Workflow Scripting

To enhance basic workflow functionality, server-side scripts can be used in workflow blocks. In addition to the Server-Side API classes, the following three global objects can be used in the workflow scripts:

• current

• scratchpad

• activity

The current object is a SimpleRecord instance, for which a workflow context has been created. The property names of the current object match the names of the record columns (Column Name attribute).

The scratchpad object is an associative array (JSON), where you can place values to use them within the context later. The value of the object is stored in the scratchpad field of the Workflow Context.

The activity object is a SimpleRecord instance of the current block record. The activity object properties match the names of record columns (Column Name attribute) in the Workflow Executing Activity (wf_executing_activity) table. On the Task (task) and Approval (sys_approval) record forms, specify a reference to the linked Executing Activity record in the Wf Executing Activity field.

Global objects in a workflow

Below is a workflow example for the Task (task) table.

In the beginning of the process, a Task (task) child record is created through the Create Child Task block. Then the process is stopped on the Wait State block to wait for the In Progress state.

After the state is changed to In Progress, the process proceeds to the Update Child Task block, where the Task child record is updated:

The Record Generator block is used to create a Task record according to its settings. The ID of the current record is specified in its Parent field:

new_task.parent_id = current.sys_id;

To update a record, you need to know its ID. However, the Record Generator block does not return the ID of the created record.

For a record that is created via the generator block, the Wf Executing Activity field is automatically populated with a reference to the executable block, which created the Task record.

To search for the created record, use sampling from the Task table by Wf Executing Activity field. 

Use the scratchpad object to record the ID value of the relevant block:

const curentExecActivityId = activity.sys_id;
scratchpad.recGeneratorActivityId = curentExecActivityId;

The Run script block named Update Child Task searches for the Task record and updates it:

const task = new SimpleRecord('task');
task.get('wf_executing_activity', scratchpad.recGeneratorActivityId);
if (task.sys_id) { 
  task.state = '3'; // In Progress
  task.update(); 
}