SharePoint - Get Workflow Instances

Declaration

<AMSHAREPOINT ACTIVITY="get_workflowinstances" SITE="text" 
VERSION="text (options)" USERNAME="text" 
PASSWORD="text (encrypted)" IGNOREINVALIDCERTIFICATE="YES/NO" 
CERTIFICATE="text" TIMEOUT="number" RESULTDATASET="text" />

Description: Retrieves information with regards to existing workflow instances and populates a dataset with results. This activity supports retrieval of site and list workflow instances or data can be retrieved from instances associated to a particular workflow ID.

Practical Usage

Used to gather information regarding SharePoint workflow instances in order to perform other operations on them during subsequent steps.

Connection Parameters

Property

Type

Required

Default

Markup

Description

Connection

---

---

---

---

Indicates where this activity's SharePoint credentials should originate from. This is a visual parameter used only during design-time, thus, contains no properties or markups. The available options are:

  • Host - Specifies that a custom set of credentials will be entered for this activity. This option is normally selected if only a single SharePoint activity is required to complete the operation.

  • Session - Specifies that credentials should derive from a session created in a previous Create session step. This allows several activities to be linked to a specific session, eliminating redundancy. Multiple sessions can exist within a single task, allowing several SharePoint operations to be automated simultaneously.

Session

Text

Yes if Connection set to Session

SharePoint

Session1

SESSION="mySession1"

The name of the session to associate with this activity. This parameter is active only if the Connection parameter above is set to Session. If the Connection parameter is set to Host, this parameter is ignored and the remainder of the parameters specified below become active.

Version

Text (options)

Yes if Connection set to Host

SharePoint 2010

  1. VERSION="sharepointonline"

  2. VERSION="sharepoint2010"

  3. VERSION="sharepoint2007"

The SharePoint version to associate with this activity. The available options are:

  • SharePoint Online - A cloud-based service, hosted by Microsoft as an alternative to installing and deploying SharePoint Server on premises.

  • SharePoint 2010 and newer (default) - SharePoint version 2010 or newer - includes SharePoint Foundation 2010/2013 and SharePoint Server 2010/2013.

  • SharePoint 2007 and older - SharePoint version 2007 - includes Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) v3 edition and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007) edition.

NOTE:  Some SharePoint activities are only supported in SharePoint 2010 or newer.

Site

Text

Yes if Connection set to Host

(Empty)

SITE="http://myServer/tech"

The SharePoint site to access. A SharePoint site is a collection of pages, site templates, lists, and libraries configured for the purpose of achieving an express goal.

Authentication type

Text (options)

No

Default

  1. AUTHTYPE="form"

  2. AUTHTYPE="anonymous"

  3. AUTHTYPE="basic"

  4. AUTHTYPE="digest"

  5. AUTHTYPE="ntlm"

The method of authentication to utilize. Authentication types vary depending on the SharePoint version. Different parameters become active depending on which authentication method is selected. Below lists available authentication methods and their compatibility.

  • Default (default) - Compatible withSharePoint 2010 or newer.

  • Basic - Compatible with  all SharePoint versions.

  • Form - Compatible withSharePoint 2010 or newer.

  • Anonymous - Compatible withSharePoint 2010 or newer.

  • Digest - Compatible with  SharePoint 2007 or older.

  • Proprietary - Compatible with  SharePoint 2007 or older.

  • None - Compatible with  SharePoint 2007 or older.

  • NTLM - Compatible with  SharePoint 2007 or older.

Username

Text

Yes

(Empty)

USERNAME="theUserName"

A valid SharePoint username. This parameter may or may not be active depending on which option is selected under the Authentication type parameter.

Password

Text

Yes

(Empty)

PASSWORD="encryptedText"

A valid SharePoint password to authenticate the username entered above. This parameter may or may not be active depending on which option is selected under the Authentication type parameter.

Domain

Text

Yes

(Empty)

DOMAIN="myServer"

The domain that the user belongs to. This parameter may or may not be active depending on which option is selected under the Authentication type parameter.

Certificate

Text

No

(Empty)

CERTIFICATE="C:\Temp\file.cer"

The (DER encoded) certificate to use for SharePoint authentication. This parameter may or may not be active depending on which option is selected under the Authentication type parameter.

Ignore invalid certificate

Yes/No

No

No

IGNOREINVALIDCERTIFICATE="yes"

If set to YES, specifies that invalid server certificates that are detected will be automatically ignored. Set to NO by default.

Timeout (seconds)

Number

No

600

TIMEOUT="500"

The total number of seconds allowed to connect to the SharePoint server before a timeout error is generated. The default value is 600 seconds.

Proxy type

Text (options)

No

Default

  1. PROXYTYPE="none"

  2. PROXYTYPE="http"

The type of proxy required for SharePoint connections that pass through a proxy server. The available options are:

  • System default (default) - Points to the default proxy used by the system.

  • None - No proxy authentication required.

  • HTTP - Proxytype is HTTP.

Use authentication

---

---

---

---

If enabled, specifies that proxy authentication is required, enabling authentication-based parameters (disabled by default). This is a design-time parameter, therefore, contains no properties or markups. It is active only if the Proxy type parameter is set to HTTP.

Proxy server

Text

No

(Empty)

PROXYSERVER="proxy.host.com"

The host name (server.domain.com) or IP address (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) of the proxy server. This parameter is available only if the Proxy type parameter is set to HTTP.

Proxy username

Text

No

(Empty)

PROXYUSERNAME=username

The proxy username to authenticate with. This parameter is available only if the Use Authentication parameter is enabled.

Proxy password

Text

No

(Empty)

PROXYPASSWORD="encrypted"

The proxy password to authenticate with. This parameter is available only if the Use Authentication parameter is enabled.

Proxy port

Number

No

8080

PROXYPORT="8080"

The port that should be used to connect to the proxy server. This parameter is available only if the Proxy type parameter is set to HTTP. The default value is 8080.

Workflow Parameters

Property

Type

Required

Default

Markup

Description

Workflow scope

Text (options)

Yes

(Empty)

SCOPE="id"

Determines the scope with which workflow instances to be retrieved are associated. The available options are:

  • Site (default) - Retrieve workflow instances associated to a SharePoint Foundation website.

  • List - Retrieve workflow instances associated to a list on a SharePoint Foundation website.

  • ID - Retrieve workflow instances from a workflow matching the specified workflow ID.

List title

Text

Yes if Workflow Scope is set to List

(Empty)

LIST="myList"

The title of the list in which workflow instances will be retrieved. This parameter is active only if the Workflow scope parameter is set to List .

Item ID

Number

Yes if Workflow Scope is set to List

(Empty)

ITEMID="12"

The integer that identifies the item in a list. f the item in a list. This parameter is active only if theWorkflow scopeparameter is set toList.

NOTE : The item ID is not the same as the index of the item in the collection of list items. This property contains the item's 1-based integer ID, which is one greater than the ID of the item that was previously added.

Workflow ID

Text

Yes if Workflow Scope is set to List

(Empty)

WORKFLOWID="theID"

The unique ID of the workflow from which workflow instances will be retrieved. This parameter is active only if the Workflow scope parameter is set to ID .

Create and populate dataset with SharePoint workflow instance information

Text

Yes

(Empty)

RESULTDATASET="theData"

The name of the dataset to create and populate with information regarding workflow instances that are retrieved. For more details, see Datasets below.

Datasets

A dataset is a multiple column, multiple row container object where every column represents a particular variable, and each row corresponds to a given member of the dataset in question. This activity creates and populates a dataset containing specific fields (rows) in addition to the standard dataset fields. The table below describes these fields (assuming the dataset name assigned was theDataset).

Name

Type

Return Value

theDataset.LastUpdated

Date

The date and time the workflow instance was last updated. The returned date format matches the following: MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM:SS AM/PM.

theDataset.ID

Text

The unique ID of the workflow instance (e.g., 82076e3e-3541-496b-bec1-02164a617b3).

theDataset.InstanceCreated

Date

The date the instance was initially created. The returned date format matches the following: MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM:SS AM/PM.

theDataset.Status

Text

The current status of the instance (e.g., Completed).

theDataset.WorkflowName

Text

The unique name of the workflow that the workflow instance belongs to.

Example

The sample AML code below can be copied and pasted directly into the Steps panel of the Task Builder.

Description: This sample task retrieves information about existing workflow instances and populates a dataset with results. The dataset is then looped. During each iteration, the message dialog display information about the current workflow instance.

This sample is for AML viewing purposes only. In order for the task to work, it must be modified to fit your SharePoint credentials.

<AMVARIABLE NAME="siteWorkflowName" VALUE="MySiteWFD" />
<AMVARIABLE NAME="siteWorkflowInstanceID" />
<AMSHAREPOINT ACTIVITY="create_session" 
SITE="https://netauto.sharepoint.com/sites/test" VERSION="sharepointonline" 
USERNAME="pp@networkautomation.com" PASSWORD="AM4G1qhH0xfyvf1V0Fs9Zi/RNDVNgQZZ302aME" 
SESSION="SharePointSession1" />
<AMSHAREPOINT ACTIVITY="get_workflowinstances" 
SESSION="SharePointSession1" RESULTDATASET="theDataset" />
<AMSHOWDIALOG>Workflow instance ID: %theDataset.ID%
Workflow instance created: %theDataset.InstanceCreated%
Workflow instance last updated: %theDataset.LastUpdated%
Workflow instance status: %theDataset.Status%
Workflow name: %theDataset.WorkflowName%
</AMSHOWDIALOG><AMSHAREPOINT ACTIVITY="end_session" 
SESSION="SharePointSession1" />