Glossary

One-sentence definitions of the terms used across these docs

This page collects short definitions and links to the deep reference for each term.

Studyflow A BPMN-based visual language for specifying scientific studies and the data flows around them. See Why Studyflow.
.studyflow file The serialized form of a studyflow diagram: a YAML document (top-level keys studyflow, definitions, elements, diagram) semantically equivalent to BPMN 2.0 XML. Legacy XML .studyflow files still open, and the modeler can export BPMN 2.0 XML for interop with other BPMN tools.
Study The top-level element of a diagram, extending bpmn:Process. Contains all events, activities, gateways, and data. See Elements.
Element A node in the diagram: an event, activity, gateway, data object, data store, dataset, table, or sub-process.
Activity A step in the workflow (a rectangle). In Studyflow, specialized as CognitiveTask, Questionnaire, Instruction, Rest, VideoGame, Script, Manual, or BehaverseTask.
Event A trigger point in the workflow (a circle): start, end, intermediate, boundary, timer, or error.
Gateway A branching/merging point (a diamond): exclusive, parallel, inclusive, complex, event-based, or – Studyflow-specific – RandomGateway for stochastic branching.
Sequence flow A directed arrow connecting two elements, specifying execution order.
Data object / data store BPMN elements for transient and persistent data, respectively. Studyflow refines these with Dataset, Table, Array, Schema, and DataCatalog. See Data.
Data operation A marker on a task indicating a data transformation: Map, Filter, Reduce, Group, FlatMap, Transform, or Compose. The task remains a normal BPMN task; the marker adds data semantics. See Data.
Choreography A BPMN2 construct for modeling interactions between multiple participants, used in multi-agent studies. See the Multi-agent collaboration example.
Moddle The schema format used internally by bpmn-js to describe element types and their attributes. Studyflow defines its language as a moddle YAML file.
View A rendering of a studyflow diagram tuned to a specific need: the Study view (BPMN-like overview), the Timeline view (Gantt-like), and the Checklist view. See Views.
BPMN Business Process Model and Notation. The ISO-standard process notation that Studyflow extends. See Studyflow vs BPMN.
Modeler The web app at behaverse.org/studyflow-modeler used to author and edit .studyflow files. See Modeler app.