In this article, you will learn how to create and add a Manual Flow to an already existing Flow. Manual Integrations are different from automated workflows, as these integrations require the end-user to start them. In a regular Flow, the integration works automatically after a Trigger occurs. But manual integrations do not wait for a Trigger to happen. Instead, the end-user's initial input triggers the integration. A manual integration is mostly a part of another Flow, i.e., a Flow within another Flow.
Say that you are syncing tasks in your app with another task manager like Jira. You might want to push a few selective tasks to Jira and not sync all the items in the list. For this, you will have a manual functionality like a "push task to Jira" button with each task. Clicking on this for any task will trigger the integration and sync it with Jira. This is exactly how a Manual Flow works and the end-user gets the ability to select the items and the Action app for any Trigger in real-time. The Action added as a Manual Flow gets completed within the integration setup screen before the end-user activates the integration.
How do Manual Flows work?
Let's understand how Manual Flows work through an example. Suppose the end-user is creating an integration with the use-case, "when a subscriber is added to MailChimp; a new contact is created in the Sendinblue list." While creating the integration, the end-user needs to select a contact list in their Sendinblue account where the contact will be created. In many cases, the end-user may not have a List set up yet. So, instead of making the end-user quit their Flow to create the list, you can have them create the list right within the integration setup flow with a manual integration.
Step 1: The Create a List Action is added as manual integration in the original Flow.
If the end-user wants to create a new list, they can select the option shown above, and the following menu will appear.
Step 2: The end-user can enter the list's name and select a folder in Sendinblue where the list will be created.
As soon as they click the Save button, the manual integration will be saved, and the "Create List" Action will be performed in their Sendinblue account, i.e., a new list will be created right away. The end-user will then be able to see the new list in the drop-down Select a list drop-down as well. After this, you can continue with your integration creation process.
Adding Manual Flows Inside a Flow
Let's see the above example as seen from the Flow end. For the Create List Action, a manual Flow will need to be created first. You can create a manual Flow just like any other Flow in Integry.
Step 1: Create a Manual Flow. For list creation, the Flow should consist of only the following two steps.
The end-user input for creating the list is received as an incoming webhook to Integry. This webhook acts as the Trigger in this Manual Flow. The Create List Action for Sendinblue is then performed as a result of the Trigger.
Step 2: Adding the Manual Flow to the original Flow.
A manual Flow like the above is added to the relevant steps of another Flow to be shown to the user. For our current example, the List step is a field that takes input from the user. This field is added inside the Adapter step that is visible to the user.
Inside the original Flow for Mailchimp's sync with Sendinblue, the adapter step will have various fields visible to the user. The list selection fields should look like this.
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Select list is a section, and Create list is a tab within that section. The manual Flow should be added below the Create list tab. This can be added from the UI/UX options on the right side of any step you click. Use the Add Flow button as shown below.
Once you click the button for Add Flow, another drop-down field will be added below the Create list tab, as shown below.
The drop-down list will display all the manual Flows saved in your Integry account. From this list, you can select the one you created above.
This will add the manual Flow to your original Flow, which appears at the exact location where you want the end-user to find it. This will render the Create list option for the user on the integration setup screen discussed above in the article.
Note: Integry has removed the support for Manual Flows in version 6 of the Flow Builder. You can still refer to this help documentation if you are using older versions.