---
alias: user-guide-automation-task-core-executeaction
tags:
- automation tasks
description: "This task executes a MES rule, mapping it to a DEE action for efficient service execution within a transaction"
---

# Execute Action

:iot-rule-lg:{style="font-size:100px"}

This task executes a MES Action `Rule`, mapped to a MES `DEE` action. This task is useful when you intend do operations on the MES side and require the use of multiple/specific MES services with minimal network traffic and inside the same transaction scope.

![Execute Action task parameters](../images/execute_action_box.png)

## Details

| Fields            | Details                                                                            |
| ----------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Scope             | Connect IoT <br> Data Platform <br> Enterprise Integration <br> Factory Automation |
| Workflow          | Data flow <br> Control flow                                                        |
| `IsProtocol` flag | :material-close:{style="color:#EF5350"}                                       |

## Inputs

| Name            | Data Type  | Description                           |
| --------------- | ---------- | ------------------------------------- |
| action          | `String`   | Name of the action                    |
| inputs          | `Object`   | Object with the inputs for the action |
| `<custom list>` | `<custom>` | Inputs for the action                 |
| Activate        | `any`      | Executes the action in MES            |

## Outputs

| Name    | Data Type |  Description  |
| ------  | -------- | --------- |
|  outputs    | `Object` | Object with the outputs of the action |
| `<custom list>` | `<custom>` | Outputs of the action |
|  Success    |    `Boolean`    |  If there was no problem emits a true |
|  Error      |     `Error`     |   Error that occurred during the processing of this task |

## Settings

On the `General` Tab, there are the following settings:

| Name    | Data Type |  Description |
| ------  | -------- | --------- |
| Rule    | `Rule` | Name of MES `Rule` to be invoked |

{% include-markdown 'includes/pages/iot_tasks_retries_settings.md' %}

![Execute Action task settings](../images/execute_actions_settings.png)

On `Inputs` Tab, there are the following settings:

| Name            | Data Type |  Description           |
| --------------- | ----------------- | --------------------- |
| Name            | `String`               |  An input name         |
| Type            | `Long`<br />`Decimal`<br />`DateTime`<br />`Boolean`<br />`String`<br />`Integer` |  The type of the input |
| Collection Type | `None`<br />`Array`<br />`Map`  |                       |

![Screenshot showing settings options for collection type.](../images/image101.png)

On the `Outputs`, there are the following settings:

| Name            | Data Type        | Description            |
| ------          | --------         | -------               |
| Name            | `String`         | An output name          |
| Type            | `Long`<br />`Decimal`<br />`DateTime`<br />`Boolean`<br />`String`<br />`Integer` | The type of the output  |
| Collection Type | `None`<br />`Array`<br />`Map   |                         |

![Screenshot showing a settings page with options for collection type, including "None", "Array", and "Map".](../images/image102.png)

## Behavior

This task executes a MES `Rule` which is mapped to a MES `DEE` action. It loads the corresponding MES `Rule` and MES `DEE` action and executes it with the given inputs. After executing it, it emits all the DEE outputs and the individual outputs.

!!! note
    A MES `Rule` is a reusable object that maps to a `DEE` rule used to evaluate or process something.

!!! note
    MES `DEE` Actions are soft-rules defined in C\# which are loaded and compiled into memory and executed during runtime.

!!! note
    The inputs and outputs object should be an array with objects with a name string, a type of type complexValueType with at least the type defined (here type is a numeric value see enum PropertyValueType).

## Remarks

For the MES `Rule` to be visible to the settings it needs to be of classification `ConnectIoT`. It's advisable to use MES `DEEs` to make calls to MES services instead of the `Execute Service` task, because it will have a lesser load impact in the MES Service calls load and therefore on the overall Connect IoT performance. Also, the execution context of the entire action shares the same transaction.