Performances of subflows

Unknown

Performances of subflows

Unknown

Hi,
I implemented a generic flow that accepts in input a list of DynamicDataRows[] and generates a worksheet for each item.

The workflow loops for each DynamicDataRows and generates a worksheet
for each item it loops for each column name, generates the string array and it prints it
for each row it loops for each column, generates the string array and it prints it
Each functionality was in a different workflow to allow its reuse.
The result was "a triumph equaled only by its monumental failure".

Even to print few hundred rows, it takes hours. Apparently all the time is passed executing a "merge" into the database.
So, I rewrote the very same identical steps into one single giant flow and it completed in few seconds.

... so finally the questions ...

Is there any way to execute a subflow without major overhead?
How do you organise the steps so that they can be reused?
At least, is it possible to copy and paste multiple steps at once between different flows?

Thanks.

Unknown

Hi ildanny,

So the overhead from executing a subflow depends on its complexity. From what you are saying it seems like the database connection is what is causing the issue.

In theory, calling a subflow should not increase the execution time any more than adding the steps it contains into your main flow so I suspect that there is something causing an issue in one of the steps of your subflow. This could be related to your input mapping potentially or how your database is updated.

As for organizing your steps so they can be re-used, if you create a flow with a sequence of steps that will repeat multiple times, you can call the run flow step and use that flow. Sometimes this works better than using the subflow step.

Also, you can copy and paste single steps but to my knowledge copying multiple steps at once is not possible. This would be good reason to create flows that can have multiple uses to call in your other flows.

I hope this helps!

Regards,

Andrew Paterson
[i]edited by andrew.paterson@decisions.com on 4/26/2021[/i]