Adding Variables to the Execution Pane

You need to perform two steps to implement executional parts to your model:

Provide all necessary data types and operations for the implementation of your process. These types and operations reside in the Service panel of the BPMN editor.
- You can use the Base Types that are provided with the Designer.
- You can create other necessary types yourself in the Implementation section.
  Refer to Modeling Data Mapping for further information.
- You can import a library that provides additional types and operations.
  Refer to Designer Administration > Libraries for further information.
In the second step, select data types and operations from the Service panel, and add them to your process at the right places.
- How this is done will be explained in this chapter.

Select BPMN Element

	To add any execution element, you must first select the BPMN element on the diagram pane to which you want to add the execution.
	The related execution part will be displayed in the execution pane. As no execution has been implemented yet, the panel shows an empty operations flow.
	As in our example the selected BPMN element is a Message Start Event, the execution pane also shows section Message with an incoming variable message of type Any. MultiExcerpt named info_message_section was not found -- Please check the page name and MultiExcerpt name used in the MultiExcerpt-Include macro
	If you have selected the outgoing relation of an Exclusive Gateway, section Return is displayed, containing the unchangeable variable return of type Boolean.

Select Type

Now go to the Service panel and expand the library or the data model you want to use.

Page Working With Libraries contains further details about the Service panel.
On page Administrating Libraries is explained how to upload a library to the Designer.
Go to page Modeling Data Mapping for further informations on the Data Model folder.

The Designer provides all necessary base types in a Bridge Base standard library. This library is available in all services and cannot be removed. It contains the following xUML base types:

Any
Blob
Boolean
DateTime
Float
Integer
String

Most of these base types are only able to hold one single piece of information, like text in a string, true or false in a boolean, or binary data in a blob.

Refer to Available Base Types for more information on the xUML base types.

If you want to associate several bits of information, you have to define a complex type that combines a number of independent base types and possibly other complex types. Such complex types are modeled as classes. To use your own types, you can

define your own data structures in the Implementation folder
provide them via a library.

How to upload your own libraries is explained on Designer Administration > Libraries.

Drag to Execution Pane

Adding variables to the execution pane is simple:

Select the necessary data type from your library.
Drag it from the library panel and drop it on the execution pane.

There are different targets to drop an element to:

Sections Persisted or Local: Drop a type on one of these sections to add a new variable.
Existing Element: Drop a type on an existing variable to change its type.

You can cancel the operation by pressing Esc or dropping the element outside the execution pane.

Adding a New Variable

	You can add a new variable by dropping it in section Persisted or Local. You can drag the following library contents to the pane: Interface Class Parameter
	This applies to variables from your own data model, from customized libraries as well as to the Bridge base types.
	Variables created in section Persisted are usable in all executions of the BPMN model. See page Persisting Data for further information.
	Variables created in section Local are only available for use within the current execution.

Adding Multiplicity

Once you have dragged a variable to the execution pane, you can add multiplicity.

Open the attributes panel for the variable in question.

Here you will find the attribute Array. To add multiplicity, activate the checkbox.

If the checkbox is activated, the variable has the multiplicity 0..* and the element on the pane is extended by a pair of square brackets:

Changing the Type

	You can change the type of any variable if you drag a type from your library and drop it on the variable itself. Example: As per default, the incoming message has type Any. To gain access to the data you want to use, you need to apply the correct type from your data model or library - which in our example is MyClass.
	After you have dropped the type on the variable, it has changed its type. Example: The type of the selected class MyClass is applied to the incoming message.
	Expert Tipp Use simple type Any from library Bridge Base to change the message type back to its default.
	Variable message cannot be of simple type. If you try to drop a simple type other than default type Any on the message element, a red frame indicates that this is prohibited.

Changing the Section

It is also possible to change the section for a variable. You can drag & drop variables:

From Local to Persisted
From Persisted to Local
From Message to Persisted or Local

	Local to Persisted: The local variable is removed, a new persisted variable with the same name is created. If the name is already in use, a suffix is added. Existing relations are reattached to the new variable.
	Persisted to Local: The persisted variable is removed and a new local variable with the same name is created. If the name is already in use, a suffix is added. Existing relations are reattached to the new variable.
	Message to Persisted or Local: A new variable is created in the corresponding area. Its name is the same as if a new variable of the same type as the message was created. A relation is drawn from message to the new variable.

Special Case: Adding Persisted Variables

For detailed information see page Persisting Data.

	If you add variables to section Persisted, they are usable in all executions of the BPMN model.
	To use a persisted variable, click the icon to open the list of available persisted variables and select the variable you want to use.
	The variable is added to the execution pane.
	Once a variable is defined as to be persisted, it is available in all executions throughout the BPMN model. If you drag out the same type again, a second persisted variable is created that is independent of the first. A consecutive number is appended to the name automatically as variable names must be unique.