This document discusses SharePoint Designer workflows presented at SharePoint Saturday St. Louis 2017, highlighting the evolution of SharePoint Designer from 2007 to 2016 and the migration options for workflows. It covers new features, deprecated actions, and the workflow creation process, including tips for using REST services and debugging techniques. Additionally, it provides examples of simple and complex workflows and offers helpful resources and links for further exploration.

1. SharePoint Designer
Workflows
Nuts, Bolts and Examples
SharePoint Saturday
St. Louis 2017

2. You can use the hashtag #SPSSTL & follow us @SPSStlouis
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Thank You Sponsors for
participating in SPS St. Louis 2017!

3. Drew Madelung
Email : dmadelung@concurrency.com
Twitter : @dmadelung
Website : drewmadelung.com
Technical Architect – SharePoint & Office 365

4. What are we going to talk about?
A look back through the years
How do I start?
Not your basic workflow info
Let’s see some examples!

5. Evolution of SharePoint Designer
 SP Designer 2007
• Will work with 2003 & 2007
 SP Designer 2010
• Only 2010
 SP Designer 2013
• 2013, 2016 and SP Online (Office 365)
 SP Designer 2016?
• Not being created
It’s a free
download!

6. Upgrading from 2010 Workflows
 There is no in-place workflow upgrade
 2010 workflows will run in SP 2013/2016 on-premises and Office 365
1. Migrate 2010 workflows and continue to use them in 2010 mode
2. Rebuild workflows using new 2013 actions
3. Rebuild workflows using ISV (Nintex, K2)
4. Rebuild using Flow or Logic Apps
Options

7. Deprecated features – 2010 to 2013
 Design View
 Content type association with reusable workflows
 Association columns
 Impersonation steps
 User Profile lookup as a data source
 Workflow visualization
 Multiple workflow actions

8. New features – 2010 to 2013
 Ability to define stages and jump between them
 Stage level loops
 Dictionary variable
 App steps
 Ability to call SP 2010 workflows
 Task processes
 Multiple workflow actions

9. Workflow in SharePoint 2013+
 Brings the workflow
engine off SharePoint
 Allows execution of
SharePoint 2010
workflows
 Powered by Windows
Workflow Foundation 4

10. Workflow actions
 Different workflow actions are available depending on…
• Version of workflow
• Type of workflow
• Location of action in a workflow

11. Workflow actions – 2010 to 2013
New in 2013
 Assign a Task
 Start a Task Process
 Go to This Stage
 Call HTTP Web Service
 Start a List Workflow
 Start a Site Workflow
 Build Dictionary
 Get Property from Dictionary
 Count Items in Dictionary
 Trim String
 Find Substring in String
 Translate Document
 Set Workflow Status
 Create a Project from Current Item (MS Project)
 Set the current Project stage status to this value (MS Project)
 Wait for Project Event (MS Project)
 Set this field in the Project to this value (MS Project)
Deprecated in 2013
• Add List Item Permissions
• Assign a Form to a Group
• Assign a To-do Item
• Capture a version of the Document Set
• Collect Data from a User
• Copy List Item
• Declare Record
• Inherit List Item Parent Permissions
• Lookup Manager of a User
• Remove List Item Permissions
• Replace List Item Permissions
• Send Document Set to Repository
• Set Content Approval Status
• Set Content Approval Status for the Document Set
• Set Workflow Status
• Start Approval Process
• Start Custom Task Process
• Start Document Set Approval Process
• Start Feedback Process
• Undeclare Record
Call HTTP Web Service
• lets you specify any of several request methods,
including GET, PUT, POST, and DELETE. This lets you
tell the web services, specifically RESTful services, what
to do on the service that you’ve specified with the URI
property on the activity.
Start a List Workflow
• Starts a List workflow based on the SharePoint 2010
Workflow platform.
Start a Task Process
• Creates tasks on multiple users and enables the tasks
to be taken through a customized process.

12. Office 365 – SharePoint Online
 Runs 2010 and 2013 workflows
 You connect just like on-premises farms
 Default and deeper integration with Flow

13. SharePoint Designer 2013 Workflows
 Built at Site level (not site collection)
 List/Library, Reusable, or Site Workflows
 Can be created using Visio
 Can be saved as a template
 Ran on a timer job
These are all true for
SharePoint 2016 &
Online!

14. Creating a SharePoint 2013 Workflow
Open Designer and
connect to your site
• Click one of the New workflow
options in the ribbon
• Click Workflows in the Site Objects
navigation to view all current
workflows

15. Creating a SharePoint 2013 Workflow
• Enter a Name and Description
• Pick the 2013 platform type for your
new workflow

16. Creating a SharePoint 2013 Workflow
Add new conditions
Add new actions Add new loops
Create variables
Add new steps
Add new stages

17. What cool things can I do?
Custom Actions
Workflow Stages
App Steps
Utilize REST Services

18. Custom Actions
 5 different actions available
• Dictate where they appear
• List Item Menu
• Display Form Ribbon
• Edit Form Ribbon
• New Form Ribbon
• View Ribbon
 Configured on library or a list
 Available in SharePoint 2010,
2013, 2016 and SharePoint Online

19. Custom Actions - Continued
 Actions can do 1 of 3 things
1. Navigate to form
2. Initiate a workflow
3. Navigate to URL
 You can add images to the actions
 You can set the Rights Mask
• Security
 When to use them?
 Adding a link for a print function
 Link to supporting list that contains
related data
 Start an approval or review workflow
 Link to a custom edit form that shows
more fields for the item
 Link to an upload or insert item on a
related list
 Start a workflow to create an item

20. Workflow Stages
 Eases ability to build more advanced
logical workflows
 Uses IF/Else statements to transition
between stages
2010 -> Just steps
2013 -> Steps in Stages

21. App Steps
• No more impersonation step from 2010
 3 steps to configure
1. Allow workflow to use app permissions
• Done via activation of Site Feature “Workflows can use app permissions”
2. Grant full control permission to workflow
• Multiple step process to set trust for the Workflow app
• Detailed steps here
3. Develop the workflow to wrap actions inside an App Step
• App step will now be available in SP Designer ribbon
• Allows the ability to run a workflow that
requires elevated permissions

22. REST Service
• REST allows ability to remotely interact with SharePoint objects
• To access a specific site collection, use the following construction:
• http://server/site/_api/site
• To access a specific site, use the following construction:
• http://server/site/_api/web

23. REST Service - Continued
• Call HTTP Web Service & Dictionary actions
1. Build Dictionary(s)
2. Call REST service
• GET, POST, PUT, DELETE
3. Get Items in Dictionary (If necessary)

24. REST Service - Continued
• Can be used to…
• Manage content across site collections
• Create content (items, lists, sites, etc…)
• Retrieve content to be looped through
• Retrieve user profile information
• And lots more!
• Use Postman or Advanced REST client Chrome extension

25. Any other tips?
Advanced Properties
SharePoint Designer Cache
Copy & Paste
Debugging

26. Advanced Properties
 Certain settings are only visible in action Properties
 Right click on action -> click Properties…
 Important in Task Process actions
 Can set BCC for Send Email actions

27. Clearing SharePoint Designer Cache
1. Close SPD
2. Use File Explorer to navigate to:
• %USERPROFILE%AppDataLocalMicrosoftWebsiteCache
3. Delete everything in this folder
4. Use File Explorer to navigate to:
• %APPDATA%MicrosoftWeb Server ExtensionsCache
5. Delete everything in this folder

28. Copy & Paste
 You can copy & paste within the text-based designer in 2013
• Use Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V or use Right-click functionality
 Actions can copy but conditions and steps don’t always work
 Copying between workflows can cause crashes
 No support for Undo
 Cannot copy content between workflow versions
Make sure you check all variables/lookups after copying!

29. Debugging
 Log to history list
• Review workflow history list - /Lists/Workflow%20History/AllItems.aspx
• Send an email action for Dictionary variables due to large size
 Add a comment
 If/Else checks on major milestones & error handling
 Hidden column to track data points
 Fiddler (On-Premises)
Debugging isn’t just for when the workflow application is
created, but includes all issues that arise at a later time.

30. This all sounds cool, but what should I build?
Let’s look at
some examples

31. Good starting workflow ideas
More complex workflow ideas
• Vacation approval
• Equipment Reservation
• IT request task creation
• New project site creation
• New employee onboarding
• Finance invoice approval

32. Do you like demos?
I like demos
Let’s do a demo

33. Super Helpful links
 SharePoint Community
 SharePoint Designer 2013 Download
 What’s changed in SharePoint Designer 2013
 Workflow actions quick reference – SharePoint 2013
 Workflow actions quick reference – SharePoint 2010
 Get started with workflows in SharePoint 2013
 Create a workflow with elevated permissions (app step setup)
 Get to know the SharePoint REST service
 Advanced REST Client Chrome Extension
 Calling the SharePoint 2013 REST API from a SharePoint Designer Workflow
 SharePoint 2013 workflow recursion prevention
 Install and configure workflow for SharePoint 2013
 Workflow Manager Farms for SharePoint 2013 – harbar.net
 SharePoint Designer Custom Actions

34. Questions?
Email: dmadelung@concurrency.com
Twitter: @dmadelung
Website: drewmadelung.com
Slides: http://bit.ly/DrewSlides

35. SharePoint
Designer Workflows
Nuts, Bolts and Examples
SharePoint Saturday
St. Louis 2017