You can use characters that start with a % sign as dynamic values in the properties of some BLOCKS. For example, %Y/%m/%d %H:%M:%S. BLOCKS will convert these % format characters into Datetimes when they are processed.

There is a slight difference in the converted Datetimes depending on whether the Flow was executed manually or using an auto-execution schedule.

• Auto-execution: The value designated in the Auto-execution schedule property of the Start of Flow BLOCK.
• Manual execution: The Datetime at the moment BLOCKS received your manual execution request.

For example, assume the following has been entered into the Slack notice BLOCK’s Success notices property:

Time of processing: %Y/%m/%d %H:%M:%S

Assume that the Flow containing this BLOCK contains 0 * * * * as Auto-execution schedule property and will execute at the start of each hour.

In this case, if the Flow executes at exactly 2016/4/13 11:01:23, the % format character string will be converted into the following when the Slack notice BLOCK processes:

Time of processing: 2016/04/13 11:00:00

As you can see, the converted Datetime is not the actual moment that the Flow executed. Please be aware of this when using an auto-execution schedule.

The 11:01:23 execution time is when the Flow scheduled to run at 11:00:00 actually executed.

% format character list

You can use the following % format characters:

Format	Explanation
%%	Displays a “%”. For example, “%%c” displays as “%c” and does not convert to Datetime.
%a	Displays an abbreviation for the day of the week (e.g., Wed).
%A	Displays the complete name of the day of the week (e.g., Wednesday).
%b	Displays an abbreviation for the month (e.g., Apr).
%B	Displays the complete name of the month (e.g., April).
%c	Displays the date and time (e.g., Wed Apr 13 11:03:47).
%C	Displays the century (first two digits on the Western calendar) (e.g., 20).
%d	Displays the total number of days passed in the month (01-31) with a “0” in the tens place for single-digit numbers (e.g., 09).
%D	Displays the date in month/day/year format (same as entering %m/%d/%y) (e.g., 04/13/16).
%e	Displays the total number of days passed in the month (1-31). Unlike %d, a 0 does not display in the tens place for single digit numbers (e.g., 13).
%F	Displays the date in year-month-day format (same as entering %Y-%m-%d) (e.g., 2016-04-13).
%g	Displays the last two digits (00-99) of the ISO 8601 week unit/year display format. These two digits represent the year. In theory, the information displayed is that same as that for %y, however if the ISO week number falls in the prior or following calendar year, that year will be used (e.g., 16).
%G	This is the same as %g but a 4-digit Western calendar time is displayed. Furthermore, it is the same as %Y, however if the ISO week number falls in the prior or following calendar year, that year will be used (e.g., 2016).
%h	Displays the same content as %b (e.g., Apr).
%H	Displays hours in military time (0-23) with a “0” in the tens place of single digit numbers (e.g.,09).
%I	Displays hours using AM/PM (0-12) with a “0” in the tens place for single digit numbers (e.g., 09).
%j	Displays the number of days passed in the current year (001-366) (e.g., 104).
%k	Displays hours in military time (0-23) (e.g., 9).
%l	Displays hours using AM/PM (0-12) (e.g., 9).
%m	Displays the month (1-12) with a “0” in the tens place of single digit numbers (e.g., 04).
%M	Displays minutes (0-59) with a “0” in the tens place of single digit numbers (e.g., 03).
%n	Signifies a carriage return
%p	Displays morning and afternoon as “AM” and “PM”. Noon is recognized as PM, and midnight as AM (e.g., AM).
%r	Displays time of day in AM/PM format (e.g., 11:03:47 AM).
%R	Displays time of day in military time format. Note, seconds are not displayed (e.g., 11:03).
%s	Displays the time (Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)) in seconds from 1970, January, 1, 0 AM, 0 min., 0 sec (e.g., 1460513027).
%S	Displays seconds (0-60) with a “0” in the tens place of single digit numbers (e.g., 47).
%t	Signifies the tab mark.
%T	Displays military time (e.g., 11:03:47).
%u	Displays the day of the week as a number (1-7). Monday = 1, Tuesday = 2, Wednesday = 3, Thursday = 4, Friday = 5, Saturday = 6, and Sunday = 7.
%U	Displays the week of the year as a number (1-53) with the first week starting from the first Sunday of the year (e.g., 15).
%V	Displays weeks (01-53) in ISO 8601 format. The first week with 4 or more days in it is recognized as the first week of the year (e.g., 15).
%w	Displays the day of the week as a number (0-6). Sunday = 0, Monday = 1, Tuesday = 2, Wednesday = 3, Thursday = 4, Friday = 5, and Saturday = 6.
%W	Displays the week of the year as a number (00-53) with the first week starting from the first Monday of the year (e.g., 15).
%x	Displays the date (e.g., 04/13/16).
%X	Displays the time (e.g., 11:03:47).
%y	Displays the last two digits of the year on the Western calendar (e.g., 16).
%Y	Displays the year on the Western calendar (e.g., 2016).
%z	Displays the time zone in +hhmm/-hhmm format (e.g., +0900).
%Z	Displays the abbreviated time zone name (e.g., JST).

Properties that support % format characters

Properties supporting input of % format characters are listed in the table below.

Category	BLOCK	Property
Basic	Slack notice	Channel
		Slack display name
		Icon
		Notification message
API	HTTP GET	The value field of Query parameters
	HTTP POST	The value field of Query parameters
	HTTP PUT	The value field of Query parameters
	HTTP DELETE	The value field of Query parameters
BigQuery	Load to single table from GCS	Destination dataset
		Destination table
	Load to table from variable	Destination dataset
		Destination table
	Load to multiple tables from GCS	Source data file group URL in GCS
		Destination dataset
		Destination table
		File count check URL
	Export single table to GCS	Export destination file URL in GCS
		Source dataset to export
		Source table to export
	Export multiple tables to GCS	Exported file group URL in GCS
		Export destination file extension
		Source dataset to export
		Source table to export
	Execute query	Query
		Result storage dataset
		Result storage table
	Execute parallel queries	Query
		Result storage dataset
		Result storage table
	Split table by column values	Source dataset for split
		Source table for split
		Split table dataset
		Table produced from table split
	Create view	Result storage dataset
		Result storage table
	Stream insert	Destination dataset
		Destination table
	Delete table	Target dataset
		Target table
Machine Learning	Image analysis	GCS image URL
	Speech recognition	Audio file URL
GCP	Launch VM instance from GCE	Zone
		VM instance
	Suspend VM instance from GCE	Zone
		VM instance

In the Flow Designer, you can use variables to pass data between BLOCKS in a Flow.

Variables have the following characteristics:

• You can use multiple variables. Each different variable is identified by its assigned name.
• Regarding variable names:
  • Variable names can contain letters (a–z, A–Z), numbers, and underscores (_).
  • You cannot name variables using only numbers.
  • BLOCKS uses predefined variables with names that start with an underscore (_). These variables are listed below, and more may be added in the future:

    Variable	Explanation
    _flow_aliases	Contains the Flow’s user-assigned ID.
    _flow_id	Contains an automatically assigned numerical identifier given to each Flow
    _flow_name	Contains the name of the Flow’s Start of Flow BLOCK.
    _board_url	Contains the Flow Designer’s URL. E.g., https://*****.magellanic-clouds.net/
    _board_id	Contains the subdomain of the Flow Designer’s URL. E.g., The ***** portion of a URL like https://*****.magellanic-clouds.net/

• Variables are only active while a Flow is running.
• Variables can be used as input or output for BLOCKS.

You can use variable expansion within some BLOCK properties.

Variable expansion refers to replacing part or all of a property’s value with the contents of a variable.

Use the following format when using variable expansion:

${variable}

By entering a variable between ${ and }, it will be replaced with the contents of the variable when the BLOCK is processed.

For example, assume we have set the Variable for storing results property of the Execute Query BLOCK as ${table_name}.

Assuming that the variable table_name contains samples, the Variable for storing results property’s value will be samples when the BLOCK executes.

You can use variable expansion within any properties that also support % format characters.

This section explains how to get a part of the array or object data stored in a variable.

Arrays express multiple values in an ordered list, as shown in the image below. When a variable contains an array, you can reference the indices within the array to get parts of the data. Each value has an index showing its position, starting with index 0 in the first position of the array.

Objects express data as a collection of key and value pairs, as shown in the image below. You can get a value from object data stored in a variable by referencing its corresponding key.

info_outline You can create these kind of objects within BLOCKS using the Construct object BLOCK. These are also the same as the JSON objects that many BLOCKS use.

How to format

Format for arrays:

variable.index

Format for objects:

variable.key

info_outline When using the variable _ (the default variable in BLOCKS), you can omit the variable and simply write .index or .key

If the variable y contained the array shown in the image below, y.1 would get the value "API".

If the variable x contained the object shown in the image below, x.name (write keys without the ") would get the value "John Smith".

Object data can also contain objects and arrays. To get data from an array or object within an object, use periods . to set off each nested layer. For example, variable.key.key or variable.key.index.

If the variable x contains the object shown above, x.languages.0 would get the value "English".

info_outline You can use this notation when using variable expansion (e.g., ${x.name} or ${y.1}).