Delay

1. Overview

The Delay tool is a built-in utility within GoInsight designed to pause the execution of a workflow for a specified duration. It acts as a simple timer, holding the process at the Delay node before allowing it to proceed to the next step.

Using the Delay node, you can introduce a controlled pause between steps in your automation. This is particularly useful for workflows that need to wait for an external process to complete, to handle rate limiting from other APIs, or to create a more natural timing for sequences of actions.

2. Prerequisites

This is a built-in GoInsight utility and does not require any external accounts or special permissions to use.

3. Credentials

The Delay tool is a built-in utility and does not require any credentials.

4. Supported Operations

This node provides an operation to control the timing of your workflow execution.

Summary

Operation Details

Delay Seconds

Delays the execution of the next action for a given number of seconds.

Options:

• Seconds: Delay duration in seconds. Maximum 30s.

5. Example Usage

This section will guide you through creating a simple workflow that pauses for 5 seconds between two steps. This is a common pattern when you need to wait for an API to process a request before you check its status.

Workflow Overview

Our example workflow will be simple: Start -> Delay Seconds -> Answer. The goal is to demonstrate how to add and configure the delay.

Step-by-Step Guide

1. Add the Tool Node
   • In your workflow canvas, click the "+" button to add a new node.
   • Select the "Tools" tab in the pop-up panel.
   • Find and select "Delay" from the list of tools.
   • Click on the "Delay Seconds" operation, which will add the node to your canvas.
2. Configure the Node
   • Click on the newly added "Delay Seconds" node to open its configuration panel on the right.
   • Credentials: As a built-in tool, no credentials are required for this node.
   • Parameters: You will see one parameter field.
   • Seconds: In this field, enter the number of seconds you want the workflow to pause. For this example, enter 5. Note that the maximum allowed delay is 30 seconds.
3. Run and Verify
   • Once the parameter is set, the error indicators on the workflow will disappear.
   • Click the "Run" button in the top-right corner of the canvas to execute the workflow.
   • After execution, you can click the log icon to view the detailed input and output of each node. You will observe that the execution of the Answer node was delayed by approximately 5 seconds after the Delay Seconds node ran.

Final Workflow

After completing these steps, your workflow is configured. When you run it, it will wait for 5 seconds after the Start node before proceeding to the Answer node, effectively demonstrating a controlled pause in your automation.

6. FAQs

Q: What is the maximum delay time I can set?

A: The Seconds parameter allows a maximum value of 30 seconds. If you need a longer delay, you may need to chain multiple Delay nodes, but this is generally not recommended.

Q: Why would I need to use a Delay node?

A: Delay nodes are useful in several scenarios.

• API Rate Limiting: To avoid hitting the rate limits of an external service, you can add a short delay between consecutive API calls.
• Waiting for Asynchronous Jobs: If you trigger an external process that takes a few seconds to complete, you can use a Delay node to wait before attempting to fetch the result.
• Improving Reliability: Some web services may take a moment to update after a write operation. A short delay before a subsequent read operation can prevent race conditions and improve the reliability of your workflow.

Q: Can I set a delay for less than one second?

A: The Seconds input accepts numerical values, including decimals (e.g., 0.5 for half a second). However, the actual execution precision may vary slightly depending on the overall system load at the time of execution.

7. Official Documentation

As a built-in GoInsight utility, all relevant information is contained within this guide. For more general workflow concepts, please visit the GoInsight Documentation Hub.