View and manage state machines

The View and manage state machines page displays the state machines currently configured in the Platform and to which you have access. What you can see and do in this page is determined by your privileges. If you cannot see or take actions that you think you should be able to access, contact your Platform administrator.

By default, the table displays all state machines defined in the Platform to which you have access. If your Platform has many state machines and you want to search for one or more specific state machines, click the arrow next to Filter at the top of the page ( $image\icon_filterexprules_right_arrow.gif$ ) and specify search criteria. Note that the text fields accept wildcard characters (* and ?) For details about using this search area, refer to the topic, Searching for State Machines.

By default the table displays the list of state machines in alphabetical order, by name. This table provides multiple column sorting capability. To learn how to use it, refer to the topic, Sorting by Multiple Columns.

You can control the number of table rows shown on each page of the table and navigate the table in different ways. For more information, refer to the topic, Navigating Tables for Expression Rules, State Machines, and Rule Timers.

The table of state machines on this page displays the following information for each state machine:

o State Machine -- the name assigned to the state machine when it was created. To the left of the name of each state machine is an icon ( $image\icon_display_expression_rules_details.gif$ ) that you can click to display the details for the state machine. In addition, if you have privileges to edit state machines, you can edit the state machine from the details display, or you can click the name of the state machine to display the Configure the state Machine page, where you can change the definition of the state machine, its states, and its expression rules, using the lists of variables, functions, and actions.

Note: When viewing state machines in a system with Delegated Administration enabled, the names of state machines may have prefixes; for details, refer to Names of Objects in DA Units.

o Description -- text concerning the purpose of the state machine and describing what action it will take. This information is provided by the user who creates (or edits) the state machine.

o Applies To -- the models and/or assets to which the state machine is applied. If no assets or models are selected, then the state machine applies to all assets, and this column displays the text, "[AppliesToAll]". When a state machine is applied to models and assets, then the following icons may also appear in this field:

$image\icon_expressionrules_individualassetsincluded.gif$ -- Individual Assets Included. This icon tells you that individual assets have been selected to be included when this state machine runs.

$image\icon_expressionrules_individualassetsexcluded.gif$ -- Individual Assets Excluded. This icon tells you that individual assets have been selected to be excluded when this state machine runs.

$image\icon_expressionrules_editassociations.gif$ -- Apply state machine to models and assets. This icon appears for all state machines. To change the current set of models and assets for this state machine, select this icon. The Apply this state machine to models and assets dialog box appears on top of this page.

o Enabled -- indication of whether the state machine is enabled (true) or disabled (false). When enabled, the state machine will be run for the selected models and included assets. When disabled, the state machine cannot run for any asset.

If a state machine is disabled, it may have been disabled because the Platform detected that one or more expression rules in that state machine are recursive and could potentially cause an infinite loop, or violate the Platform's execution policy In this event, the violation icon ( $image\recursion.gif$ ) appears in the Enabled column. To find out where the problem was detected, mouse over the icon, and read the information provided in the tool tip. Then click the icon to navigate to the Configure the state machine page. In this page, the State tree shows the same icon for the state and expression rule that caused the Platform to detect recursion. Edit the expression rule so that it is NOT recursive or doesn't violate Platform execution policies.

o $image\icon_checkbox_without_checkmark.gif$ -- the selection column contains a check box for each state machine, which allows you to select one or more state machines, and then enable, disable, or delete the selected state machines by clicking the appropriate button - Enable, Disable, or Delete. To enable, disable, or remove ALL state machines on this page, select the check box in the column heading, and then click the appropriate button. When prompted, select Yes to confirm the action or No to cancel it.

Procedures from this page

From this page, you can

o View details for a state machine

o Edit a state machine from within the table or from the Configure the state machine page

o Apply the state machine to models and assets

o Create a state machine

o Enable or disable a state machine

o Remove state machines from the Platform

Tip

It is possible for another user to make changes to state machines while you are viewing them and therefore, the table may not be displaying the most up-to-date information. The filter always updates the table from the Platform, so if you want to refresh the table and see the most up-to-date information for state machines, open the Filter area and click Clear.

See Also