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Hi Nintex Community, With a long Memorial weekend, a short week, a wrong turn (involving serializing the Forms object model) I wasn't able to finish my next XML code sample until late last night. So I will be able to verify, write it up, and post everything by this next Friday. This is a small application that generates valid form XML with a limited subset of controls. I plan on including some common Word and HTML form controls: single and multi-line text box, list box, a check box, choice box, and in Nintex Form parlance, a label control. The application will take a tiny XML file that lists the controls, control-specific values (such as label text), control dimensions, and generates form XML. I can see this process being re-purposed to create a batch conversation process for HTML forms, or converting Microsoft Word forms (in the open office format), or Adobe Acrobat forms.     In addition, I'll also publish a general reference for back-end attributes for each of the standard forms con

You can create a Nintex Forms XML with an application and upload the file to a SharePoint list. The Nintex Forms On Premises 2013 SDK contains a code sample of an application that will take a stripped down XML description of a form and create a Nintex Form. In this post, I'll walk through my steps in creating, uploading, and then binding my the form input fields to a SharePoint 2013 list using the Simple Form Builder (GenerateFormXML).Table of Contents  Sketch the form elementsFirst, I sketch out the parts of my form. In this case it is a contact form that lists a club for each contact: Form title: Contact Information FormFirst NameLast NameCityStateZipClubFootball Club Fencing Club Chess Club Sewing ClubFrom working with Nintex Forms, I know the desktop layout is 700 pixels wide. I also know that the each input field such as a text area will also have a corresponding label control. My controls are going to be 50 pixels wide. The layout routine of the application follows a similar logi

Hi Nintex Community, Based on a number of requests and feedback, I’m going to pause direct work on the Nintex Forms portion of the SDK in to update topics for the Nintex Workflow and Forms 0365 API documentation and expanding the narratives in the Workflow 2013 SDK on creating a custom workflow action. I look forward to posting a reference to the back end elements of Nintex Forms controls when that work is complete, and then getting into the JavaScript reference and some JS snippets. Stay tuned for some interesting new material coming soon. Cheers,Matt

As named, if you would like to include a high level "process flow diagram" on a form, here is my sharing on direction and quick start to do that. The concept and requirement I got here is a high level process state diagram of the document/process flow, showing Past, Current, and Future state of the business process on the form. The diagram below shows the sample outcomes of the form on Office 365 with a Process Flow/State Diagram in the top banner of the form. The solution is accomplished by flowchart.js Javascript Library which is based on Raphaël—JavaScript Library​. It draws the "Process Flow Diagram" on the fly when the Form is open for viewing or editing. The data of the diagram is saved as "Multiple lines of text" column of the Sharepoint list, as such it could be updated by Nintex workflow action(s) to change the state of the flowchart when needed. I have named my "Multiple lines of text" in my example as "WorkflowStatus", which is linked to Nintex Form's "Multi line textbox" as

Know your process"Know your process”, this seems like a simple, straightforward statement, but I found that many users just do not know it as well as they should. I wanted to share my thoughts, findings, and approaches on how I tackle this within my own company and hope to hear about how you, as a workflow developer or form guru, approach your customers. Initial ideaWe all have been in those meetings where someone says "this would be a good candidate for a SharePoint workflow and/or form", and dread the next steps (or you get giddy and excited over a new chance to prove your skills...I geek out way too much!). The flood of a million questions starts to pour in: Why SharePoint? Are we replacing something existing? Is the current process broken? Who owns this? And so on. For me, I take this time to gather my own information. I pour over the current process as an end user and see what the experience is TODAY, and take notes on its strengths and weaknesses. With this in hand, I can hold an

Hi Nintex Community, Today's SDK update finishes the XML Reference with an inventory of the formcontrolproperty element containing the properties of each of the Nintex controls. I'm still working on the next XML code sample which is an application that will generate valid form XML from scratch using a limited subset of controls. This could be used in creating a conversion process for HTML forms or forms in another application such as Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat.     Earlier today I posted a walk through illustrating my own process for constructing XPath queries and then using the sample to update and load the form XML. Next week, I'll post the next XML code sample and also a general reference for back end attributes for each of the forms controls.     I look forward to hearing more more of your feedback, and let me know what else I should be thinking about in relation to Nintex Forms. Cheers!Matt

These steps provide an alternate method to share a Collection variable across multiple workflows, should the Store/Retrieve method not suit. In this example I have 2 list workflows where Workflow1 creates the Collection variable and Workflow2 continues to use the Collection variable.   STEP 1: In Workflow1 use an Update Item action to copy the Collection variable called varCOLString to a Multi-Line Text column called tString.  Example: Based on our collection variable the text in our tString column might look like this: 1;2;3;4;5;6;7;8;9;   STEP 2: In Workflow2 use a Set Variable action to copy the tString column to a Multi-Line Text variable called varMLTString.   STEP 3: Use a Build String action to count the number of characters in varMLTString and store this in a Text variable called varTXTLastChar.  Text: fn-Length({WorkflowVariable:varMLTString})  Example: Based on the string 1;2;3;4;5;6;7;8;9; the result in varTXTLastChar will be 18.    STEP 4: Use a Math Operation action to s

I was asked this question by Daniel Mueller​ and thought it was worth sharing I have a string stored in a variable looking like this: name, email, usernameI'm using the regular expression to split the string and storing the result in a collection variable (lets name it collection).So from my understanding it should look like this now:collection[0] = namecollection[1] = emailcollection[2] = username So I only want to use the second variable (email) in that collection and put it into an email field for example how do I do that?From my understanding there must be something like this: ID1 collection but I dont know how to extract that. Isn't the collection an array of variables? I read the whole guide of "how to use a collection" but this didnt answer my question. The Collection Operation action allows you to interact with a Collection Variable and specifically the Get operation allows you to access a specific index of that collection. In Daniel Mueller​ case the second index. If the secon

Creating Workflows that transfer data from list to list So I am new to Nintex workflow and was tasked with an initiative to createan audit list that could transfer completed audit data to a 2nd archivelist, send incomplete past due data to a 3rd past due list and resettingthe fields of the main audit list to blank to prepare for the next day audits.All of this while keeping specific process fields on the main list as"static" so they do not change from day to day. With the help of Cassy Freeman​ (who is absolutely amazingand a pleasure to work with) and a few others, I was able to do exactly what Ineeded. The threads are listed all over this site so I wanted to centralize ithere to maybe help someone else in the future.  Now this may sound like I knew what I was doing, but I am summarizing hoursof trial and error in these steps. Please keep in mind I am NOT a professional blogger. First, I created 1 main list (we will call this Master) on SharePoint 2013that had all my processes that ne

Installation process:No Problems at all. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Activation:We are used to that.Had to activate all workflow Actions. They all were disabled first.There won't be a Workgroup Edition I heard. Is it still necessary to activate the site Feature then? New Action design:Fancy lookI am glad you did not rename them so I still find them using the search box.Will there be one design for the same Actions across all platforms? (<SP2016, SP2016, O365) Webparts:I am glad, Nintex Forms and Workflow Webparts still will be available. Nice!  Overall:Good, stable, solid Impression so far. Good Job!

Hi Nintex Community, Today's SDK update contains a short sample that uses a C# console application for updating your Form XML with Xpath.  Using this technique you can update a bunch of forms all at once. Since the forms are in XML, you can update the values of elements such as image URLs, label text, CSS, and so on.     In working with the Nintex Form XML I ran into two tricky issues. The first is that the XML uses a multiple of namespaces within in the same file. Namespaces are one of the more, to me at least, painful things to deal with in writing Xpath queries. Luckily, the .NET Framework contains a handy Namespace manager to mitigate this pain.     The second tricky aspect is that you need to keep the form XML valid or you will not be able to import your updated into Nintex Forms. The import will just fail without a lot of information, and you will need to turn back to your XML to find out what went wrong.  I've updated the SDK Reference with the bulk of the XML reference for the

To followup with further functionality from Using the Format this Value Feature , on-premise formatting of dates can be accomplished within actions on the fly. In the previous post we see how we can specify a return value for Person or Group values from fields or variables. Here I wanted to quickly show that this is also available for Date fields and variables as well. In this example I am using a Set Variable action to set a Single Line of Text variable the value of a DateTime workflow variable. By selecting the ellipsis to the right of the variable drop down I can then specify the return type to save to the text variable. The available options are As String, ISO Formatted, Long Date, Long Time, Short Date, and Short Time. 

Well I just rolled back an old Alpha that was incomplete and have installed the beta.. So far so good.. Easy install, activation etc.. Pretty happy so far. Firstly, everything Nintex all in the 1 spot... awesome..New Help feature, to help documentation up to dateIf you get lost here (as I did), you'll find safe looping under 'Security'I imported over a form directly from 2013.. Perfect, and look no Nintex Live Forms.. Just External Forms..  Overall the forms designer is pretty much the same, but I want to say some of the icons look a little refreshed, and the UI has been super responsive.. (Using Chrome) As most who can probably read this, you will probably have a good handle on where actions are, and probably use the insert action option more than the drag and drop menu.. I know I do, this has improved, and it is now even easier to find the stuff you want. This is part is because the Nintex Live Catalog in now non-existent.and the actions that you used to have to go to the catalog for

Some it's needed to cut the file extension from a file name.Here are 2 steps to do it.We 'll use the actions named:Regular Expression Get Item From Collection Log To History List ( to show results )   Used Variables     Use the following variables for this sample  Action 1 - Regular Expression Action Configuration Set the String attribute with your filename. In my sample I am getting it from a Sharepoint Column name named "ItemwithExtension"Then set the String operation to "Extract" The pattern used is [^/]*(?=.[^.]+($|?)) with ignore case checkedFinally set a collection variable ( varWithout2 in this case ) to get the resultsFinally set a collection variable ( varWithout2 in this cae) to get the results   Action 2 - Get Item From Collection This action is set to extract he first value from the collection variable (varWithout2) and set the result on the variable named varWithoutExtension    Action 3 - Log To History List In my sample I wanted to view the results on the History list fro

Hi Nintex Community,       Today's SDK update contains a sample for adding a custom inline function to your Nintex Forms. You can use the Nintex PowerShell cmdlets (via  SharePoint 2013 Management Shell) to add, manage, and review custom inline functions for your forms. The update also contains reference topics for the Nintex Forms PowerShell cmdlets. Cmdlets include:Add-FormControl Add-InlineFunction Create-NFDatabase Deactivate-NFOrphanedLiveAndMobileForms Install-NFService Remove-FormControl Remove-InlineFunction Show-InlineFunctions Show-RuntimeFunctions Update-NFLicense Update-NFSiteId Upgrade-NFMobileRelay Upgrade-NFService      Earlier today I also shared a blog post with an informal walk through of using the Nintex Forms Client and Nintex Forms Publish Example console application to retrieve a form from the Nintex Forms NfRestService web service. Nintex provides end points to export, publish, and delete forms.     Next week's update will contain a walk-through of modifying the

Hi Friends,This is a strange problem that I have solved. Observation is required till now.Problem:In my current project I have to develop a User Approval workflow with Reviewer Approval in parallel. For reviewer level I don't have any problem but the problem starts when I tried to implement User Level workflow where it's a State Machine flow with 10 states. Now due to byte constraint i.e. of workflow size I need to break that user level workflow in two sections. And the second part of Level workflow(say Level2) will be kicked off only after a column is modified into the current list by Level user first workflow(say Level 1). Actual problem starts from here. I found that Level2 workflow sometime getting kicked off and sometime not after Level1 workflow. Very strange and really the situation becomes unpredictable. Solution:I keep on thinking why its happening and then went to Mother workflow template and re-arrange the workflow component and found it's working. Simple! Cool! So what is t

DISCLAIMER/WARNING: Running this, or any derived "fix" workflow on every item in a large list will be a significant load on your environment. When extending or modifying this workflow for your list, consider batching your "fixes" or putting looping logic in the existing workflow such that it will process every item in your list in order. Also: always remember to test your workflow and keep backups of data! I ran across an interesting situation in the course of my casework and made a fix that I felt might help others as well. ProblemI've got Cascading drop downs set up in Nintex Forms, but there was a small problem where the columns (configured as "Single Line of Text") type fields are "disconnected" from the Form in that editing the data outside of Forms doesn't reflect in the Form!Alternate problem that brought you hereI made text columns in my SharePoint list, but my business needs have changed and I have to have lookups instead! (Manual) Solution- Add new columns configured as looku

Hi Nintex Community,Today I am posting reference topics about the Nintex Forms On Prem 2013 Web Services API endpoints as well as a code sample that contains a WCF client and a console application.Earlier today I also posted a blog post that contains a somewhat informal walk through of implementing a nearly bare-bones custom control using the Nintex.Forms.Sdk assembly. For the discussion, I implemented the <input type="color"> control. The control is based around a single HTML element, and writes to and receives data from a SharePoint text column. For a more fully fleshed out control, check out a code sample in the Forms On Prem 2013 SDK that contains a range control. I'm interested in hearing about your own custom controls.Next week I'll be posting a reference to the Nintex Forms PowerShell cmdlets as well as a code sample and walk through of deploying a (.wsp) solution to your SharePoint development server contains a class with a method that makes up an inline function. The for

Hi Nintex Community,I'm a new(ish) programmer/writer at Nintex. Well, I'm not so new, but I still have bubble wrap clinging to my legs. I'm working with Dennis Kennedy to write developer-focused content and code samples. My focus is everything Forms. I'll be posting new material for Nintex Forms On Premises 2013 over the next month or so. Much like the work Dennis did, I'll be regularly expanding the material in the Forms portion of the SDK.To introduce myself, I've been a technical writer for the last fifteen years. I've documented ultrasound machines, the Microsoft Kinect SDK, the back end infrastructure of eCommerce sites, and the web services that connect wrist bands worn at a certain popular park to an array of services that provide everything from banking and to access to hotel room accommodations. I'm from the Pacific Northwest in North America, and have been lost in the woods more than a few times. I also have a sick fascination with flowcharts, and I'm glad to be working at a

For two different projects this week, i have faced the same case about document generation.The goal wass to generate a document using the document generation feature including a lot of variables. Obviously the first thought for my customer was to one workflow variable per variable he wanted to display in the document (Because the Document generation feature can only display workflow variables). Obviously he had 20 "set variables value" actions before his document generation that were only used for that! The best approach, in fact, is to create a dictionnary, and to set each variables as an entry:You only consume one action "generate dictionnary" The designe is much simpler! What happens when you are back to Word? Your dictionnary variable will appear as a normal variable, and when you select it, you will have to enter manually the  key you want to select and  then insert the tag that will appear as <<DICTIONARYNAME_KEY>>.

I had a requirement whereby no users would have access to input into a list in SharePoint, but that my workflow needed to create an item in it.  Perfect for using a web service call with a service account I thought!I created a service account and added the credentials into my workflow constants for the site.To start with in my workflow I created a build string action to create the XML to pass into the web service call:Originally I only needed to add text fields in to the list, so I hooked up my web service call as follows:Call web service action URL = Web URL/_vti_bin/lists.asmx Username and password = managed credentials input earlier of the service account web method = UpdateListItems Editor mode = SOAP builder listName (string) = Requests updates (xml) = vMTextBatchXML (the XML we created earlier) I ran the workflow and it created the item perfectly.  I was super happy with this.Then the requirement changed (development wouldn't be the same without a spot of scope creep ) - I needed

For any form or workflow logic around user filtering and person or group value matching you will eventually run into working with the SharePoint claim. The actual value of the user within SharePoint. So as I respond to those posts I came across two blogs that explain what the formatting actually means for the claims and why i:0#.w|domainuser is used. I hadn't seen these before and I thought it to be helpful to post the explanation here to help others. Joe Davies​Wictor Wilen​ SharePoint 2013 and SharePoint 2010 display identity claims with the following encoding format:<IdentityClaim>:0<ClaimType><ClaimValueType><AuthMode>|<OriginalIssuer (optional)>|<ClaimValue>Where:<IdentityClaim> indicates the type of claim and is the following: “i” for an identity claim “c” for any other claim <ClaimType> indicates the format for the claim value and is the following: “#” for a user logon name “.” for  an anonymous user “5” for an email address “

In Nintex Workflow for Office 365, use dictionary variables for the “Field names” and “Field values” selections shown in the action configuration settings dialog box for DocuSign Populate Template.   When building dictionaries for names and values, key each dictionary identically; that is, use the key of the name (first dictionary) for the corresponding key of the value (second dictionary). In the example dictionaries below, the key “(0)” is used for both “Date Applicable” (FieldNames dictionary) and {Current Item:Modified}‍ (FieldValues dictionary). Example FieldNames dictionary: Key Type Value (0) Text Date Applicable (1) Text Full Name (2) Text Subject  Example FieldValues dictionary: Key Type Value (0) Text {Current Item:Modified}‍ (1) Text {Current Item:FirstName}‍ {Current Item:LastName}‍ of {Current Item:Company}‍ (2)

Planning ahead In addition to creating one to one mappings of Nintex and SharePoint content databases.  Workflow history lists can be created on a one to one basis for each workflow in the environment using the below steps: Navigate to Site Settings Nintex Workflow Manage workflow history lists. Click New from the ribbon and name the new History List something meaningful like the workflow name and history list. Example: ‘My Approval Workflow History List’ Open the Nintex Workflow Designer and click Workflow Settings. Select the new history list from Workflow Options and click save. When you publish/re-publish your workflow all new instances of that workflow will use the newly provisioned workflow history list. Performance Typically we start to see performance degradation when a Workflow History list reaches 2,000 – 4,000~ list items. Even if performance is not noticeably impacted by Workflow History list size, better performance can be achieved by keeping this list size minimal.When a

All hail the Manager functionality in Nintex Workflow for Office 365.  As with most of you, you're probably excited as I am about this little nugget.  Although there was a work around, using the Query User Profile action, this release now gives us 3 workflow context properties about the initiators manager, that will make life so much easier.  the Query User Profile is still useful, in that you can get the manager of other users, but if you want to deal with the initiators manager, which is most workflows, then these properties are perfect. Here are the three properties:Manager login nameManager display nameManager email address First of all, in order to get this to work, you will need to request your system administrator to grant Nintex Workflow access to the User Profiles (this only needs to be done once per site, then it'll be in effect for all workflows created on the site thereafter - refer to the help for more details). The System Administrator will need to click on the Administra