Configuring Modules with Data Sources

The Rulex Process File Source compacts the structure and corresponding data of a process, or part of a process, into a single task, called a module.

The peculiarity of the Rulex Process File Source task, as opposed to the Execute Process File task, is that it contains the tasks and their source data. This is useful, for example, when the input data must not be modified.

To create a module you can either:

export your process via command or task, then drag and drop a Rulex Process File Source task into the new process, and reference the exported PRCX file
compact files directly in your current process, by selecting them, right-clicking and selecting Create Module. The consequent module can then be copied and pasted into any other process.

Module creation

When you select Create Module Rulex automatically recognizes whether the selected tasks include the source data, via import file, and consequently creates a Rulex Process File Source module. Otherwise, if your selection does not include source data, an Execute Process File module is automatically created.

We recommend you do not use Import from Task tasks within modules.

Prerequisites

You must have created a process in Rulex.

Additional tabs

Apart from the Options, Advanced and Remote Connections tabs, where the task can be configured, the following additional tabs are provided:

Documentation tab where you can document your task,
Parametric options tab where you can configure process variables instead of fixed values. Parametric equivalents are expressed in italics in this page.

Procedure

Drag and drop the Rulex Process File Source task onto the central stage, or copy and paste the task from another process after creating a module.
Double click the task.
Configure the task options as described in the table below.
Click on the Advanced tab to configure additional options such as process variables.
Save and compute the task.

Rulex Process File Source options

Rulex Process File Source options
Parameter Name	PO	Description
Basic options
Source file URI	uri	Select the source of the PRCX file, which can either be: Local File System for local files, or the corresponding remote connection, such as FTP or a SharePoint site, and then configure the connection in the Remote Connections tab. Note that if you have copied and pasted a module directly into the process, this value will already be configured.
Select file	filename	Either click here to browse to the PRCX file you want to link to and click Open, or manually enter the name of the file in the corresponding edit box. Note that if you have copied and pasted a module directly into the process, this value will already be configured.
Endpoint task	endpoint	Select the task whose results will be used as the endpoint results of the linked process. There can only be one endpoint task.
Execute all internal tasks	alltasks	If selected, all tasks in the imported PRCX file are executed, otherwise the data provided by the specified endpoint task is simply used by the hosting process. This option is useful as a time saver when you are sure that the tasks have already been computed and you just need the tasks' output data.
Use cached file if the target one is not available	useoldprc	If selected, results from the cached PRCX file will be used if the target file is not available.
Process variables	procvars	The list of process variables included in the selected PRCX file. If these process variables are already included in the main process, the values of the father process will overwrite the values displayed here. If required you can modify the values of any process variables, by double-clicking them in the table and entering the new value.
Advanced options
Number of executions	nexec	Specify how many times the process should be executed.
For each execution.....increment.....process variable	loopvar, incrdecr (-1, 1)	If required specify whether specific process variables (selected from the drop-down list, loopvar) will be incremented or decremented (incrdecr) with each iteration. If the Number of Executions option was set to 1, this option will obviously be disabled. If you want to increment/decrement by more than 1, this value can be modified in the Parametric options tab.
Accumulate iterations data	cumulative	If selected, the results of successive iterations are saved, otherwise they are overwritten.