Flow Units Overview
Overview
A flow unit is a configurable, reusable building block in the Flow Designer that represents a single action or logic step in an automation flow. Each flow unit processes input data, performs a defined operation, and produces an output that subsequent units can use. Arrange flow units in a logical sequence to design end-to-end automations, and configure each unit independently to meet your business requirements.
Flow units fall into the following categories:
- Fixed Units
- Trigger Units
- Configurable Units
Fixed Units
Every flow includes the Start and End units by default. You cannot remove these units from a flow.
Trigger Units
A trigger unit is always the second unit in a flow and serves as its entry point. The Flow Designer supports the following trigger units:
- Timer — Starts the flow at a scheduled or recurring time.
- Queue — Starts the flow when a message arrives in a queue.
- Subscription — Starts the flow when a subscribed event or notification occurs.
- HTTP — Starts the flow when an HTTP request is received.
Configurable Units
Configurable units are available under the Flow Unit tab. Drag them into a flow or remove them as needed. The units are grouped into the following subsections:
General
- Decision/For-Each Unit — Branches the flow based on a condition or iterates over each item in a collection.
- Repeat Until Unit — Executes a set of actions repeatedly until a specified condition is met.
Calls
- System Call Unit — Invokes a configured system or service to send or receive data.
- HTTP Call Unit — Sends an HTTP request to an external endpoint and processes the response.
- FTP Call Unit — Transfers files to or from an FTP or SFTP server.
Delegate
- Component Unit — Delegates execution to a reusable component defined elsewhere in the platform.
- Automation Unit — Invokes another automation as a sub-process within the current flow.
- Flow Unit — Calls another flow as a sub-flow to enable modular reuse of logic.
- Queue Unit — Publishes a message to a queue for downstream or asynchronous processing.
Transformation
- Mapping Unit — Maps fields from a source schema to a target schema using a visual mapper.
- Java Class Unit — Executes a custom Java class to transform or process data.
- JSONata Unit — Applies a JSONata expression to query and transform JSON data.
- XSLT Unit — Applies an XSLT stylesheet to transform XML data.
Store Operations
- Key-Value Unit — Reads, writes, or deletes entries in a key-value store.
- Documents Unit — Reads, writes, or queries records in a document store.
- Database Unit — Executes SQL queries against a relational database.
Accessing Flow Units
To add a configurable unit to a flow:
- Select a section to expand it. The flow units in that section appear.
- Drag a unit from the list and drop it onto the flow diagram.
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