6.1 About the Workflow Tab

You use the Workflow tab to display the Workflow page. You use the Workflow page to define the behavior of the workflow for the provisioning request definition. The Workflow page consists of a canvas, a palette, and associated views.

Figure 6-1 Workflow Page

6.1.1 Canvas

The canvas provides a graphical view of the activities in the workflow. When you create a new provisioning request definition that is not based on a template, the canvas is blank except for a Start activity and Finish activity.

If you right-click anywhere on the canvas, a menu is displayed. The menu includes the following commands:

Table 6-1 Workflow Menu

Item

Description

Delete

Deletes the selected activity or flow path.

Show Activity IDs

Switches the workflow editor between displaying activity names and activity IDs. Activity IDs are system-defined and are not editable. However, if errors associated with activities are detected during validation, Designer identifies the activity in which the error occurred by activity ID. When this is the case, turn on the display of activity IDs in order to locate the activity on the canvas. You can specify whether activity names or activity IDs are displayed by default by choosing Window > Preferences > Provisioning > Workflows > Diagram Preferences > Show Activity IDs.

Show Flow Path Types

Turns the display of flow path types (for example, forward, approved, denied) on and off. When Show Flow Path Types is turned on, a label is displayed on each flow path indicating the flow path type.

Show Properties

Displays the Properties view for the selected activity. If no activity is selected, displays the Properties view for the Workflow itself.

Show Data Item Mapping

Displays the Data Item Mapping view for the selected activity.

Show E-Mail Notification

Displays the E-Mail Notification view for the selected activity.

The canvas provides two controls that make it easier to view the workflow:

Zoom: Use the Zoom control to increase or decrease the magnification of the workflow display. You can make portions of the workflow display larger, to view more detail, or make the workflow display smaller, to view more of the workflow. Click the rectangle to the right of the Zoom control to return to 100% magnification.

Scale: Use the Scale control to increase or decrease the spacing between items in the workflow display. For example, if your workflow has items with many flowpaths between them, you can increase the scale to make it easier to see individual flow paths. Click the rectangle to the right of the Scale control to return to 100% scale.

Figure 6-2 Zoom and Scale Controls

6.1.2 Palette

The palette provides icons for activities that can be dragged onto the canvas to create the workflow. It also provides tools for manipulating the icons and for linking activities:

Figure 6-3 Workflow Palette

The palette includes the following tools:

Table 6-2 Workflow Palette

Tool

Description

Select

Selects individual nodes or flow paths. To select a node, click the Select tool, then click a node.

Marquee

Selects multiple nodes or flow paths. Use this tool to move items as a group. To select multiple items, click the Marquee tool, then click in an area outside of the items that you want to select. Hold down the mouse button and drag over the items that you want to select, then release the mouse button.

When multiple items are selected, only the properties for the first item selected are displayed in the Properties view (see Section 6.1.3, Views for information about Views).

Flow Path

Creates flow paths between nodes. Flow paths provide connection logic for connecting nodes. For information about connecting nodes, see Section 6.3, Adding Flow Paths.

Activities (for example, Start, Approval, Log)

Inserts the selected activity into the workflow. For information about adding activities, see Section 6.2, Adding Activities to a Workflow. For detailed descriptions of the activities, see Section 7.0, Workflow Activity Reference.

6.1.3 Views

The Workflow page also includes the Properties, Data Item Mapping, and E-Mail Notification views:

Figure 6-4 Workflow Views

You can right-click the icon for an activity to select a view from a context menu. Not all activities utilize all views. The following table identifies the views and the activities that use them:

Table 6-3 Views for Activities

Activity

Properties

E-Mail Notification

Data Item Mapping

Start

X

 

X

Approval

X

X

X

Log

X

 

 

Branch

X

 

 

Merge

X

 

 

Condition

X

 

 

Mapping

X

 

X

Workflow Status

X

 

X

E-Mail

 

 

 

Role Binding

X

 

 

Finish

X

X

 

Integration

X

 

X

Entitlement

X

 

X

Entity

X

 

X