Two new tutorials

We have published two new tutorials on our site.

• First tutorial introduces you to the new action launch form designer functionality - http://www.datapolis.com.pl/EN/forms.html
  
• Second tutorial explains how to use SDK to increase Workbox functionality and connect to workflows from external applications - http://www.datapolis.com.pl/EN/workbox-sdk.htm

Enjoy!

Hotfix 1.5.3 is released

New hotfix for version 1.5 was released. This release repairs a problem with the "Copy items" activity.

To download the fixed version please follow this link www.datapolis.com/EN/wb_freetrial.html.

Workbox and SCP

You may have noticed during Workbox installation or when viewing the features, that apart from Workbox, you have one more product from Datapolis installed - SharePoint Column Protector (SCP).

SharePoint Column Protector is a Datapolis product which is embeded into the Workbox. SCP is used to manage permissions to view columns (fields) of an item. It is used in Workbox to manage permissions to an item in a state.

SCP is a commercial product (costs from USD 270) that can work completely independent from Workbox. You can try it out (it has 30 day trial period) and see if it is usefull for you.

When you install Workbox, SCP is installed in runtime mode, in which you are not able to manage the permissions to the item columns without the workflow. In other words, SCP in embeded in Workbox and can be used only through Workbox. There is a small hack that you can do and use the SCP fully for 30 days, but after that it will stop working and will be accessible only through Workbox

If you purchase SCP then you are able to use its full functionality and Workbox will still use it. One important thing - Workbox overrides SCP settings - so if you configure something in SCP and then run a Workbox workflow on this list, then SCP setting will be ignored.

Merry Christmas!

Scope of the release 1.5.5

Sorry for not publishing this earlier - most of the Workbox team is currently off for holidays after the exhausting release 1.5. We will start working on the new release in January.
As always - after releasing the big release we are going to do the sub-release, that will be shorter and will only improve the existing features, without introducing any big changes.
In the next release of Workbox (expected by the end of January) we will introduce the following functionalities:

• "Current item" check-box - you will be able to quickly point to the current item on item activities instead of defining the list and item filter "ID=[Current item ID]".
  
• "As current user" check-box - you will be able to define on item activities, that in item modification history the "modified by" will be set to the user launching the action instead of the "system" account
• "Do not change version" check-box - you will be able to set on the "edit item" activity that the changes should be done without adding new version to the item. Very useful when editing multiple fields.
  
• Launch form templates - you will be able to save your launch form as a template and use it on another action in the same workflow
  
• Read only fields on launch form
• Permission level matching - currently permission levels are not matched during workflow migration. This will change in the new release
  
• Activity grouping - you will be able to group selected activities on the activity diagram, fold such group, copy it, move, etc.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• "If" activity name will be displayed on the diagram

We will also optimize the workflow deployment mechanism to speed up the workflow deployment process and fix any bugs from the previous releases.

Mathematical operations in Workbox

As you may have noticed, inputting "3+5" in the activity parameter will return "3+5". What to do, to receive (in this case) "8"?

To perform the calculation you need to pass the equation to a variable using "set variable" activity or use the "calculate" math function.
NOTE: The variable which will receive the equation must be of "double" or "integer" type. Only then the calculations will be performed.

Later, you can use this variable in other lookup fields.

So, for example - you want to take data from one SharePoint item field, subtract it from another field and put the equation result into another SharePoint item field. To do this:

• In the activities window add "edit item" activity and double click it to enter the details
• Pick the list, filters and field you want to add the new value.
• Open the new value field
• Click on the "Lookup" button
• Go to functions -> math ->calculate
  
• Click on the value textbox, new window will appear
• Pick (using lookups) value of the selected SharePoint item field
• enter minus sign
• The equation should look like this (without quotation marks) "[list_name - field_name] - [list_name2 - field_name2]"
• Click ok,

Now Workbox will do the calculation instead of treating the values as text.

You can use the following functions:

• ^
• +
• -
• /
• *
• cos
• sin
• exp
• ln
• tan
• acos
• asin
• atan
• cosh
• sinh
• tanh
• sqrt
• cotan
• fpart
• acotan
• round
• ceil
• floor
• fac
• sfac
• abs
• log
• %
• >
• <
• &&
• ==
• !=
• ||
• !
• >=
• <=

and constants:

• euler
• pi
• nan
• infinity
• true
• false

Item field permissions on for multiple workflows

If you have more than one Workbox workflow on a SharePoint list item or document in library, all of these workflows affect permissions for item's fields.
The general rule is that Workbox is taking the sum of all permissions for given user. So if in workflow A in state A1 you have permissions to view fields X,Y and in workflow B in state B1 you have permissions to view fields W,Y,Z then you will see fields W,X,Y,Z. If in state A2 you do not have permissions for any column, and in workflow B you are still in state B1, then you will have the W,Y,Z columns visible.
The same rule applies for the "edit" permissions.
Since there are no "deny" permissions, if you are included in a role that has permissions to see a column - you will see it, regardless of settings from other workflows.
If you are also using another Datapolis product - SCP, then SCP settings are ignored when the workflow kicks in. This mean that Workflow settings override SCP settings and you will get what you have defined for workflows in given states.