Notes on References

References are a way to store data on the fly and use it later in other parts of a flow. They can also be used to generate dynamic results as references are always function calls.

To store a reference in a flow, the usual practice is to use a branch to create a reference. This can be done by sequencer components. These components exists for messages, memories, properties and timer inputs. The number of outputs can be defined by the user. Each output creates a branch where the input is passed.

Example:

The right component Process Customer Orders needs a reference to a customer order message. The incoming message includes an orderid property to fetch that message out of a memory. To get that reference, a Message Sequencer is used where the reference is created in the left branch and used in the right branch while still processing the original message.