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Loop Step

A Loop step runs the steps configured within the loop until a certain condition is satisfied.

The following table describes the properties in a Loop step:

Property	Description
Name	The name of the Loop step. The name can contain only alphanumeric characters, hyphens (-), underscores (_), spaces, and Unicode characters.
Loop	Properties that determine the steps to run within the loop until a certain condition is satisfied. You can select one of the following options: While Repeat Until

Type

You can select one of the following options:

While: In the While loop, the process enters the loop only if the loop condition is satisfied. The While loop executes an activity repeatedly until its condition evaluates to false.
In contrast to the Repeat Until activity, the While loop might not execute the contained activity at all.
Repeat Until: In the Repeat Until loop, the process enters the loop but exits only when the loop condition is satisfied. The Repeat Until loop executes an activity repeatedly until its condition evaluates to true.
In contrast to the While activity, the Repeat Until loop executes the contained activity at least once.

Looping Criteria

You can select one of the following options:

Formula: You can create a condition using an XQuery function. You can also evaluate simple and complex expressions directly in the Loop step with no dependency on the prior steps.
Field: Select an input field, output field, or temporary field from the list of fields.

Enter the condition and value that you want the Loop step to base the step execution on.

The conditions available depend on the field you select.

For example, if you select a field of type
Simple
Number
, the following conditions are available:

Equals
Not equal to
Less than
Less than or equal to
Greater than
Greater than or equal to
Is set
Is not set

You can enter a value against the condition you select.

You must set an initial value for the fields used in the loop condition. Otherwise, the loop becomes infinite.

Loop step example

You create a Loop step with the following properties:

Type: While

Looping Criteria: Field with value temp

Condition: Less than with value set to 5

You have a temp field with the initial value set to 1, and the temp field is configured to increment by 1 using the Assignment step within the Loop step.

The following image shows the

While

option with the looping criteria set to field in the Loop step:

In this case, when you run the process, the subprocess runs four times until the temp value reaches 4, and then the process comes out of the loop and runs the subsequent steps.

For the same process, if you create a loop with the following properties:

Type: Repeat Until

Looping Criteria: Formula with

$temp.temp >5

The following image shows the

Repeat Until

option with the looping criteria set to formula in the Loop step:

In this case, when you run the process, the subprocess runs five times until the temp value reaches 5, and then the process comes out of the loop and runs the subsequent steps.

Rules and guidelines for using Loop step

Consider the following rules and guidelines when you use the Loop step in a process:

You cannot use the Jump step within the Loop step. You cannot use the Jump step from inside the loop to outside or from outside the loop to inside.

If you use the Receive step inside the Loop step, you must use a Milestone step after the Receive step within the Loop step to send a synchronous reply to the request.

You cannot use the End step and Throw step within the Loop step.

It is recommended that you use the modern view to edit a process that contains a Loop step. When you use the Loop step in a process and switch between the modern view and classic view, you might encounter issues. For more information, see the following Knowledge Base article:

https://knowledge.informatica.com/s/article/ERROR-Process-Designer-issues-when-you-use-a-Loop-step-in-a-process-and-switch-between-the-modern-view-and-the-classic-view?language=en_US

The loop construct feature is available for preview. Preview functionality is supported for evaluation purposes but is unwarranted and is not supported in production environments or any environment that you plan to push to production. Informatica intends to include the preview functionality in an upcoming release for production use, but might choose not to in accordance with changing market or technical circumstances. Note that if you are working on a preview POD, all data is excluded from SOC 2 compliance coverage. For more information, contact Informatica Global Customer Support.

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