This is an old revision of the document!


The First Process

Any Djeeni process consists of a series of different process steps. You can think of a process step as a Lego building block - simple and easy to use. Nevertheless, the possible combinations of the steps are endless giving you the power to automate very complex processes.

Know your process

Djeeni is the tool to automate your process but only after it is designed and implemented. Even if you know your process by heart it is wise to take a pen and paper to write it down so you do not forget any steps. Let's take an example:

  • The process is to consolidate data from several source worksheets into a target template. Because the order of source files is important, another worksheet contains the list of files in the right order (call it: master data). The typical consolidation steps are:
    1. Open the target template worksheet
    2. Open the master data worksheet and go through the entries in it one by one. For each entry:
    3. Open the corresponding source worksheet
    4. Perform some selection of source data
    5. Perform some calculations on the source data
    6. Perform some copying of (calculated) data to the target template
    7. Perform some calculations on the target template
    8. Close the source worksheet
    9. Get the next entry in master data. Repeat until all entries are processed.
    10. Close the master data worksheet
    11. Save and close the target template worksheet
  • This is just the skeleton of the process: selection, calculation and copying of source data must be further elaborated. You can easily reach 30-40-50 steps but do not be afraid. Always think about the Lego blocks - were you ever afraid of building something from 200 blocks? Building Djeeni processes is just as easy.
  • Once you have your process on paper you are 75% ready. Good news!

Create your first process

When you start Djeeni there is no process in the editor. You should either create a new or open an existing process. Fortunately, an empty process is already created as your 'First process'. At the start, Djeeni displays the list of processes to choose the one you want to work with (you can see 'First process' as the only element of the list); later, click on the Open icon on the ribbon to open the processlist popup window. For now, select the only process available and click Open Process (or double click on the process name). Djeeni opens this empty process. You can change the name and title of the process by clicking on Settings on the ribbon.

Alternatively, you can click on the New icon on the ribbon; enter the name and description of the new process and create it.

Let Djeeni know the process

Open Djeeni (maybe you have to first activate it). You will see a tall and thin popup - the Process Toolbar. This toolbar is used to build any process in Djeeni - block-by-block. Follow these instructions for adding a process step:

  1. Read the next step from your paper
  2. Decide: is this step to deal with workbooks; or worksheets; or ranges; or communication; or the structure (if; lists) of the process? Look at the above example:
    • the first steps are about worksheets; then
    • a list is started on the master data worksheet; then
    • we select, calculate, copy data from ranges/cells; then
    • a worksheet is closed; then
    • the master data list goes to its next step; then
    • two worksheets are closed
  3. Select the appropriate category at the top of the Process Toolbar.
  4. Select the matching process step from the list below the categories
  5. Click on the To End button to add the step at the end of the process
  6. Repeat the above until all process steps are added
  7. Click on the Save icon on the Excel ribbon.

Have you forgotten to add a step and you want to insert it? Or have you chosen the wrong step and want to remove it? See below how to edit your process

Hello World?

If you have not entered any process into the Process Editor yet, here is the famous 'Hello World' example to try out:

  1. Check that the Process Editor is cleared: the only step is Exit in row 4. You can clear the editor (first Save if you want to keep the process in it) by clicking on Clear on the Process Toolbar.
  2. Select category 'Communication' on the Process Toolbar.
  3. Select the 'message' process step.
  4. Click on 'To end'
  5. Double-click on the process step name 'Message' in Column A.
  6. Enter into the only parameter: 'Hello World!' and click on OK.
  7. Click on 'Execute' on the Process Toolbar (bottom-right corner)
  8. Djeeni should display a popup saying 'Hello World!'

Congratulations! Your first Djeeni process is created and executed.

Edit/Remove process steps

You have your first process in the Process Editor. Select any process step by clicking on its name in column A. The selected process step gets a dark background and white text colour - it becomes the current process step.

You can insert a new process step before the current process step by selecting the new process step in the Process Toolbar and then clicking on the Before button.

You can remove the current process step by clicking on the Remove button. NB: Do NOT click on Clear!

Setting the parameters of the process steps

There is a process in the Process Editor. Every process steps have one or more parameters in column C. You can set these parameters in two ways:

  • Directly editing the parameters in the Process Editor (in column C) - suggested for advanced users
  • Double-clicking on the name of the process step in column A - this brings up a pop-up letting you fill the parameter values in a more user-friendly way.

Most of the parameters are straightforward to set. Several process steps have a general Options parameter. It lets you set a series of values separated by semicolons (;) altering or refining the behaviour of the process step. The exact list of allowed values of Options varies from process step by process step.

You can read further about process steps and their parameters here.

Once you entered all the parameters Djeeni knows everything. Let Djeeni work instead and for you.

Executing the process

Do you have a process entered or loaded into the Process Editor? Executing it is the easiest part: click on the Execute button on the Process Toolbar.

Try it out

The best learning is experiencing. Take Djeeni and while you read this guide try all features out by creating and editing the processes.