Is there a performance benefit to using the simpler Assign an If activities over the more capable Multiple Assign and ElseIf activities?

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1

I find myself copying assignments from single Assign activities to Multiple Assign activities frequently to shorten my workflows. I only have to do this because I assume there is some benefit to using single Assign activities over Multiple Assign activities if they aren’t necessary.
I also almost never use the If activity and always use Else If. Originally, I did this because the Else If activity is narrower than the If but now it just affords the ability to add more conditions just like Multiple Assign allows for more easily adding assignments.
Is there any reason why I shouldn’t just use Multiple Assign and Else If activities for every assignment and If?

2

Hi @Steven_Raines

  1. Assign:

    • Use it when you have single assignments to make in that workflow. If you want to make another assignment somewhere else before any other activity assign would help.

  2. Multiple Assign:

    • Use it when you have several assignments to make in a row. It’s like a list of tasks bundled together.If you are assigning everything at starting of your workflow then Multiple Assign would help.

  3. If vs. Else If:

    • Use “If” when you have a single condition. Use “Else If” when you have multiple conditions that are mutually exclusive.

  4. When to Use Both:

    • It’s okay to use Multiple Assign and Else If a lot if it makes your work easier. But be careful not to make your workflow too complicated. Keep it readable and easy to understand.

Using “Assign” for single tasks, “Multiple Assign” for a series of tasks, and “If” and “Else If” for conditions can help your automation run efficiently. However, too much complexity may make it harder to understand. Find a balance between simplicity and readability to make your automation work well and be easy to manage.

Hope you understand!!
Regards

3

@Steven_Raines

You can use both…it is more a personal preference…

But one downside of multiple assign is that if anything fails in the runtime then it would not give the actual exception but says cannot assign the value only…the inner exception might contain the details so it is better to log them also or it might be difficult to locate the issue

Also if vs elif…depending on the number of conditions this distinction can be made…when only two arethere just to not make it look complicated you can use if …or else elif also will do but it behaves same as if

Cheers

4

Hi @Steven_Raines

You can use any activity assign or multi assign, If or else If. Based on your conditions and expressions you have to use that activity.

Assign and Multi assign →
→ Generally, we use multi assign activity if we have many values or expressions to be assigned to a different variables.
→ We use Assign activity to assign a expression to a variable, we use the both activities based on the usage.
→ But in debugging mode if you want to check only one expression in that case you use the breakpoint, for single assigns it is easy to set breakpoint to that activity, If we use multi assign other expressions also will not execute until the multi assign executes, this is the main problem with the Multi assign activity.
→ Multi assign is a single activity which executes faster then executing the multiple assign activites.

If and Else If →
→ Simply, If you have only one condition to check you have to use If activity.
→ If you have multiple conditions, for each condition there is different process, in this case we use the Else If activity.

Don’t consider the shape of the activity, based on your conditions and usage use the specified activities, It will helpful for you in future code checking and better to understand others.

Hope you understand!!