Adding New Task Step Destinations

By inserting new step destinations, you can supply alternate navigation paths for your task. Instead of recording a branch using the standard workflow, you can bypass a recorded screen by inserting a new step destination for the task step. This opens up a different navigation flow, in essence creating a "shortcut" for your task.

When you insert a new step destination, the new step destination displays in the Task Steps tree under the selected task step.

In this example, from task Step 7, depending on your task inputs, your task will navigate to either Step 8 or the new step destination, Step 2.

To insert a new step destination

Select the task step to which you want to insert a new step destination.

From the Step menu, select Advanced, then Insert Step Destination.

The Insert Step Destination dialog box displays. The dialog box contains a list of all available step destinations.

Because a step destination appears on the list of available step destinations, does not mean that it is a valid destination for your selected step. Use caution when inserting new step destinations into your task.

Choose a valid step destination. Click OK.
The inserted step destination is added to the task step tree, along with the other step destinations for the selected task step.
Since a step can have only one transient step destination, if the selected task step already has a transient step destination, then other transient steps will not be added to the list of available step destinations.
Test your task to verify that the inserted step destination is valid.

Creating Task Loops

You can create task loops by adding or changing a task's step destination to link to a previously executed step. This will create a task loop.

Task loops can be advantageous, especially when combined with custom steps. Looping within a custom step provides a substantial performance advantage by using the Runtime Service to quickly navigate screens and process recognition rules.

Looping is an advanced feature. First, you must understand how the navigation engine works, and second, you must pay careful attention to how you terminate the loop. It is easy to create loops that never end.

Ending Task Loops

Loops can be stopped only when a change is introduced that causes a new screen to be recognized. This is usually accomplished in one of three ways:

A new transition action is returned from a custom step. This can be based on data on the screen or perhaps an internal iteration count.
A custom step returns false from the isRecognized method. This is also usually based on screen data or perhaps an internal iteration count.
The host simply returns a new screen.

Defining the correct recognition rule is crucial to correctly stopping the loop. There must be at least one step in your loop that contains multiple Step Destinations, and recognition rules for the destination steps will ultimately allow the loop to be exited.

If a loop is detected, from the toolbar, click Cancel Task Test or choose Cancel Task Test from the Task menu. Of course, a direct disconnect or logoff from the host will always stop a loop.


	Using Advanced Navigation, Overview