NukeFlow 3.0 WorkFlow Guide

 (this documentation is a little out of date in lieu of recent features added.  this will be updated within the next week to include video walkthroughs)

Getting Started - Setting WorkFlow Administrator Account

After installing Nukeflow into your DotNetNuke portal and adding it to a page, you should first create or identify a user that will be a Workflow Administrator. This can be any account other than the portal host account. Next, using an account such as admin or host, go to the page that contains Nukeflow and click "Users".

From the User Manager, you can enroll current DotNetNuke users into the workflow system. Enrolling users allows them to particpate in workflow activities, without this step, these users will not appear in workflow, user-related screens. You can enroll a user by clicking "Add User to Workflow" next to the desired user account.

You should add the Workflow Administrator account to workflow at this time.

 

Next, you need to create the Administrator Role. Click on "Roles" in the navigation bar. Give the role a name, check the "Is Admin" checkbox and click "Add Value".

Next, edit the Admin role's user assignments.

 

Make sure the "Current Role" lists the newly-added administrator role and click "Add User to Role" for the Workflow Administrator account.

 

The top list shows users that are currently assigned to this role, giving you the option to remove them. The bottom list shows users that are not assigned to this role, giving you the option to add them.

 

Creating Dynamic Forms

After creating your WorkFlow Administrator account, Workflow Administrators role and after assigning your workflow administrator membership to the Workflow Admin Role, log out of your portal as host/admin and login as the newly created Workflow Admins users. Upon logging in, you are brought to the "Workflow Dashboard", click Document Manager.

The Document Manager is where you edit documents, deifine fields, security & layout and set document security. It is the starting point for all activities related to building your Dynamic Forms and editing their field design. To create a new document type, click Add New.

The Add/Edit Document Type dialog appears when adding new or editing existing document types. From this dialog, give your document type a name, define it's height, choose a security type, workflow type and click Save. Available security types: Roles - Only roles show in the destination user dropdown, documents are assigned to all users in that role. Users - Only users show in the destination user dropdown, documents are assigned to users. User security it still determined through role membership. Roles & Users - Both roles and users are shown in the destination dropdown. Documents can be sent to a single user or all users in a role.

Available Workflow Types: Roles-Based - Only roles show in the destination user dropdown, documents are assigned to all users in that role. Status-Based - Only users show in the destination user dropdown, documents are assigned to users. User security it still determined through role membership. Roles & Users - Both roles and users are shown in the destination dropdown. Documents can be sent to a single user or all users in a role.

After saving the new document type, you are brought back to the Document Manager with options available for this document type. A good first step is to design the fields for your document.

The Field Manager allows you to add or edit specific fields from a document type. To add a field, click "Add New"

Adding a Textbox

To add a texbox: Name the field (as it will appear on the form) Insure it is associated with the proper Document Type Choose "Textbox" as the Control Type Default textboxes are "Single Line" Choose whether or not the field is required Optionally, you can set the height and width Save Changes

Adding a Multi-line Textbox

To add a multi-line texbox: Name the field (as it will appear on the form) Insure it is associated with the proper Document Type Choose "Textbox" as the Control Type Set textbox to "Multi Line" Set number of lines Choose whether or not the field is required Optionally, you can set the height and width Save Changes

Adding an Image

To add an Image: Name the field (as it will appear on the form) Insure it is associated with the proper Document Type Choose "Image" as the Control Type Click "Browse" and locate an appropriate image on your hard drive. Click "Open" to choose it. Click "Upload File" Optionally, you can set the height and width Save Changes

Adding Bound Controls

In order to add a bound control, you should be logged in as "host". This is because you enter a valid SQL Statement into the field designer, a task that should only be performed with appropriate permissions to the database server.

To add a Bound Grid: Name the field (as it will appear on the form) Insure it is associated with the proper Document Type Choose "Bound Grid" as the Control Type Enter a valid sql query. (note: must be a select statement or call to a stored procedure, drops/deletes/truncates are not allowed) Save Changes

To add a Bound DropDown: Name the field (as it will appear on the form) Insure it is associated with the proper Document Type Choose "Bound DropDown" as the Control Type Enter a valid sql query. (note: must be a select statement or call to a stored procedure, drops/deletes/truncates are not allowed) Save Changes

When finished adding or editing bound controls, you should return to your WorkFlow Administrator account for further workflow administration.

Setting the Layout

From the Document Manager, click Layout next to the document you wish to design.

The document layout will appear similar to what is pictured here. The fields will left-align to the top/left of the form. Position the controls by clicking and dragging the controls to the appropriate place within the form. The field name will act as it's "handle". Single click a field name, then drag to field to it's desired location, let off the left click buttom to drop the control into position. (note: controls will try to snap to an invisible grid)

After you have achieved the desired layout, be sure to click Save Layout. This will cause NukeFlow to record the field positions.

Defining Document Statuses

With Nukeflow, you may choose to associate a list of statuses with a particular Document Type. This is done by clicking the Statuses icon from the Document Manager list for the appropriate document type. While statuses are not mandatory, their use will often make the current state of your documents more evident to workflow users.

From the Document Status Dialog you can add/remove or delete document statuses from your various document types.

Defining Document Security

You will need to assign appropriate permissions for each document type to the various workflow roles in your organization. This is done through the document manager by clicking Security next to a specific document type.

 

From the Document Type security Dialog, you can assign various permissions to specific roles for each document type. This step is necessary for Nukeflow to be able to determine what level of security a role will have on a document type. For instance, if a role does not have "Change" for a specific document type, that document type will not show up as an option for those users when creating new documents.

Pemissions are added or removed by highlighting the individual permissions and clicking the appropriate arrow as can be seen in the illustration below. You can multiple-click to choose more than one permission or add them all with the corresponding double-arrow icons.

 

Using Field-level Security

You may optionally choose to implement field-level security on certain document types. First, you must edit the document type and enable the Field-level security flag for that document type. From the document manager, click the name of the document type (or edit icon to the left of the name).

 

Turn on Field-Level Security by clicking the Field Security checkbox and then Save Changes.

Next, set field-level security by clicking Fields

From the Field Manager, click Edit Field Security

 

From the Editing Field Permissions dialog, click Edit Permissions next to the Role whose permissions you wish to set.

You can add and remove permissions for this field or for all fields similar to the method used above for editing role permissions for document types. When finished, be sure to click Save Changes

Flow Types

Nukeflow supports two types of document flow, configured from the Edit Document Type dialog. The first type is roles based. Roles based document flow is a mostly free form document flow, meaning that a document can be sent to any role that has appropriate permissions to view it. The second type of document flow is Status-based which means that Nukeflow "figures out" who to send a document to based on rules that you define. These rules rely heavily on the use of Statuses for the document, so documents set for Status-based document flow should include one or more statuses defined for their specific document type.

You can change a document's flow type from Roles-Based to Status-Based from the Add/Edit Document Type Dialog. (Click the edit icon or document type name from the document type manager) Simply choose your desired document flow and click Save Changes

After setting a Document Type to operate in a Status-Based flow mode, you must define the rules that this document will follow for document assignments. Click on the Status-Based icon or text in the Document Type Manager to access the Document Flow Designer.

Think of your document flow as a collection of Flow Steps. Click Add New, to add a new step.

In the Add/Edit FlowStep pane, first choose whether this rule will apply to documents currently assigned to any user or role or a specific user or role.

Next, choose whether to apply this rule to documents with a specific current status or any current status.

Next, choose what destination status to which this rule should apply. (ie, the status was set from <a status> to <this status>

Next, choose who the document should be assigned to if the above criteria was met.

The following will assign a document to the "WorkFlow User Group", regardless of orginating role/user, regardless of originating status, when the status is set to Approved.

 

Deleting a Document Field

You can delete fields from the "Add/Edit Field" dialog, accessible from the Field Manager for a specific document type. In order to delete a field, you must first make it inactive by clearing the active checkbox, then the remove button will become available.

 

Deleting a Document Type

You can delete document types through the Document Manager. First, edit the document type and set it to be inactive. Click Savce Changes.

From the Document Type Manager, you will see that the document type has been struck-through, indicating its inactive state. Click edit again on the document type you wish to delete.

You will now be presented with the option to remove this document type. This extra step is by-design to safeguard from accidental deletion of a group of documents.