Canvas of the Web-based Workflow Designer

The workflow canvas is the primary workspace in the Workflow Designer, used to create and edit workflow configurations.

To open the canvas, navigate to DocuWare Configurations > Collaboration > Workflow Designer > Dashboard.

Click the buttons New Workflow or Edit to open the workflow canvas:  

Each workflow configuration brings up its own canvas.

Use the toolbars on the left and bottom to add activities and configure the workflows. Each tool is briefly described in the list below.

1. Adding activities, variables and checking errors

Activities: For example, Task, Email, and Condition are activities you can add to the workflow by clicking their icons in the left-hand toolbar. You can then configure each activity’s settings in its dialog.

List view: Use the list view to quickly navigate to a specific workflow item. Click an activity in the list to move directly to its position on the canvas.

Variables: Add global variables like Text, Integer, Decimal, Date , DateTime and more. Variables are place holders for any kind of data.

Validation: The red asterisks in the validation panel indicate missing or invalid settings. A workflow may only be published when all settings are correctly done and no red asterisk is shown anymore.
Validation is done automatically to prevent you from publishing faulty workflows by mistake. Click an error message to directly fix the flaw.
Read more about How to use the validation panel.

2. Map: Navigate through the canvas

The canvas is not limited in size, allowing you to add as many items as you need. Use this map to move around quickly even in huge workflow configurations.

The visible area is highlighted in white. Click on the map, hold and drag to navigate to different areas of your workflow.

3. Pan, undo/redo and task lists

Select: Click to select, highlight or move an activity dialog in the workflow.

Pan: Click the hand icon and drag to move within the canvas.

Task list: Shape the task list of the workflow in the DocuWare Web Client. You may sort, add and remove the columns and select the result list used for the task list.
The type of task is configured in the task activity.

Permissions: Assign the designer and controller permissions to DocuWare users or roles.

Copy as an image / Save as an image: Clicking either icon automatically captures a PNG screenshot of all workflow items. The image includes the entire workflow, regardless of the current zoom level, and excludes toolbars or browser windows.

Undo / Redo: Every step you perform to configure the workflow is listed in the Undo / Redo panel. Click a previous step to revert to that stage. All subsequent steps will be deleted. Redo reverses the action.
Watch an example how to use Undo/Redo.

Closing versus leaving the workflow

The steps in the Undo / Redo panel are tracked only for the current session. If you close the workflow, the configuration history up to that point will not be available the next time you open the workflow. If you want to continue your workflow editing later, just leave the canvas by switching to another workflow or returning to the dashboard.

4. Settings and publishing

Settings: Show and hide the connector lines to get a better overview of the connection between the workflow items. This might be useful in very large configurations, when you are dealing with a lot of items. You can also expand or collapse the workflow items.

Watch how to hide the connector lines.

State of the configuration: Saving is done automatically. To remove configuration steps, go to the Undo/Redo panel.

The version number refers to the workflow version that is currently opened on the canvas. When you publish a workflow, the altered configuration will be automatically stored as new version. Switch to the Dashboard to select another workflow version.

Publish: Publishing a configuration activates the workflow. That means, as soon as a document is stored that meets the trigger conditions, the configuration is executed. Publishing is only possible when the validation has detected no errors.

The published workflow configuration is stored as a specific version.

5. Switching to another workflow

Each workflow configuration brings up its own canvas. The workflow configurations you are currently editing or viewing are listed as tabs.

• Click on a tab to switch to another workflow configuration.

• Click the arrow icon to switch back to the Dashboard. There’s no need to close the configuration first. You may continue editing it later.

As soon as you close the workflow configuration, your performed editing will be removed from the Undo/Redo panel and cannot be undone anymore.

6. Editing activities

Each activity as for example Task, Condition or Assign data has specific settings. Click the activity to open the action dialog and configure the settings.