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Global variables

Global variables hold values that several workflows share, and the credentials workflows use to reach other systems: endpoints, client IDs, API keys, connection strings. Keeping them out of the workflow definition means you can change a value in one place, and a credential never appears in a workflow export. You need global-variables.view to see global variables and global-variables.manage to change them.
Global variables grid with columns Key, Value, Secret and Actions, listing plain variables such as CLAIMS-CLIENT-ID and DefaultSourceSystem with their values and secret variables such as CLAIMS-CLIENT-SECRET with masked values

Global variables for the example workflows. Client IDs and tenant IDs are plain values; client secrets and the connection string are secret, so their values are never shown.

Open Global variables, add a row with the + button, enter its Key and Value, and choose Save changes. A saved change applies to the next lookup.

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Secret variables

Select Secret when you create a variable that holds a credential. A secret’s value is stored in the environment’s secret store, not in the ContentFlow database. It is never shown again or included in exports.
  • You can only choose Secret when you create the variable. To change a plain variable into a secret, delete it and create it again.
  • A secret’s key can contain only letters, digits and -, and cannot be renamed.
  • To change a secret’s value, type the new value; leaving the field blank keeps the current one.
  • Deleting a secret variable also deletes the stored secret.
Steps that take a credential, such as the client secret of a webhook callback, ask for the name of a global variable rather than the value. Make that variable secret. See Authenticate with OAuth client credentials.

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Use a global variable

ContentFlow global variables, Workflow Engine variables, and Script Engine variables and secrets are separate stores. A value added to one is not available to the others.
Anyone who can write an expression can read every global variable, secrets included, from inside a run. Treat workflows.manage and mappers.manage as access to the credentials stored here.

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Expression tester

The Expression tester runs a C# expression or script against a sample document, so you can work out an expression before you put it into a step. You need playground.view to open it.
Expression tester with an Expression (C#) editor, example buttons, a Sample document tab with JSON, and a result area showing Compiled, Ran, Returns String and Document unchanged above the returned value

The expression tester running the Read a document property example against its sample document. The result shows that it compiled, ran, returned a string, and left the document unchanged.

Start from an example, or write your own, and edit the sample document on the Sample document tab. Run expression shows whether the expression compiled and ran, its type, and its returned value. Document after run shows any change the expression made. Running an expression needs workflows.manage or mappers.manage, because the code runs with the environment’s identity. Without either, the tester only checks whether the expression compiles. The same compile check, completion and type information are available in the workflow editor’s expression editor.

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Call other systems from a script

A Script step, and any expression, can call another system’s API through the http helper. It reuses connections, and it caches OAuth client-credentials tokens across runs, so a large batch does not request a token per document. If the API answers 401, the helper fetches a fresh token and retries once. This script reads a customer’s segment from a CRM API and stores it on the item for a later step. Every credential and endpoint comes from a global variable:
GetWithClientCredentialsAsync throws an error that fails the step on any other non-success response, while SendWithClientCredentialsAsync leaves the response for your script to inspect. When the call is a single request with a fixed shape, prefer the Http Request step: it is visible on the canvas and needs no code.

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System settings

The System page holds settings that apply to the whole environment. You need system.view to see them and system.manage to change them.
  • Clear cache makes ContentFlow read global variables and system settings afresh. A saved change to a global variable already applies at once, so use this when values were changed outside the application.
  • Nobly Insight upload request limit caps how many uploads all workflows together may run against Nobly Insight at the same time, from 1 to 30. Each workflow can have a lower limit of its own on its Settings tab. Agree on changes with the people responsible for Nobly Insight’s capacity.

States and recovery

Follow runs and batches, read what each run did and sent, and rerun failures once the cause is fixed.