Workflow Elements: General Information

By using the Fields page (sometimes referred to as the Field Editor), you can manage how particular boxes or check boxes are displayed on the form and what values can be selected from drop-down lists, depending on the status of the record on the form being modified.

You can also configure a dialog box that is shown to a user who clicks a particular action on a specific form. To give you the ability to define workflow dialog boxes, the Customization Project Editor provides the Dialog Boxes page (also called the Dialog Box Editor).

Learning Objectives

In this chapter, you will learn how to modify field settings and create dialog boxes.

Applicable Scenarios

You specify field settings when you want to modify the display of the elements that correspond to these fields on the UI. You configure dialog boxes when you want users to provide additional information that causes the record's transition to a different state.

Fields Page

You use the Fields page to modify the settings of a particular field of a specific form. Any of these settings can be applied unconditionally (that is, it can always be True or False), or be applied only when certain condition is met. You can modify the following field settings:

  • Disabled: An indicator of whether the corresponding element on the UI is visible or invisible.
  • Hidden: An indicator of whether the corresponding element on the UI is available or unavailable.
  • Required: An indicator of whether the corresponding element on the UI is required or optional.
  • Display Name: The name of the corresponding element as it is displayed on the UI.
  • Default Value: The default value for the corresponding box on the UI. This value will be inserted when a user adds a new record.

    You can enter the needed value for the element or select one of the values available in the database. You can also use the Formula Editor to specify values that depend on the values of other elements (for example, Type or Status).

  • List of combo box values: If the element is a combo box, the combo box values that can be selected in the box.

In the navigation pane of the Customization Project Editor, you open the Fields page by clicking Fields under the screen ID of the form for which you are modifying the field’s settings. The page contains the following parts:

  • A page toolbar with the standard table toolbar buttons and the following commands on the More menu:
    • Combo Box Values: You click a row with the applicable field and then click this command to configure the list of values if the field is displayed as a combo box. (If it is not, the command is unavailable.)
    • View Changes: When you click a row with the applicable field and then click the command, the Changes dialog box is opened, where you can view the changes in JSON format. If any changes have been applied to the predefined field, they are highlighted in the dialog box. You can return the field to the predefined state by clicking Reverse Changes in the Changes dialog box.
  • A table that lists the fields and their basic settings.

The following screenshot shows the CR301000 (Leads) Fields page with the added CampaignID, EMail, and Phone3Type fields.

Figure 1. The CR301000 (Leads) Fields page


Tip: In the name that appears on the page, Fields is preceded by the screen ID and then the screen name in parentheses, so you can always see at a glance which form you are customizing.

Dialog Box Editor

In the navigation pane of the Customization Project Editor, you can open the Dialog Boxes page by clicking Dialog Boxes under the screen ID of the form for which the workflow has been defined. The Dialog Boxes page, shown in the following screenshot contains the following parts:

  • A page toolbar (see Item 1 in the screenshot) with standard buttons and the following commands on the More menu:
    • Preview Dialog Box: To open the selected dialog box, you click this command after clicking the applicable dialog box in the Dialog Boxes pane.
    • View Changes: This button is available only if the dialog box is inherited—that is, based on a predefined dialog box. When you click the applicable dialog box in the Dialog Boxes pane and click the command, the Changes dialog box is opened, where you can view the changes in JSON format.

      You can return the dialog box to the predefined state by clicking Reverse Changes in the Changes dialog box.

    Some of these commands may also be displayed as buttons on the page toolbar.

  • The Dialog Boxes pane, which contains the list of dialog boxes defined for the form (Item 2).
  • An area with summary information about the dialog box selected in the Dialog Boxes pane and the Dialog Box Fields table, which shows its fields (Item 3).
Figure 2. The CR306000 (Cases) Dialog Boxes page


Tip: In the name that appears on the page, Dialog Boxes is preceded by the screen ID and then the screen name in parentheses, so you can always see at a glance which form you are customizing.

Hiding of the Fields of a Dialog Box

You can hide any field in the selected dialog box depending on a condition. To do this, in the Hidden column of the Dialog Box Fields table, you select the condition for the particular field. If this condition is met, the field is not displayed in the dialog box.

If all fields of a dialog box are hidden, this dialog box is not displayed. If particular fields are hidden but have default values specified for them, these fields are not displayed in the dialog box; however, it is still possible to use these fields in the workflow.

If you no longer plan to display a particular field in the dialog box, you can also unconditionally hide the field in the dialog box by selecting True in the Hidden column for this box. This functionality can be useful if the field has been added in the predefined workflow but is not required in the customized workflow. If you hide the field by selecting True in the Hidden column, no additional workflow modifications are required to hide the field.

Values for a Drop-Down List in a Dialog Box

In a dialog box that the system displays when you invoke particular actions on a form, you can select the source of the values that will be available in a drop-down list. Instead of specifying drop-down values explicitly for multiple dialog boxes, you can indicate that these values should be the same as in the target state or source state of the transition. By using this functionality, you can use only one dialog box for all actions in a workflow.

You select the source of the values of a drop-down list in the Combo Box Values dialog box. When you are viewing the Dialog Boxes page for a custom or customized workflow, you open this dialog box by clicking a particular field in the Dialog Box Fields table and then clicking Combo Box Values on the table toolbar.

In the Source of Values box of the dialog box, you select one of the following options (see the screenshot below):

  • Take From Source State: The values from the source state of the transition are used. This is the default option for a drop-down list in a new dialog box.
  • Take From Target State: The values from the target state of the transition are used.
  • Specify Explicitly: The values are selected in the table in the Combo Box Values dialog box.
Figure 3. The Source of Values box of the Combo Box Values dialog box


Note: If an action triggers transitions to multiple target states, we recommend that you use the Specify Explicitly or Take from Source State option.

For details about transitions, see Conditions and Transitions: General Information.