Creating generic workflows / forms
Hi, we've got a few Geocortex Sites for our different business units that all require the same workflows. I know that by using arguments and variables I can generalise much of the workflow activities such as Query Tasks. This will allow me to pass an argument to the workflow when it loads and based on that it will set the query service URL's and Map / Layer ID's.
The issue I have now is that the workflows display forms with combo boxes. Can I use variables in the query details for the combo box to set the Task URL, Display & Value fields? It seems to me from my testing that these values need to be hard coded, and therefore I can't use the arguments to set these values.
At the moment we have 3 separate copies of each workflow for each site. This is a cumbersome and means additional work if we update one of the workflows. I know that I could actually duplicate just the form within the workflow and using flowcharts and switch activities direct the workflow down the appropriate branch depending on the site, but this again requires duplication and I don't think is very efficient.
Does anyone have an suggestions on an efficient process to overcome this?
We're currently running GXE 3.8 & SLV 1.5. Would the run-time modification of forms introduced in the latest versions solve this issue?
Thanks
Neil.
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Hi Neil
Short answer.... Yes ;-)
Regards
Ralph
PS would you like a long answer?
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Hi Ralph, thanks for reply. Was that yes to suggestions or yes to run-time modification?
Perhaps a slightly longer answer would be good!
Thanks.
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Hi Neil
that was yes to Runtime Modifications. Check out the help for the Display Form activity in the Workflow Designer. (Right click on the Activity in the Toolbox in the left panel to get help on an Activity)
The Runtime Modification is quite clearly explained there apart from perhaps the section where the Assign of the new values is done that you must put in the Id of the form item that you are updating
form.Find(Of AutoCompleteBoxFormItem)("<FormItemID>").QueryWhereClause = "SUE in (1,2,3)"
needs to be:
form.Find(Of AutoCompleteBoxFormItem)("AutoComplete1").QueryWhereClause = "SUE in (1,2,3)"
so you need to pay attention as you design your form what your form items are called.
You can 'hand edit' the xaml for the workflow after the initial design process to change the Id's of the Form items but it is not something to rush into.
Hope that helps.
Let me know if you want more direction.
Thanks
Ralph
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Thanks Ralph. Great info there. Unfortunately it's likely we won't be upgrading our installation for another couple of months so I wont' have access to the run-time modification until then.
I think I'll go down the path of just duplicating the form within the workflow until then. At least it will allow me to just use the one workflow across all sites and then I'll just modify it once we upgrade.
Thanks again for your help.
Regards
Neil.
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Hi Neil
no problem. Just out of curiosity what do you see as your barriers to upgrading?
Regards
Ralph
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At the moment it's mostly a time issue with lots of projects on. Because of our IT environment we need to raise a change request to get our IT department to come back with a scope of work which we then approve and then they can schedule the upgrade.
Unfortunately we can't just do the upgrade ourselves so what is in reality a few hours work to upgrade followed by a bit of testing ends up having a 3-4 week turn around.
regards
Neil.
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Hi Neil
potentially a very frustrating situation that causes extra work in the short and medium term.
Regards
Ralph.
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