Mapping / Selection / Data Types

Every step reads some values and writes others. Three ideas work together to make that happen: each value has a data type, you select which value feeds an input, and mapping is the wiring that connects values to the step. Get these right and data flows cleanly from one step to the next.

Data types

Every symbol - each named value in a process - has a type that says what kind of data it holds: text, a number, a date, a file, a yes/no, a user, an array, and so on. The type determines how a value can be used and which inputs it fits.

Arrays carry an element type as well - “an array of text”, “an array of line items” - so the engine knows the shape of each entry. See Symbols, Variables & Constants for the full list of types.

Selection

When you configure an input, you select what feeds it. That can be:

• an existing symbol - point the input at a value the process already holds,
• a fixed value - type a constant directly into the field, or
• a value drawn from a structured symbol - pick an item from an array or a field from an object.

Selecting a value, rather than hard-coding everything, is what lets one process react to different data each time it runs.

Mapping

Mapping is the wiring itself: connecting a step’s parameters (its inputs) to the values you selected, and its return values (its outputs) back to symbols so later steps can use them. Anything you don’t map back out isn’t kept.

You do this wiring in the builder, on the step and through its Data section.

Types have to match

Mapping connects two sides, and their types have to agree: an input that expects a date wants a date, an input that expects an array of line items wants exactly that. When the types line up, the value binds and the input is satisfied; when they don’t, the step flags it so you can fix the wiring before deploying.

Keep the type of a value stable once other steps depend on it - changing a symbol’s type can break the inputs that were mapped to it.

Related

• Symbols, Variables & Constants - the values and types you map.
• Parameters and Return Values - the inputs and outputs mapping connects.
• Data (Configuration Tab) - where values and data structures are defined.