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Event Action Types

Vinyl supports many different Event Action Types that can be defined for Actions associated with Events, depending on your intended usage of the Action. This article will describe the different Action Types and how you can work with them.

To access the different Event Action Types, navigate to the Business Logic layer of Vinyl. From there you would identify the Table (or Rule) where you are going to define the Action, and click on the corresponding Events icon. From the resultant Action definition screen you will see options to configure Action Type.

Available Action Types:

  • Rule
  • Notification
  • API Call
  • Event
  • Export
  • Import
  • Plugin
  • Procedure
  • RFC

The default value for Type is Rule, as most frequently Users are intending to leverage a Business Rule along with an Action. Rule is documented in existing articles and guides and the Notification Type is also documented elsewhere. This article will focus on the Action Types for API Call, Event, Export, Import, Plugin, Procedure, RFC and Workflow Response.

API Call

The API Call Action Type is used to call an APIM or REST endpoint as an action.

To Configure an API Call Action

  • Set the Type value to API Call
  • Select the named Endpoint to call with the Action
  • If appropriate, modify the Order value to control order of Execution when run on Event
  • Set the When value to determine when Action should execute. Options: Before, After
  • Review Explicit Bindings and confirm information is accurate
  • Click Save

Note

From the REST perspective, Vinyl supports inbound and outbound bindings. Inbound columns are sent to the endpoint, and outbound originate from the endpoint response and update the in-memory record with the value from the REST. Using outbound binding may result in an error message if the response contains multiple records, as Vinyl does not know which record to use in this scenario.

Event

The Event Action Type is used to execute another named Event.

To Configure an Event Action

  • Set the Type value to Event
  • Select the named Business Object with the associated Event to be run
  • Select the named Event to be run
  • If appropriate, modify the Order value to control order of Execution when run on Event
  • Set the When value to determine when Action should execute. Options: Before, After
  • Review Explicit Bindings and confirm information is accurate
  • Click Save

Export

The Export Action Type is used to export a report to a file. Based on the configuration Vinyl will export out a file and write it as comma, pipe or tab delimited and store in the directed location.

To Configure an Export Action

  • Set the Type value to Export
  • Select the corresponding named Rule to run with the Action
  • Set File System to the location where you want to store information being exported. This value can be a local or network file system.
  • Choose the Delimiter value used for the file. Options are: Comma, Pipe, Tab
  • If the file being exported includes Header row, check the Output Headers box
  • Select the Filename Column from the Business Rule or Table being referenced
  • If appropriate, modify the Order value to control order of Execution when run on Event
  • Set the When value to determine when Action should execute. Options: Before, After
  • Review Explicit Bindings and confirm information is accurate
  • Click Save

Import

The Import Action Type is used to import data from a file system to one or many tables. Vinyl supports the ability to import a CSV or Excel, or HL7 file using this method.

To Configure an Import Action

  • Set the Type to Import
  • Set the Import Type to match the file type used to import. Options are CSV or Excel, HL7
  • If you want Vinyl to delete out the target table contents upon import, check the Truncate box
  • Set File System to the location where you want to store information being imported. This value can be a local or network file system.
  • Set the Target Table value to the named Table where the imported file will reside
  • Choose the Delimiter value used for the file. Options are: Comma, Pipe, Tab
  • Set the Completed Data Source value to represent the file location where the import file will be moved to OR this value may be left blank. Often this is the same as the File System value.
  • If appropriate, modify the Order value to control order of Execution when run on Event
  • Set the When value to determine when Action should execute. Options: Before, After
  • Review Explicit Bindings and confirm information is accurate
  • Click Save

Note

Explicit bindings do not have any impact on import.

Plugin

The Plugin Action Type is used to invoke an Action Plugin in Vinyl.

To Configure a Plugin Action

  • Set the Type to Plugin
  • Select the appropriate Plugin value based on your requirement. Plugins:
    • Create row on empty table – creates a new row if the Filter event did not return any rows
    • Generate Image ETag – generates an ETag for an image in the Be_Image table
    • Hash Password – Hashes the value of the 'Password' field
    • Http Retriever – Retrieves content from 'url' column and stores in 'result' column
    • Move Control – Moves the index of all sibling controls
    • Persistable – Clear Cache – Clear cache using Row
    • Persistable Filter – Sets defaults from value – Sets defaults from value
    • Persistable – Refresh Row – Refresh Row
    • Persistable Salesforce – Refresh Row – Refresh Row
    • Pluralize Name – Pluralize and humanize a field 'Name'
    • Run Background Event – run the 'Background' event for the data object (in the background)
    • Save Report – saves report to PDF directory
    • Sleep – sleeps until a given timeout
    • SMTP Mailer – sends mail using Email, Subject and optional Body and From fields. Substitution using {{field}} is available within the Body.
    • Throw Exception – throws an exception message
    • Timer – pause for 5 or 'WaitTime' seconds
  • If appropriate, modify the Order value to control order of Execution when run on Event
  • Set the When value to determine when Action should execute. Options: Before, After
  • Review Explicit Bindings and confirm information is accurate
  • Click Save

Note

Available Plugin options may be updated via Vinyl releases.

Procedure

The Procedure Action Type is used to execute an RDBMS stored procedure.

To Configure a Procedure Action

  • Set the Type to Procedure
  • Select the named RDBMS stored Procedure
  • If appropriate, modify the Order value to control order of Execution when run on Event
  • Set the When value to determine when Action should execute. Options: Before, After
  • Review Explicit Bindings and confirm information is accurate
  • Click Save

RFC

The RFC Action Type is used to execute a Remote Function Call. RFCs are primarily used when working with SAP externally and configuring RFC BABI calls and RFC Table Reads.

To Configure an RFC Action

  • Set the Type to RFC
  • Select the named RFC
  • If appropriate, modify the Order value to control order of Execution when run on Event
  • Set the When value to determine when Action should execute. Options: Before, After
  • Review Explicit Bindings and confirm information is accurate
  • Click Save