Document variable to User worklist

[Former Community Member]

Hello



I've studied the LC Workflow documentation for about 5 hours (totally) and made tests for about 8 hours, but I was still not able to place a document (variable) by the User QPAC into the user worklist.

Checking "Process details" in the LC Workflow Administration tells me that the document/task has been assigned to the specific user. But I can't see anything in the user worklist.



The Creating Workflow documentation says:


"The way document variables are used in the workflow is very similar to the way form variables are used. The main difference is that document variables provide access to a document but form variables provide

form data and the location of the form used to collect the data."



Obviously there is a difference. Until now, I was only able to place a document by a form variable to a user worklist.



Has anybody sucessfully sent a document by a document variable to user's worklist?



Any feedback would be great!

Thanks, Nico

[Former Community Member]

Hi Nico



Are you setting the variable type to document on the Init-Form?

And then as document on the input to the user qpac?

Are you expecting the type to be document all the way through your process?

Is there any error in the log or you just don't see the form at the user step?



One tricky point with submissions of type document is that the submit button must be changed to a PDF submit type. The default is XDP submit on the Workflow Fields. See page 83 of Creating Workflows.pdf for instructions on setting the Submit button.

Have you changed the submit type?



Diana@adobe

[Former Community Member]

Hi Diana



Your intuition was a direct hit! Thank you very much for helping us.

The major mistake I've made was the "submit button" issue. Yes, I forgot to change the submit type to PDF....



Regards,

Nico

[Former Community Member]

Diana,



I've got a continuative question regarding this problem:

As I've already mentioned before, I want to place a document (variable) in the user worklist. I was able to test and verify this by implementing a dummy initial form and setting the submit type to "PDF".



But what if I do not have any initial form? E.g. when the workflow is initiated by a web service? So I do not have any submit button where I could set the submit type to "PDF" prior to place the document variable in the user worklist.



Hmmm?



Regards,

Nico

[Former Community Member]

Hi Nico

I don't think that should be a problem.

You can mix types throughout the workflow (ex: init-form is of type form and first user qpac step of the workflow is of type document for the input variable) as long as you are aware of what it means.



Typically the document type variable is used in cases such as for a form containing a digital signature. This is because the document type variable means the form is not rendered by Form Server. This keeps the digital signature valid.



In the case of having no init-form (kicking off via Webservices), you just have to identify what the form is (you can do this by setting the form name in the user qpac itself - "Change form name to..." and browsing to the form in the repository) and make the input variable to be of type Document.



Does this help?



Diana@adobe

[Former Community Member]

Hi Diana



yes, your post does help. Thank you very much. But I'm still not sure whether LC Workflow is able to support our requirements.




Our workflow/requirements with few words:

We assemble multiple documents (interactive PDF forms) with LC Assembler to one output document. This document should be passed on to a user worklist. The user should be able to edit the pdf form and to "hand on" the form to another user (incl. annotations).




The difficult situation is that I can't use a form variable since the assembled document isn't in the form repository. On the other hand I'm not sure if I can use a document variable since the document will be mutated.



I hope you're having once again a smart answer!

Thanks,

Nico

[Former Community Member]

Hi Nico

I'm not sure I have an answer for you! Perhaps someone else has tried your scenario...



What I have tried is this:

1) I have a variable of type document be the input to the User QPAC at all User steps in the workflow.

2) I open the pdf in a user's worklist.

3) From the commenting toolbar (Full Acrobat Required), I am able to add Notes to the pdf document.

4) I submit the workitem.

5) The Notes with my text appear at the next step in my workflow.

They continue to show at every subsequent step along with any new Notes I add.



Granted that is not actually editing the PDF form, but that is the closest way I know to "edit" it inside Form Manager.



Diana@adobe

[Former Community Member]

Thank you Diana for your patient help... your last posting describes more or less what I'm achieving...




I've one last generally question regarding the document variable:

A document variable can be initiated in general by...

1) PDF Submit type of a XDP Form (Forms Server)

2) PDF Submit type of a PDF Form (Forms Server)

3) Programtically by instantiating com.adobe.idp.Document and set any pdf file.



Are there any restrictions or constraints for these 3 versions concerning a user step compatibility?



Nico