Within Chain Builder, there are a few terms that are important to understand when creating Chains. Let’s define those terms and their use cases in one place to help simplify things! Be sure to check out Common Data Management Suite Term Definitions first.

Linking

When building Chains, it’s important to pay attention to the order in which Commands execute. The order of execution is established using Linking. Links are created when two Commands are connected to each other. The Command that executes first will always be the Command in the Start Area. Then, any Command linked out of the Start will happen in sequence. It’s important to pay attention to the order in which Commands execute. For example – when adding data to a Wdata Table, you want to make sure that you are creating the file before importing to table. You can also build out branching using linking, meaning you can have multiple Commands linked out of a single Command, which kicks off all subsequent Commands at the same time. This creates efficiencies in your Chain by running tasks in parallel. You can also set up Link Conditions to tell your Chain which path to follow based on the status of the prior Command. Link Conditions are helpful when building error handling in your Chains.

Command Inputs

Command inputs are the details outlined in the Command that tell the individual task how to execute. Command inputs are established when each Command is configured. For example – when configuring a Command to upload data to a Wdata Table, you will need to fill in the inputs with the Table ID where the data will be added and the data set that will be imported.

Command Outputs

A Command Output is what is generated after a Command executes based on the Command inputs. Outputs can contain files, text, integers, dates, and more. Once two Commands have been linked together, you can use the output from prior Commands as the inputs for subsequent Commands. For example – you may be downloading a file in one Command and then adding that file to a Wdata Table in the next Command. When building out these steps in a Chain, you will link then two Commands together, then use the downloaded file output from the download file Command as the input for the Create File Command.

Variables

A Variable is a value that is passed through to a Chain run. Variables are useful when building Chains where the same value is used multiple times, so rather than inputting that value multiple times, you will select the variable and that value will be passed through to the Chain. Common variables include: Table ID, Spreadsheet ID, File Name, and more. There are multiple types of variables that can be used within a Chain, learn more about those types here.