Process editor

The process editor is a graphical programming environment that you use to visually create and manipulate business processes.

The process editor has been designed to make you, the user feel comfortable and to facilitate your creativity. While you are designing your process, think of it as an exercise in how to paint. The white space is called the canvas and it's where you create your process from the objects that you pull from the palette to the left. Below that is an interactive properties area that changes to display pertinent details about whatever object you currently have selected on the canvas.

The process editor is divided into several distinct areas, each with its own individual use.


The distinct areas of the process editor

The areas are as follows:
  1. The palette
    • The palette is the shaded area to the left of the canvas that houses the objects that you click and drag onto the canvas to build your process.
    • Those icons with dark grey arrows contain a submenu with more choices. Click the arrow to expose the submenu. When you chose an activity from submenu, it then becomes active on the main palette
  2. The submenu
    • Those icons with dark grey arrows contain a submenu with a wider selection of activities.
    • Click the horizontal arrow to expose the submenu, and click the vertical arrows to scroll through the choices.
    • When you chose an activity from submenu, it then becomes active on the main palette.
  3. The canvas
    • The canvas is the white empty area in the middle of the editor that you use it to assemble the activities to compose your business process.
    • When you click and drag an activity from the palette onto the canvas, the icon beside your cursor has a plus symbol and you can decide where you want to drop the activity. When the cursor becomes a crossed out circle, continue moving the cursor until it becomes a plus sign again.
    • Structured activities (that contain other activities) can be expanded or collapsed by clicking either the miniature plus (The expansion icon) or minus (The collapse icon) icon.
  4. The action bar
    • The action bar is a miniature dialogue that pops up beside the activity that you've selected and contains a series of one or more icons that are relevant to that activity.
  5. The tray
    • The tray displays the Partners, Variables and Correlation sets that are associated with your process.
    • To create a new partner, variable, or correlation set, click the corresponding The plus symbol icon, or to remove one, highlight it and click the The minus icon. icon.
    • Click the gray horizontal arrow to collapse or expand the tray.
  6. The properties area
    • This area displays properties that are relevant to the object that is currently selected on the canvas. Click on the tabs to the left of this view to toggle through the pages. Some pages display properties in tabular format, and you can add or modify these properties by clicking the appropriate cell and then interacting with the graphical interface that appears.
    • The contents of the page will differ on the activity or object chosen. In all cases, you can type F1 to launch a help window and click the link to be taken directly to the product documentation for more details.
    • If you see the File selection ( The File Selection icon ) icon you will be able to browse the file system. If you see the Drop Down ( The Drop Down icon ) icon, you will be presented with a choice of one or more options on-screen.
Related concepts
Tutorial: Build a business process
Related tasks
Creating a business process

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