Manual Trigger
A Manual Trigger is exclusively used when a Process is started by a user in the Control Panel. This Trigger also allows the user to provide parameters for the Process. In addition to the manual usage, Manual Trigger can be used with Monitoring Rules to start a Process with Manual Trigger. Also, when a new Process is created or a new Create Start (Trigger) Element is added, the default Trigger type is Manual Trigger.
Manual Trigger for Manual usage
As stated above, a Manual Trigger is used when the use case needs a user to manually start the Process. A Process can be started from the Process List View or the Process Instance List View. In the Process List View (below) the Process can be triggered by clicking on the dropdown menu icon on the right and selecting Run once.
In the Process Instance List View (below), the Process can be started by selecting Process actions and Run once.
The Trigger parameters can be configured by clicking Add parameter in the Trigger Parameter Editor. These parameters consist of Key, Default value, Description and Secret flag. Key is required and can be referenced with the hashtag notation of Frends later in the Process. Default value is optional and is shown in the pop-up as the default Key value as the Process is started and the user is prompted with the parameters. Description is also optional but highly recommended to tell the user what the parameter is about. Secret flag indicates that the parameter will not be logged if selected.
For example, we could give parameters like in the picture below.
When the Process is manually started, the user will be prompted with the following popup. The value can be changed as it presents the given default value.
When developing manually triggered Processes remember to handle the user rights properly.
Manual Trigger for Monitoring Rules
Monitoring Rules in Frends allow for the execution of Processes when certain rules are met and configured in the Monitoring Rules view. A Manual Trigger has a Use for Monitoring Rules flag which enables the Process in question to be triggered according to a Monitoring Rule. When using a Trigger for Monitoring Rules, parameters are disabled.
Referencing Trigger parameter values
As previously stated, Trigger parameter values can be referenced with hashtag notation by using #trigger. With the example above, the ParameterKey parameter would be referenced with #trigger.data.ParameterKey.
The next article is Introduction to Schedule Trigger