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Process Reference  
Process Designer
Getting Started
Workflow Properties
  General properties
  Advanced properties
  Attachments
    Define an attachment
  Participants
    Assign Trackers
    Define a workflow group
  Data fields
    Define a data field
  Milestones
    Define a milestone
    Milestone usage
  Submaps
    Create and manage submaps
    Submap usage
  Specify field usage in steps
  Select existing fields
  Field merge types
  Expression builder
Steps
Routes
Validate & Launch
   

Workflow properties - data fields

In the Workflow Properties dialog, define all data fields that will be used in any step. When you subsequently define each step, you indicate which data fields are parameters for that step, and what access the user will have to modify the values. See About workflow fields for general information on data fields.

You can optionally define data fields that will be populated with property values from the document that automatically launches the workflow. For further information, see one of the following topics:

To define a data field

  1. If the Workflow Properties dialog is not open, select Workflow Properties from the Process Designer toolbar and display the Data Fields tab.
  2. Enter a name for the field. See Naming conventions for additional information regarding valid names. See Coordinating data field and exposed field names for information on using existing data fields.
  3. Select the data type of the field: Boolean, Float, Integer, String, Time. See Data types for additional information. If the field is an array, select the array version of the type indicated by brackets [].
  4. In the Expression field, accept the default value or specify an initial value for the field. String fields may be blank; all other types required an initial value. The value must match the data type and meet the requirements for expressions. The initial value cannot reference other data fields. Note that for assignments of certain values to float and integer data fields, the system does an implicit conversion.

    For time fields, you can use the default systemtime, or you can enter a specific date and time. For example, to enter the date June 5, 2003, you would enter the following expression:

    stringtotime("June 5, 2003", "month dd, yyyy")

    See String functions, stringtotime and Date/Time masks for additional information.

    For an array, double-click in the Value field to specify the initial value of each item in the array. See Edit array fields.

  5. Specify how values will be merged if this field is used in an AND-split. See Field merging example for additional information.
  6. In the Description field, you can optionally enter authoring-related information about the data field for future reference.

To specify the steps in the workflow where the selected data field will be used

Click the Field Usage button, then select the appropriate steps. See Field Usage for additional information.

To modify or delete a data field

  • To use fields that are exposed on work queues, rosters, and event logs, click the Exposed Fields button. See Using exposed fields.
  • To rename the selected data field, select the field name and modify it.
  • To copy the selected data field, click the Copy button.
  • To delete the selected data field, click the Delete button.

NOTE If you change the name of a data field or you delete a data field, the change is updated in all steps where the data field is used as a parameter. However, the change is not reflected in expressions where the data field is used.

   

TIP To take advantage of exposed data fields, the names and types of the data fields that the workflow author defines in Process Designer must match the names and types of the fields created in the Process Configuration Console, including case. The workflow author, workflow administrator, and, where applicable, application developer typically work together to determine what fields are needed and how they will be used.