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In this blog post I will show you how to create a workflow with comments. This is very useful when the workflow for your website is enabled and you want to leave a message to your content editors why a give content has been approved, declined, published. Generally the idea is only to leave a message when you decline a content item, so your editor will be able to fix the problem with this content and send it back for approval. Here is what I did to get workflow comments working.
1. I created a new metakey called WorkflowDeclineComment1
<add key="News.WorkflowDeclineComment1" valueType="ShortText" visible="True" searchable="True" sortable="True"></add> |
As you can see I added the metakey for news provider, but you can do it for each other Generic Content based provider( Events, Blogs, Generic_Conent.
2. Then I mapped the NewsItemPreview external template through ControlsConfig file.
<viewSettings hostType="Telerik.News.WebControls.Admin.NewsItemPreview" |
layoutTemplatePath="~/Sitefinity/Admin/ControlTemplates/News/NewsItemPreview.ascx" /> |
3. I modified the template by adding one TextBox and one Label. The texbox will be used by the approver to set text when a content item is declined. I used jQuery to toggle the TexBox on click. The Literal will be visible to all.
<%@ Control Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeFile="NewsItemPreview.ascx.cs" Inherits="Sitefinity_Admin_ControlTemplates_News_NewsItemPreview" %> |
<%@ Register TagPrefix="telerik" Namespace="Telerik.Workflow.WebControls" Assembly="Telerik.Workflow" %> |
<%@ Register TagPrefix="telerik" Namespace="Telerik.Cms.Engine.WebControls" Assembly="Telerik.Cms.Engine" %> |
<%@ Register TagPrefix="telerik" Namespace="Telerik.Localization.WebControls" Assembly="Telerik.Localization" %> |
<telerik:JsFileLink id="jsLink" runat="server" ScriptType="jQuery" /> |
<script type="text/javascript"> |
$(document).ready(function() { |
$("#" + "<%= postCommentsPlh.ClientID %>").hide(); |
}); |
function ToggleDiv() { |
$("#" + "<%= postCommentsPlh.ClientID %>").toggle("slow"); |
} |
</script> |
<div class="ToolsAll"> |
<asp:Label ID="lockedWarning" runat="server"> |
<p class="locked"> |
<strong>{0}</strong> |
<asp:Literal ID="Literal1" runat="server" Text="<%$Resources:IsEditingContent %>"></asp:Literal> |
</p> |
</asp:Label> |
<div class="backWrapp"> |
<asp:HyperLink ID="BackButton1" CssClass="actions back" runat="server"> |
<asp:Literal ID="Literal2" Text="<%$Resources:BackToAllNewsItems %>" runat="server" /> |
</asp:HyperLink> |
</div> |
<telerik:RadTabStrip |
id="tabStrip" |
Align="Right" |
runat="server" |
selectedindex="0" |
causesvalidation="false" |
EnableEmbeddedSkins="false" |
Skin="SitefinityPages" |
> |
<Tabs> |
<telerik:RadTab Text="<%$Resources:View %>" ></telerik:RadTab> |
<telerik:RadTab Text="<%$Resources:Edit %>" ></telerik:RadTab> |
<telerik:RadTab Text="<%$Resources:History %>" ></telerik:RadTab> |
</Tabs> |
</telerik:RadTabStrip> |
<div class="clear"><!-- --></div> |
</div> |
<div id="divWorkArea" runat="server" class="workArea"> |
<telerik:MessageControl runat="server" ID="message1"> |
<ItemTemplate> |
<asp:Label runat="server" ID="messageText"></asp:Label> |
</ItemTemplate> |
</telerik:MessageControl> |
<div class="view"> |
<p class="button_area"> |
<telerik:WorkflowMenu ID="workflowMenu" runat="server" /> |
<asp:HyperLink ID="editCommand1" runat="server" CssClass="CmsButLeft editdark"> |
<strong class="CmsButRight dark"> |
<asp:Literal ID="editLiteral" runat="server" Text="<%$Resources:EditThisNews %>"></asp:Literal> |
</strong> |
</asp:HyperLink> |
<a href="javascript:void(0)" id="test1" onclick="ToggleDiv();">Leave Workflow comment</a> |
<div runat="server" id="postCommentsPlh"> |
<asp:TextBox runat="server" ID="WorkflowDeclineComment1" /> |
</div> |
<asp:Label ID="WorkflowMessageLabel1" runat="server" /> |
..... |
..... |
..... |
4. I created a code behind of the template
The important this here is that we have to work with StagedContent.
public partial class Sitefinity_Admin_ControlTemplates_News_NewsItemPreview : System.Web.UI.UserControl |
{ |
protected override void OnPreRender(EventArgs e) |
{ |
base.OnPreRender(e); |
NewsItemPreview itemPreview = (NewsItemPreview)this.Parent.Parent; |
Guid contentID = new Guid(CmsHttpRequest.Current.QueryStirng[itemPreview.ParameterKey]); |
IContent content = itemPreview.Manager.GetContent(contentID); |
WorkflowMessageLabel1.Text = (string)content.GetMetaData("WorkflowDeclineComment1"); |
} |
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) |
{ |
workflowMenu.Command += new CommandEventHandler(workflowMenu_Command); |
NewsItemPreview itemPreview = (NewsItemPreview)this.Parent.Parent; |
Guid contentID = new Guid(CmsHttpRequest.Current.QueryStirng[itemPreview.ParameterKey]); |
StagedContent content = itemPreview.Manager.GetCurrentState(contentID); |
GlobalPermission perm; |
perm = itemPreview.Manager.GetPermission(content); |
WorkflowDeclineComment1.Visible = perm.CheckDemand(WorkflowRights.Approve); |
} |
void workflowMenu_Command(object sender, CommandEventArgs e) |
{ |
WorkflowInstance instance = ((WorkflowMenu)sender).GetWorkflow(); |
if (instance != null) |
{ |
List<EventActivity> commands = new List<EventActivity>(); |
this.LoadCommands(commands, instance.Activity.Activities); |
int idx = int.Parse((string)e.CommandArgument); |
if ((commands.Count > idx) && !(commands[idx].CommandName.Equals("Publish"))) |
{ |
NewsItemPreview itemPreview = (NewsItemPreview)this.Parent.Parent; |
Guid contentID = new Guid(CmsHttpRequest.Current.QueryStirng[itemPreview.ParameterKey]); |
StagedContent content = itemPreview.Manager.GetCurrentState(contentID); |
switch (commands[idx].CommandName) |
{ |
case "SendForApproval": |
content.SetMetaData("WorkflowDeclineComment1", WorkflowDeclineComment1.Text); |
newsManager.Content.SavedStagedContent(content, ContentStatus.Published); |
break; |
case "Approve": |
content.SetMetaData("WorkflowDeclineComment1", WorkflowDeclineComment1.Text); |
newsManager.Content.SavedStagedContent(content, ContentStatus.Published); |
break; |
case "Decline": |
content.SetMetaData("WorkflowDeclineComment1", WorkflowDeclineComment1.Text); |
newsManager.Content.SavedStagedContent(content, ContentStatus.Published); |
break; |
case "Publish": |
content.SetMetaData("WorkflowDeclineComment1", WorkflowDeclineComment1.Text); |
newsManager.Content.SavedStagedContent(content, ContentStatus.Published); |
ContentStatus.Published); |
break; |
} |
} |
} |
} |
private void LoadCommands(List<EventActivity> commands, IList<Activity> activities) |
{ |
foreach (Activity act in activities) |
{ |
if (act is EventActivity) |
commands.Add((EventActivity)act); |
this.LoadCommands(commands, act.Activities); |
} |
} |
} |
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