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terminates with one or more output tasks. In its simplest form, a process can retrieve data from a given
folder and save it in a different folder. In most cases, though, processes are more elaborate and con-
figurations, which may include many processes, can be extremely complex.
PlanetPress Workflow processes act as dispatchers: on the one hand, they retrieve data and control
plugins that retrieve data from watched locations, and on the other hand they can perform a variety of
operations on the data and send data to various devices.
A given process may include Output tasks that generate files used by Input tasks from other processes.
Each process’s schedule determines when its initial input task can be performed. Other tasks included
in the process are performed regardless of schedule, granted that the previous task was performed.
The available processes in your PlanetPress Workflow Configuration are listed in the "Configuration
Components pane" on page692.
There are several types of processes available to you:
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A regular process will run as soon as an input file is available through its input task or, if it is
scheduled not to run at that time, will start processing as soon as the schedule permits it. To
learn how to create a process see: "Adding a process" on the facing page.
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Startup processes run only once before every other process in a given configuration (see "Star-
tup processes" on the facing page).
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Subprocesses can be called by any other process (see "Subprocesses" on the facing page).
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Error processes can only be used in the On Error tab of a task in your process (see "Creating
and using Error processes" on page84).
Self-replicating processes are in fact regular processes that replicate themselves in the background
when multiple input files are received simultaneously. The input task in a self-replicating process polls
its source once, determines the number of files to process, then replicates itself up to the maximum
allowed and treats the files simultaneously. The initial process runs again once it has completed itself
and replicates again as necessary, until all files have been processed.
You can either create a regular process that is set to be self-replicating from the start (see "Creating a
process" on the facing page) or change a regular process into a self-replicating process and vice versa
(see "Process properties" on page724).
Processes in a configuration (except startup processes) will always run concurrently. You can schedule
processes to run only at certain times or intervals via their properties (see "Process properties" on
page724).
Regular and startup processes can be set to be Active (process runs normally) or Inactive (process
will not run at all); see "Activating or deactivating a process" on page110.
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