In an effort to provide some categorical feedback data, we would like to have a pulldown list to choose descriptions from, in this case predefined rejection statements, during a transition. How can I set a variable from a list during a transition?
In an effort to provide some categorical feedback data, we would like to have a pulldown list to choose descriptions from, in this case predefined rejection statements, during a transition. How can I set a variable from a list during a transition?
don't know how to do that on a transition, but you could put the dropdown in the datacard, and it would get updated on check-in (assuming it is not a version free variable).
dispatch or the API is likely needed to specifically do it on a transition (I don't have access to either right now to dig into it).
ok - thought of another possibility. have multiple transitions, each assigning a specific value to that variable. then the "dropdown" is effectively moved to the right-click menu.
That works, however there are many places where I would have to build that into our workflows....currently 38. We have several different franchises and engineering teams all of which have their own review groups and signatory requirements. Each review group path has it's own rejection transition. We structured this into the system to hard-code specific individuals participation rather than leaving it to selection lists. It takes the guess work out of the task of who to notify or submit to for a particular project.
That is a functional workaround for sure, thank you. Ideally it would be best to prompt the user to make a selection in this situation. We want to have this as a mandatory action and make it user friendly for less experienced users. Is there a way to handle this with dispatch?
I don't recall if it directly had dropdowns (and as I mentioned, I don't have access to it here). but I believe it could run other programs so it should be possible - though if it doesn't have dropdowns, the PDM API might be a cleaner solution.
We have a list of statements that we can map to a variable currently, but you've got me thinking....why not put this list in the document? They could check the file out, update the statement from a list in the document, then check it in. From that point all that's left is to make the transition. I really want this to be locked down to only change when a rejection transition occurs.
The ability to set a variable from a list during a transition would be very handy for other things as well......
If the variable value is mapped to the document property, the document property will update from the datacard and vice versa.
You can put a variable on the datacard and set the value prior to putting through the transition (as someone else mentioned),
Or, you can use Dispatch as someone mentioned, but, I don't recommend it because it requires you to check out the document, write the value to the variable, then check it back in - which is slowww. Also, there is no error checking/trapping in Dispatch which makes me not recommend it for automation.
Of course, there is always the API - it is probably the best option but requires programming skills.
Good luck with whatever you choose.
Joy
Thank you Joy,
In my attempts to do this with dispatch I am able to use a combo box and make a list inside the combo box "selectable choices" section. For our purposes this will be restricted to only run for .xlms file types and another variable called "document type". We have an "Engineering Notice" document type that the rejection statements get applied to. This should limit when the task is run and the time it takes to execute.
I have designated the target state to be our WIP state and set the action to happen after the state change has occurred. My only question is, how can I restrict this to only the "Changes Required" transition? There is a "Menu Command" check box and text field to enter what the help files states as "a right click menu command in the vault", is this the name of my transition such as "Changes Required"?
Hi Ronald,
Remove the Menu Command and restrict it in the 'During state transition'.
Also, you may want to block the actions using For All Documents/End for all documents in case multiple documents are selected.
See attached video and example.
Joy
And, I just want to add - the above was an example - if the description or approver was missing, I would have blocked it using a condition on the transition :-)
ROTFLOL.....
"Because I said so"......How true....
That's rich and beautiful Joy, thank you so much for that. Thanks for the samples too, this looks like the solution I was looking for.
Best regards,
Hi Ronald,
Remove the Menu Command and restrict it in the 'During state transition'.
Also, you may want to block the actions using For All Documents/End for all documents in case multiple documents are selected.
See attached video and example.
Joy