Detour Functionality

[morningstar17]

The detour and detour end tools are great! They allow a user input to determine what stream of a workflow to continue down. I'm finding a use-case where I want to use the detour tools but instead of a user input to determine what stream to continue down, I want some a data input from my workflow to determine this. 

For example: If I have any null values for a given field, I would like my workflow to run down stream "A". However, if there are no nulls for that given field, I would like it to run down stream "B".

Is there a way to do this currently?

[cmcclellan]

A normal filter tool would do that right ?

Add a custom filter using ISNULL on the column you want to check and the flow will split depending on the NULL value or not.

[morningstar17]

Thanks for the reply cmmclellan! Unfortunately, the filter tool won't be able to serve this function. I don't want to split my table depending on a condition but rather want a condition to determine what happens to my data. 

Let me create an example to demonstrate. I work for Dunder Millflin Paper Co. My boss, Michael, has put me in charge of making sure that all paper orders get shipped out. I have a table that holds all of the orders for this month. I also have a table that holds all of our outbound shipments. When I join these two tables (Left Join on OrderID), I expect one of two scenarios:

1. I notice that all our our orders have corresponding shipments (no null values for ShipmentID). I want to output a table (and have it sent to Michael) that shows the top 10 customers so he can give them a call and thank them for their business

2. I notice that all our orders have not been fulfilled! (some null values for ShipmentID) I want to output a table (and have it sent to Michael) that shows these orders that have not yet been shipped.

I do NOT want both email to get sent out (just one or the other). I would like to pass a data driven true or false value to an action tool (as opposed to an interface tool). Anybody know a way to do this?

[morningstar17 · Accepted solution]

I've figured it out! It looks like by using the control parameter tool and a batch macro, I was able to achieve the desired data driven detour. I've built the example that I wrote up in my last comment. Feel free to take a look!

[saurabhmathur1291]

Hi morningstar17,

Did you find a way to enable/disable a container based on a True/False value coming from the data (not from app Interface)?

Basically as you put it I would want to update the action tool(which will enable/disable the container) with True/False value coming from data. I can see many solutions using filters or using control parameter/batch macros, however for my requirement the containers I want to enable/disable have to be outside the macro as the 2 separate containers will be using different data sets, will have different calculations and will output different kind of reports using render.

So basically i don't want to split the data using filter or detour etc, I would like to enable/disable the containers based on value coming from data rather then from app interface(which is pretty straight forward). Please let me know if you can help me with this.