Hey, does anyone know how often are the “Linked Workflows” of Data Tables updated?
I have just removed all the occurrences of a Data Table from a workflow, but this data table is still linked to this workflow somehow, despite no longer being referenced nor used in it.
To my knowledge: The workflows remain linked, as long as their history somewhere contains the data table.
Basically, the linked workflows are updated after each workflow execution for the datatables that were used in the execution. This is the only place where the system can reliably determine the datatables used in workflows.
It looks to me like old references are not cleared up but instead preserved indefinitely which would explain @FraukeSeesselberg 's observation.
It is also quite logical that the link is preserved in case the Data Table is referenced in any previous version of the Workflow, isn`t it? Because you can always execute this previous version of the Workflow which affects the Data Table.
Well, from my very personal perspective, I would have expected that the linked workflows just refer to the latest version of the workflow, so that I would know where my data table is still being actively used. Generally, old workflow versions/jobs also refer to old versions of data tables, so that information is not so useful for me. But I understand that for some users, this information could be useful.
@sebastian.schrenk I agree with @DanyEle. It would be extremely helpful to see quickly which workflows currently use this table, maybe those could be highlighted. or it might be possible to add a column with the workflow version, in which the table is linked, as well as the most recent workflow version?
Well, I agree that the version information of linked Workflow might be quite helpful.
But let me answer your posts in more detail:
First: Workflows are versioned. So if you reference a Data Table in version A but delete the reference in version B, version A still contains the reference. You would have to delete this version to remove the reference between the Data Table and the Workflow, but deletion of version is not possible due to traceability, security and other reasons.
Second: Data Tables are NOT versioned. Therefore it is not possible to say version A of the Workflow references to version X of the Data Table. If you execute an old version A again, your Data Table is updated/modified accordingly.
Third: You have the latest version, but for Workflows you do not have an active or current version. Schedules and Production Lines for example can reference to specific Workflow versions. They can also reference to different versions of the same Workflow.