Call Activity

The Call Activity element starts a process of another workflow (a child process) and waits until it ends. Use it to reuse a workflow in several workflows, for example a common identification process.

To add one, drag Call Activity from the palette, or click Append call activity on the element before it. Its settings are on these tabs:

• General: the ID and the Name shown on the canvas (default: “CallActivity”).
• Process: the workflow to start.
• Parameters: the data to pass to the child process.
• Outputs: the result of the child process.
• Multi Instance: shown only for a multi-instance element.

Process

In Workflow, select the workflow to start. The list shows the workflows of the project. The Workflow ID of the selected workflow is shown below it; click it to copy it.

The child process starts from the default start point of the selected workflow. It gets the expiration, business key and business process of the parent process.

Parameters

Pass data to the child process. Click + Add Parameter for each value:

Field	What to enter
Target Parameter	The Source of the input in the child workflow’s start event that gets this value. Required.
Display Name	An optional name for the parameter.
Reference / Literal Value	Turn the switch on to take the value from a Reference (an output of an earlier element or a process value), or off to type a Literal Value.

Outputs

When the child process ends, the parent process continues, and later elements can use:

Output	What it holds
child_status	How the child process ended, for example finished, failed or canceled.
child_id	The ID of the child process.

To act on the result, add an exclusive gateway after the call activity that checks child_status.