Flex Scripting: Framework – Support Hub

February 12, 2023 09:22
Updated

Starting with Flex 2021.3.0, Flex has a re-written scripting engine and actions, which provide improved scalability and security enhancements. Within the documentation we refer to the old scripting actions as "legacy actions". There are also no longer any "external" scripting actions, as the ability to use external scripting JARs has been incorporated into the "internal" scripting ones. We maintain the legacy scripting documentation for reference.

One of the most powerful aspects of the Flex platform is the ability to be able to write scripts to perform custom processing.
For example, you could make an external HTTP REST call, inserting the results as asset metadata values. Within scripts, Flex provides an SDK that allows you to manipulate configuration and objects in a standard and well-defined manner.

There are 2 ways to write scripts within Flex:

Groovy script
External scripts - compiled JVM-compatible code in JARs (e.g. Groovy, Java, Scala)

Groovy scripts are added to supported actions, via their configuration. Note that Flex currently supports Groovy v2.5.

The following is an example script, which could be executed in a JEF Script action, which creates a new media placeholder asset:

  def execute() {

   def assetService = flexSdkClient.getAssetService();
    
   NewAssetPlaceholder asset = NewAssetPlaceholder.builder()
      .type("media-asset")
      .name("demo asset 1")
      .build();
      
   assetService.createAsset(asset);
  }

External scripts are compiled code packaged in to JARs, and hosted via a standard URL (e.g. HTTP, file). These allow customers to write re-usable and testable binaries (see External Scripts for more information).

Scriptable Actions

The following actions provide support for scripting:

Actions

Type	New Action	Legacy Action	Purpose
Decision	JEF Script Decision	Groovy Scripted Decision Action	Controls workflow simple branch execution via the return value of a groovy script
	JEF Script Multi-Decision	Groovy Scripted Multi-Decision Action	Controls workflow complex branch execution via the return value of a groovy script
Message	JEF HTTP Message	Scripted HTTP Message	Sends an HTTP message, allowing the request and/or response to be processed via groovy script
Script	JEF Script	Groovy Script Action	Executes either internal or external scripts
Wait	JEF Wait For Named Signal	Groovy Scripted Wait For Named Signal Action	Pauses workflow execution until a signal is received. Groovy script can be used to control whether the action should wait for the signal
	JEF Wait For Script	Groovy Scripted Wait Action	Pauses workflow execution until a groovy script returns true, or times out

Timed Actions

New Action	Legacy Action	Purpose
JEF HTTP Message	Timed HTTP Message	Sends an HTTP message on a schedule, allowing the response to be processed via groovy script
JEF Script	Timed Groovy Script	Executes internal or external groovy scripts on a schedule

The new actions execute via the flex-jobasyncexecutor-service, and as such, any scripting interactions with Flex occur via its REST APIs.

Help writing scripts

The following pages are useful guides to help accelerate the writing of Flex scripts:

Scriptable Actions

Help writing scripts

Related articles