Workflow States: To Define a Workflow State

The following activity will walk you through the process of defining a workflow state.

Story

Suppose that on the Repair Work Orders (RS301000) form, you need to add the OnHold and ReadyForAssignment states to the workflow. The OnHold workflow state should be the initial state of the workflow.

Process Overview

To define the workflow states, in the Configure method of the RSSVWorkOrderEntry_Workflow class, you will call the WithFlowStates method in the lambda expression specified for the AddDefaultFlow method and provide the set of states in the parameter. You will define each state by calling the Add method and specifying the state-identifying string as a generic parameter. As a parameter of the Add method, you will specify a lambda expression where you will configure the workflow state.

System Preparation

Make sure that you have done the following:

Prepared an instance with the PhoneRepairShop customization project and enabled the workflow validation by performing the following prerequisite activities:
1. Test Instance for Workflow Customization: To Deploy a Test Instance
2. Test Instance for Workflow Customization: To Turn On Workflow Validation
Prepared the screen configuration and defined the set of states by performing the Screen Configuration: To Prepare a Screen Configuration for a Form Without a Predefined Workflow prerequisite activity.

Step 1: Defining the Initial Workflow State

To define the initial workflow state, which is OnHold in this activity, do the following:

In the RSSVWorkOrderEntry_Workflow class, in the static Configure method, locate the AddDefaultFlow method. (You have added this method in Step 3: Overriding the Configure Method of the Screen Configuration: To Prepare a Screen Configuration for a Form Without a Predefined Workflow activity.)

Modify the WithFlowStates method, as the following code shows.

                .AddDefaultFlow(flow => flow
                    .WithFlowStates(flowStates =>
                    {
                    }))

Inside the lambda expression of the WithFlowStates method, add the OnHold workflow state by calling the Add method, as the following code shows.
```
                        flowStates.Add<States.onHold>(flowState =>
                            GetOnHoldBehavior(flowState));
```
In the code above, you have added the OnHold state by specifying the States.onHold value as the generic parameter of the Add method.
In the RSSVWorkOrderEntry_Workflow class, add the Workflow States region and define the following private static method, which defines the OnHold workflow state.
```
        #region Workflow States
        private static BaseFlowStep.IConfigured GetOnHoldBehavior(
            FlowState.INeedAnyFlowStateConfig flowState)
        {
            return flowState
            .IsInitial()
            .WithActions(actions =>
            {
                actions.Add(graph => graph.ReleaseFromHold,
                    action => action.IsDuplicatedInToolbar()
                        .WithConnotation(
                            ActionConnotation.Success));
            });
        }
        #endregion
```
In the code above, you have done the following:
- Specified that the OnHold workflow state is the initial state of the workflow by calling the IsInitial method.
- Specified the actions that are available in the OnHold workflow state by calling the WithActions method and adding the action definition in the lambda expression. In this case, the ReleaseFromHold action is available in the OnHold workflow state.
- By calling the IsDuplicatedInToolbar method, specified that the action should be shown as a button on the toolbar for this workflow state.
- Specified the Success connotation for the action by calling the WithConnotation method. The button corresponding to this action will be highlighted in green when it is displayed on the form toolbar. For details, see Action Customization: Connotation for an Action.
Save your changes.

Step 2: Defining the ReadyForAssignment Workflow State

To define the ReadyForAssignment workflow state, do the following:

Inside the lambda expression of the WithFlowStates method, after the OnHold workflow state, define the ReadyForAssignment workflow state, as the following code shows.
```
                        flowStates.Add<States.readyForAssignment>(flowState =>
                            GetReadyForAssignmentBehavior(flowState));
```
In the code above, you have added the ReadyForAssignment workflow state by specifying the States.readyForAssignment value as the generic parameter of the Add method.

In the RSSVWorkOrderEntry_Workflow class, in the Workflow States region, define the following private static method, which defines the ReadyForAssignment workflow state.

        private static BaseFlowStep.IConfigured GetReadyForAssignmentBehavior(
            FlowState.INeedAnyFlowStateConfig flowState)
        {
            return flowState
            .WithFieldStates(states =>
            {
                states.AddField<RSSVWorkOrder.customerID>(state
                    => state.IsDisabled());
                states.AddField<RSSVWorkOrder.serviceID>(state
                    => state.IsDisabled());
                states.AddField<RSSVWorkOrder.deviceID>(state
                    => state.IsDisabled());
            });
        }

By calling the WithFieldStates method, you have specified the states of DAC fields in this workflow state. In this case, you have specified that the customerID, serviceID, and deviceID fields of the RSSVWorkOrder DAC should be unavailable in this workflow state.

Save your changes.