Automations - Create & Editor
Package: BASIC
1. Create Automation
The "Automations" area appears as follows without an existing automation:
Automations view without existing automation
To create a new automation, click the "Create automation" button. The popup "New Automation" opens.
Popup "New Automation"
The following fields are available in the popup "New Automation":
- Name → Name of the automation
- Description → Brief description of the automation
- Clients → Restricts the automation to specific clients. If no client is selected, the automation applies to all clients.
- Category → Category of the automation
After clicking the "Save" button in the popup "New Automation", the editor for creating the automation is displayed.
Automation - Editor View
Newly created automations are initially inactive and must generally be explicitly activated using the "Automation active" toggle.
All further steps for creating an automation, in particular the configuration of
are described in detail on the linked pages and subsequent sections.
2. Editor Functionalities
The following screenshot and brief description serve to explain the general functionalities in the editor.
Automation - Functionalities in the Editor
2.1. Overview of Functionalities
- Name of the automation → Display of the name of the automation
- Buttons Save/Cancel
- Button Save → save settings/changes
- Button Cancel → cancel editing, the list view of automations is displayed
- Trigger/Condition/Action → insert triggers, conditions and actions into the editor area via drag & drop
Info: Triggers, conditions and actions are also generally referred to as "nodes" in the following descriptions. - Automation sidebar → general information about the automation
- Editor area
2.2. Automation Sidebar
In the automation sidebar, details of the displayed automation are shown:
- General
- Name → Name of the automation
- Description → Brief description of the automation
- Category
- Category → Category of the automation
At the top right of the automation sidebar there are two action icons and at the bottom a toggle:
Sidebar Automation
- Show actions (icon "three dots") → after clicking, a flyout menu is displayed with the following actions:
- Edit → After clicking the action "Edit", the popup "Edit" opens, in which the name, description and category can be changed.
- Delete → After clicking the action "Delete", a query opens ("Should the automation really be deleted? This process cannot be undone."), whether the automation should really be deleted. After clicking the "Confirm" button, the automation is deleted.
- Show/hide sidebar → the sidebar can be shown/hidden by clicking the action icon "arrow with vertical bar"
- Toggle automation active/inactive → using the toggle, the automation can be set to active/inactive
2.3. Editor Area
In the editor area, an automation is configured in detail. The most important components here are triggers, conditions and actions, which are connected to each other.
The configuration of these components ultimately controls the complete flow of an automation.
When creating a new automation, one trigger, one condition and one action are present in the editor, but they are not yet configured.
Additional/further triggers, conditions and actions can be added via drag & drop. To do this, simply drag the action icon of a node (trigger, condition or action) from the upper area into the editor area.
Afterwards, the individual nodes in the editor can be configured, positioned and connected.
After saving, each tile of a trigger, a condition and an action receives a system-side numbering, which is displayed at the bottom right of the tile.
Example - Numbering of tiles
The numbering is assigned in the order of creation and serves for the unambiguous identification and orientation for administrative users when creating, editing and managing automations.
The numbering of the tiles has no influence on the order of processing of triggers, conditions and actions!
2.3.1. Configure Trigger
The trigger determines when a specific part of the automation should be started. The detailed description of the configuration of triggers, including all available events and setting options, can be found on the subpage Automations – Triggers.
2.3.2. Configure Condition
Conditions define whether actions should only be executed under certain prerequisites. The detailed description of the configuration of conditions, including comparison operators, condition groups and the abort condition, can be found on the subpage Automations – Conditions.
2.3.3. Configure Action
Actions determine what should happen when an event occurs and any prerequisites are met. The detailed description of all available actions and their configuration can be found on the subpage Automations – Actions.
When editing an action in the editor, the following processes apply:
- Insert successor node: The menu for inserting a successor node opens directly after clicking the corresponding element – without an additional intermediate step.
- Select new action: After selecting a new action, the configuration mask opens immediately. A separate Continue button is omitted. The selection can be changed at any time via Back.
2.3.4. Connection Arrow
Connection arrows are used to connect triggers, conditions and actions.
In the rectangular graphical representation of triggers, conditions and actions there are "connection points" ("gray dots") on the left and right. Using "hold left mouse button + drag" on a connection point, it can be connected to another connection point.
The procedure is as follows: "Hold" connection point (hold left mouse button pressed) → drag with left mouse button held to the next connection point → release mouse button.
Add connection arrow
A connection arrow can be deleted again by clicking on a connection arrow (arrow is marked red) and pressing the "Delete key".
When connection arrows are deleted, new connections should be created first, as otherwise all subsequent nodes will be reset!
To avoid accidental deletion, the following notice is displayed before deleting a connection arrow: "Should this connection really be deleted? Subsequent nodes may be reset as a result if they lose the module binding of a trigger.".
Only after clicking the "Confirm" button is the connection arrow deleted.
2.3.5. Reset Editor Position
The displayed editor area can be moved in any direction using "hold left mouse button + drag".
After clicking the action icon "Reset editor position" (icon "four arrows with dot"), the position of all elements in the editor is reset to the default position.
2.3.6. Zoom In
By clicking the action icon "Zoom in" (icon "Plus"), the view is enlarged.
2.3.7. Reset Zoom
By clicking the action icon "Reset zoom" (icon "Circle"), the view is reset to the default setting.
2.3.8. Zoom Out
By clicking the action icon "Zoom out" (icon "Minus"), the view is reduced.
2.3.9. Operating Instructions
After clicking the action icon "Operating instructions" (icon "Question mark"), a popup with brief operating instructions is displayed.
Node actions
A node can be selected with a single click. Details are then displayed and you can delete it with the "Del" key. A double click opens the editing of the node's settings directly.
Multi-move
You can select multiple nodes and move them together by holding down the "Shift" key.
Delete connection
You can select a connection by clicking and delete it via the "Del" key.
Keyboard navigation
After a node has been selected with the "Tab" key, it can be moved with the arrow keys, the "Space bar" activates it and "Enter" opens the editing.
2.3.10. Numbering of Elements
After insertion or configuration, each element (trigger/condition/action) is assigned a number by the system. The numbering serves for better identification of the individual elements.
The numbers are displayed in the elements at the bottom right.
Numbering of elements
The numbering is assigned in the order of creation, regardless of whether it is a trigger, a condition or an action.
If elements that have subsequent elements are deleted, the numbers are no longer reassigned when creating further elements. For this reason, it can happen that numbers are "missing", which is merely an indication that the automation has been edited.