Call Guide action

Use the Call Guide action in:

• Active links
• Filters

The Call Guide action starts a filter guide or an active link guide that is not an entry point. For example, you might have a guide that runs a series of active links to get information from the user, or a guide that walks a table field when the user clicks a button on a form. To start that guide, you create an active link that contains a Call Guide action. For more information about active link guides and filter guides, see Creating and managing fields.

Active links and filters that execute in the context of guides are triggered by the guide and not by their Execute On conditions. When a guide executes an active link or filter, any Execute On conditions are ignored. The Call Guide action triggers the first or the specified active link or filter in the guide and every active link or filter that follows.

You can use the Call Guide action to "loop" through the rows of a table field (also known as "table walk"). For more information, see Using active link guides in client-side table fields.

To define a Call Guide action

1. Right-click the If Action or the Else Action panel header.
2. Select Add Action > Call Guide.
3. From the Data Source list, select SERVER or SAMPLE DATA:
   • To call a guide that exists on a server to which you are logged in, select SERVER, and go to step a.
     For filters, you cannot select a different server. The called guide must exist on the current server.
   • To enable the server (active links only) and guide to be specified at runtime, select SAMPLE DATA, and go to step b.
   1. (Data Source is SERVER) Select the Server (active links only) where the guide exists and the Guide Name to call.
      • Servers that appear in the Server Name list are those to which you are currently logged in.
      • To select the Guide Name, click the ellipsis, and then select from the list of available guides.
        For active links, the Available Active Link Guides list includes all active link guides on the server you selected. For filters, the Available Filters List includes all filters on the current server.
        For active link guides, if the guide being called is not connected to the form where the active link is running, a new window opens.
   2. (Data Source is SAMPLE DATA) Define the variables that will determine the server and guide name at runtime:
      • For active links, enter an expression in the Runtime Server Value field to determine the server name at runtime.
      • In the Runtime Guide Value field, enter an expression to determine the guide name at runtime.
        For example, enter the keyword variable $SERVER$ in Runtime Server Value and the field variable $GuideName$ in Runtime Guide Value. Use the typing assistant or click the ellipsis and use the Field/Keyword Selector dialog box.
        For more information about using the SAMPLE DATA data source, see Using a dynamic data source or destination in workflow.
4. In the Table Loop field, select the appropriate option:
   • If the Call Guide action is not a table-loop action, select None.
   • If this Call Guide action will loop through the rows of a table, select All Rows or Selected Rows Only (active links only).
     For active link guides, the Selected Rows Only option can significantly improve the performance of table loop guides because the looping action is performed only on the selected rows, and not on every row in the table field.
     For information about using table loop guides, including additional performance tips, see Using active link guides in client-side table fields and Using a filter guide to loop through a table field.
   • If this Call Guide action will loop through all visible rows, select All Visible Rows (active links only).
     If the table is not content clipped, the All Visible Rows option is the same as All Rows. Visible rows do not include any deleted rows which are in the visible row range.
5. Save the active link or filter.

   Warning

   BMC Remedy AR System does not allow a Call Guide action that calls the guide itself. However, BMC Remedy AR System allows recursive call guides; for example, CallGuide1 calls CallGuide2, and then CallGuide2 calls CallGuide1. You can create this scenario, but be aware that an infinite loop can occur. If this happens, the mid tier generates a Sun JavaScript error.