Introduction to workflow executions

Concept

A workflow execution is a specific execution of a workflow. After you create a workflow, you can execute the workflow multiple times based on different inputs.

Attributes

The following list describes the attributes of executions. FlowName and Input are the input of executions, and the other attributes are the output of executions.

• FlowName: the name of an execution. The name must be unique in the same workflow. You can leave the value empty. If you specify a value, it must comply with the following constraints:

  • The name can contain letters, digits, underscores (_), and hyphens (-).

  • The name must start with a letter or an underscore (_).

  • The name is case-sensitive.

  • The name must be 1 to 128 characters in length.

• Input: the input of an execution. If you specify Input, the value must be in the JSON object format.

• Output: the output of an execution. It must be in the JSON object format.

• FlowDefinition: a workflow definition. For more information, see Flow definition. To ensure that workflow updates do not affect an execution after the execution is started, the workflow definition is saved when the execution is started.

• Status: the status of an execution. Valid values: Starting, Running, Stopped, Succeeded, Failed, and TimedOut.

• StartedTime: the time when an execution starts.

• StoppedTime: the time when an execution ends.

Execution events

Typically, a workflow consists of multiple steps. Events are generated for the steps when the workflow is executed. The events record the execution status of the steps in detail. Based on the execution events, you can learn the information about a workflow, such as the current step, input, output, duration, and failure cause. CloudFlow tracks the execution of workflows based on the status data and ensures high availability of the system.

The following list describes the properties of execution events. EventDetail must be a string in the JSON object format. The details of events vary based on the type of the events.

• StepName: the step name. The value is the same as the step name in the Flow Definition Language (FDL).

• Type: the event type. The type of events that are generated in sequence during the execution of a workflow includes EnterEvent, ExecEvent, and ExitEvent.CloudFlow For information about the states that are involved in events and how the states transit, see Flow definition.

• EventDetail: the details of an event.

• Time: the time when an event occurs.

• EventId: the ID of an event.

• ScheduleEventId: the ID of the event that triggers the current event.