A Subflow invokes another Subflow, but the step does not show Subflow Outputs as Data Pills

[William David]

When one Subflow (a Flow Designer or Process Automation object) calls another Subflow, and that called Subflow has outputs, the called Subflow's outputs should show up as Data Pills in the step of the calling Subflow. But I have a case where that is not happening and I need help figuring out why it is not happening.

The called Subflow's Outputs

The step in the calling Subflow which is not showing outputs as Data Pills.

[Sainath N]

@William David : I quickly tried your setup in my PDI, and I was able to get the outputs to the main flow.

Could you please make sure the other flow is published and refresh the main subflow screen and check if the outputs reflect.

Please mark this as correct answer and helpful if it resolved, or mark this helpful if this help you to reach towards solution.

[Amit Verma]

Hi @William David 

It should show up. I am able to get them on my PDI. Can you please try the below methods and see if it works :

1. Check if your sub-flow is published or not

2. Remove and add the sub-flow again in your flow

3. Check if after publishing your sub-flow, you can see the outputs being defined

Thanks & Regards

Amit Verma

[William David]

Everyone,

I believe I have found the answer. My child Subflow was executing, BUT one of the Subflow Inputs was passed a value that was of the wrong type (I passed it a String object, but it was defined to received a Date object) I corrected the deleted the child Subflow step, then recreated it, passing it variables of the correct Types. It appears that this has repaired the expression of the Subflow Outputs as Data Pills in step of the Parent Subflow.

Tuck this away for others who may experience the strange Data Pill behavior.

UPDATE: I spoke to soon, I am back to the original condition. I'll keep this thread informed.

[William David · Accepted solution]

Okay, this time it is not a false alarm, I solved the problem. Subflows have a "Wait For Completion" attribute. If it is "False", then the calling Flow/Subflow cannot guarantee that the outputs will be available at any particular date. So, I had that value set to "False", hence I could not see the Subflow Outputs as Data Pills. I think I had this happen once before, but it is so infrequently encountered I forgot about it. I consider myself reminded.