Search This Blog

Saturday, June 11, 2016

Workflow Basics – Actions

Steps, Conditions, and Actions are the building blocks for any workflow using SharePoint Designer 2010. 

Actions

Actions represent some processing you want to happen, such as Sending an Email, Checking in an Item, or Collecting Data from a User.
Actions can be run in parallel (performed at the same time) using a Parallel Block.
Actions are broken up into the following categories:
  • Core Actions
    • Mostly manipulation of a particular piece of information such as a variable or list field.
  • List Actions
    • Work on an entire list item at one time.
  • Task Actions
    • Manipulate the associated Tasks list and pauses the workflow until complete.
  • Document Set Actions
    • Work on complete document sets all at once.
  • Utility Actions
    • Let you perform functions such as working with string values.
  • Relational Actions
    • Includes one action – finding a user’s manager.

Core Actions

Action
Description
New in 2010?
Add a Comment
Does not actually do anything – this allows you to place comments to describe what it is you’re doing in that area
Yes
Add Time to Date
Allows for addition or subtraction of Minutes, Hours, Days, Months, or Years to a Date field.
No
Do Calculation
Allows for simple arithmetic functions such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and determining a remainder on two values in the workflow.
No
Log to History List
Enables you to write items to the hidden History List – is very useful for showing where you are in a workflow process.  Use often.
No
Pause for Duration
Causes the workflow to wait a specified amount of time* before proceeding to the next action.
No
Pause Until Date
Causes the workflow to wait until a specified date and time* before proceeding to the next action.
No
Send an Email
Sends an HTML email to a user or set of users.
No
Send Document to Repository
Sends the document to another repository – for example another document library in a different site collection that functions as an archive.
Yes
Set Time Portion of Date/Time Field
Overrides the time portion of a Date/Time lookup value.  It leaves the Date the same but changes the time, and stores the result in a new variable.
No
Set Workflow Variable
Directly sets the value of a variable or Initiation Form Field.
No
Set Workflow Status
Sets the status of the workflow to Canceled, Approved, Rejected, or a custom status you define.
Yes
Stop Workflow
Stops the execution of the workflow immediately.
No

* The timer job that runs this usually runs every 5 minutes by default.  You will not get a precise amount of time, but rather that constitutes a minimum amount of time.

List Actions

Action
Description
New in 2010?
Add List Item Permissions*
Specify Users and/or Groups and give them a specific level of permissions on any item in the site.
Yes
Check In Item
Checks in and sets Check In Comment.
No
Check Out Item
Locks an item to the person who performs action (Checks Out the document).
No
Copy List Item
Copies items between two compatible types of lists (i.e. doc lib to doc lib).
No
Create List Item
Creates a new item in any list in the site and returns the ID of the new list item into a variable.
No
Declare Record
Declares the current item as a record, which (depending on settings) will protect the record from being edited or deleted.
Yes
Delete Drafts
Deletes all minor versions (drafts) from the current item.
Yes
Delete Item
Removes the specified item from the list or library.
No
Delete Previous Versions
Deletes all versions that are not the current version of the item.
Yes
Discard Check Out Item
Undoes the check-out and reverts back to the state it was in before being checked out.
No
Inherit List Item Parent Permissions*
Inherit the permissions of the item’s immediate parent.
Yes
Remove List Item Permissions*
Specify Users and/or Groups and remove a specific level of permissions to any item on the site.
Yes
Replace List Item Permissions*
Replace the permission level of the specified item on the site.
Yes
Set Content Approval Status
Changes the status of the content approval of the current item and sets the comment.
No
Set Field in Current Item
Sets the value of the specified field to either a hard-coded value or a lookup value.
No
Undeclare Record
Undeclare the current item as a record – makes the item behave as any other items in the list or library.
Yes
Update List Item
Enables you to change the fields of an existing item in the site.
No
Wait for Change in Document Check Out Status
Waits for the document to be in a certain checkout state, such as Checked Out, Checked in, Unlocked by document editor, or Discarded.
Yes
Wait for Field change in Current Item
Pauses the workflow until a field in the current item matches a particular condition.
No

* Only available within an Impersonation Step.

Task Actions

Action
Description
New in 2010?
Assign a Form to a Group
Lets you create a survey that everyone in a group must complete before the workflow continues to the next action.
No
Assign a To-do Item
Creates a standard task that must be completed before the workflow continues to the next action.
No
Collect Data from a User
Lets you query a single user with custom fields which the user must complete before the workflow continues to the next action.  The ID of the task created is assigned to a workflow variable.
No
Start Approval Process
An entire tasking process based on the built-in Approval workflow template.  This intense action allows you to define various pieces of the process using the Task Process Designer.
Yes
Start Custom Task Process
Similar to the Start Approval Process action, this however lets you define the process from scratch.
Yes
Start Feedback Process
An entire tasking process based on the built-in Collect Feedback workflow template.  This intense action allows you to define various pieces of the process using the Task Process Designer.
Yes


Utility Actions

Action
Description
New in 2010?
Extract Substring from End of String
Copies the specified number of characters from the end of a string and saves the result in a new variable.
Yes
Extract Substring from Index of String
Copies a part of the string from a certain place within the string and saves the result in a new variable.
Yes
Extract Substring from Start of String
Copies the specified number of characters from the start of a string and saves the result in a new variable.
Yes
Extract Substring of String from Index with Length
Copies a part of the string from a certain place with a certain length within the string and saves the result in a new variable.
Yes
Find Interval Between Dates
Determines an interval in Hours, Minutes, or Days, between two dates and saves the result in a new variable.
Yes


Relational Actions

Action
Description
New in 2010?
Look up a Manager of a User
Retrieves the manager of the specified user from the User Profile database.
Yes

Document Set Actions

Action
Description
New in 2010?
Capture a Version of the Document Set
Creates a new version for the Document Set.
Yes
Send Document Set to Repository
Sends the document set to another repository – for example a document library in another site collection.
Yes
Set Content Approval Status for the Document Set
Changes the content approval status and sets a comment.
Yes
Start Document Set Approval Process
An entire tasking process based on the built-in Approval workflow template, which works on an entire Document Set.  This intense action allows you to define various pieces of the process using the Task Process Designer.
Yes

No comments:

Post a Comment