Worker types and fields

Worker types

The main worker node type is Worker. This holds the process and status rules for the worker as JSON. This is the node type typically used because it means workers have no further dependencies on other nodes.

A variant of the node type, Dynamic Worker, links to other nodes for the process and status rules. This is used for specialised workers, such as the Control worker used in portal solutions.

The worker node types have a number of fields. Loosely, they are split into three:

Modifiable worker fields can be changed manually once a worker has been created, though in most cases they are maintained programatically.
Hidden worker fields control the execution of the process, and can only be maintained programatically.
Worker display fields summarise the worker to display it to the user.

Modifiable worker fields

Name	Name of the worker.
Worker active	Indicates if the worker is active. If it is inactive, it will reject all requests from the partner.
Action required	Indicates that action is required for this worker.
Process	Links to the process. This is only set for dynamic workers.
Status rules	Link to the node that defines the status rules used to control what is offered to the users. This is only set for dynamic workers.
Connections	The channels to which this worker is connected. Each has a role.
Folders	Groups in which the worker is displayed. This is typically built from a group in which the worker was created and a derived list of groups that represent the different connections that the worker has. The first group in the list, typically the one in which the group was created, is know as the "primary group".
Private	This controls whether a connection group should be added to the list of groups for a worker when the worker uses the connection. When set on a worker, indicates that the worker should not include connection groups in its list of groups. This makes the worker "private" in the sense that you cannot navigate from the connection group to the worker. When set on a connection group, indicates that the connection group should never be added to the list of groups for a worker. Does not apply to a group that is not a connection group.
Parent	The containing worker in a work breakdown structure.
Sequence	Sequence of this group or worker relative to others with the same parent. Lower numbers first.
Links	Holds links between workers, or workers to groups. Each link has a link type value. The combination of link type and target must be unique, but each link type can have multiple target workers and each target worker can have multiple link types.
Configuration options	JSON field that holds options that are used to configure a worker or group. This is generally non-substantive data used for holding identifiers that tie groups back to other data, or hints on display. Additional options that can be set when the worker is created, and then accessed by the worker or by other processes. You can use configuration options to display a worker as an icon in the process client. Set showWorker to true, set the icon to the icon class, and set color to the icon color.

Hidden worker fields

The modifiable fields only tell part of the story. The fields that control process execution are not on any of the tabs, and are therefore hidden. You can view them from a worker by adding tabNumber=0 to the URL, either ?tabNumber=0 to view the hidden fields, or ?tabNumber=0&method=edit to view them in edit mode, which will give you a URL like https://www.metrici.com/yourcompany/process_client/workers/N123.1?method=edit&tabNumber=0.

This reveals additional hidden fields which are set when the process is created or set programmatically as the process excutes. Hidden fields should not be modified manually.

Process type name	Name for the process type.
Process type reference	A reference for the type of the process.
Last activity timestamp	Date and time of the last significant activity.
Of interest	Indicates that this worker is of interest, typically because there is an action or there has recently been a significant activity. You could consider this as an "unread" indicator, which tends to be how it is used.
Status	Status of the worker's process. If this has a / in it, then the value before the slash is the status from the processing point of view, and the bit after the / a display version, e.g. "sentToSupplier/Sent to the supplier".
Message	Latest message associated with this worker process.
Process identifier	Unique identifier for this process, shared between all the workers that collaborate on the process.
Role	Role that this worker takes in the process.
Process definition	Defines a process.
Status rules	Status rules themselves.
Tag List	When viewing (not editing) the worker, shows tags associated with this worker.
Node options	When viewing (not editing) the worker, summarises the current state of the worker.

Worker display fields

When viewing the worker (not editing it), three diplay-only fields are visible on the Process tab.

The worker summary summarises the current state of a worker in a table. This is taken from the other worker fields.

The action button displays the current action. The options are calculated from the worker status and the status rules.

The events field displays Worker events.