Workflow stage

Availability

[SINCE Orbeon Forms 2020.1]

Introduction

Orbeon Forms has a number of features helping with workflows. One of them is the workflow stage.

What is a workflow stage?

A workflow stage is a string value used to track the progress of a form through a workflow. For instance, you might have a form which goes through the following workflow:

Example of workflow

This workflow is in the following stages over time:

• blank or missing (initial stage)

• submitted

• approved

• rejected

A workflow stage is associated with form data:

• In memory: When the form is being edited the workflow stage can also have a value and be changed.

• At rest: When form data is saved in the database, the workflow stage is saved with it, and will be available alongside the form data when the form data is read.

Setting or modifying the workflow stage

You can set or modify the workflow stage using the set-workflow-stage() action. This action is part of a process, which is usually associated with a button. For example, in the workflow above, you might have:

• a "Submit" button to submit the form, which sets the workflow stage to submitted;

• a "Approve" button to approve the form, which sets the workflow stage to approved;

• a "Reject" button to reject the form, which sets the workflow stage to rejected.

For more, see Buttons and processes.

Reading the workflow stage

The workflow stage can be read using the fr:workflow-stage-value() function. For example, you might use this function in formulas to conditionally show/hide, make readonly/readwrite fields, grids, sections, or buttons based on the workflow stage.

Showing the workflow stage in the Summary page

You can optionally show the workflow page in a column in the form's Summary page by setting the following property value to true:

<property 
    as="xs:boolean" 
    name="oxf.fr.summary.show-workflow-stage.*.*"                           
    value="true"/>

In addition, the user can search by workflow stage.

Showing the workflow stage in the Detail page

[SINCE Orbeon Forms 2024.1.1]

You can optionally show the workflow page in the navigation bar of the form's Detail page by setting the following property value to true:

<property 
    as="xs:boolean"
    name="oxf.fr.navbar.workflow-stage.enable.*.*"
    value="true"/>

Workflow stage in the navigation bar

See also

• Blog post: New workflow capabilities in Orbeon Forms 2020.1

• The set-workflow-stage() action

• The fr:workflow-stage-value() function

• Buttons and processes