Watch this video for a general Warewolf Studio Orientation. You will learn how to create a new service, how to configure your variables, how the Debug works, and how to execute your web service. You will also learn how to make use of the extensive help inside Warewolf.
When you first open Warewolf Studio, by default, the Hello World microservice is opened in the designer.
The starting point of everything is in the left hand menu. Next to each of the buttons is a label that describes briefly what the button does. You can set the Toolbar open or closed by clicking the Unlock Menu button.
All the services in the Explorer, and the Tools in the Toolbox, work by drag and drop. You simply drag your tools onto the design surface, and you’re ready to configure.
The flow-based designer is a design surface that has a Start node, and follows a path until it reaches the last item in a flow, where it stops. If you look at the connector leading off the Start node, you will see a small arrow indicator at the end of the connector. The arrow indicator denotes the direction of the flow.
You select items on the design surface and move them as you see fit. When you move items, the connector lines automatically adjust themselves.
Apart from the green Start node, everything else on the design surface is a tool or connector that has been dragged onto the design surface from the Toolbox, or as a Resource from the Explorer, and connected into the flow using the connecting arrows.
Once you have configured your flow, next you check your inputs and output in the Variables box. The variable list is a central place to manage and understand the data used in a service or microservice. Variables can be added directly to the list or automatically after typing them on the design surface.
To mark a variable as an input into the service, select the Input checkbox next to the variable name in the list. To mark a variable as output for a service, select the Output checkbox next to the variables name in the list.
In the Output box you will see the result of your debugged service. Warewolf debugging refers to executing a service or microservice from the Studio in Debug mode. When a service is executed in this way the Server emits debug information which shows the input and output of each activity that is executed in the service, this information is then displayed by the Studio which allows tracing of how data moved through each activity.
You can execute your service from anywhere, using this URL lat the top of the design surface.
Warewolf has extensive help available for you:
- Warewolf has context sensitive help for most items that you can click on that displays in the window in the bottom left corner.
- You can browse the Examples folder inside the Explorer directly, and open the example workflows you need. The Examples folder has several example apps and services that you can explore and learn from.
- Clicking the Help button on the toolbar will open the extensive Warewolf Knowledge Base directly in your browser.
