News and Guidelines

This post applies to Sharepoint 2013 on Premise and Nintex Forms. I have not tested it on another versions, but I think it‘d happen the same.Currently you can use a formula on the “Calculated Value” control available on Nintex Forms.There is a particular behavior when you compare two columns of type person. The case that works as expected  I have 2 columns of type Person named PrimaryOwner and SecondaryOwner.Both of them are equally configured. Sharepoint List ConfigurationNintex Form ConfigurationAnd then I use the control named “Calculated Value” that has a formula on a Nintex form comparing those 2 fields. The result Then I a

Wouldn't it be cool if you could dynamically have an image appear depending on the country the end user is viewing the form? I thought so, so I created this cool sample form to show what can be achieved with a little JavaScript and CSS in Nintex Forms. For this example, let's imagine that we have an office in the United States and an office in Australia (oddly enough, Nintex does!). When viewed in the United States: When viewed in Australia:  To accomplish this, I used a free geoip service and stored the output of the 'country' data to a variable. The variable would then be used to determine the appropriate CSS class to apply to the label control used to populate the image. The label control has HTML embedded to

You know that looping can be an important part of any workflow.  Getting data from a SharePoint list, web service or database needs to be parsed so you can use it in your business process.  Nintex Workflow for Office 365 has had looping actions in it since its inception.  But as we always do, we strive to make things easier for everyone.  This time, we have the For Each action. There are many reasons for how awesome this action is, but I will focus on a few of them. 1. Simple iteration through each value in a dictionary of data2. You can stop the iteration once a condition is met3. No chance of an infinite loop Note: See also “Stepping through a dictionary variable” in the help. Iterating through Data One easy

Disclaimer upfront, this is not an official Nintex solution and we can't take any liability when using the provided solution parts. Also, we obviously don't provide any support for it and you use it at your own risk The solution was built using SharePoint 2013, Nintex Workflow 2013 and Nintex Forms 2013. Setting the sceneEvery company has people that regularly travel. Normally there is some kind of travel request approval process involved and a submission of expenses after the trip. The aim for the solution was to provide 2 independent solutions that still allow for interaction between them. Namely converting an existing travel request into a draft expense report to minimise work required by the person who is travelling. There is 2 parts to the solution. First, we have the travel request, where an employee can go and fill in a form, it then goes through the a

In the April '15 update to Nintex Workflow for Office 365, the Regular Expression was made available.  As a techie, I was super excited about this as I tend to use regular expressions a lot, whether I was building on-premise workflows or I was writing code.  The Regular Expression action brings you 4 pieces of important functionality. So in effect, it's 4 actions in 1.  Here are the 4 operations.ReplaceMatchSplitExtract Different business processes will require different regular expression operations. Replace When you have string of text, and there is a part or maybe multiple parts that you want to replace with something

Welcoming Switch to the O365 action family. Another logic action has been added with the latest release of Nintex Workflow for O365. The Switch action. I am sure many of you have used it on-prem in the past, but for those who are new to the Switch action, let me explain what it is and why you should use it. What is it?The Switch value is a logic action that allows you to evaluate the value of a workflow variable and perform business logic that is specific to the value of the variable. It looks like a Parallel Block action but only one branch will be processed, rather than all of them.  What is it good for?So, why would you use the Switch Action, you ask? You can already evaluate workflow variables and item properties with other actions like the Conditional Branch action. Well, let me give you t

Other than sounding a little like a Beatles song title..There is a certain seriousness about this blog post.. THE BUILD STRING ACTION IS COMING TO A CLOUD NEAR YOU... The last time I was this excited, was when I first got SENDMAIL to work on UNIX using noting but VI .  (I've included links for those who want to reminisce about the days before plug and play. ) So, as I was saying - the Build String Action is an old

This post, is about taking repeating section data and moving it along through various task actions in a workflow.  There is a very simply way to put repeating section data that was filled in, in one task form and moving it to another, allowing another user to edit/delete/add to the repeating section. The first step is to create a Multiple Lines of Text variable.This variable will be used to store the Repeating Section data.Next, we need to add an Assign a Flexi Task action to our workflow, and configure the task form, using Nintex Forms.You'll be presented with the Nintex Forms designer page for the task form.  You'll need to add a Repeating Section to the form, and insert the fields that you want to appear in it.

When a workflow errors it’s important to quickly get all the information you need to address that error as soon as possible. This may include data about the workflow, your Nintex and SharePoint configuration, and, in some cases, the Unified Logging Service (ULS) logs.With this in mind, I’d like to introduce Support Console. Support Console is available in the latest release of Nintex Workflow 2010 and 2013, and it’s designed to make it not only easier for you to see when workflows have errored, but quickly and consistently pull together the required information you need to resolve the error. Support Console, accessed via Central Administration in Nintex Workflow, provides you with a single view across workflow errors in your farm and a simple alert that lets you see at a glance how many errors have occurred in the farm in the past 24 hours. 

Hello there.  If you're reading this post, I hope that you had the opportunity to read Part 1: Work Flow Purpose.  and Part 2: WWYSYDH​.  In part two of this series, I introduced the concepts of using the right actions to get the right results.  At the end of it I promised to go even deeper and provide an example Training Calendar solution for you with a list and workflow incorporating what I've been covering in this series.  Well, I did it.  I built it all out, typed this long blog, included screenshots and even remembered to attach the files. I will say this post is rather lengthy, but no solution is good without documentation and I wanted to explain each step so you would learn as you went along.  If you’re as excited a

Products: Nintex Workflow 2010 Several requests have come through for locating workflows in an environment where an action is used that could potentially have hard coded credentials present. Typically users are encouraged to use Workflow Constants instead of hard coding credentials into a workflow however, sometimes a few workflows slip by. This can make for a tough time when it comes time to migrate to claims. This migration preparation tool can assist with locating these workflows so that stakeholders can update their workflows to utilize Workflow Constants which are much easier to migrate. FeaturesQuickly and easily locate workflows using actions known to use credentials. Provides meta data for each workflow (if available) so users can go directly to the workflow and update it. Requires no configuration to run. Planned FeaturesA port for SharePoint 2013/Nintex Work

Introduction Going on with the series of "Adding functions to Nintex Workflows with XLST transformations", here is the Part 2 showing a sample with some new calculations using XLST. You can see the Part 1 here >>> Adding functions to Nintex Workflows with XLST transformations - Sample 1 (SUM) I 'll write about all xlst formulas that can be used in Nintex Workflow and currently are not available as inline functions. Those different formulas will be updated on a common document with all formulas and samples. More samples Now we'll see the following formulas: COUNT FLOOR CEILING ROUND AVG WorkflowSo let's start configuring the action named "Query XML" 

In Making “Work Flow” Matter Part 1, I discussed purpose and the benefits of setting a clear vision for your workflow.  Without a purpose, your workflow can end up being nothing more than a resource constraint on the platform, and no one wants to build that. To honor my commitment to dig deeper with each part of this series, I offer you the below meme for some light humor.  The next part of the series I will simply title “Mr. Action, WWYSYDH? (pronounced Whissidh)”.  Interested?  Keep reading… Part 2: Mr. Action, what would you say you do here?When it comes to workflows, do you know what your workflow actions are actually doing?  This goes beyond the purpose, the logic and the idea or the workflow.  What actions are you using, and are they impacting the object an

There are times that you need to change your Nintex Mobile App to a different site, or use a different account. Especially when you are testing. Look at the document Nintex Mobile Apps Product Guide​ I found some direction about my account and login that I will copy here.  When you sign in to Nintex Mobile apps, your credentials are remembered by the app and will automatically sign you in the next time you launch the app. You can sign in to Nintex Mobile apps on different devices and on different platforms. For instance, you can use the Nintex Mobile app on your Windows 8 laptop as well as on your iPhone at the same time, using the same user account.The Nintex Mobile app supports “roaming” of your data from one device to another one for synced items, i.e. forms which have been submitted to the SharePoint server. Items stored locally to the device, specifically in the Drafts

Introduction Some days ago I saw an answer on Nintex Community ( Re: Workflow Number Formatting  )  about how to solve number formattingOne of the replies from Manfred Lauer was about solving it with XSLT using the "Query XML" action. That reply inspired me to start writing about all xlst formulas that can be used in Nintex Workflow and currently are not available as inline functions. I will write some different post with differents formulas and will update a common document with all formulas and samples. First sampleThe first sample is for calculating the Sum of some values WorkflowSo let's start configuring the action named "Query XML"

Now, it is a widely known fact that most people around the world dislike Vegemite.Except of course if you're Australian... We can’t get enough of the black sticky left over bits of the beer brewing process.Well I can safely say that this month I have something that everyone one will like digesting... With the releases notes out, this month’s O365 action drop adds the long awaited Site Collection provisioning actions. For those still thinking about Vegemite;Time to get your mind out of the pantry and focus on these two actions for a minute or two and pop yourself into the shoes of the PMO team or SharePoint Online admin.

Products: Nintex Workflow 2013, Nintex Workflow 2010 A request came in for how to dynamically update a content type via Nintex Workflow. The person wanted to update a content type field based on the values of items in a list. Below you will find a PowerShell script that can be used with NTX PowerShell action: NTX PowerShell Action - Initial Beta Release PowerShell Script Add-PSSnapin microsoft.sharepoint.powershell -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue   $_web = Get-SPWeb http://contoso.com

There are times when you need to build a workflow that goes up the management chain, assigning tasks.  With the Query User Profile action in Office 365, you can now start building that logic into your workflow. Workflow Design  How It Works I started off this workflow with initializing some variables.  The first one will be used in the condition for the loop and the second, simply stores the current initiators email address in a variable because we can reuse that through the loop. The only reason I'm using a State Machine in this workflow, is so that it's easier for me to take a screenshot of it and also to break up some of the workflow logic. It's the right branch that does most of the workflow.  We are looking at going up the management chain, use data from the User Profile service.  The L

Why this article?Because the Related Item column is not yet available in the Nintex Form in O365. This article is a follow-up to Delegation in O365In my workflow, I really want to display the link to the document that needs approval in the task.So, I decide to validate the Delegated action by checking if DelegatedTo is empty of not in the SharePoint Form.In SharePoint 2013, the EditForm.aspx contains a Javascript validation function called PreSaveItem().The trick here is to use this name to execute your own code. Note that the PreSaveItem() function of SharePoint will still run. I need to validate only if the Content Type is Workflow Approve. But this field is not displayed if there is only one

Products: Nintex Workflow 2013, Nintex Workflow 2010 Sometimes it can be helpful to replicate the page load behavior of the Nintex Workflow Support Console for troubleshooting purposes. This PowerShell script emulates the SQL Database queries that can potentially cause the page to timeout on loading. Here is an example error message thrown when loading the Support Console page: "Timeout expired. The timeout period elapsed prior to completion of the operation or the server is not responding."  Running this PowerShell script should produce meaningful exceptions if there is an issue with loading the Nintex Workflow Support Console (assuming it is a SQL Client timeout issue). PowerShell Script

Do drop bears exist? NO.. Of course not, that is just something Australian’s tell tourists   But can you query the SharePoint Online User Profile service from Nintex O365 ? Well YES, yes you can..This month’s drop of O365 actions from the team at Nintex looks a little like this:Query User Profile Terminate Workflow End Workflow Hazzah I hear you say. Yup, I’m pretty happy as well.For those of you still scratching head trying to think of the significance

SummaryNintex Forms does not currently offer an out-of-the-box method to print a Nintex Form. By adding a custom JavaScript button, you will be able to print the form. ResolutionNote: As Nintex Forms does not have a supported printing method, the print output may render differently than the screen output. Add a Nintex 'Button' control to the form and apply the following:Button Action: JavaScript Button Type: Button Button label: Print Client Click: window.print(); 

My development license happened to expire and I was able to get an updated file from support. I followed the instructions Importing a license / Adding new servers  in order to update my environment with the new license but it didn't seem to take. The license updated fine in Central Admin, but my site still had the red message that the license was expired. After a long time spent to make sure everything was in place and correct, the resolution came down to an IIS Reset. Immediately after this, all sites were up and running as expected.

Products: SharePoint 2010/2013 Recently a case came in where the company needed to locate where a feature had been activated within a specific Web Application as it was causing troubles with a Web.Config file. We were able to use this script to locate the sites with the features enabled. Run the below (attached as well as a *.txt file for your convenience) PowerShell script (PowerShell ISE works well) from a SharePoint Server:PowerShell Script foreach ($site in $(Get-SPWebApplication http://yourUrl).Sites) {

Although somewhat non-trendy nowadays, XML processing is still very much relevant in the SharePoint space. Nintex Workflow is very kind to offer us actions to make Web request or Call web service. It's not obvious, but the Query XML action can do both a GET HTTP request to retrieve some XML data and produce multiple XPath and XSLT outputs in a single action. The native SharePoint owssvr.dll endpoint that exposes the URL Protocol comes in handy when all you need is some selection of data from a SharePoint list or library. It lets you easily filter the data you want both vertically and horizontally: by some Field equals Value condition and a selection of Fields to output (without the clutter that a Lists.asmx web service call necessarily returns