SharePoint: Extending the DVWP – Part 29: Modifying Form Action Workflows on the remove Template

Author: Jim Bob Howard

Marty McFly: "Heavy!"

Doc Brown: "There’s that word again! Is there something wrong with the Earth’s gravitational pull in the future?"

If the last few articles have been a bit heavy, hopefully today’s will be a little lighter, because we’ve already done some of this in Parts 7 thru 12, when we first created form action workflows.

But don’t skip this one.

There are some potential pitfalls we want to avoid with the work we’ll be doing today. I’ll draw special attention as we come to them so you’ll definitely know when you’re getting close.

Shall we?

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch…

When we last saw our hero, the mild-mannered edit template had almost completed the transformation to the superhero known as remove template.

But not quite…

The Terminated and Resigned buttons are form action links but, right now, they’re still acting like the Save link on the edit template. So, let’s finish the transformation of our superhero.

1. In SharePoint Designer (SPD), right-click on Terminated and choose Form Actions

Pitfall Alert!!!

2. If you have already created a [Custom Action] for your edit template, it will show up here, too. Do NOT click the Settings… button! If you do, you will be editing the workflow that really should only be associated with the Save button on the edit template.

Instead, click the [Custom Action], then << Remove, and then OK. This will remove all connection to the Save workflow.


Remove the existing [Custom action] to disconnect this form action link from it.

3. Right-click on Terminated and choose Form Actions again.
4. Click [Custom Action], then Add >> to start creating a new workflow for this link.
5. Click Move Up to make sure the workflow runs first.

Now that you’re starting with a clean slate, you can begin setting up the workflow this form action will call

6. THEN, you can click the Settings… button to configure the workflow.

Workflow, She Wrote

We’ve been through writing to the Audit list using SPServices in the PreSaveAction() and we’ve talked about how we can get our form data and other variables into the workflow.

Since we made labels out of our controls (except Effective Date), we’ll have access to all of them in the workflow. So let’s use the Create List Item action:

1. Choose your audit list and all of the required fields will be displayed for you. Simply walk through each one, clicking Modify… for each and choosing your form fields for the value:

Required fields will automatically be added to the Create New List Item dialog

2. When you get to Change Type, choose Terminate from the choice field list


3. When you’re all done, click OK, Finish, and OK. (If you come back to edit this later, see Pitfall Alert! below before clicking second OK.)
4. Make note of the workflow number in the pop-up that displays next. (You might want to add a comment to your XSLT to make it easy to remember which you’re working with later.)


5. Rinse and repeat for the Resign button.

Pitfall Alert!!!

If you build on this example using the techniques we discussed in Part 10: Passing Workflow Variables to a Form Action Workflow, DON’T click the second OK. Doing so will overwrite the changes you made to pass in workflow variables.

Just remember that the form action and the workflow are two separate entities. To have access to your form fields and workflow variables in the workflow, you have to go thru the form action as shown. BUT, if you don’t want your variables overwritten, don’t click OK on the Form Actions once you’ve done your initial creation of the workflow.

When you’re done using the Design pane to step through the remove template, be sure to switch the template names back

<xsl:template name="dvt_1.rowremove">
    <xsl:param name="Pos" />
    <tr>
        . . .
    </tr>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template name="dvt_1.rowedit">
    <xsl:param name="Pos" />
    <tr>
        . . .
    </tr>
</xsl:template>

…goes back to…

<xsl:template name="dvt_1.rowedit">
    <xsl:param name="Pos" />
    <tr>
        . . .
    </tr>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template name="dvt_1.rowremove">
    <xsl:param name="Pos" />
    <tr>
        . . .
    </tr>
</xsl:template>

Next time, we’ll keep Extending the DVWP by adding some filters and Easy Tabs to make it easier to keep things separate, while grouping them into easier-to-maintain collections.

Author: Jim Bob Howard

Jim Bob Howard is a web designer / webmaster in the healthcare industry. He has been working with SharePoint since March 2009 and enjoys sharing what he has learned. He is a moderator and frequent contributor to Stump the Panel, and answers SharePoint questions on Twitter (@jbhoward) and via email ([email protected]).