Walkthrough: Creating a Workflow Type

Article
08/03/2018

Applies To: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Feature Pack, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012

In Microsoft Dynamics AX, you define a workflow by creating a workflow type to base the workflow on. In this walkthrough, you will create a workflow type in the AOT that you can add approvals and tasks to.

A workflow type defines information about the following:

Which document is being used with the workflow. The workflow document exposes calculated fields and identifies the query that exposes data fields for the workflow.
Tasks, automated tasks, and approvals that can be configured by the end user.
Workflow categories used for assigning a workflow type to a specific module.
Menu items and event handlers.

This walkthrough illustrates the following tasks:

Creating a query for a workflow.
Creating a workflow category.
Creating a workflow type in the AOT.
Adding code to the SubmitManager class.

Prerequisites

To complete this walkthrough, you will need:

Microsoft Dynamics AX
A license file that has access to the Development workspace

To Create a Query for a Workflow

In the AOT, right-click the Queries node, and then select New Query. A query group displays under the Queries node.
Right-click the new query, click Rename, and then enter MyQuery.
Expand the new query, right-click the Data Sources node, and then click New Data Source. A data source group displays under the Data Sources node.
Right-click the new data source group and then click Properties.
In the Properties sheet, set the Table property to CustTable.
Expand the CusTable_1 data source, and select the Fields node. In the Properties sheet, set the Dynamic property to Yes.

Note

By setting the Dynamic property to Yes, all data fields in the CustTable table are exposed for workflow conditions. To remove data fields, set the Dynamic property on the Fields node of the data source to No. Expand the Fields node, right-click a field, and then click Delete. If the query is not saved, the Delete command is not available.
In the AOT, right-click MyQuery, and then click Save.

After a Microsoft Dynamics AX query is created, you must decide which category the workflow will be part of. We recommend that you choose an existing workflow category. If no category is appropriate, you can create your own.

To Create a Workflow Category

In the AOT, expand the Workflow node.
Right-click the Workflow Categories node, and then select New Workflow Category. A new workflow category group displays under the Workflow Categories node.
Right-click the new workflow category and then click Properties.
In the Properties sheet, set the following properties:

Property

Value

Name

MyWorkflowCategory

Module

Customer
In the AOT, right-click MyWorkflowCategory, and then click Save.

Property	Value
Name	MyWorkflowCategory
Module	Customer

After a workflow category is created, you are ready to create the workflow type.

To Create a Workflow Type in the AOT

In the AOT, expand the Workflow node.
Right-click the Workflow Types node, and then click Add-Ins > Workflow type wizard. The Workflow wizard is displayed. This wizard will help you create a new workflow type.
Click Next.

Set the following values for the wizard.

Value	Input
Name	Enter MyWorkflowType.
Category	Choose MyWorkflowCategory, which is the category that you created.
Query	Choose MyQuery, which is the query that you created.
Document menu item	Choose CustTable, which points to the main form for displaying customer data.
Document web menu item	Choose EPCustTableInfo, which points to the main page for displaying customer data in Enterprise Portal.

Click Both to generate menu items for both the Microsoft Dynamics AX client and Enterprise Portal.
Click Next. A list of all of the resources that will be created for the workflow type is displayed.
Click Finish to create the resources. The wizard will create classes, menu items, web menu items, the workflow type, and a project that contains all of the items.
A dialog box will be displayed that indicates the status. Click OK. The project that contains the workflow type resources is displayed.

After the workflow type is created, you will add code for the workflow events. However, to simplify this walkthrough, you will not add code to any of the event handlers.

To enable end-users to submit a workflow document for approval, you will have to add code that is run when the user clicks Submit in Microsoft Dynamics AX. The main method in the SubmitManager class that was created by the Workflow wizard will run. This code will display a message in the user interface that indicates that the document was submitted to workflow.

To Add Code to the SubmitManager Class

In the AOT, expand the Classes node.
Locate the MyWorkflowTypeSubmitManager class. This was the class created by the Workflow wizard.
Expand the MyWorkflowTypeSubmitManager class, and then double-click the main method. The Editor window opens.

In the Editor window, insert the following code.

public static void main(Args args)
 {
     // Variable declaration.
     recId _recId = args.record().RecId;
     WorkflowCorrelationId _workflowCorrelationId;
     // Hardcoded type name
     workflowTypeName _workflowTypeName = workFlowTypeStr("MyWorkflowType");
     // Initial note is the information that users enter when they
     // submit the document for workflow.
     WorkflowComment _initialNote = "";
     WorkflowSubmitDialog workflowSubmitDialog;

     // Opens the submit to workflow dialog.
     workflowSubmitDialog = WorkflowSubmitDialog::construct(args.caller().getActiveWorkflowConfiguration());
     workflowSubmitDialog.run();

     if (workflowSubmitDialog.parmIsClosedOK())
     {
            _recId = args.record().RecId;
         // Get comments from the submit to workflow dialog.
         _initialNote = workflowSubmitDialog.parmWorkflowComment();

         try
         {
             ttsbegin;

             // Activate the workflow.
             _workflowCorrelationId = Workflow::activateFromWorkflowType(_workflowTypeName, _recId, _initialNote, NoYes::No);

             // Send an Infolog message.
             info("Submitted to workflow.");

             ttscommit;
         }

         catch(exception::Error)
         {
             info("Error on workflow activation.");
         }
     }
 }

Close the Editor window and then click Yes to save changes.
Any time that you create or modify workflow code, you must regenerate the CIL code. In the AOT, right-click AOT, click Add-Ins, and then select Incremental CIL generation from X++.

After MySubmitToWorkflowClass is created, you can create an action menu item to bind this class to.

Next Steps

You have now created a workflow type based on the customer table. To use the customer table form for a workflow, you must enable the form for workflow and then create a workflow configuration. For more information, see Walkthrough: Adding Workflow to an Existing Form.