing of course or else the result will potentially seem nonsensical.

James Lepone · Answer

Are you able to provide screenshots of what I asked for before? That would help pinpoint your issue. If your target process model is selected via an expression, then you must enter the ac!processInfo.pv.myPv as an expression, since we can not populate the PV options when the model to start is selected via expression.