efuhriman – This is difficult to diagnose just from the information you’ve provided. I’ll try it with my best understanding though. I assume that you’ve written a second workflow that only runs on the Content Type for the second Collect Data Task. The link there would be created just like this one, using the Current Item: Task ID.
It get’s really tricky though if you want to update the Title or something using information from the item that triggered the overall workflow process. You’ll have to do a pretty complex lookup to get to that information because it will need to look up the Workflow Item ID from the previous task and then look that up on the original list. So, it should be something like this:
Source: Inventory Adjustments
Field: Bicycle Type
Lookup Field: ID
Value: [Click the formula button]
Source: Tasks
Field: Workflow Item ID
Lookup Field: ID
Value: [Click the formula button]
Source: Current Item
Value: Workflow Item ID
Whew! I think I’ve got that right anyway. Hopefully you get the idea of the double lookup. If all else fails, we can do a web consultation and I (or one of our other consultants) will be glad to take a look at the issue with you and help you with it. Good luck!
1. The task was initially created by another workflow on another list using the Collect Data from a User activity.
2. The Collect Data from a User activity does create a task, so there is no problem with the pause.
So, having answered your questions, let’s take a look at how we can solve your business problem. You want to use the Create List Item activity to create the task. My first thought is to create a column on the task list named something like “Creator Item ID”. When you set the fields in the new list item, set this field to be the same the “Current Item: ID” for the item that creates the task. This will allow you to easily look up the information you need from the item that created the tasks.
The next thing is that you want the workflow that creates the new tasks via the “Create List Item” activity to pause until the task (or tasks) are complete. To accomplish this, I would add a column in the original list (the list that creates the task, not the task list) to track whether the task has been completed or not; let’s call it “Task Completed”. The workflow that runs on the task list can use the ‘Wait for Field Change in Current Item” to wait until the status is “Completed”. Then once the status column is set to completed, it can update the tracking column in the original list (”Task Completed”) that created the item. After you create the task in the original workflow using the Create List Item activity, use a Wait for Field Change in Current Item” activity to accomplish the pause you need.
Hopefully that’s at least as clear as mud and will get you thinking in a new way. Good luck!
Since SO MANY people want to do this, but are having so many problems following the steps here, I’m going to record a short screencast showing the steps so everyone will be able to watch that. It may make things more clear. I’ll do me best to record and publish that before the end of the week.
I do have one minor correction. The “Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Incoming E-mail” needs to be running on the WFE instead of the Application Server. If there are multiple WFEs in a farm, it will need to be running on each of them.
snowiboy – I decided to write a new blog post in this series to answer your question. You’ll find it here:
http://sharepointsolutions.com/sharepoint-help/blog/2012/03/how-to-validate-a-non-required-column-in-sharepoint-2010/
pkondhare – I may be able to help you, but you haven’t fully explained your requirements. For example, what is the maximum length of the allowed input? When you say it can contain 0-9 numbers, I interpret this to mean that it’s field where the user can be empty or it can be 9-digits long. Is that what you mean? I think I understand what you mean with the allowed symbols, but is that in addition to the 9-digits or in place of the 9-digits (assuming you meant a 9-character long field). Finally, in your last example you are checking for lower-case letters and you didn’t mention anything in the requirements about letters–only numbers and symbols. You’re going to have to be much more specific about what is allowed and disallowed. If you can explain the business context that would be helpful as well.
I saw your duplicate comment on the other entry and I’ll be deleting that one since it’s a duplicate–one comment on one post is enough unless the second one contains different inforamtion.
efuhriman – This is difficult to diagnose just from the information you’ve provided. I’ll try it with my best understanding though. I assume that you’ve written a second workflow that only runs on the Content Type for the second Collect Data Task. The link there would be created just like this one, using the Current Item: Task ID.
It get’s really tricky though if you want to update the Title or something using information from the item that triggered the overall workflow process. You’ll have to do a pretty complex lookup to get to that information because it will need to look up the Workflow Item ID from the previous task and then look that up on the original list. So, it should be something like this:
Source: Inventory Adjustments
Field: Bicycle Type
Lookup Field: ID
Value: [Click the formula button]
Source: Tasks
Field: Workflow Item ID
Lookup Field: ID
Value: [Click the formula button]
Source: Current Item
Value: Workflow Item ID
Whew! I think I’ve got that right anyway. Hopefully you get the idea of the double lookup. If all else fails, we can do a web consultation and I (or one of our other consultants) will be glad to take a look at the issue with you and help you with it. Good luck!
Commented on the post Create a Detailed Custom Task Notification with a SharePoint Designer Workflow on the blog http://sharepointsolutions.com/sharepoint-help.corybooth –
1. The task was initially created by another workflow on another list using the Collect Data from a User activity.
2. The Collect Data from a User activity does create a task, so there is no problem with the pause.
So, having answered your questions, let’s take a look at how we can solve your business problem.
You want to use the Create List Item activity to create the task. My first thought is to create a column on the task list named something like “Creator Item ID”. When you set the fields in the new list item, set this field to be the same the “Current Item: ID” for the item that creates the task. This will allow you to easily look up the information you need from the item that created the tasks.
The next thing is that you want the workflow that creates the new tasks via the “Create List Item” activity to pause until the task (or tasks) are complete. To accomplish this, I would add a column in the original list (the list that creates the task, not the task list) to track whether the task has been completed or not; let’s call it “Task Completed”. The workflow that runs on the task list can use the ‘Wait for Field Change in Current Item” to wait until the status is “Completed”. Then once the status column is set to completed, it can update the tracking column in the original list (”Task Completed”) that created the item. After you create the task in the original workflow using the Create List Item activity, use a Wait for Field Change in Current Item” activity to accomplish the pause you need.
Hopefully that’s at least as clear as mud and will get you thinking in a new way. Good luck!
Commented on the post Create a Detailed Custom Task Notification with a SharePoint Designer Workflow on the blog http://sharepointsolutions.com/sharepoint-help.Since SO MANY people want to do this, but are having so many problems following the steps here, I’m going to record a short screencast showing the steps so everyone will be able to watch that. It may make things more clear. I’ll do me best to record and publish that before the end of the week.
Commented on the post Create a Detailed Custom Task Notification with a SharePoint Designer Workflow on the blog http://sharepointsolutions.com/sharepoint-help.Thanks for the GREAT article, Jeff! Very helpful!
I do have one minor correction. The “Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Incoming E-mail” needs to be running on the WFE instead of the Application Server. If there are multiple WFEs in a farm, it will need to be running on each of them.
Commented on the post How to Scale Out a SharePoint 2010 Farm From Two-Tier to Three-Tier By Adding A Dedicated Application Server on the blog http://sharepointsolutions.com/sharepoint-help.snowiboy – I decided to write a new blog post in this series to answer your question. You’ll find it here:
Commented on the post How to Validate Strict Text Formats in SharePoint 2010 on the blog http://sharepointsolutions.com/sharepoint-help.http://sharepointsolutions.com/sharepoint-help/blog/2012/03/how-to-validate-a-non-required-column-in-sharepoint-2010/
pkondhare – I may be able to help you, but you haven’t fully explained your requirements. For example, what is the maximum length of the allowed input? When you say it can contain 0-9 numbers, I interpret this to mean that it’s field where the user can be empty or it can be 9-digits long. Is that what you mean? I think I understand what you mean with the allowed symbols, but is that in addition to the 9-digits or in place of the 9-digits (assuming you meant a 9-character long field). Finally, in your last example you are checking for lower-case letters and you didn’t mention anything in the requirements about letters–only numbers and symbols. You’re going to have to be much more specific about what is allowed and disallowed. If you can explain the business context that would be helpful as well.
I saw your duplicate comment on the other entry and I’ll be deleting that one since it’s a duplicate–one comment on one post is enough unless the second one contains different inforamtion.
Commented on the post How to Validate Strict Text Formats in SharePoint 2010 on the blog http://sharepointsolutions.com/sharepoint-help.Elliot – I’m not in a position where I can test it, but did you try using [Modified] instead of [Created]?
Commented on the post How to Validate a Due Date in a SharePoint 2010 List on the blog http://sharepointsolutions.com/sharepoint-help.