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Palette Controls for Flows

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Palette Controls for Flows

’ flow palette contains all of the forms you have already created in the Forms tab of the application you are currently editing. These forms are available for you to add as steps of the flow. The palette also contains a new form which lets you create a new form step directly within the flow designer. Additional step types for flow steps are Summary, http and Anonymous Task. The purpose of each is described below.

On This Page:

Keeping your Forms and Flows in Sync

Forms that are used as steps in a workflow can be created in the Form or Flow designers. There are two approaches a designer can choose from when creating a flow:

  1. Create forms in the Forms designer and then drag the form(s) into the flow as the steps (Existing Forms).
  2. Create the flow by dragging a New Form from the palette and drop it onto the flow canvas. Then click the edit icon and create the form in the forms designer that opens up in the flow designer.

There are pros and cons to each approach when you need to make small updates to one of the steps of your flow:.

  • The designer can go back and edit the forms in the forms designer then drag the updated forms into the flow.  If you choose to do this, then you have to redo any properties for that step. (assign users/roles, task information, Pending messages, customized Save and Continue buttons etc).
  • Or you can update the form directly in the flow by clicking the edit icon. This approach is quicker but the changes that you make to the form from within the flow designer DO NOT update the form in the Forms designer.

Let's say you create the perfect form step in a workflow and now you want to use it in another flow. How do you extract the form step from the flow so that it is available in the Forms designer?

 If you click on a form step in a workflow, you can download that step from the flow as a standalone form and upload it into the Forms designer. Simply click on the step in the flow then click the form icon. If you have designed your workflow using Linked Steps in a Flow the icon to download the form step will only appear on the parent step.

The downloaded file is a _form.zip file and is named according to the convention shown below:

  • the flow name
  • the version number of the form step plus 1
  • _flow step name
  • _form.zip

Here is an example of the downloaded file for step 1 named Employee in a workflow named Vendor Quote.


This is an easy way to keep your forms and flows in sync and reuse forms created/updated in the flow designer in other workflows or as standalone forms.

Form actions and Doc actions, excluding Doc URIs, are copied to the extracted form if that step in the flow was an existing form that was dragged into the flow and that form had configured actions.

Activity doc actions are retained. Email Activity doc actions are copied to the Additional Email tab in the extracted form.

Doc Uris are cleared when applied to a form that is created in the forms designer then dragged into the flow designer as a step. Designers will have to manually add them to the extracted form.

Limitations:
  • PDF mappings from the flow will NOT be included in the download of the extracted step.

New Form

The New Form palette control allows you to create a new form step in your workflow directly inside the flow designer. If you do not have an existing form for the step you require, drag & drop the New Form into your flow and create the step in place. This will launch the  form designer where you can add controls to the form just as you would if you designed the form from the Forms Home page.

Drag the New Form from the palette and drop it into the guide box. You will only see the guide box when adding the first step.

Click to select it.  A unique and arbitrary name will be generated automatically for the step--Step 29 for example. To change the name of the flow step:

  • Click anywhere in the General Setting section in the Properties Navigator on the left. This opens the Settings tab. Change the name of the step from the default to something meaningful in the Name field.
    When you click on any step in the flow,  a series of action icons displays depending on the step type. Creating a flow step by dragging/dropping an existing form or a New Form from the Palette shows these icons:

    • - Cog icon - Click this icon to edit Step Properties. This icon is displayed when you select the flow step and in the Properties Navigator on the left side of the designer. 
      • Clicking the Edit Step Properties icon on a flow step displays tabs to set up Settings, Assignment, Messages, Rejection, Precondition, Escalations, Emails, Web Hook, Quick Approval and Geo Location.
      • Clicking the Edit Step Properties from the Properties Navigator or simply clicking on a section of the Properties Navigator brings you directly to the tab for immediate editing.
    • - Chain link icon - Click this icon to create Linked Steps. Refer to Linked Steps in a Flow for a discussion of this Flow Design pattern and when you should use it.
    • - Download Arrow over bar - Use this icon to download the step of the workflow as a standalone form. You may want to do this if you update the step in the flow designer and you want to keep your Forms and Flow libraries in sync.
    • -  Pencil icon - Click this icon to make changes to a flow step. The form will open in the Forms Designer inside of the Flow Designer. Remember, the form in the Flow Designer is a copy and any form changes will not automatically sync up with the original form in your Forms library.
    • - Minus icon - Use this icon to delete a step in a workflow. You will NOT be asked to confirm the deletion. Once clicked, the deletion is permanent.

Existing Forms 

The palette contains all of the forms that you have already created and which are listed in your current application's forms home page. You can use any form as a step in the flow. Adding an existing form to the flow creates a copy of that form. If you later edit the form from the forms home page,  those changes will not affect the step in the flow. It remains as it was at the time you copied it into the flow. If you want to update the flow to have a new copy of the form, delete the form from the flow and drag it in again. You can also edit the form directly in the flow. Conversely these changes to the form inside the flow do not affect the original form in the form home page.

Drag the existing Form from the palette and drop it into the guide box. You will only see the guide box when adding the first step.

  •  Click to select it.
    When you click on any step in the flow,  a series of action icons displays depending on the step type. Creating a flow step by dragging/dropping an existing form or a New Form from the Palette shows these icons:

    • - Cog icon - Click this icon to edit Step Properties. This icon is displayed when you select the flow step and in the Properties Navigator on the left side of the designer. 
      • Clicking the Edit Step Properties icon on a flow step displays property tabs to set up Settings, Assignment, Messages, Rejection, Precondition, Escalations, Emails, Web Hook, Quick Approval and Geo Location.
      • Clicking the Edit Step Properties from the Properties Navigator or simply clicking on a section of the Properties Navigator brings you directly to the tab for immediate editing.
    • - Chain link icon - Click this icon to create Linked Steps. Refer to Linked Steps in a Flow for a discussion of this Flow Design pattern and when you should use it.
    • - Download Arrow over bar - Use this icon to download the step of the workflow as a standalone form. You may want to do this if you update the step in the flow designer and you want to keep your Forms and Flow libraries in sync.
    • -  Pencil icon - Click this icon to make changes to a flow step. The form will open in the Forms Designer inside of the Flow Designer. Remember, the form in the Flow Designer is a copy and any form changes will not automatically sync up with the original form in your Forms library.
    • - Minus icon - Use this icon to delete a step in a workflow. You will NOT be asked to confirm the deletion. Once clicked, the deletion is permanent.