Contents

The workflow designer allows to create the processing of forms in an intuitive and visual way using drag and drop. The processing of forms is represented as an event-based flowchart. This flowchart is referred to below as the workflow graph. Within the workflow graph, individual processing chains are created, which are triggered by events. Events are, for example, the click on a send button, the confirmation of a double opt-in process or the exceeding of a defined point in time. Branches within the graph represent decisions or conditions. Through these conditions, different actions can be executed, depending on the status of a process and/or the captured form data.

The workflow designer is used to edit the workflow of a selected version of the form. If no form version is explicitly selected, the active form version is processed.

Workflow graph

The workflow graph is the heart of the workflow designer, with which the processing of a form is graphically represented and can be edited. The start of each processing is marked with the formcycle icon:

The workflow is to be read from top to bottom and consists of individual processing chains. Each processing chain starts with an event that triggers it. For example, clicking on a certain button in the form can start a processing chain in which an email is sent to the applicant. As you can see from this example, actions are performed within processing chains. These processing chains can become more complex and, for example, can be split up depending on the form entries. These branches are realised via conditions. For example, the workflow can be configured in such a way that an email is only sent if the applicant has also specified an email. If this is not the case, for example, a PDF of the form can be created and returned to the applicant. As you can see, conditions cause a processing chain to split into two sub-processing chains. Each processing chain must end in an end point. Usually, such an end point is a state in which the process should be after the processing has been executed. In the case of conditions, the resulting sub-processing chains are brought together again after the desired actions have been executed (see illustration). However, each sub-processing chain can also define its own end point. The example presented here is shown in the illustration as a processing chain in the workspace of the workflow designer. If several events occur simultaneously, the corresponding processing chains are executed in sequence from left to right.

Standard behaviour

Newly created forms do not have a configured workflow, i.e. there is no event processing chain in the workflow graph. All that is visible in the workflow designer workspace is the formcycle icon, which represents the start of processing. In such a case, sent tasks always end up in the Received status, even if this is not explicitly configured in the workflow graph. This is the default behaviour of formcycle when no workflow has been configured. This standard behaviour also applies if a form was submitted with a button for which a workflow event with processing chain was not explicitly defined in the workflow graph.

In summary

Each workflow graph can consist of several processing chains. However, the workflow can also have no processing chain, in which case the standard behaviour applies.
Each processing chain begins with an event, followed by workflow elements such as actions and conditions. Actions are executed from top to bottom. Conditions on the path are evaluated according to the environment and operation state. The processing chain always ends in an end point. Sub-processing chains can define their own end point.

User interface

As shown in the figure, the workflow designer consists of the following components: Workspace, Element selection, Element properties, Toolbar & Status bar, which are briefly introduced below. General information about the toolbar can be found here.

If a workflow configuration is changed but not saved and later the workflow designer is reloaded for this workflow, a dialogue appears with which the old status can be restored. The unsaved workflow configuration is loaded into the workspace. However, it is not yet saved. This workflow configuration is not saved until the user clicks on Save.

Workspace

The workspace represents the workflow graph. New events can be added to the workflow graph at any time. There are two ways to add a new event to the workflow graph:

• An event is dragged from the element selection on the left edge and dropped into the workspace onto the plus symbol at the beginning of the workflow graph.
• Click on the plus symbol at the beginning of the workflow graph. A context menu opens where the event can be selected. 

In both cases, a new processing chain is created with the selected event. Processing chains can be renamed by clicking on their names. A description can also be added below the name.
New workflow elements can be added to processing chains wherever there is a so-called drop point. This is possible in two different ways:

• A workflow element is dragged from the element selection on the left edge to the desired drop point in the processing chain by dragging and dropping it into the workspace. 
• The desired drop point is clicked on. A context menu opens where the workflow element can be selected.

If a new processing chain has been created by the creation of an event, this processing chain receives the status Endpoint Received by default. Endpoints can be removed from processing chains. However, each processing chain must have at least one endpoint. A new endpoint can be added by dragging it from the element selection to a drop point within the processing chain or to the current endpoint of the (partial) processing chain. If the end point of the entire processing chain has been deleted, a new end point can also be defined by clicking on the placeholder for the end point. This opens a context menu from which an endpoint can be selected.
The yes/no labels of conditions can be renamed by clicking on them.

Elements of the workflow graph

To display the properties of a workflow element of the workflow graph, click on the corresponding workflow element. All properties of the element are then displayed to the right of the workflow graph in the element properties and can be adjusted there. Workflow elements can be moved within and between processing chains.

If the cursor is moved over a workflow element in the workflow graph, the following additional options appear above it:

 Delete
Deletes the selected workflow element

 Deactivate
Deactivates the selected workflow element. If an event is deactivated, its entire processing chain is deactivated.

 Duplicate
Duplicates the selected workflow element. The copy is inserted below the original in the workflow graph. Events cannot be duplicated.

 Summary
Gives a summary of the workflow item. For events, this includes the values provided by the event. For the event Double-Opt-In confirmed, for example, the processing chain in which the Double-Opt-In was initialised is provided. For actions, the configuration parameters and their values as well as the return values in case of success or error are listed. For example, the action Database query returns the result of this query if successful. These return values of events or actions can be used in the further course of the workflow graph in subsequent actions. 

Element selection

The element selection can be collapsed via the arrow symbol in the margin, which creates more space for the workspace. New elements can still be added to the workflow graph by clicking on the so-called drop points   within the processing chains (see Workspace). All elements that can be used in the workflow are available in the element selection. To use an element in the workflow graph in the workspace, it must be dragged onto a possible drop point (   ) in the workflow graph in the workspace. Depending on the type of workflow element, different possible drop points are available. Events, for example, can only be attached at the beginning of the workflow graph (   ). The workflow elements are divided into different categories. If the cursor is moved over the upper right edge of the element selection, the element categories become visible. The elements are divided into the following categories:

• Buttons
• Events
• Actions
• Control
  
• Status

The element selection can be limited to the selected category with one click. Clicking again will remove this restriction. If the Ctrl key is held down under Windows or the Ctrl key under MacOS, several categories can be selected at once. For more detailed information on the individual elements within the categories, see Workflow elements.
 

Element properties

Depending on the workflow element that is currently selected in the workspace, the content of the element properties, which are displayed to the right of the workspace, changes. In the element properties, all parameters of an element can be configured. For example, the sender, recipient, subject, content, etc. can be defined here in the email action. If the element properties are not necessary, they can also be folded in using the arrow symbol on the left edge of the element properties.

Toolbar

Save
Saves the workflow graph and thus the processing configuration of the form. If there are errors in the workflow configuration (see Validate), the workflow can still be saved. In this case, however, the form is switched to maintenance mode and is no longer available online, as correct processing of form records can no longer be guaranteed. The form will only be available online again once all errors in the workflow configuration have been corrected.

Validate
Checks the current workflow configuration for errors. An error in the workflow configuration is, for example, an unfilled recipient field in the email action or the absence of an end point in a processing chain.

View options
Various view options are available. The workflow graph in the workspace can be enlarged or reduced and re-centred. The following view options are available under the menu item View:

• Show guides: Guides visually separate the individual processing chains. 
• Show user groups: If there are user group restrictions for certain events, these are displayed at the corresponding processing chain.
• Show status: If status restrictions exist for certain events, they are displayed at the corresponding processing chain.
• Show/hide processing chains: individual or all processing chains can be shown or hidden.

Undo/Redo
Changes to the structure of the workflow can be undone or repeated. Changes to the element properties are not taken into account.

More...
Under the menu item More... menu item contains further contents which are described in more detail here.

Open
Opens the form in live mode. If front-end servers are available, the form can also be opened on one of the front-end servers.

Preview
Opens the form in preview mode. Here you can test the form without creating any processes.

State bar

The status bar is located below the workspace. On the left side is the navigation area, which shows where the selected form element is located in the workflow graph. On the right side, detailed information about the form and the current version is visible.

Workflow elements

Events

Events form the beginning of work chains and can be triggered in different ways depending on their type. A special, because frequently used, form of events are button events. These events therefore have their own category in the element selection.

Button events

For each button in the form that is used for submitting or saving, there is a corresponding event in the element selection. These button events can then be easily dragged into the workflow graph. In this way, a separate processing chain can be defined for each button. More information on button events can be found here and here.

Other events

In addition to the button events, there are also the following events:

Custom events
A user-defined event does not occur automatically, but must be triggered in the workflow.

Date and time
This event occurs as soon as a user-defined fixed or calculated time occurs.

Double opt-in confirmed
This event occurs as soon as a user clicks on a previously generated double opt-in link and thus confirms the double opt-in process.

Invitation failed
Occurs when an error occurs when sending an invitation email.

Invitation sent
Occurs when an invitation email to a form has been sent.

After status change
This event occurs once after the process has remained in a certain status for a certain time following a status change.

Workflow error
This event occurs as soon as an unhandled error occurs at any point in the workflow.

Actions

A list of all workflow actions can be found here.

Flow Control

A list of all control elements can be found here.

State

States describe the state of an form record and define who has access to it. Further information on states can be found here.