Is it possible to place an item in workflow from the event system? The problem I am facing is that we would like to direct components to two different workflows based on what folder they are in (instead of what schema they use), which the Tridion UI doesn't seem to support. I was hoping to write an event that is triggered on check-in of a component, so I can then determine which folder that component is in and direct it into the appropriate workflow from the event.
I'm fine with creation of the event, I'm just totally lost on where to start as far as adding the item to workflow goes. I have looked at the TOM.NET API documentation but really haven't found anything that helps. Any assistance or examples would be appreciated.
As #Jeremy suggests, what you are actually trying to do is not possible.
However you can achieve the same outcome by making the second step of your workflow an automated decision which creates 2 separate workflow branches within one workflow process definition. Your automated decision can read the Org Item of the component and direct it accordingly.
This is not possible - a Component is only added to a WF process when it is saved and its Schema has an associated process definition.
Related
In most cases, work of creating document belongs to a specific process.And each document has the context of input and output with each other.This means that if all the document of a process is not completed, work of the next process cannot be started and its document cannot be created.For example, in process of development, the process of detail design can be started only after the process of basic design is completed.
In alfresco,I can define fix directory structure as space template and I can create directory using that template.But I cannot define order of work process and I have no more knowledge.
let me know how to implement or customize?
You may have the directory structure created, but you probably need some workflows defined. Workflows will basically do what you need: when one user creates a document and finishes his part of the process, he can mark his part of the work done and pass it to the next step.
You can learn some basics about workflows on Alfresco wiki, of course.
I suggest that you take a look and read the documents at the Custom Workflow Guide and maybe this material.
After that, if you don't understand much, take a look at the samples, then try modifying one of the samples and eventually design your own workflow.
I am developing a flex application for collaborative data analysis. To present the data my application uses standard and custom components (grids, charts etc.).
I want to deliver the feature that allows users making notes over the GUI of my application. So, other users will see they notes late on.
At the moment my question is: How can be implemented mechanism that allows making notes over the GUI? All suggestions and examples are welcome?
There are a lot of ways to approach this. ( Check out Buzzword, MS Word, and Acrobat all for slightly different approaches of note taking on a document--I assume an application GUI could use any of the same approaches ).
I'd start by saying that the click event bubbles:
http://livedocs.adobe.com/flex/3/langref/flash/display/InteractiveObject.html#event:click
So, listen for the click event on every child of your main application file. When you receive that click event you can provide some business logic as to whether or not you want to add a comment /note on the component that was clicked. Then you just some "note" component for collecting and displaying the note data. You an position them based on the x, y values of the click event.
So, actually my problem is much easier then I expected (thank for great design of Flex).
I decided to utilize PopUpManager functionality for my task. It does everything I need at the moment.
We are in the process of designing a web site were users can fill an application form and submit it. Once an application is created, it goes through different departments for review.After each review, the department persons log on to the website and update the status of the application. Once review is completed, the application is said to be 'approved'. Also, communication(email) is sent to the applicants updating them about the status of their application.
I am thinking of using Windows Workflow for this application, but am new to it.
Can anyone tell me if it would make sense to use WF for such an app..or would it be an overkill..I was thinking of using a State machine workflow, as each application created goes through different states. One of my major concerns is, this process also involves manual work such as reviewing the application(this could take days) and then updating the status(say by clicking a button on the website). Can workflow handle this kind of thing?
I have gone through many websites, but they talk about very basic examples where states change automatically.But in my case there is a lot of human interaction.
Any help is appreciated
Thanks!!!
Here is a sample on MSDN that describes a very similar workflow that you've described - although they use a Windows Forms client rather than a web client - but those details shouldn't matter given the use of the Workflow Runtime.
I would say that your situation would be well suited to Workflow - long-running workflows are supported by having the runtime automatically persist workflow details at certain points while it runs, so steps that take days or weeks to fulfill are perfectly fine.
"my case there is a lot of human interaction".
That's the easiest kind of thing to build. It's just transactions.
Each stage in the process is a simple web application.
Fetch all items that are waiting at this state. Display them in a list. User picks one.
Display that piece of work. User makes changes. Saves it. Some change will move it to the next state. It's still just an update.
That's it. Nothing fancy.
You just need to very, very clearly define each state.
You must have a simple query that finds work in this state.
You must have a simple update that moves work on to the next state.
The states must be very, very clear and simple definitions. One column with a state name, for example.
The state transition rules, however, may be complicated. If the work is highly manual, it may be as simple as a drop-down list of available states.
If the state transitions are complex, then, perhaps you need something more sophisticated to embody the transition rules. But since it's manual, you don't need much.
Do I need a separate workflow instance for each application created?
I don't know what this can possibly mean. Each "application" that's moving through the pipeline of manual processing steps has a "state" -- the step of the pipeline where it's waiting, right now.
Each application also has a complete history of each state change. I don't know which of this is a "workflow" that could have an instance. They're just states of being of an object.
It is a web application. So it will have some other logic such as view an appln., navigation etc. do I need to accommodate this in the workflow as well?
Yes and No. Yes, each processing stage which show the application so the user at that stage can do whatever value-add thing they do. They add information or they approve information.
Each stage in the workflow is a place where some human being makes a decision and takes an action. So each stage displays all the information the person needs to make the decision. There's no additional view required.
Navigation isn't terribly interesting. People go to pages to see their queues of unprocessed work. I guess you'll have to build a page with some URL's, but there isn't much to that.
Would it be ok to have just a part of the application based on workflow.
Sure. Why not? I'm not sure I understand the question.
Your web apps just queries a queue of stuff out of the database and present that queue of stuff to a person. The person can request details and make changes to a specific item in the queue. One change the person can make will be to move the stuff out of their queue and into someone else's queue.
This isn't very complex. It shouldn't be. What's hard is defining the allowed state changes.
I've got a wizard control that databound controls on each step. I can't databind them all at once because they are dependent on the previous step. So, essentially what I've got at each step is a save to the database of the previous step, and an initialization of the current step.
Are there any recommendations as to how best to organize my code? It works, but it's not very readable, and extremely brittle.
EDIT: I should add that I've seen most of the wizard control tutorials out there, but none of them seem to address what I'm trying to do. In particular, the need to save and retrieve data between steps, and how to keep it from retrieving that same data again if the step is revisited.
What you've done sounds reasonable.. Can you be more specific about the problem you are having?
One thing about the wizard control, as your workflow gets more and more complex I think the coupling between your workflow state and the wizard SelectedViewIndex becomes problematic. For this reason I eventually separate them. I will usually use a state/statemachine pattern, where the current workflow state is used to determine the appropriate wizard view index (but not vice-versa).
If you're looking for examples on how to implement a state machine, I have a test app out there that walks through dialogs like a wizard control, except using javascript. Check out http://main(dot)test.wishpot.com/WaveDataCollection.Frank/, after you get to the page CollectSamples.aspx, go ahead and view source, then start reviewing at the GotoState function.
State machines are plumbed a bit different in C#, the main difference being the state object is an abstract class with a fixed number of event handlers, which each state inheriting from that class implementing each handler (some perhaps throwing an exception). With javascript we don't need the abstract state class... Also, doing this serverside, you're going to need to be able to map from a state ID stored in your database to a state class.
I am working on a design spec for a new application that will be heavily workflow driven.
Before I re-invent the wheel, is there a decent lightweight workflow engine that plugs into ASP.NET already around?
Basically, I'm looking for something that handles moving through a defined set of workflow pages while handling state management automatically.
If this isn't around already, I'll definitely try to abstract the engine from my app and put it on codeplex, as it would be really handy.
Any suggestions?
Note: .NET 2.0, so no WWF, though I think WWF is overkill for my needs.
EDIT: Seems like there is a legitimate need for this, and there isn't a product out there...So I might build this.
Here is what I'm picturing:
Custom Page class called WebFlowPage
All WebFlowPage's are registered in a Workflow mapper.
Each WebFlowPage has some form of state object.
A HttpHandler handles picking the appropriate WebFlowPage based upon the workflow, and populating it from the state object.
Is the workflow dynamic, or static?
If the workflows are simple, you could roll your own workflow engine.
In certain situations, it can be fairly simple, and just a couple of data tables to handle the rules, processing and state.
Alot of workflow engines are built for large scale processing (credit card applications, for example). For small scale, you should at least consider your own, which would eliminate the overhead and dependency of/on an engine.
Not sure exactly what you wish to do here, but Ra-Ajax can easily keep state at least if you want your solution ajaxified...
For reference purposes you might want to check out the Ajax Calendar sample or even the (banalistically implemented) Ajax Wizard sample. It surely beats the hell out of doing it with JavaScript...
And every time you "do something" you're in "server-land" which means you can store temporaries all the time as you wish...
The project is LGPL
(PS!
Yes I do work with it)
Building a custom workflow engine is not trivial, although it may seem simple at first. We've tried that. It depends a lot on the complexity of the logic you need it to cover.
Given the current state of the Windows Workflow Foundation and the lack of another framework that abstracts the workflow concepts, I would choose WF if you need complex logic, asynchronous handling or branches in your workflows.
Tracking your state through the workflow can be accomplished by carrying some kind of xml payload or storing the state in a database,
If your workflow is actually a sequential set of forms that need to be filled in by the user, tracking the steps and guiding the user to the next step can be accomplished with some simple custom solution.
You could take a look at the InRule engine too.
Also, there is nxBRE.
These too are mostly used for business rules.
InRule is proprietary, whereas nxBRE supports RuleML (the defacto standard).
You might need to make your own implementation for the pages, and use the rule engine as the "structure".
At this moment, I know that Sharepoint 2007 supports page workflows (using WF), but this would imply using .NET Framework 3 and deployng sharepoint.
My suggestion would be to use whatever you find more light and easier to use.
I think the term "workflow" is very open to interpretation. I have been working lately with a type of workflow that is very different from what you seem to be describing. Mine is a state machine based workflow where the state of a particular record determines what actions a user can take to move the record to the next step in the business process. So "workflow" in this instance means how the record flows from one state to another until it is finally completed.
Your usage of workflow seems to have more to do with moving a user from one page to another in a linear multi-step process, which is a completely different use case (correct me if I'm wrong). So before coming up with a general purpose "workflow" engine that anyone could use, I would recommend defining a little bit better exactly what types of situations this system would handle.
I've been using this for a few months http://objectflow.codeplex.com. Not asp specific but it may fit your needs
While browsing the web for some workflow & BPM resources, I found the following project: NetBPM. Unfortunately, the project seems to be stopped.
I don't think there is a workflow engine that will automatically handle state for you, but if you are moving through a set of pages like a process such as checkout on an ecommerce site, perhaps the ASP.NET wizard control could help you?
There are few workflow options. "Aspose" and "Skelta" are the offers I´m evaluating.
Fábio
you can use WorkFlow Engine, just read the document and run the Demo.
all of the features you need for a dynamic workflow engine they added in there.