Learn how to pick up where you left off in your Tulip apps.
Batch processes may last many hours or many days. To enable an operator to pause work on a batch, and pick up where they left off at a later time consider the following solution recommendations.
There are two fundamental things you need to do to enable this:
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Variables are session-based, meaning that they are, by default, refreshed between each app execution with their pre-defined default values. If you need to store a parameter or a piece of information for use in another trigger later in the process, store it in a Tulip Table before exiting the app.
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In order to resume the App and navigate the operator to where they left off, store the App Step Name in a designated column in your Batches table. Do not store the App Step Name if the step is a modal or Common step (e.g. a step wherein an operator briefly logs a deviation). Use ‘On Step Enter’ or 'On Step Exit' triggers to save the App Info / Step Name to that designated column in your Batches table.
- You can put such a trigger in the Base Layout / Step level, however be sure to add conditions to NOT save the step name for modal/common steps as discussed earlier.
- Depending on your solution design, you may also need to store the App Info / App Name into its own designated column on your Batches table for use in Transitions.
When resuming the batch:
- For the scenario in which you need to use previously-stored process data from the Batches table (as discussed in 1 above) in some later Trigger (e.g. in a calculation), you can either:
- Design those latter triggers to read the value from the table directly (e.g. a table Record Placeholder's column)
- OR use 'Data Manipulation - Store' to save that process data back to their corresponding app variables.
- Use a Transition of 'Go to Step by Name' to return the Operator to the App Step Name stored in your Batches table (as discussed in 2 above)
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