IBM FileNet P8, Version 5.2.1            

Workflow properties - data fields

In the Workflow Properties, define all data fields that are to be used in any step in the workflow. When you later define each step, you indicate the following items: which data fields are parameters for that step, and what access the user is to have to modify the values.

For general information about data fields, see Workflow and database fields.

The Data Fields table displays all data fields in the workflow definition—data fields inherited from a base workflow and data fields created in the current workflow.

Inherited symbol An Inherited symbol indicates items inherited from a base workflow. You can change the value or description of an inherited data field, but you cannot delete the field.

Overridden symbol An Overridden symbol indicates inherited items that were modified in the current workflow definition. For general information about inheritance, see Workflow inheritance. For information about hiding inherited items, see Preferences - workflow.

You can optionally define data fields that will be populated with property values from the document that automatically launches the workflow.

For Workplace or Workplace XT, see Set property map for Workplace or Set property map for Workplace XT.

Important: The following procedure is for defining a workflow field that does not correspond to a database field. For information about creating corresponding workflow fields, see Choosing from a list of user databsae fields for Process Designer.
To define a data field
  1. If Workflow Properties is not open, select the Action menu, then select Workflow Properties and display the Data Fields tab.
  2. Enter a name for the field. For information about valid names, see Naming conventions.
  3. Select the data type of the field. For more information, see Data types. If the field is an array, select the array version of the type that is indicated by brackets [].
  4. In the Expression field, accept the default value or specify an initial value for the field. String fields can 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 float data type, the value should have ".0" at the end. For example, instead of entering 10000000, as the value for the float data type, enter 10000000.0, to prevent a validation error during the workflow validation step.

    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")

    For more information, see String functions and Date/Time masks.

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

  5. Specify how values are to be merged if this field is used in an AND-split. For more information, see Merge types.
  6. In Description, you can optionally enter authoring-related information about the data field for future reference. Any text you enter will display when you select the data field as a parameter for a step in the workflow. You can change the description of each parameter at each step.

    The description that displays for a step parameter is the description that exists when you select that data field as a parameter for the step. If you subsequently change the description for a data field in the Workflow Properties, the description does not change at each step where the data field is used as a parameter. (To update the description at the step, you can remove the parameter and re-add it.)

To specify the steps in the workflow where the selected data field is to be used, click Field Usage, and select the appropriate steps. For more information, see Specify field usage in steps.

To modify or delete a data field
  • To rename the selected data field, select the field name and modify it.
  • To copy the selected data field, click Copy.
  • To delete the selected data field, click Delete.

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.

You cannot rename or delete inherited data fields.

You can delete a field which overrides an inherited field; in this case the inherited field is reactivated.



Last updated: March 2016
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