Professional Microsoft® SharePoint® Designer 2007

9.2. Workflow Elements in Detail

The example in the previous section provided a simple situation and a simple solution. Workflows you create with SharePoint Designer can perform much more sophisticated tasks as well. This section explores the elements available for your workflows.

9.2.1. Start Options

There are three ways to start running a SharePoint Designer workflow:

• Allow your user to start the workflow manually (selected by default).

• Start the workflow automatically when a new item is created.

• Start the workflow automatically when an item is edited.

When the workflow is automatically started, no workflow interface is presented — execution simply proceeds to the first step. By default, there are two ways for a user to manually invoke a workflow:

• A Workflows command on the item's action menu, as shown in Figure 9-13.

• The Workflows command on the item's Properties page toolbar.

Figure 9-13. Figure 9-13

In either case, the user is presented with a page showing a list of workflows available to items in the list or library, and the status of any workflows currently associated with the item, as shown in Figure 9-14.

Figure 9-14. Figure 9-14

9.2.2. Initiation Parameters

Occasionally, you may want to start your workflow with information that isn't already in SharePoint. Workflow ...