Lesson 4 - Reference Basics

References are a very powerful feature of Archy. A reference is a string that points to another object by providing a path to the object you are referring to. This path can also contain a file path which specifies that the object being referenced comes from another file. This functionality is very handy for when you want to have shared / common logic between flows.

When it comes to the Archy flow YAML, properties on object that end with the 'Ref' suffix expect reference string values. Examples of reference properties are:

A reference identifier is what you use to specify a value for an object. This provides a value that identifies an object within YAML. These identifiers are only used by Archy and are not generated in flows themselves.

A refId value should be a string and must be unique for all items that have a refId in the array.

It is also important to note that you cannot use '[', ']', '#', '~' or '/' characters in
a reference id string as they are reserved.

Here is a YAML example of an Architect task with a reference id of startingTask and an Architect disconnect action with a reference id of goodbye:

- task:
name: Starting Task
refId: startingTask <-- right here
actions:
- disconnect:
name: My Disconnect Action
refId: goodbye <-- right here

We typically call this identifier the "refId" in Archy. It provides a value that is used to identify an object that resides within an array.

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Archy - Ver. 2.33.1, generated on January 3, 2025