Executable components

Procedures - Working with components

Executable components
are found mainly as a resource part of the Procedure Palette and only in a couple of situations in the Inspector.

They are building blocks for creating executable flow-charts in which each executable component performs certain tasks - pre-programmed blocks of code that are made transparent to the user who needs only to provide some of the executable components with data that the component will act upon according to their function. The order of execution of the components (flow of control) is determined by arrows connecting the components.

Every flow chart has one (and only one) entry point; it must have at least one exit point.

The executable flowchart (Procedure) is created by (the order of some of these steps can be varied)

describing the purpose of the Procedure in the Description view of the Inspector (an optional crutch - internal documentation);
dragging appropriate Components from the Palette;
landing them in the Workspace;
sizing them, suitable to the task (pre-requisite for Retrieval, Update, etc. but may be deferred for Calculation, Conditional components, etc.);
completing editable Components (e.g. Conditional component, Calculation, Retrieval, Update, etc.) with resources selected from the Palette or typed in; and
setting Run-time switches correctly;
fine tuning a Component, where applicable, with the Inspector (e.g. Row Processing, Search Criteria, Sort Order) and final resizing and positioning of Components to suit (keeping boxing, titling and descriptions in mind);
connecting Components to define the sequential order of execution;
grouping (boxing) Components and/or adding explanatory text into the Workspace (an optional cosmetic);
checking the syntax;
testing the Procedure;
and, finally, saving the Procedure (this can be done incrementally, if the configuration effort has to be interrupted for any length of time).