About Workflow Conductor Widgets

About Workflow Conductor Widgets

WFconductor.pngWorkflow Conductor widgets are the modular building blocks used to create workflows in Workflow Conductor Studio. Some widgets define the flow, or path, of a workflow, and others perform specific actions, such as sending an e-mail, updating the properties of an item, or creating a task.

Widgets are grouped by function in the widget list in the left pane of Conductor Studio. The categories in this list can be customized by an administrator in Central Administration. See Configuring WF Conductor Categories for more information. The default categories represent the major widget functions (listed below). A Frequently Used category contains widgets that administrators expect to be used most often by workflow designers.

  • Workflow Logic Widgets: Workflow Logic widgets handle the “flow” of the workflow. This category includes widgets that allow workflow branching or parallel processing. Some of the widgets in this category are container widgets that allow other widgets to be dropped inside of them. For example, drop other widgets inside the two branches of a Run Parallel widget to allow two sets of actions to be executed simultaneously.
  • User Interaction Widgets: User Interaction widgets request input from users or communicate to users during a workflow. Widgets that send e-mail or assign certain types of tasks can be found in this category.
  • User & Group Management Widgets: User & Group Management widgets query, create, update, and delete accounts and groups. Widgets that manage Active Directory and SharePoint user accounts and groups are found in this category.
  • Lists and Items Widgets: Widgets in the List and Items category read or manipulate SharePoint items, lists, and libraries. Actions such as creating, copying, or updating list items are found here.
  • Site Management Widgets: Site Management widgets provide options to create and manage SharePoint sites.
  • External Data Widgets: External Data widgets access data outside of the current SharePoint environment. Access to Web services, databases, and even external SharePoint environments is provided by these widgets.

See also an Alphabetical List of Workflow Conductor Widgets.

Workflow Conductor widgets can access data in the current site, other sites in the current site collection, and (in Workflow Conductor 1.5 and higher) most widgets can also access data in other site collections. If a widget can access data in other site collections, you will see the Site Collection box, which allows you to select the site collection and site to access. In addition, any widget property that supports lookups can access data in other site collections with the Field Lookup option.

To add a widget to a workflow, simply drag it from the widget list pane on the left and drop it where you want it in the Conductor Studio diagram. Most widgets require configuration, which is done in the Widget Properties tab of the settings pane. No coding is required to set the properties of a widget.

General information about features common to all widgets can be found in the following sections: