Workflow based on content type or property value

katarinahallber — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 12:52:37 GMT

Hi, I am investigating a way to implement a requirement where different workflows should be available based on document content type or property in document. Hope someone can help me with the best way to solve this.<!–break–>More detailed description of the current situation and the additional

Re: Workflow based on content type or property value

pjaromin — Wed, 01 May 2013 00:33:03 GMT

I've done exactly what you're proposing and it's worked brilliantly for us.

In my case I created an "approvable" aspect as below:


<aspect name="myr:approvable">
   <properties>
      <property name="myr:workflowName">
         <title>Approval Workflow Name</title>
         <type>d:text</type>
         <default>activiti$myPieceApproval</default>
      </property>
      <property name="myr:approverAuthority">
         <title>Approver Authority</title>
         <type>d:text</type>
         <default>GROUP_APPROVERS</default>
      </property>
   </properties>
</aspect>
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Then an an admin is able to assign/override the default approval workflow and authority if desired.

I then created a custom "SubmitForApprovalAction"


   protected void executeImpl(Action action, NodeRef nodeRef) {

      NodeService nodeService = serviceRegistry.getNodeService();
      if (nodeService.hasAspect(nodeRef, MyriadModel.ASPECT_APPROVABLE)) {
         String workflowName = (String)nodeService.getProperty(nodeRef, MyriadModel.PROP_WORKFLOW_NAME);

         // TODO check if group or individual
         String groupName = (String)nodeService.getProperty(nodeRef, MyriadModel.PROP_APPROVER_AUTHORITY);
         NodeRef approverAuthority = serviceRegistry.getAuthorityService().getAuthorityNodeRef(groupName);

         WorkflowService workflowService = serviceRegistry.getWorkflowService();
         NodeRef workflowPackage = workflowService.createPackage(null);
         QName qname = QName.createQName(NamespaceService.CONTENT_MODEL_1_0_URI, 
               QName.createValidLocalName((String)nodeService.getProperty(nodeRef, ContentModel.PROP_NAME)));
         nodeService.addChild(workflowPackage, nodeRef, ContentModel.ASSOC_CONTAINS, qname);

         Map<QName,Serializable> params = new HashMap<QName,Serializable>();
         params.put(WorkflowModel.ASSOC_PACKAGE, workflowPackage);
         params.put(WorkflowModel.ASSOC_GROUP_ASSIGNEE, approverAuthority);
         params.put(WorkflowModel.PROP_SEND_EMAIL_NOTIFICATIONS, Boolean.TRUE);
         params.put(WorkflowModel.PROP_WORKFLOW_DESCRIPTION, "Approval Request: '" + nodeService.getProperty(nodeRef, ContentModel.PROP_NAME) + "'");
         params.put(MyriadModel.PROP_SUBMITTER_COMMENTS, action.getParameterValue(PARAM_COMMENTS));
         if (action.getParameterValue(PARAM_DUEDATE) != null) {
            params.put(WorkflowModel.PROP_WORKFLOW_DUE_DATE, action.getParameterValue(PARAM_DUEDATE));
         }

         WorkflowDefinition workflowDef = workflowService.getDefinitionByName(workflowName);
         workflowService.startWorkflow(workflowDef.getId(), params);
         
         // Now we need to disable the edit and move actions.
         // TODO: externalize this to allow for per-client customization of this behavior.
         if (nodeService.hasAspect(nodeRef, MyriadModel.ASPECT_DOCUMENT_ACTIONS)) {
            nodeService.setProperty(nodeRef, MyriadModel.PROP_HASACTION_EDITCUSTOMIZABLE, Boolean.FALSE);
            nodeService.setProperty(nodeRef, MyriadModel.PROP_HASACTION_EDITCUSTOMIZABLE, Boolean.FALSE);
         }
      }

   }
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And hooked it up on Share via a DocumentAction in the share-config-custom.xml along with a custom form.

After the user selects "Submit for Approval" on the document and completes the form, the workflow runs through the standard Share workflow task forms.

Hope this helps.

-Patrick

Re: Workflow based on content type or property value

katarinahallber — Thu, 02 May 2013 13:44:54 GMT

It seems that you are doing nearly exactly what I want to achieve 🙂

I have some questions on details of your solution:

<ul>
<li>How does admin override the default values of the aspect? With a Document Action only available for admin? In the "regular edit form"? Some other way?</li>
<li>Is the "Submit for approval" Document Action only available in the UI if the aspect is present? Don't know if this is even possible?</li>
<li>In your solution you have an Action as a starting point, starting the correct workflow based on values in the aspect. In my suggested solution I thought of having one workflow with conditional logic to decide which way the workflow should take. Do you see any advantages/disadvantages with one way or the other, or is it only two ways of solving it? Or maybe my solution is not even possible?</li>
</ul>

Thanks again!

Katarina

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