The sections below describe how you can manage flows in your instance of Hyperscience. Note that you may need Hyperscience’s assistance to complete some of these tasks.
Create flows
You can only add a new flow to your instance by duplicating an existing one or by importing one created with the Flows SDK. If you would like to create a completely new flow, but you are not able to use the Flows SDK, submit a request to your Hyperscience representative.
Edit flows
You can edit some parts of your flows on your own, but you will need assistance or guidance from Hyperscience to edit others.
With... | ...you can: | To do so: |
|---|---|---|
Assistance from Hyperscience | Add or remove blocks in a flow created by Hyperscience | Submit a request to your Hyperscience representative. |
Guidance and instruction from Hyperscience | Upload new code for Custom Code Blocks or Python Blocks in Flow Studio for a flow created by Hyperscience | Follow the steps in Modifying Custom Code Blocks. Depending on your use case, you may be able to work with Hyperscience to define global variables in your code that flows can reference. Doing so may allow you to prevent sensitive information from being transmitted or eliminate the need for certain code changes. Contact your Hyperscience representative for more information. |
No assistance from Hyperscience | Edit flow and block settings in Flow Studio | See Flow Settings and Flow Blocks. |
The Flows SDK | Create and edit custom flows | See the Flows SDK documentation. |
Delete a flow or flow group
You cannot permanently delete flows or flow groups without assistance from Hyperscience. You can, however, archive any flows or flow groups that you no longer need. To learn more, see Archive a flow.
Deploy a flow or flow group
To process submissions through a flow or flow group, the flow or flow group must have a Live status. To change the status of a flow or flow group to Live, you need to:
Assign a release to the flow or flow group. To learn more about assigning a release to a flow or flow group, see Assigning a Release to a Flow.
Deploy the flow or flow group.
To deploy a flow or flow group:
On the Flows page, find the flow or flow group you want to deploy, and click on its menu (
).
Click Deploy Flow.
The status of the flow or flow group changes from Disabled to Live, and it will begin processing its submissions in a few minutes. When you deploy a flow group or the main flow in a flow group, all of its connected flows are deployed along with it.
Note that you can have multiple individual flows or flow groups deployed at once. Thus, you can have multiple live releases at the same time.
You cannot deploy an individual flow that is a subflow in a flow group. Instead, you need to deploy a flow group that includes that flow.
Disable a flow or flow group
If you want to stop submissions from being created against a flow or flow group, you can disable it until you're ready to create submissions through it again. Any submissions that are currently in progress in the flow or flow group will continue to be processed.
When you disable a flow group, all of the flows in the group are disabled. To learn more, see Connecting Flow Blocks to Other Flows.
To disable a flow or flow group:
On the Flows page, find the flow or flow group you want to disable, and click on its menu (
Click Disable Flow.
Click Disable in the dialog that appears.
The flow's status changes from "Live" to "Disabled," and it will not process submissions until you deploy it again.
Export a flow
If you need to move a flow to another environment or send it to Hyperscience for editing in your current instance, you can export it as a ZIP file. When you export a top-level flow from its details page, all of these flows are exported.
Export a single flow
You can export a single flow from the All Flows page (Flows > All Flows) or from the details page of a top-level flow.
To export a single flow from the All Flows page:
Find the flow you want to export, and click on its menu (
).Click Export.
To export a single flow from a top-level flow’s details page:
Find the flow card on the Top-level Flows page, and click its Open → link.
In the table under the flow diagram, find the flow you want to export, and click its Export link.
The flow is downloaded to your machine with the name "Flow-[Flow_name]-[Flow_UUID]-[YYYYMMDD_HHMM].zip," where:
"[Flow_name]" is the name of the exported flow,
“[Flow-UUID]” is its UUID, and
"[YYYYMMDD_HHMM]" is the date and time of the export in GMT.
The ZIP file includes:
a flows folder containing the flow’s JSON file, and
manifest.json, which contains metadata about the export.
If the flow has Custom Code Blocks, their Python files are also included in the ZIP file.
The exported flow does not contain:
client secrets entered in the Input Block or Output Block
Python packages that the flow depends on
Export a flow with dependent subflows
You can export a top-level flow from the Top-level Flows page (Flows > Top-level Flows) or from the details page for a top-level flow.
To export a flow with dependent subflows from the Top-level Flows page:
Find the top-level flow you want to export, and click on its menu (
).Click Export All Flows.
To export a top-level flow from its’ details page:
Find the flow card on the Top-level Flows page, and click its Open → link.
Click Export All Flows.
The flow group is downloaded to your machine with the name "Flow-[Top-level_Flow_name]-[Top-level_Flow_UUID]-with-dependencies-[YYYYMMDD_HHMM].zip," where:
"[Flow_name]" is the name of the exported flow,
“[Flow-UUID]” is its UUID, and
"[YYYYMMDD_HHMM]" is the date and time of the export in GMT.
The ZIP file includes:
a flows folder containing each flow’s JSON file, and
manifest.json, which contains metadata about the export.
If any of the flows have Custom Code Blocks, their Python files are also included in the ZIP file in the files folder.
Exported flows do not contain:
client secrets entered in Input Blocks or Output Blocks
Python packages that the flows depend on
Import a flow
By importing one or more flows and subflows, you can add or update several flows to your instance.
If you import an updated version of a subflow that’s used by multiple flows, all occurrences of that flow are updated by the import.
You can import several flows at once, even if they’re not a dependency on a bundled top-level flow. You can also import multiple top-level flows with their own dependent subflows at the same time.
Import an updated version of a flow or set of flows
On the Top-level Flows page or All Flows page, click Import Flow.
You can also click Import New Version in the upper-right corner of a top-level flow’s details page or Import for a single flow on a top-level flow details page. The steps are the same no matter which of these places you start the import from.
Do one of the following:
Drag and drop flow ZIP or JSON files into the dialog box.
Click Choose File to find and open the file on your machine. Repeat this step for any additional files you want to import.
Click Next.
If problems are detected, the system shows an error message for each issue that needs to be fixed. Click the call to action for an error to fix it, if provided (e.g., Go to Model Management, if you’re updating a live flow). You can also click Copy all errors to download the error messages for future troubleshooting. When you’re ready to continue, click Next. You can also click Cancel to end the import process.
Review the list of flows that will be overwritten by the import, and then click Next. Or, click Cancel to end the import process.
Review each changed file by clicking its name in the left-hand sidebar.
Files whose code has been updated have counts next to their names that indicate how many lines have been added or deleted in the imported version.
If the imported version contains a file that is not present in the current flow, "New" appears next to its name.
If the imported version does not contain a file that is present in the current flow, "Deleted" appears next to its name.
If an imported version of a file has a different name than the current file, the name of the current file is crossed out, and the name of the imported file is shown next to it.
If a file has a caution sign next to its name (
), at least one of the current and imported files is not UTF-8 encoded, and you cannot compare the differences between the two. You can still import the updated version of the file.
Click Approve to finish importing the new versions of the flows included in the import. Or, click Cancel to end the import process.
If you clicked Approve, a confirmation message appears, listing the flows that have been updated by the import.
Click Done.
Import a new flow or set of flows to your instance
On the Top-level Flows page or All Flows page, click Import Flow.
Do one of the following:
Drag and drop flow JSON files or ZIP files into the dialog box.
Click Choose Files to find the file on your machine. Repeat this step for any additional files you want to import.
Click Next.
If problems are detected, the system shows an error message for each issue that needs to be fixed. Click the call to action for an error to fix it, if provided. You can also click Copy all errors to download the error messages for future troubleshooting. When you’re ready to continue, click Next. You can also click Cancel to end the import process.
Review the list of new flows that will be created by the import, and then click Next. Or, click Cancel to end the import process.
Review the code that will be imported. If everything is as expected, click Approve. Otherwise, click Cancel to end the import process.
If you clicked Approve, a confirmation message appears, listing the new flows that have been created by the import.
Click Done.
Duplicate a flow or flow group
If you want to create a flow or flow group that’s very similar to one of your current flows or flow groups, you may find it helpful to duplicate the flow or flow group that most closely matches the one you'd like to create. You may also want to duplicate a flow or flow group to create a "testing" version of the duplicated flow or flow group.
To duplicate a flow or flow group:
On the Flows page, find the flow or flow group you want to duplicate, and click on its menu (
).
Click Duplicate Flow.
The duplicated flow or flow group appears on the Flows page with the name "[Duplicated flow] (Copy)," where "[Duplicated flow]" is the name of the duplicated flow or flow group.
Archive a flow or flow group
If you don't need a flow or flow group anymore, you can archive it so that it does not appear on the Flows page.
You cannot archive the following kinds of flows:
Live flows. If you need to archive a flow, disable it first.
Individual flows that are subflows in flow groups
When you archive a flow group, you archive its main flow and any of the group’s subflows that are not in any other flow groups.
To archive a flow or flow group:
On the Flows page, find the flow or flow group you want to archive, and click on its menu (
).
Click Archive Flow.
In the dialog that appears, click Archive.
The flow or flow group is removed from the Flows page.
Unarchive a flow or flow group
If you need to deploy an archived flow or flow group, you can do so by following the steps below:
Go to the Flows page, and in the Flow Status drop-down list, select Archived Flows.
Any flows or flow groups archived in your instance are added to the list of flows.
Find the name of the flow or flow group you want to unarchive, and click on its menu (
).
Click Restore Flow.
In the dialog box that appears, click Restore.
The flow or flow group is restored with a status of Disabled. To deploy it, follow the steps in Deploy a flow.