Question

Workflow: Assign Field Values Activity Dropdowns are Blank

Workflow

Updated November 17, 2020

asked on November 10, 2020 • Show version history

Hello! I am brand new with Workflow Designer so this could likely be entirely user error (this is literally my first ever workflow to attempt building), but I'm having an issue with the Assign Field Values activity. When I go to configure the field values, some, not all, of the field names have nothing in the dropdown menu for Field Value. In the screenshot below, Admin Document Description populates with options in the dropdown menu, while both Employee Document Description and Employee Document Type do not.

Both of the Field Names that I'm having the issue with are fields that are assigned to the same Template, which is different from the one Admin Document Description is assigned to, but all three Field Name's values are picked from a dropdown menu and do not allow free-form field values to be entered.

If anyone has any idea what might be going on or more likely, what I'm doing wrong, I would greatly appreciate any advice/direction. Thanks so much, and have a great day!

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Replies

replied on November 10, 2020

Workflow isn't 'connected' to your metadata field dropdown values. So in your case you can type in what you want for those fields or use the > to the right of the field and assign it a token for it's value.

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replied on November 11, 2020

Craig,

It will not allow me to enter anything manually into the Field Value field. It is restricting me to an empty dropdown menu and that is my only option.

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replied on November 12, 2020

I checked my system and I appear to have given you bad information.

I created two new list fields with a new template. The two fields each had one list item but were created as dynamic fields to an external database.

When I Selected the Assign Field Values activity the only values I have available for the fields are the list item that was assigned when creating the field.

I tested further and deleted the field choice but checked the option to 'Add blank to the list', my template still had values from the Dynamic Fields but when using the Assign Field Values activity in workflow I am getting the same result you have.

Is that how your list field is setup? No list items but have the checkbox selected to 'Add blank to the list'?

You may need to add your options from the dynamic table to your field list choices to see anything in the drop down or add a workflow activity to query your dynamic fields table and assign a token to your field.

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replied on November 12, 2020

Craig,

Thank you for the follow up and clarification. Unfortunately, our Laserfiche administration is a bit fragmented. I'm simply a super user within our company who really wants to dive in and learn all things Laserfiche, but I do not had administrative access, nor am I with our IT department who handles all the sql tables and databases. I'll see if I can get with them and ensure that the field lists are set up correctly.

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replied on November 11, 2020

Do you have dynamic fields set up for that template?

If you do, it might be that the Employee Document Description field is only populated from valid options after the Employee Document Type is filled in.

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replied on November 11, 2020

Brian,

That we do! The Description is dependent on the Type, and the Type is dependent on the Template. I've tried playing with the template settings to assign the template that both of these fields are dependent upon, and leaving it the same, but regardless, I am still unable to select anything in the Type or Description fields. Is there a way to get this to work with dynamic fields?

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replied on November 12, 2020 • Show version history

I haven't run into that specific problem before, it sounds like a tricky one. Are you assigning the template in your Assign Field Values activity?

In my experience, a list field is just a UI restriction. In Forms or Workflow you can assign whatever you want to the field without causing an error, even if it isn't in the list/ dynamic list. Please test this out before trying it in production though.

If you just want to add a static value, you could create a new token and add that with the token selector.

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replied on November 12, 2020

Brian,

The template is already assigned to the documents. We have a lot of documents with a Description Type that is overly specific, such as "Medical - Provider Name" for our medical insurance forms, for example. I'm trying to build a workflow to search the repository for all documents of a particular document description, and replace that field value with something a bit more generic, such as "Medical".

Like I said, I'm brand new to all of this, but I would be replacing the field value with the static value of "Medical", in this case, so I'll look into creating a token to accomplish that. Thank you!

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replied on November 17, 2020

The field "Type" needs to be changed in the LF Admin Console to a "Text" field, rather than a "List" field.

Workflow only has the ability to retrieve manually-specified items from the "List" field types, and doesn't actually perform the Dynamic Lookups specified in the Admin Console. The result is what you're seeing, when the field type is "List" but there aren't any manually-specified values, other than a blank value, in that list.

You can switch the field type over to "Text" in the Admin Console. Even with a text field, with the Dynamic Lookup setup on that template, you will still see the field function the same in the repository (it will appear as a drop-down that populates with the Lookup results). Then, in Workflow you will have the ability to manually specify a value or token, whereas you're unable to do that with a "List" field.

Switching to a "Text" field will clear up the issue you're seeing in LF Workflow, and as long as the Lookups are changed (Dynamic Field Lookups) there will be no visible change to the field on the template or the functionality in the repository.

Hope this helps!!

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Workflow: Assign Field Values Activity Dropdowns are Blank

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