Apps and Workflows Glossary

Learn key terms used to describe apps and workflows.

On the DNAnexus Platform, the following terms are used when discussing apps and workflows:

• Execution: An analysis or job.

  • Root execution: The initial analysis or job that's created when a user makes an API call to run a workflow, app, or applet. Analyses and jobs created from a job via /executable-xxxx/runAPI call with detach flag set to true are also root executions.

  • Execution tree: The set of all jobs and/or analyses that are created as a result of running a root execution.

• Analysis: An analysis is created when a workflow is run. It consists of some number of stages, each of which consists of either another analysis (if running a workflow) or a job (if running an app or applet).

  • Parent analysis: Each analysis is the parent analysis to each of the jobs that are created to run its stages.

• Job: A job is a unit of execution that is run on a worker in the cloud. A job is created when an app or applet is run, or when a job spawns another job.

  • Origin job: The job created when an app or applet is run by either a user or an analysis. An origin job always executes the "main" entry point.

  • Master job: The job created when an app or applet is run by a user, job, or analysis. A master job always executes the "main" entry point. All origin jobs are also master jobs.

  • Parent job: A job that creates another job or analysis via an /executable-xxxx/run or /job/new API call.

  • Child job: A job created from a parent job via an /app[let]-xxxx/run or /job/new API call.

  • Subjob: A job created from a job via a /job/new API call. A subjob runs the same executable as its parent, and executes the entry point specified in the API call that created it.

  • Job tree: A set of all jobs that share the same origin job.

• Job-based object reference: A hash containing a job ID and an output field name. This hash is given in the input or output of a job. Once the specified job has transitioned to the "done" state, it is replaced with the specified job's output field.