Tools

Introduction

Cyclr provides a number of general tools you can use in your Templates and Cycles and that aren’t related to specific Connectors.

They are:

Tool	Purpose
Decision	Allows data to be split to follow different paths through an integration.
Delay	Allows a pause to be added to an integration flow.
Wait Until	Allows you to hold processing until a specific data/time has been reached.
Wait All	Allows you to add closing steps when an integration has been processing an array of transactions in parallel.
Annotation	Allows you to annotate your integrations and make notes in the Builder.
Switch	This tool is currently in beta. Please contact the Cyclr Support Desk if you have any feedback you wish to share when using it. Similar to a Decision Step, but allows data to be split into multiple different “cases” to follow separate paths through an integration.

Decisions

Decision steps are used to split the data in your integrations and to send it separately down a True or False branch.

Setting up a Decision step

Decisions work by comparing a Left Operand to a Right Operand; in other words, it looks for a value in your data and compares it - using a condition you specify - to another value.

Click and drag a Decision Step into your cycle and connect it where you wish to split the data, then click its cog Step Setup button.

From within the Decision Step’s Step Setup:

• Choose a previous step and one of its fields; this is your Left Operand.

• Choose a Condition from the dropdown, such as: Exists, Not Exists, Equals, Not Equals.

• Choose your Right Operand. This can be the value of a previous step’s field or a value you enter.

In the screenshot example below, the fields would be:
Left Operand: Name
Condition: Equals
Right Operand Smith

The result is that contacts with the last name of “Smith” are routed down the Decision Step’s True branch, and all other contacts will go down the False branch.

To create more advanced logic, you can chain multiple Decision steps together.

IMPORTANT NOTE

Decision steps only filter the data on Steps they reference. Take the example illustrated below:

• Step 3 has fields mapped from Step 1 and Step 2.

• Only Step 2’s results are being filtered by a decision step.

• Any data from Step 1 will always reach Step 3, regardless of the results of Step 2 and filtering on the Decision Step.

Delay

Delay steps added to a cycle, will execute without any scheduled delays. Connecting a Delay between two steps will allow you to set a fixed time that Cyclr should wait before it executes the next step.

To set up a Delay step:

1. Click-drag a Delay from the logic section of the builder’s right sidebar.

2. Connect the Delay step between two steps.

3. Select the Step setup icon, enter an integer, and select a unit of time from the dropdown. The options available are:

   • Seconds

   • Minutes

   • Hours

   • Days

   • Weeks

Note: You can also pause for a period based on a date field in your data. For example, when a contact’s subscription is due for renewal. To do this, you should use a Wait Until step.

Wait Until

You can use a Wait Until step in two ways.

Wait for a specific date

For example, you can set a step to wait until the date of an event or webinar you are running.

In the Step Setup popup, select the Type a Value option and choose a date/time using the calendar and dropdown combination.

Wait until dynamic date in your data

For example, you can set it to a variable such as a contact’s subscription renewal date.

In the Step Setup popup, select a step from the first dropdown, then a field from the second. The field should be a date.

Wait All

A Wait All Step waits for all Transactions running in a Cycle to complete before moving on and executing the Steps that appear after it.

This can be useful when working with Collection Splitting where multiple Transactions are moving independently through a Cycle and there are Steps you wish to run after they’ve been completed.

Shortly after all “In Progress” Transactions have completed in a Cycle, a single new Transaction is created on the Wait All Step to execute any remaining Steps placed after it.

In the example above, contacts from Salesforce will be split into individual Transactions. Each Transaction contains one contact and will be created in either List A or B in MailChimp depending on the Decision step result.

After all contacts have been processed, the Step following the Wait All will be executed. This will post a message on Slack to notify users that the data import has finished.

Notes on use

• Wait All Steps consider the first Step in a Cycle to be important as they typically retrieve the data that will be processed. If the first Step in a Cycle fails to execute successfully, Cyclr won’t continue from the Wait All Step as a result.

• Avoid setting your Cycle to run too frequently as the Wait All Step only continues once there are no “In Progress” Transactions running on the Cycle, regardless of when and how they were started.

• A Wait All Step effectively splits a Cycle into 2 parts: Steps that come before the Wait All and Steps that come after it. Because of this, Steps placed after a Wait All are not able to map from Steps that come before it.

• You don’t need to connect all Steps to a Wait All to have it fire. Decision Steps and Methods that have True and False Exits can’t prevent a Wait All functioning by not linking their Exits to it. The Wait All will still fire once all “In Progress” Transactions have been completed.

Annotation

These Steps allow you to document your integrations.

Editing an Annotation Step lets you enter text that could explain a particularly involved part of an integration or give an overview to your colleagues so they can easily understand its purpose and how it functions.

Switch

This tool is currently in beta.
Please contact the Cyclr Support Desk if you have any feedback you wish to share when using it.

Switch steps are used to split data in your integrations and to send it separately down several case branches.

allows data to be split into different cases to follow different paths through an integration.

Setting up a Switch step

Switches work by comparing a Left Operand to the Cases specified using an equality condition; in other words, it looks for a value in your data and compares it with the cases using an equality condition. If the data matches one of the cases specified, that path will be followed down the branch but if not, the default path is followed.

The text matching performed between the Left Operand and Cases is case-insensitive so uppercase and lowercase differences are ignored, e.g.:

a Left Operand value of Example , EXAMPLE and eXaMpLe would all match a Case of example.

Click and drag a Switch Step into your cycle and connect it where you wish to split the data, then click its Step Setup button.

From within the Switch’s Step Setup:

• Choose an previous Step from the Source dropdown, then a choose from the Field dropdown; this is your Left Operand.

• Add a new Case.

• Notice there is an existing case added to your step called default.

In the screenshot example below, the fields would be:

For all data not matched with the cases specified, the default path is followed.