Working with Container Operation and Loop (Until) Steps - PART1

 Note 

1. This document will help one to understand the use of Container Operation and Loop (Until) step in Workflow Builder.
2. The execution of the workflow will be discussed in Part 2 of the below document.

 Steps:

1. Go to Transaction code 'SWDD' and we can see the following screen.

•  SWDD is the Transaction code where we can build a workflow.

2. Click on the 'create new workflow' button which is on the top left of the screen as shown below.

 3. Now our workflow builder screen looks as shown below.

• By clicking on the 'create new workflow' button the workflow step layout will be reset to the initial stage.

4. Now we have to right-click on 'undefined for new step' as shown below and click on
    create or double click on it.

• 'Undefined- Double-click for new step' allows us to create required steps in sequence.
• This decides the flow of processes in our workflow.

5. Now a popup window will appear as shown below consisting of different step types for selection.

• In the 'step selection' window we get steps to select depending on our business logic.
• For example, if we want to send a mail, we have to select the 'Send Mail' step.    

6. First Select the Loop (Until) step. 

• If we want to process a step more than once, we can use the Loop(Until) step.
• This step loops until the condition given in the loop step is true.

7. Screen of the loop(until) looks as shown below.

8. Now on the left-hand side of the screen we can see a button choice, we have to choose
     'Workflow Container' and double click on the blue space highlighted below.

1. Container element contains 4 tabs.

• D.type(DataType).
• Properties.
• Initial Value.
• Change Data.

9. Now below screen shows the pop-up to create the container element.

1.  'D.type' tab provides three options for data type declaration.

• Object type: Here we can choose Business object or Class as data type.
• ABAP Dict.Reference: Here we can use ABAP Dictionary structure along with the required field as data type.
• ABAP Dict. Data Type: Here we can use ABAP dictionary data elements or datatypes for data types declaration.

10. Now we have to click on the 'Properties' tab in the pop-up and fill it as shown below.
      Check on both importing and exporting checkboxes.

• Here we can set the property of the parameter(Container Element) being created.
• Properties like Importing, Exporting, Mandatory can be applied.
• Multiline property: If this property is set, allows the insertion of multiple entries (Internal table like) into the element created.

11. Now we have to click on the 'Initial Value' tab and fill the counter as '5'.

• Initial value tab allows us to initialize the element.

 12. Now click on the OK button and an element will be created as shown below.

• Here double arrow marks in the front 'LV_COUNTER' element created means, it has both import and export parameters checked.

13. Now we have to give the step name of the Loop(Until) screen and click on 'Click here to create a new condition' to create a 'loop end condition'.

14. The popup window of the loop condition looks as shown below.

1. In this popup we have sections of

• Operators: Here we choose the 'Relational operator' applicable for our expression.
•   Example: = , >= etc.
• Logic: Here we choose the 'Logical operator' applicable for our expression.
•   Example: AND, OR  etc.
• Constant: This section provides space to enter numeric or alphabetical values as applicable for our expression.
•   Example: 1,2,3,a,b,c etc.
• Parentheses: Adding Parentheses(After comment) to the expression created is done using this section.
• Expression 1 and Description section: Here we can choose system fields and Workflow container elements for our expression.
• Condition: This is the space provided to prepare conditional expression/s for our loop.                                                              

15. Now we have to give the condition and click on ok.

  16. Now the loop step screen looks as follows.

• Below condition means this loop step will complete(End) once the variable LV_COUNTER's value is '0'.

  17. Now go back to the first screen and save workflow builder.

 

18. Now right click on the loop branch and click on the 'create...' option.

• Here we can create and include the steps in the loop branch as shown below.
• Steps included inside the loop branch will be processed in loops until the loop ends. 

19. Now we have to choose the 'Container operation' step from the step types pop-up.

• Container operation step is used to do Arithmetic operations and storing results in elements.

 

20. The First view of the 'Container operation' step looks as follows.

• In this step we have to fill in step name, outcome name, etc.
• There is a check box to include or exclude this step in the workflow log(After execution), this will be discussed in Part-2 of this document.

 21. Now we have to fill the decrement expression in the 'Operation' section as shown below.

• Here we are decrementing the value count of the variable 'LV_COUNTER' (Initial value is '5').
• Result Element: The result element is the variable or Parameter in which the result is stored after calculation.
• Assignment: This section provides  '=' and '<-' symbols to assign to the result.
• Expression Section: Here we can provide a 'Workflow Container' element or we can directly assign numeric values.
• Operator Section: This section consists of 'Arithmetic Operators' which we can assign to the expression.
•  Examples: +,-,/,*.    

22. Now click on OK and go back to the initial screen.

23. Now we have to create a send mail step as shown below.

1. Select the 'Send mail' step type.

• Send mail step is for sending mail to the required recipient.

24. The first screen of  'Send mail' looks as shown below.

1. In the mail step there is a tab named 'Mail'.
2. Here we have the Recipients section:

• Recipient types: Recipient type will allow us to choose recipients depending on Organisation Unit, job, position, work center and user. We can also choose recipients as 'WF initiator' (Workflow initiator- the user who starts the workflow).
• Expression: Here we can browse the workflow container element which will hold the email addresses of the valid recipients during runtime.

25. Fill receiver, subject, and body as shown below.

• Subject: Here we must fill in the subject of the mail. We can also use the workflow container element for dynamic subjects.
• Mail Body: In the mail body we can write a hardcoded body or can use a workflow container element for the dynamic body.

 26. Now we have to click on OK and save the workflow built.

27. Now check and activate the workflow.

28. Now the workflow is ready to execute.👍

Conclusion: Now we know how to create a workflow using step types: loop(until), Container operation and Send Mail.

Execution: Let us learn how to execute the created workflow in Part 2 of the document.