Types of modules

Adobe Workfront Fusion distinguishes five types of modules: action modules, search modules, trigger modules, aggregators, and iterators. Aggregators and Iterators are for advanced scenarios.

Access requirements

You must have the following access to use the functionality in this article:

Adobe Workfront plan*

Pro or higher
Adobe Workfront license*

Plan, Work
Adobe Workfront Fusion license**

Workfront Fusion for Work Automation and Integration

Product Your organization must purchase Adobe Workfront Fusion as well as Adobe Workfront to use functionality described in this article.

To find out what plan, license type, or access you have, contact your Workfront administrator.

For information on Adobe Workfront Fusion licenses, see Adobe Workfront Fusion licenses.

Action modules

Action modules are the most common type of module. A typical action module returns a single bundle, which then passes on to the next module for processing.

Unlike trigger modules, action modules can be placed at the beginning, middle or end of a scenario. Scenarios can contain an unlimited number of action modules.

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Examples:

  • Workfront > Upload a file sends a file to Workfront and returns its identifier.
  • Image > Resize receives an image, resizes it to specified dimensions, and passes the resized image on to the next action.

The Action type has four subtypes: Create, Read, Update, and Delete. The Update subtype enables the following three operations:

  • Erase the content of a field. This operation takes place when the content of the field is evaluated to erase keyword (not to be confused with empty).

  • Leave the content of a field unchanged. This operation takes place when the field is left empty or the content of the field is evaluated to empty (represented via null in JSON).

  • Replace the content of a field. This operation takes place in all other cases than those two described above.

NOTE
  • If you do not see the erase keyword in the mapping panel, the module is not an update module or it has not been updated to the latest specifications for the app.
  • “Empty” doesn’t change the field content. If it is necessary to erase the field, you can use the following formula:

Leaving a field unchanged when its content is evaluated as empty is currently not possible.

Search modules

A typical Search returns zero, one, or more bundles, which then pass on to the next module for processing.

You can place Searches at the beginning, middle, or end of a scenario.

Scenarios can contain an unlimited number of Searches.

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Example:

Workfront > Read Related Records reads records that match the search query you specify, in a particular parent object

Trigger modules

Triggers generate bundles when there has been a change in a given service. The change can be a creation of new records, deletion of a records, update of a records, and so on.

Every Trigger can return zero, one, or more bundles which then pass on to the next module for processing.

Triggers can be placed only at the beginning of a scenario.

Each scenario can contain only one Trigger.

Workfront Fusion distinguishes between two types of triggers: Polling triggers and Instant triggers.

Polling triggers

Polling triggers regularly poll a given service even if there has been no change since their previous run. We recommend that you schedule a scenario containing a polling trigger to run at regular intervals. If there is a change, the trigger returns bundles containing information about the change. If there is no change, the trigger does not output any bundles. For instructions on scheduling a scenario, see Schedule a scenario in Adobe Workfront Fusion.

Polling triggers allow you to select the first bundle that they should output via the epoch panel. The panel displays automatically after you save a trigger or change the trigger settings. For more information, see Choose where a trigger module starts in Adobe Workfront Fusion.

NOTE

Settings made in the epoch panel affect only the first execution of the module. Once the module is executed, it remembers the last outputted bundle and voids the settings made via the epoch panel.

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Examples:

  • Workfront > Watch records returns files that were newly added since the last time the scenario was run

  • Google Sheets > Watch Rows returns new rows added by the user since the last time the scenario was run

Instant triggers

Instant triggers enable the service to notify Workfront Fusion about a change immediately. We recommend that you schedule a scenario containing an instant trigger to run immediately. For instructions, see Schedule a scenario in Adobe Workfront Fusion. See also Instant triggers (webhooks) in Adobe Workfront Fusion for details on how the incoming data is handled.

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Examples:

  • Workfront > Watch Events returns information when a certain type of event occurs in Workfront, such as the creation of a task.
  • Google Sheets > Watch Changes returns information whenever a cell is updated.

Aggregators

An Aggregator is a type of module that accumulates multiple bundles into one single bundle.

Every Aggregator returns only one bundle, which then passes on to the next module for further processing.

You can place Aggregators only in the middle of a scenario.

Scenarios can contain an unlimited number of aggregators.

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Examples:

  • Archive > Create an archive compresses received files into a zip archive
  • CSV > Aggregate to CSV merges multiple strings from a CSV file into a single row
  • Tools > Text aggregator combines several strings together into one single string

For more information, see Aggregator module in Adobe Workfront Fusion.

Iterators

An Iterator is a type of module that splits arrays into multiple separate bundles.

Every iterator returns one or more bundles, which then pass on to the next module for processing.

You can place Iterators only in the middle of a scenario.

Scenarios can contain an unlimited number of iterators.

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Example:

Email > Retrieve attachments breaks an array of attachments into separate bundles

For more information, see Iterator module in Adobe Workfront Fusion and Map an array in Adobe Workfront Fusion.

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