Normal activity flow does not always meet the needs of a business process. You can modify or interrupt the flow for specific purposes. The normal activity flow can be varied based on a declared Delay or a Timeout. A loop can be interrupted from its iterative processing with a Break.
Modifications to the flow can be created by Building Handlers.
Delay
The Delay activity pauses the processing of the flow where the delay is located. The runtime processing in the flow continues when the specified time lapses.
Timeout
A Timeout can be set as a constraint on a complex activity. It designates the amount of time given to complete processing of activities within a complex activity before forcing a termination of the activity.
The timeout works in parallel with the processing of the tasks within the complex activity. If all tasks in the complex activity conclude successfully before the timeout occurs, analysis continues to the next step in the process flow and the timeout is cancelled. If the timeout occurs, processing within the complex activity stops and the processing on the flow connected with the timeout handler begins.
Break
The Break activity enables breaking out of the loop before completion of all processing.