Data paths serve as read and write accessors to workflow data of a process instance.
You can set Data Path in the properties panel of a process definition. Click the Data Path icon
on the left side of the properties panel of a process. The
Data Paths panel opens with according property fields.
To add a data path, click the Add
icon below the
Data Path list. A new data path with a default name is created. You can now enter the required
properties.

Figure: New Data Path
To delete a data path, select it in the data path list and click the Delete
icon in the toolbar.

Figure: Deleting a Data Path
Data path entries can be reordered by using the Move Up
and Move Down
icons accordingly.
The following general properties are available for data paths:
In or Out direction for the data path from the
drop-down list

Figure: Select Direction
To specify which data the data path references, select a data from the drop-down list in the Data field. Only data elements from the current model are available for selection.

Figure: Select Data
In the Path field you can determine the data path for a data, if applicable.

Figure: Add a valid access path for the data
Note that no validation is performed on a data path entered for data other than structured data. If the value is not valid, it is simply ignored.
If you use structured data types, the Path field provides auto-completion facility for composite structures. If you click in the field, a list with all available data paths opens to select from.

Figure: Select Data Path
The hierarchy has to be delineated with a dot, as shown in the following screenshots:

Figure: Nested Data Structure
To visualize process data in the Stardust Portal, e.g. in process tables, define a data path as descriptor by selecting the Descriptor checkbox. Note that only In-data paths can be defined as descriptors, the option is disabled for Out-data paths.
To define a key descriptor for a process, select the Key Descriptor option. Please refer to chapter Working with Data Paths Working with Data Paths of the Modeling Guide Modeling Guide in the Stardust Documentation for details on working with key descriptors.
Note that this option is available only for descriptors of type Standard.
You can specify which type of descriptor your data path should use. In the Type drop-down list, you
can choose between Standard, Composite and Link.

Figure: Select Type
Composite descriptors are descriptors that are composed of multiple In-data paths and/or configuration variables, optionally combined with some text.
In case you select the Composite type for a descriptor, a field Value
is available, where you can enter a composition of multiple data paths. You may enter mixed text and references
to other in-data paths. The expression is stored in the access path component of the data path.
References are in the format %{otherDataPathId}. Note that a composite data path may reference another
composite data path.
Circular references are not prohibited, but an evaluation will ignore loops. For example, a set of references
A -> B -> A will be evaluated as A -> B only.
A deployment warning is displayed in case of circular references.

Figure: Circular references warning
In case a data path used in the descriptor does not exist, an error message appears during model deployment.

Figure: Deployment Warning for non-existing referenced data path
For example if you have a data path for a customer name and a data path for a product, but you like to have both in one descriptor, you could enter
Customer %{Customer} - ordered product: %{Product}
as composition of both data paths combined with some text.

Figure: Composite Descriptor example
The output of this descriptor in a Process table would look similar as in the following screenshot:

Figure: Composite Descriptor example output in Process Table
In the following example, we create a composite data path, which references the composite data path we created above and combines it with another in-data path.
%{OrderDetails} - %{CustomerId}
Additional to the composite data path OrderDetails, a data path containing the Customer Id is appended.

Figure: Combination with Composite Descriptor
The output of the descriptors in a Process table would look similar as in the following screenshot:

Figure: Combination with Composite Descriptor
In this example, we reference an in-data path and a configuration variable. A configuration variable
CompanyName is defined for our example model with default value FIS.

Figure: Configuration Variable CompanyName
An in-data path Product does exist for our process. We create a composite descriptor combining this data path with the configuration variable by adding the following:
%{Product} provided by ${CompanyName}

Figure: Composite descriptor using the configuration variable
The descriptor is displayed with the value of the in-data path for Product combined with the value of the configuration variable CompanyName.

Figure: Example descriptor values displayed in a table
Link descriptors can be composed of link text and URL that is optionally parameterizable with other In-data paths.
Use format %{otherDataPathId} to reference other In-data paths. References are allowed for
the Link text as well as the Value field. Similar as for composite descriptor types,
you can also reference other composite data paths.
In the following example, we like to use a descriptor with a link pointing to Stardust documentation for a specific release. The minor and major version of this release will be provided by two in-data paths Major and Minor. We enter the following text for the link descriptor in the Text field:
Documentation %{Major}.%{Minor}
In the Value field we enter the URL of the documentation pointing to the release with the version determined by the in-data paths Major and Minor.
https://infinity.sungard.com/documentation/ipp/%{Major}.%{Minor}/index.jsp

Figure: Link Path URL
The according descriptors in a Process table would provide the link with the link text as in the following screenshot:

Figure: Link Descriptors displayed in a Process Table
Clicking the link text opens the link in a separate window.

Figure: Opening the descriptor link
During model deployment, it is checked if the given URL for a link path is valid. In case it does not follow a valid URL pattern, a warning is displayed accordingly.

Figure: Warning for invalid URL
In case you use a descriptor which maps to a primitive date of type Date, you can decide if the time component should be displayed along with the date in the Portal tables. Select or de-select option Hide Time accordingly.

Figure: Descriptor mapping to a Date Primitive Data
The following screenshot shows how two descriptors mapping to the same data but with different Hide Time options are displayed in a table.

Figure: Descriptors displayed with the two different options
If you set up a descriptor which maps to a primitive data of type Date and Time Plus Time Zone, you can decide whether the descriptor date should or should not adjust to the local time zone. Select or de-select option Do Not Adjust for Local Time Zone accordingly.

Figure: Descriptor mapping to a Date Time Primitive Data
You have the option to provide the total count of attached documents for a process definition as descriptor. To make the number of attached documents available as descriptor, perform the following steps:


documentCount in the Path field

Now the count of process attachments is displayed in the Descriptor column in your Portal process tables, e.g.:

Figure: Document count displayed in a Process Table
You can view it also in the specific document count descriptor column, e.g.:

Figure: Document count displayed in a Process Table