With the latest build Nintex added again lots of new features. Besides the product now supports multilingual user interfaces, it also offers the possibility to use inline functions. These functions focus on manipulating and formatting string and date values and are mostly clones of existing functions known from the .net Framework. You can use the functions in any inputbox within the Nintex Workflow Designer, see the example below.

This is how it works:

"The parsing engine first replaces any inserted reference tokens, and then the resulting text is evaluated for functions. If a function contains another function as an argument, the inner most function will be evaluated first. As reference tokens are replaced first, the reference token can also contain function syntax that will be evaluated. If text contains function syntax (i.e. a brace or comma character) but is not intended to be interpreted by the parser, wrap the text with {TextStart} and {TextEnd} markers to inform the parser that the block should only be treated as text and not evaluated. For example, if a number variable that contains a decimal value is passed to the function, and the decimal separator for your region is a comma, the {TextStart} and {TextEnd} tokens will need to be used."

The current build [10903] supports the following functions:

That´s rich! J

Markus

If you use the "Create a Site" activity with Nintex Workflow 2007, there is no way to assign detailed user permissions for the newly created site - you can only choose to either inherit the permissions from the parent site or you can manually set a single user as site owner.

But here is the solution: Use the Data One PowerActivity and a few straightforward lines of PowerShell code to manage the user permissions and roles in detail!

$webDestination = get-spweb "{WorkflowVariable:AbsolutURL}"

$webDestination.BreakRoleInheritance($true)

$roleAssignment = new-object Microsoft.SharePoint.SPRoleAssignment -argumentList "domain\user"

$roleDefinition = $webDestination.RoleDefinitions["Contribute"]

$roleAssignment.RoleDefinitionBindings.Add($roleDefinition)

$webDestination.RoleAssignments.Add($roleAssignment)

$webDestination.Dispose()

Insert the PowerActivity after the "Create a site" activity within the Nintex Workflow Designer canvas. Paste the PowerShell snippet into the PowerActivity. Use $webDestination to set the new site's URL, which you can easily obtain from the "Create a site" activity (configuration dialog > Store URL in). Set -argumentList and RoleDefinitions["Contribute"] according to your requirements. Run your workflow and see for yourself that all permissions have been created automatically.

Regards,

Andreas

In preparation of our slot at Basta 2009! we were thinking about a neat custom Activitiy which could be developed in a quick live coding session. The activity should be easy to understand and for demo purposes come off in a "just for fun" vibe. So, in consideration of the current hype surrounding Twitter we decided to do a tiny Twitter Action that can process Tweets, integrates TinyUrl and validates the length of the tweet.

Even if this project was done for "fun" you can still think of some realistic scenarios. Image you have a company account at Twitter and your Public Relations Manager wants to approve the tweets before they get send to your public timeline. Collect your tweets in custom SharePoint list (anybody could add items there) and let PR approve them. A workflow could then look like this:

Since tweets are supposed to be current, you can build in an escalation branch (left side) to remind the manager to approve the tweet (i.e. after 1 hour). If nothing happens, we just delete the tweet from our list because it can be considered "old".

The configuration dialog page uses default Nintex Controls (Credential Picker & Plain Text), so you can benefit from all Nintex features like item property lookups or the site credential store.

You can download the action here. It´s deployed as a Site Feature and has to be activated explicitly.
If you are interested in the PowerPoint slides from our Basta session, the slides are available here.

Note: this is not an official project. It´s not on codeplex and there is no support or any warranties.

For advanced users who want to create individual activities for Nintex Workflow 2007
as quickly as never before, Data One offers a one-of-a-kind tool: Data One PowerActivity.

Data One PowerActivity features the seamless integration of arbitrary Windows PowerShell scripts with Nintex Workflows and offers additional functionalities to integrate PowerShell and SharePoint developments.

Use this activity to:

• Look up data on different sites and site collections
• Start workflows on different lists
• Manage site permissions
• Integrate APIs

Sometimes you need to assign values to people lookup fields when you don´t know the exact login name of that certain user.

In this case, you will fail assigning the plain displayname. However, there´s a small workaround to handle this problem.

You need to build your own "technical" lookup value in a simple text variable ("Person") and use -1 as fake user id.

For example in the following way:

You can assign "Person" now to people fields 

Keep in mind that you will run into trouble if there´s persons with the same name.

Markus Alt

Nintex added a set of new activities to the latest build of Workflow 2007, especially the enterprise version experienced a real boost. Doing so, Nintex intends to delimitate the standard and enterprise versions of the product. In the upcoming articles, I`ll give you a short breakdown on the latest additions.

First off, there´s a list of the new activities – we´re planning to do webcasts and real life scenarios later on. I´ll take the opportunity here and will work with the German version of Nintex Workflow 2007 for the frist time!

Expect detailed instructions in further articles @SPBombShell soon!

By Markus Alt

Technorati-Tags: Sharepoint, Nintex

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  

Technorati-Tags: Sharepoint, Nintex

By Christian Glessner