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14 May 2015

K2 Workflow Event Wizards: Configuring the Start Rule of an activity

When working with K2 Workflow components, it is often necessary to specify when a K2 Workflow component may execute. We can control the time of execution, by configuring what is called a “Start Rule”.

In today’s blog, this is exactly what I’ll show you how to do. First we’ll need a Workflow Activity. A Workflow Activity is a container for K2 Workflow components. Drag-and-Drop an event from the toolbox onto the K2 Workflow Designer, the event will automatically be placed inside a Workflow Activity.

Figure 1 - Default Workflow Activity

Figure 1 – Default Workflow Activity

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Now hover your mouse over the newly created Workflow Activity, and run the default wizard by clicking on the down arrow that appears on the right hand side.

Figure 2 - Opening the Default Wizard

Figure 2 – Opening the Default Wizard

The “Activity General Properties” dialog will appear and display the default tab “General Properties”.

k2 workflow event

Figure 3 – Activity General Properties

On the left side of the dialog, you’ll notice seven icons, each representing a separate Tab. Click on the second tab to view the “Start Rules” screen.

Figure 4 - Start Rule tab

Figure 4 – Start Rule tab

This is the tab we will use in order to specify when the activity may execute. By default the activity Starts immediately. Notice the “Start Immediately” radio button has been selected.

Figure 5 - Start Immediately

Figure 5 – Start Immediately

Instead of starting immediately you can specify when an activity may execute in two ways.

The first way involves delaying the activity by an exact amount of time. To do this, select the second radio button “Start:” on the Start Rule tab. Now use the “Days”, “Hours”, “Minutes” and “Seconds” field to specify an amount of time by which to delay the activity before executing.

Figure 6 – Exact amount of time

Figure 6 – Exact amount of time

In this example I have specified the amount of time by entering numbers in the available fields. Please note however that it is also possible to drag and drop items from the Context Browser in order to specify an exact amount of time. Click on the black arrow, on the right hand side of the Start Rule tab to open up the Context Browser.

Figure 7 - Opening the Context Browser

Figure 7 – Opening the Context Browser

Navigate to the appropriate field or item, and drag and drop the item into one of the available fields. Here I have dropped a data field into the Hours field.

Figure 8 - Using Data Fields to specify time

Figure 8 – Using Data Fields to specify time

An additional way to delay the execution of an activity, is by specifying the exact date of execution. To use this method, enter the date in the “Date” field at the bottom of the Start Rule tab.

Figure 9 - Date Field

Figure 9 – Date Field

As you can see there are multiple ways of delaying the start of an activity. Choose the method most appropriate to your situation. Always remember to click on the “Finish” button once you’ve made any changes to the configuration or none of the changes will be saved.

Need further technical advice or support?