Build a PowerFlow

PowerFlows consist of a set of functional blocks that you connect together, enabling you to create step-by-step actions for execution. Each block performs a specific function. By combining different blocks, you can develop a customized application to address your media use case effectively.

Blocks are grouped into different categories such as Triggers, Flow Logic, and Developer Tools, to make them more accessible. For more in-depth information on each block, refer to the PowerFlow block reference.

Create a new PowerFlow

From the Home page, you can select one of the given flow starting templates, or you can create your own flow from scratch by clicking New PowerFlow.

The canvas

The canvas is your visual development environment. It allows you to view, edit, test, debug, and deploy your application.

The canvas has two available sidebars: Add Blocks and Logs.

The sidebars are accessible via the buttons in the Navigation Bar on the left.

Adding blocks

To add blocks:

1. From the Navigation Bar on the left, click the + to open the Add Blocks sidebar.
2. From the Add Blocks sidebar, select the block you want to use and drag it to the canvas.

Connecting blocks

Drag the blue dots to connect a block to the next block in the flow.

In the example below, the Move To Folder block is executed after the Manual Moderation block.

A block can be connected to multiple blocks. In the example below, once the Manual Moderation block executes successfully, both the Move To Folder and Send Email Using SendGrid blocks are executed in parallel.

Disconnecting blocks

You can disconnect blocks by first clicking on the line joining the blocks and then clicking on the little x that appears.

You can remove blocks from the canvas by clicking the (3-dots) menu that appears when you hover over a block, and selecting Remove.

Configuring a block

Click on a block's name to open its configuration sidebar where you can configure all the input fields for this block instance.

Inserting variables

You can set a block's input field using a fixed value or a variable. A variable can be an environment variable, a flow variable, a flow secret, or a response value from a previous block in the flow.

In the example below, the Metadata key field is a fixed value while the Metadata value field gets its value from the response of the Cloudinary Upload trigger block.

To set an input field with a variable:

1. Click the + button in an input field to find a variable.
2. Either search for the variable, or navigate the blocks and variable types to select the variable you want to use. The list of suggested block variables isn't comprehensive and only displays some of the more popular response values. If the response value you want doesn't appear in the list, you can add a custom variable.

Testing a flow

You can trigger a flow programmatically based on its trigger block. Additionally, you can manually trigger a flow directly from within the canvas in order to test it. This is extremely helpful while building or debugging a flow.

To manually trigger the flow, click the Test button above the canvas.

You can select the type of action to trigger by clicking on the cogwheel in the Test button, and then selecting the Action profile to execute. For example, if you use a DAM App trigger, you'll want to use the DAM App Action profile to trigger the flow.

You can customize each of the available Action profiles for your flow.

If your trigger is a Periodic Search Media or Scheduler block then you should configure the JSON action profile with the following:

Logs

Once a flow is executed, you can view the logs of the execution in the Logs sidebar:

1. From the Navigation Bar on the left, open the Logs sidebar. All executions will appear in the sidebar, including their execution time and status.
2. Click an execution to see the blocks that were executed.
3. Click any block to see the output of the block in that execution.

You can also review all past executions by clicking on the History logs icon at the top of the Logs sidebar.

Error notifications

For each flow you build, you can request the flow to send a notification to a URL if an error occurs.

To set up an error notification, in the canvas, click the drop-down on the right side of your Flow name and click the Error Notification option (you can also find this option in the (3-dots) menu for the flow in the Flows page).

The Error Notification Manager form opens, where you can set the URL address to send the HTTP request to, and any request headers required.

Enable and disable PowerFlows

You can enable and disable flows in the Flows page. Toggle the status for each flow.

Share a flow

You can share flows between different users and environments. Share a flow and import it to another MediaFlows environment if you want to connect it to a different product environment in your account. Share a flow with a colleague to allow them to reuse or extend your application in their own account.

Changes made to the imported flow don't impact the originally shared flow.

To share a flow, in the canvas, click the drop-down menu on the right side of your flow name and click the Share option (you can also find this option in the (3-dots) menu for the flow in the Flows page).

The shareable URL is copied to your clipboard, ready for you to send to a colleague, which they can then use to import the flow into their environment.

Import a flow

To import a flow, enter the shared URL in your browser, select the product environment into which you want to import this flow, and click the Try This Flow button.