Petriflow 101 - Part 3

Rapid Change: Email Validation & Redeploy - Hybrid Layout

💡 What you'll practice

Make a quick change (email regex), export a new XML, and redeploy to eTask to see versioning in action.

Overview

Goal & Context

In this part, you’ll perform your first rapid iteration - a small but impactful update to your process. You’ll see how a simple validation rule (regex for email) becomes a new version of your model in eTask, while older instances remain unaffected.

You will:

• Modify your existing Request model in Builder
• Add a regex validation rule to the Email field
• Export and redeploy it to eTask
• Observe how the system handles multiple process versions automatically

Step-by-Step Flow

Deployment Steps

Step	Action	Purpose
1️⃣	Open Request in Builder	Load the existing process from Part 2
2️⃣	Add regex validation to Email	Introduce real-time data quality check
3️⃣	Export updated XML (request_v2.xml)	Generate a new deployable version
4️⃣	Upload to eTask → Process Models	Creates a new version alongside the old one
5️⃣	Test via public link	Verify the new rule while old cases stay intact

NOTE

Even small rule updates (like regex) require redeployment. It’s a safe, versioned workflow evolution - no downtime, no lost data.

Versioning Behavior

• Existing cases continue running on their original XML definition
• New instances automatically use the updated model (request_v2.xml)
• Validation logic executes at runtime - enforcing clean inputs immediately

NOTE

This showcases how PetriFlow supports continuous improvement - update, redeploy, test, repeat.

Video

Watch “Rapid Change & Second Deployment” (21:33–24:16).

Pictures of steps

1️⃣ Email Validation in Builder

Configured regex for the Email field.

2️⃣ Two Versions in eTask

Original and updated versions are visible.

3️⃣ Validation in Action

Running app rejects invalid emails.

Source & Notes

You can find the process on the Builder source (Part 3)

Source code (XML file)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<document xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
          xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="https://petriflow.com/petriflow.schema.xsd">
   <id>request</id>
   <version>1.0.0</version>
   <initials>RQT</initials>
   <title>Request</title>
   <icon>device_hub</icon>
   <defaultRole>true</defaultRole>
   <anonymousRole>true</anonymousRole>
   <transitionRole>false</transitionRole>

   <data type="file">
      <id>attachment</id>
      <title>Attachment</title>
   </data>

   <data type="text">
      <id>email</id>
      <title>Email</title>
      <validations>
         <validation>
            <expression>regex ^[\\w-\\.]+@([\\w-]+\\.)+[\\w-]{2,4}$</expression>
            <message>Please type a valid email</message>
         </validation>
      </validations>
   </data>

   <data type="text"><id>name</id><title>Name</title></data>
   <data type="text"><id>surname</id><title>Surname</title></data>
   <data type="text"><id>phone</id><title>Phone number</title></data>

   <data type="text">
      <id>request_text</id>
      <title>Request</title>
   </data>

   <transition>
      <id>t1</id>
      <x>336</x>
      <y>112</y>
      <label>Request form</label>
      <assignPolicy>auto</assignPolicy>

      <dataGroup>
         <id>t1_0</id>
         <cols>4</cols>
         <layout>grid</layout>

         <dataRef>
            <id>name</id>
            <logic><behavior>editable</behavior></logic>
            <layout>
               <x>0</x><y>0</y><rows>1</rows><cols>2</cols>
               <template>material</template><appearance>outline</appearance>
            </layout>
         </dataRef>

         <dataRef>
            <id>surname</id>
            <logic><behavior>editable</behavior></logic>
            <layout>
               <x>2</x><y>0</y><rows>1</rows><cols>2</cols>
               <template>material</template><appearance>outline</appearance>
            </layout>
         </dataRef>

         <dataRef>
            <id>email</id>
            <logic><behavior>editable</behavior><behavior>required</behavior></logic>
            <layout>
               <x>0</x><y>1</y><rows>1</rows><cols>2</cols>
               <template>material</template><appearance>outline</appearance>
            </layout>
         </dataRef>

         <dataRef>
            <id>phone</id>
            <logic><behavior>editable</behavior></logic>
            <layout>
               <x>2</x><y>1</y><rows>1</rows><cols>2</cols>
               <template>material</template><appearance>outline</appearance>
            </layout>
         </dataRef>

         <dataRef>
            <id>request_text</id>
            <logic><behavior>editable</behavior><behavior>required</behavior></logic>
            <layout>
               <x>0</x><y>2</y><rows>2</rows><cols>4</cols>
               <template>material</template><appearance>outline</appearance>
            </layout>
            <component><name>textarea</name></component>
         </dataRef>

         <dataRef>
            <id>attachment</id>
            <logic><behavior>editable</behavior></logic>
            <layout>
               <x>0</x><y>4</y><rows>1</rows><cols>4</cols>
               <template>material</template><appearance>outline</appearance>
            </layout>
            <component><name>preview</name></component>
         </dataRef>
      </dataGroup>
   </transition>
</document>

IMPORTANT

Small change, big impact: regex makes inputs reliable and redeploying keeps delivery fast.

Summary

You executed a rapid change and verified versioning in eTask: old cases on old XML, new cases on the latest model.