UPDATE: See this MSDN discussion, especially the last entry: http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/showpost.aspx?postid=2631057&siteid=1. It describes a condition that may short circuit this whole thing. In short, it may be as simple as making at least one of the fields mandatory.
I have a document library that supports eight content types.
I have a SharePoint Designer workflow that wants to calculate and assign a "reminder date" by simply subtracting 30 days from another column, "due date". This should only happen for one of the content types, "Insurance". The business objective is to produce a KPI that shows two categories of insurance documents: "about to expire" and "expired." (You can read more about this kind of KPI and more substantial drill-down here).
I have configured the workflow to fire when a new item is created and when an item is modified. The idea is that when an insurance document is uploaded, we calculate a "warning date" based on the expiration date. A pair of views work in connection with a KPI List to highlight these conditions when users hit their home page.
This strategy does not work when I upload a document.
I upload the document and I am presented with the meta data entry screen. At this point, I’m already in trouble. SharePoint has already, prematurely from my perspective, fired the workflow. I haven’t had a chance to pick the correct content type nor assign a due date. At the same time, the workflow does not fire when I hit the submit button at this time. There’s some built-in logic that "believes" that first submit is part of the "create" event. So … my workflow has fired and when it executed, it was passed default meta data values.
The best work-around I know of is to insert a "pause until" activity in the workflow. I have the workflow pause for 1 minute. While it’s pausing, I select the correct content type, enter the meta data and submit. The pause completes and the workflow proceeds as needed. (Note that in my environment, timer workflow activities from SPD do not work out of the box. You may have the same trouble. See here for more details).
I don’t like "magic delay" work-around. What happens if the user uploads a document and the phone rings and the ensuing conversation outlasts the pause? I can make the pause longer, but I still don’t like it.
I wrote about this on the MSDN forums here: http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=2430725&SiteID=1
hey guys, I got the solution. place an EventDriven activity next to the Workflow Initialize event. put an OnWorkflowItemChanged event. Inside there, catch the updated value from the custom column. It works for me.
I am creating a reminder wrokflow using SharePoint Designer, and when i using "Pause Until Date" activity. It doesn’t resume and Workflow status does not change from "In Progress".
(i.e it displays "Pausing for 0 minutes" under Workflow History but it doesn’t take specified action).
I have created it many times but found same problem.
I have done some googling for that in last some days, and from there I had got a hot fix KB 932394 and installed it but still I am in same trouble with Pause Until Date Activity.
I have also changed job-workflow time duration using stsadm command from 5 minutes to 1 minute as below:
What should I do for this?
Please suggest me why "Pause Until Date" doesn’t resume and Workflow status does not change from "In Progress" in my workflow.
If anyone have any solution regarding this then please reply me at saurabhsinghmca@gmail.com
Thank you,
Saurabh Kumar Singh