Graphical Designer overview

Blocks

The Blocks tab houses job streams, jobs and join conditions. Job streams can be dragged and dropped in the workspace, while the other items can only be dropped inside job streams.

In this tab you can also find all the available job types divided in categories. You can add any number of jobs to job streams.

The Most used section displays the most frequently used items.

Assets

In this tab you can specify item definitions, add defined items to a job stream, or edit definitions saved in the database. You can define new assets by clicking on the add icon + and selecting an asset from the drop-down menu.

The items you can find in the Assets tab are:

• Calendar
• Credentials
• Domain
• Folder
• Job definition
• Job stream
• Prompt
• Resource
• Variable table
• Workload Application Template
• Workstation class

You can use the search bar to find and reuse previously defined assets in your current workspace.

The workspace is the canvas on which you can place, design and connect your job streams.

Navigation

The workspace offers a flexible navigation system. You can pan freely across the canvas, zoom in and out, and use the fit-to-screen feature to adjust the view to see all your blocks and assets at the same time. A mini-map provides an overview of the entire workspace, highlighting the current visible area.

Controlling jobs and job streams processing

To control the processing of jobs and job streams in your environment, you can add triggers, dependencies, and constraints.

Triggers

You can associate three types of triggers to a job stream:

Service

You can link a service to a job stream, and publish the service on the Self-Service Catalog.

Run cycle

A run cycle specifies the days and times when a job stream is scheduled to run.

Excluding run cycle

An excluding run cycle specifies the days and times when a job stream must not run. Excluding run cycles take precedence over run cycles.

To add a trigger to your job stream, click the Add triggers button in the job stream box in the workspace, then click Add new and select the trigger from the drop-down menu. Then, specify the required information in the property panel.

Dependencies

You can create internal or external dependencies between job streams or jobs in your workspace.

Job streams and jobs are represented visually as rectangular blocks in the workspace, each featuring four connection points. To establish dependencies between these blocks, drag connecting arrows from one block's connection point to another. Arrows are visually represented differently depending on whether the dependency is internal or external:

• Internal dependencies are represented by a single arrowhead
• External dependencies are represented by a double arrowhead

When you create an internal dependency, a panel where you can specify dependency information appears, and you can eventually change the dependency type from internal to external.

Join conditions

To establish a set of dependencies between job streams or jobs, you can define a join condition. This condition specifies that a job stream or job must wait for the join condition to be met before it can start running. The join condition is satisfied only when one or more dependencies have been satisfied.

You can drag a join condition from the Blocks tab and drop it in a job stream or in a job. Then, connect the join condition block to the items that must be part of that join condition. In the properties panel, specify a name for the join condition and optionally define the minimum number of predecessor dependencies required to satisfy it. If you do not specify a value, all predecessor dependencies must be satisfied.

Constraints

To control the job or job stream processing, you can add the following constraints:

• Prompt
• Resource
• File
• Internetwork dependency

Click the Add constraints button on the job or job stream box in the workspace, then click Add new and select the type of constraint from the drop-down menu. Then, specify the required information in the property panel.

For more information about dependencies, see Using dependencies to control job and job stream processing.