8: Defining a Counter (Container Operation)

Use

To determine whether all the bookings were successful or not, you want to compare the number of booking messages with the number of confirmation messages in a later step in the business process.

To do so, in the process container, define an element as a counter for the booking messages sent. Also, define a container operation that increases the count by 1 for each message sent.

Procedure

Defining a Container Element

1. To define the container element in the process container, click an empty point in the editing area (ensure no block is selected).
2. Define the container element for the counter as follows:
   • Name: MsgCount
   • Category: XSD Simple Type
   • Type: xsd:integer
   • Container: shows Process

Defining a Container Operation

1. Insert a container operation () after the send step.
2. Enter IncreaseCount as the step name.
3. To increase the MsgCount message counter by 1 each time a message is sent, define the step properties as follows:
   1. Double-click Target.
   2. In the expression editor, choose MsgCount.
   3. In the step properties, select Assign in the Operation field.
   4. Double-click Expression, and then in the expression editor choose MsgCount.
   5. In the step properties, select + in Operator field.
   6. Double-click Expression and define the constant 1:
      1. In the expression editor, select Constant.
      2. Enter the value 1.
      3. In the Type field, select xsd:integer.

More Information:

Container Operation

XSD Data Types