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

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

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

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

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

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

In this article, I´ll show you one possibility (there´s many) how you can solve that kind of problem. To keep it short, I decided to choose a "no build" approach and just do it with a tiny little helper called PowerShell (PoSH)! That means there´s NO visual studio involved and NO deployment is necessary to get this done.

Before we start scripting we should investigate on the way how SharePoint is handling and managing versions internally. Do to this, activated versioning on list-level is mandatory:

If we take a look at a version history inside the PoSH, we recognize a certain but unexpected pattern (at a first glance) and two relevant fields:

VersionId: 512
VersionLabel: 1.0

If you process updates on an item, the output will change as follows:

VersionId: 513
VersionLabel: 1.1

You can approve the item, and the output will be:

VersionId: 1024
VersionLabel: 2.0

You see, there´s a simple formula which we have to keep in consideration later in the script:
VersionId = (MainVersion * 512) + Subversion

Next we need to add a field to our list to store the former document version of the file system:
Name: ImportVersion, Type: Text

Now we can finally open up the PoSH. If you are working with PowerShell and SharePoint, I recommend you to modify your profile as described on iLoveSharepoint

The script is pretty straight forward though:

$web = get-spweb http://localhost/websites/spbombshell 
$list = $web.Lists["ListName"] 
$item = $list.Items[0] 
$importVersion = [int]$item["ImportVersion"] 
$itemVersion = [int]($item.Versions[0].VersionId / 512) 
 
$count = $importVersion - $itemVersion 
 
for ($index = 0; $index -lt $count; $index++) { 
    $item.File.CheckOut() 
    $item.File.CheckIn("PoSH Check-In") 
    $item.File.Approve("PoSH Approve") 
} 
			

Check back the version history of the modified item:

We must get rid of the history lines, so we add one more line to our script:

$item.File.Versions.RecycleAll()

That´s it – your versions are synchronized.

By Markus Alt

Technorati-Tags: Sharepoint,Powershell

Im Rahmen der BASTA! Spring 2009 finden vom 25.-26. Februar 2009 die SharePoint Special Days statt - mit Data One als exklusivem Sponsor! Erleben Sie an unserem Stand hautnah, wie Sie das Maximum aus Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) bzw. den Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) herausholen. Lernen Sie Nintex Workflow zur intuitiven Erstellung von Workflows kennen, das Data One Power WebPart zur Verknüpfung von SharePoint mit der Windows PowerShell und diskutieren Sie mit unseren Experten die neusten Trends rund um Microsoft SharePoint und .NET-Entwicklung. www.basta.net

By Nadine Bosch