Nintex Automation K2: Back to basics
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Recently I've been involved in that project, where data and information that was being created for years in on premise SharePoints had to be migrated to the sharepoint online environment in office 365. All migration was said to be a simple, straightforward and easy due to the usage of sharegate, but... the real truth turned out to be way more dark.Before the real migration started I sat down and started reading about the process and possible obstacles. I can now divide them into 3 groups:Limitations of Sharegate Limitations of SharePoint Online Limitations of Nintex for Office 365.First things first. I will guide you through all and each from them.Limitations of SharegateSharegate is a really great tool. Honestly. It saved me dozens of hours but as well made me frustrated. But still it is great. It really allows not straightforward migrations to be possible (like from SP2007 directly to SP2013 and so on), is the only tool that allows automatic migration from on premise to online, allo
In support we field a lot of questions revolving around workflow history such as; where it is kept, how it grows over time, how to maintain it and what are some of the limits that you will run into. Today, I would like to show you where it is created, kept and how to plan for the future. General Information: There are 2 places where the workflow history is kept and accessed. 1. SharePoint Workflow History – This is kept inside of the site collection in a hidden list typically called NintexWorkflowHistory. 2. Nintex Workflow History– This is kept inside of the Nintex Workflow database. Because there are two places the workflow history resides, this also means that there are two places you can view it. SharePoint Workflow History The SharePoint workflow history can be accessed a couple of different ways, but the most common is by clicking on the link inside of the workflow history column added to a list when a workflow is first run. (see below): This information is pul
According to Leif Frederiksen last post Filtering large List Lookup dropdowns ... I had the problem with a real big dropdown (nearly 20.000 entries). So the code of Leif was not suitable for me because it took too long to filter (blank out) all the entries that are not needed. I decided to do a workaround and figured out another way to solve the problem. Why not do a CAMLquery on the whole list and show only the results in the dropdown? So I have the full control of the query (i.e. "Contains"). In this example I show you how I did the search/filter for our suppliers. My users can choose a category and the search works with "contains". There are too many entries we have to deal with...This looks more comfortable! . So, how to do it? 1) Save the attached JavaScript file in a place from where you can reference it. As Leif I usually store my scripts under Site Assets/Scripting. For this example I have stored it as Site Assets/Scripting/supplierfilter.js. 2) Create a dropdown for the cate
Recently, we were working for a client who wanted to migrate on-premise NINTEX Forms and Workflows into O365. But the challenges we faced while creating an Azure Security group by using Office 365 Nintex workflow. As such there is no direct component that can be used in O365 to achieve the goal as like on-premise/enterprise edition. It was very urgent from client perspective and so we can't wait for NINTEX help-desk to reply on that. We have implemented with our own ideas and thoughts and hopefully it will help you in coming days until NINTEX is providing a straight forward component in Office 365 to achieve this. Solution to Add/Edit/Delete Azure AD Groups involves a four-step process: Step 1: Having an app registration in Azure that will have the rights to create, update, delete Azure AD group.Step 2: Getting TENANT ID, APP ID, and CLIENT SECRET while registering the App.Step 3: Authenticate user through web request and get hold of bearer token that will be used in successive web req
If you are a current DocuSign customer you are likely familiar with document and envelope Custom Fields. These custom fields allow users to create custom versions of standard fields and save them for reuse in future documents. Leveraging custom fields comes in very handy when automating a process using Nintex Workflow Cloud. In this brief blog post I am going to walk you through how you can leverage these custom fields within a Nintex Workflow. There are 3 components to making this work and I will walk through each below. https://support.docusign.com/guides/ndse-admin-guide-custom-fields 1. The DocuSign Custom Field The first thing you need to do is create your custom fields within your DocuSign account. You can use either standard fields provided to you or create custom new ones. These fields represent information that is populated during the signature process. It can be a simple datetime stamp, the signature itself, or the name of the person signing the document. An example of
Nintex Forms Enterprise enables your forms to connect to external data sources, such as SQL databases or web services, extending their reach by automating the inclusion of relevant information. In this post I will explain the power of SQL Request Control to query warehouse data from an external SQL Server data store in order to build a Product Order Form.The SQL Request control simplifies connecting to a SQL Server database by configuring basic information such as Server Name, Database Name and Authentication mode (Anonymous, Windows and SQL). This Control supports multiple display formats similar to Nintex Choice Control - Option buttons, Checkboxes (Multiple Selection), Dropdown list or Text/Label. The SQL Request control leverages the SharePoint Secure Store Service in order to protect the SQL Credentials, which we would also recommend are configured under least privilege principle. Simply enter the target application id stored in Secure Store Service containing the credentials. For
I have to admit that I had worked with Nintex Workflow for well over a year before I discovered these beautiful actions! When I realised what they could do, I realised that I was repeating a lot of stuff in separate workflows unnecessarily.Using these actions together allows you to store variable values and pass them between different instances of running workflows. Where might this ability come in handy? Well I do not like to have workflow that are too large, so I occasionally break them down into smaller and more manageable chunks as separate workflows. I join them together using the "Start workflow" action. Often I will require an output from the workflows I start in the main workflow they are being started from. Here's how to grab them: Start workflow actionWhen configuring this to run, ensure you capture the instance ID in a text variable of the workflow you are starting. This is required later when you retrieve whatever is returned and stored from the workflow you are start
All of your documents are tagged, delivery options have been configured, now it's time to move that newly created Drawloop Document Package from one org to another but how? The good news is, Nintex has thought about this and we’ve created a tool to make it easier on you. Step 1: Confirm Drawloop is installed in your destination org Log into the destination org navigate to Setup - Installed Packages and confirm that Nintex Drawloop is in the list of Installed Packages. Step 2: Select the Document Packages you’d like to Migrate Now that you’ve confirmed that Drawloop is installed in the destination org it’s time to select the document packages you want to migrate. Log into the source org and navigate to the Drawloop Document Packages list view. Once on the list view select the document packages you’d like to migrate then click the ‘Migrate Document Packages’ button. Step 3: Use & Follow the Migration Wizard Decide if you are going to migrate this Document Package to a Sandbox or a
When prompting your users to fill in a form, it can be handy to sometimes help them out by filling in some of the information for them. You can do this by default values of course, but sometimes it needs to be more contextual. For one solution I was working on, I had an issues list that I needed our users to populate as and when they encountered a bug, the issues would relate to an item that a workflow was running on, but the issue was being recorded on a separate list. I built a link in the email the workflow would send them, prompting them to raise any bugs they found that looked like the following: http://server/sites/sitename/lists/listname/NewForm.aspx?URL=www.google.co.uk&Status=New Then, with Nintex forms, open your control properties and in the Default Value field add the Inline Function "fn-GetQueryString(URL)". This would produce the following results when set for Site URL column and the Status column in the screenshot below. Obviously, you could do an awful lot more with
NTX PowerShell Action - Initial Beta Release *** Please see this thread for updated information: NTX PowerShell Action - Stable Release *** FeaturesRobust security features based on Windows Remote Management. Ability to execute PowerShell scripts from any machine allowing Remote Management from your SharePoint servers. PowerShell exceptions are handled so workflows are unaffected. OpenSource Actively Developed Automated Installation Routine Planned Features Async PowerShell script execution Script Repository Run worker as a centralized SharePoint service instead of in Workflow Infrastructure Pass SPServer object to PowerShell session for determining executing server. Current roadmap/planned features can be found here. Downloads NTX PowerShell DownloadNTX PowerShell CredSSP (Solution Only) Disclaimer: As stated in our Terms of Use, Nintex is not responsible for any third-party content made available for download on Nintex Connect, whether or not this content has been reviewed and/or mod
Read from Documents using the Read document actionThis actions allow you to read from Content Controls inside a Microsoft Word document. When documents in a document library have these controls, Nintex Workflow has the ability to work with these controls.Below you will see the steps needed to achieve reading from the Content Controls in a Word document. Step 1: Edit the template for the document in the document libraryThe document that is added to the document library needs to have the content controls in the template for Nintex to work with. We therefore need to edit the template associated with the document library. You can do this as follows: Navigate to your document library, and access the Library Settings through the Library tab in the ribbon Select Advanced settings under General Settings. In the Document Template section, select Edit Template. This will open the document library document template in Microsoft Word. In order to add Content Controls to the template, you
This week (6th October 2014), Nintex released the Nintex Connector for DocuSign. What does this mean for the Nintex Workflow user? Put quite simply, you can now build workflows where you can request signatures in documents from users, via DocuSign. In this post, I'll be highlighting some of the actions that are available and how to use them within a workflow. The scenario that first comes to mind, when requiring a signature, is a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). Firstly, from the DocuSign end. Although you could just have a simple document you want people to sign, one of the cool features of DocuSign, is that you can have a Document Template that has fields in it.So now that we have the document template, how do we send that to a user to sign, so that it contains the fields? Workflow We need to populate a template with the fields and values you want to add to that document. To do this, we use the DocuSign Populate template action.There are a few important fields that are needed for t
Requirement where a designer has create a workflow assigning multiple parallel tasks to multiple parallel groups of approvers is complex. Basically, Nintex offers us two approaches: either assign task to a group and wait for the first response or to wait for all responses. But what when we need to have multiple groups assigned a task in parallel? Approach Doing multiple parallel approvals requires either parallel block or... unchecking the option for waiting until task is completed. The first approach require the workflow to be edited every time number of parallel groups is changed - to add or remove branches. It makes it quite fixed. And therefore hard in maintenance.The second approach is better. This way you can build a loop and in the loop assign all tasks to all groups. But what then? What if you need to pause the workflow, so that it actually waits for all the responses before moving on? This can be done by first collecting all the IDs of tasks generated and then by using a lo
There was a blog post made and a major announcement that I haven't seen here in the community yet, so I wanted to post the link to the announcement and allow for any questions here in the community. https://www.nintex.com/blog/announcing-new-admin-and-governance-features-for-nintex-for-office-365/?utm_source=linkedin&… by Marcus PlattPosted on October 16, 2018The Nintex product team has been hard at work building some great functionality that has been requested by users like you.In this post, I’ll introduce our new ‘Administrator Management’ settings in Nintex for Office 365, how to find them, and some considerations to make before making any changes.Administrator management is simply designating administrators for your Nintex solution. With Nintex administrator rights, you have access to features that will give you better governance around your Nintex Workflow for SharePoint instance, so you can:Gain better control over the shared connections that are available in your workflow
Many times we have to validate attachment control inside a form on certain condition. For example, say, there is a checkbox on a form and when you check the checkbox you need to add an attachment (Mandatory) otherwise not. So how you will accomplish this? It's easy and here are the steps to follow: Create a custom function to check the named attachment is whether having a minimum attachment attached to it or not. Create a rule using that custom function where you have to pass the CSS class name of the attachment as a parameter to that custom function. Follow the section below for detailed implementation: The screen looks like as follows: Now if you check the AttachmentFlag, it’s mandatory to attach attachments. For that follow the following steps: Step 1:Goto NINTEX Forms -> Settings -> Custom Javascript and write the following function CountAttachmentsfunction CountAttachments(cssClassNameOfTheAttachment){ return NWF.FormFiller.Attachments.GetAttachedFilesCount(NWF.FormFi
Applies to: Nintex Workflow for SharePoint 2016 and 2013Note: Nintex Live is known as the Nintex external platform in Nintex for SharePoint 2016. If you are not yet ready to upgrade your installation to the latest product version, you can run a script to get the latest updates for the monitoring service that handles service requests for Nintex Live actions (connector actions in 2016). Before you start2013 only: Run this script if you are using Nintex Workflow version 3.1.6.0 or above. To find your product version, see https://community.nintex.com/docs/DOC-1394. Upgrade the service that monitors service requests for Nintex LiveDownload the script attached to this article. Locate the UpgradeQueueService script and Readme as shown. Add Deploy-NW NW20xx as the last line of the script replacing NW20xx with your version of Nintex (NW2013 or NW2016) On the SharePoint server farm, open a PowerShell command prompt as the administrator. Run the following command: .UpgradeQueueService.ps1 The
State machines are a wonderful thing to easily control, manage and administrate long running business processes. For those of you who don't know what state machines are and why you should use them, I have put together a post on my personal blog which you can access here. The purpose of this post is not to reiterate any content from my blog but to provide you with a template that I regularly use. Hopefully it provides a common standard for everyone and you agree with the approach taken. PrerequisitesThe following items will be required to make this template work:A status column on the list/library to track the process stage as part of each item The sub-processes should exist on the corresponding library or list. A standard error handling process. This could be implemented as a UDA (User Defined Action) What's the structure of the template?There is three main parts to the template:Initiation: This part of the state machine checks the current status of the process, based on the item's sta
Hi, sometimes here on the community someone ask how to set through a workflow a lookup field, so I've decided to write here how to do that..it's very simple! In your workflow you need to know what is the ID of the elements in the list that's connected through the lookup column.. if your list has a lookup on the following list: ID Title 1 Item1 2 Item2 3 Item3 and you want to set on your item a lookup to Item1, then in your workflow you have to set that field to the corresponding ID (Lookup is our lookup column)but..what if you want to update a lookup column with multiple values?Firstly, check that the lookup column allows multiple values..you have to explicit set it and sometimes simple things may be forgotten..Then you have to create a string with all the IDs of the corrisponding elements, separated by ;#;#, so if in our case, we want to create a lookup to Item1 and Item3 we have to set the field as in the image That's all..Easy, isn't it? Giacomo
Sharing two pieces of JavaScript getting List Item(s) and User Profiles from Nintex Forms for Office 365. The two JavaScript was tested based on Nintex Forms for Office 365, App Version: NFO 1.2.3.0. Please take note that this code is tested only based on the above mentioned version of Nintex Forms, it might not be optimized in term of performance or simplicity. Calling Sharepoint Online REST API to query host web's custom list from within Nintex Forms for Office 365 (i.e. App web).var pollSP; NWF.FormFiller.Events.RegisterAfterReady(function (){ pollSP = setInterval(checkSPLoad, 500); }); function checkSPLoad(){ if (clientContext){ window.clearInterval(pollSP); var hostweburl = decodeURIComponent(getQueryStringParameter("SPHostUrl")); var appweburl = decodeURIComponent(getQueryStringParameter("SPAppWebUrl")); var layoutsPath = "/_layouts/15/"; var scriptbase = appweburl + layoutsPath; NWF$.getScript(sc
Customer Question 1:Values – we’re being told by the person building our forms that the only options for number values are US currency or general formatting with commas. We’re looking to include multiple years in some of our forms (i.e. 2017-2018); however, this is coming up with commas and looks strange when approving. Would there be an opportunity to load other number formats that can be used? If we pick the currency option, this always has the $ sign which is not correct for us since we have international operations. Answer: Currency controls if tied to a list will reference the locale of the Site that it is running on, or the settings configured for the list. IE, if the currency is setup Euros on the list, it will be reflected in the form. If you’re looking to include references that are formatted like the example above (2017-2018) using the string format will be the best route, as it will not try to apply any additional formatting. For the last question, there are additional n
I thought this would be helpful to share with other Nintex Users, The original question that I was asked was how to remove the Claims token prefix before a username. The solution is pretty simple, you can use the "Regular Expression" action within a Nintex Workflow and look for the pattern: i:0#.w| This will effectively remove the token, leaving you with just the domainusername.
Well, this is just a quick sharing on how you could filter a Sharepoint list view to show only items or rows belong to the current user (i.e. user who login to the Sharepoint site). One of the usage especially in Office 365 Tasks list, anyone who has edit right to the Tasks list will be able to edit (i.e. approve or reject) any tasks in the Tasks list, including one that is not belonging to you. In the screen capture below, we can see by default anyone who has access to the Tasks list sees every task in the Tasks list. We are going to add the following JavaScript to the JS Link (i.e. Client Side Rendering) of the Tasks list to remove the tasks that are not belonging to the current user. Just take the below JavaScript code and save it to a file (i.e. in my case I have named it TaskList.js and uploaded it to the Site Asset library).(function () { function renderListItemTemplate(renderCtx) { var userId = _spPageContextInfo.userId; if(renderCtx.CurrentItem.AssignedTo[0].id != userId) { ret
On the back of my previous post about running workflows, I've created a list with a single form and workflow as a basic example behind the premise. You can find them attached. I'm not a fan of running workflows. Where I can, I will look to process a form in a single pass of the workflow. It will set the stage, status, Assigned, content type, permissions and send emails in a single pass. It will only have one list ( No Task List ) When I started using Nintex I quickly found that some of the actions that require the workflow to pause and request data are great until you want to make changes. Ooh I need another stage or another field on the approval form. Oh god I have 3000 of these in flight. I need to adjust the task form and restart all the workflows and somehow get them back to the current stage they were at. With this approach that pain goes away. If I've added another field or stage, next time the form is processed it'll take into account those changes. Onto the example. It's a si
I had the problem with a very large form. It was about 6000px long and had too many fields, calculated fields, JavaScript... When a colleague open it, it takes about 30 seconds to load. It is our form to place an internal order. I found a lot about multiple forms with Tabs, but this didn't solve the Problem because all the stuff had to load when the form was opened. So here is my solution and I hope someone can use it too. First of all I exported the old form. You can load it into every step and delete the parts you don't need in the actual step. I don't want to build it from scratch... What are the problems with multiple forms?- You can built a few workflows and use the startforms.- How can you address these forms form the previous form?- Can I go back to the previous form to do some changes?- If I use Links for the "Save"-Buttons is there a validation?- When starts the regular Workflow? It is not so hard as it seems...... with a few tricks and a little bit JavaScript... So here we
Back in version 3 some months back, we saw the introduction of deep linking to re-load authentication details into Nintex Mobile Launch Nintex Mobile from a hyperlink and pre-populate authentication fields. Well, the team has added more functionality based on feedback from customers and partners.This month with the release of Nintex Mobile version 3.6,Nintex Mobile Apps - Release Notes you can not only pre-load the authentication details, but now navigate directly to a form within the mobile client. So lets check it out:The following PARAMETERS can be used along with “form” as ACTION to navigate user to particular form Parameter Description id A string usually GUID to represent unique form Id on server name A string representing form name. category A string representing form category can be passed along with form name to uniquely identify a form, in case when there are two form with same name. returnUrl A return U
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