A commonly underrated tool for the Nintex Workflow Engine is the included console application NWAdmin! A reason for this may be its limited functionality in former Nintex builds. But with the latest update, Nintex made a remarkable step forward and enhanced the tool with a lot of new operations. So by now, you can do administrative tasks which you can´t do via the user interface by default.

To name some of them:

• Deletion of Workflow Actions [-o removeaction]
• Deployment of Workflows [-o deployworkflow]
• Cleanup of WF histories [-o purgeworkflowdata]
• Batch delegation of WF tasks [-o delegatealltasks]
• List all active WF [-o findworkflows]

When you process a default Nintex installation you find the tool residing at c:\program files\Nintex\Nintex Workflow 2007. The help-parameter will deliver further information on the capabilities:

You gain most benefits if you integrate the tool in your scripts, for example to deploy a workflow to several sites or to move a whole set of custom activities to your production environment. Even within the latest builds, you are not able to do this via the user interface.

Examples:

• A certain workflow activity is obsolete and you want to delete it completely
  NWAdmin -o RemoveAction –ID <ActionID>
• A co-worker gets sick and will not be able to work for a longer period. What happens to his existing workflow tasks?
  NWAdmin -o DelegateAllTasks –currentUser domäne\name_alt –newUser domäne\name_neu –username UserMitBerechtigung –password ******* 
• You have intensively test-driven your workflows and the site can now go live. You need to get rid of hundreds entries all over the workflow histories
  NWAdmin -o PurgeWorkflowData -state ALL -url http://server/sites/teamsite
  
  the PurgeWorkflowData operation offers a lot of useful parameters:
  
  -workflowname <name>
  -state [ALL|Completed|Running|Cancelled|Error]
  -url <teamsite url>
  -listId <guid>
  -itemId <int>

• You need to know which workflows are currently active?
  NWAdmin –o FindWorkflows
  
  Output:
  

          

By Markus Alt  

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