[Yanel-dev] Workflow UI

[Rob Adamson]

Hi Michael,

On 2 November 2010 09:39, Michael Wechner <michael.wechner at wyona.com> wrote:
>
> We currently have the workflow and versions available via the Yanel Toolbar
> and also via the page info, e.g.
>
> http://www.yanel.org/en/download/unix.html?yanel.resource.meta
>
> whereas this is very generic and it  might be sufficient in some cases, but
> in others it isn't.
>
> For example if one has an approve/reject kind of workflow, then it would be
> nice that the editorial stuff can send/enter a message upon reject. The same
> could be true for other transitions.

This sounds familiar :-)

I have implemented custom functionality to:
(a) require a reviewer to enter a message to explain why they are
rejecting an item and
(b) require a publisher to enter publication and expiry date/times on
the transition to a live state.

My current implementation of this uses a separate Java class (actually
an enum) that, given a transition id, can tell whether a message or
publication dates are required.  I don't particularly like this,
because it is fragile: it will only work if the transition_ids match,
and also I don't like having to modify 2 separate files whenever I
change the workflow.

So I really want to declare this requirement in the workflow XML.

e.g.
...
<transition id="publisher_publishes" from="waiting_for_publication"
to="published">
...
<extra>publication_dates</extra>
</transition>
...

However, there is currently no way to get access to any extra data
from the XML, as far as I can tell.

What options can you suggest?  Is there a recommended way to do this?

Thanks,
Rob