2. Contents
What is workflow
Workflow Goals
Benefits of applying Workflow
Defining Workflow
Example holiday Request approval
How to modify the workflow
How to add approval workflow OpenERP 7
How to hide a workflow button based on user in OpenERP7
3. The workflow system in OpenERP
is a very powerful mechanism that can describe the evolution of documents
(model) in time.
4. Goals of Workflow Mechanism
description of document evolution in time
automatic trigger of actions if some conditions are met
management of company roles and validation steps
management of interactions between the different objects/modules
graphical tool for visualization of document flows
5. Advantage of Workflow in OpenERP7
Workflows are entirely customizable, they can be adapted to the flows and
trade logic of almost any company. The workflow system makes OpenERP very
flexible and allows it to easily support changing needs without having to
program new functionality.
6. Defining Workflow
Define the States of your object
The first step is to define the States your object can be in. We do this by adding
a 'state' field to our object, in the _columns collection
Example Hr.Holidays Model:
'state': fields.selection([('draft', 'To Submit'), ('cancel', 'Cancelled'),('confirm', 'To Approve'),
('refuse', 'Refused'), ('validate1', 'dept_mang_apprv'), ('validate2', 'head_mang_apprv'),
('validate', 'Approvedff')], 'Status', readonly=True, track_visibility='onchange',
Define the State-change Handling Methods
Add additional methods to your object. These will be called by our workflow
buttons.
7. Defining Workflow
Creating your Workflow XML file
File Path : serveraddonsmodule folder[module_name]_workflow.xml
Workflow Header Record
Activity Record
Do action
Activity Record
Do action
Transition Record:
condition must
executed to
transfer
These define the actions that must be executed
when the workflow reaches a particular state.
These define the possible transitions between
workflow states
8. Activity: These define the actions that must be executed when the
workflow reaches a particular state.
“ Draft Activity “
<record model="workflow.activity" id="act_draft"> <!-- draft -->
<field name="wkf_id" ref="wkf_holidays" />
<field name="flow_start">True</field>
<field name="name">draft</field>
</record>
9. Activity Fields
flow_start
Indicates if the node is a start node. When a new instance of a workflow is
created, a workitem is activated for each activity marked as a flow_start.
flow_stop
Indicates if the node is an ending node. When all the active workitems for a
given instance come in the node marked by flow_stop, the workflow is
finished.
10. kind
Possible values:
dummy: Do nothing (default).
function: Execute the function selected by an action field.
subflow: Execute a sub-workflow SUBFLOW_ID. The action method must return the ID of the
concerned resource by the subflow. If the action returns False, the workitem disappears.
action
The action indicates the method to execute when a workitem comes into this activity.
The method must be defined in an object which belongs to this workflow
11. Transition: are the conditions which need to be satisfied to move from one activity to the next.
The conditions are signals:
button pressed in the interface[view.xml file for module ] # create button of
type workflow
signals are evaluated before the expression. If a signal is false, the expression
will not be evaluated.
12. Transition Fields
act_from
Source activity. When this activity is over, the condition is tested to determine if we can start the ACT_TO
activity.
act_to
The destination activity.
condition
Expression to be satisfied if we want the transition done.
signal
When the operation of transition comes from a button pressed in the client form, signal tests the name of
the pressed button.
If signal is NULL, no button is necessary to validate this transition.
Group id
user to do this action must have privildge rules on this group , if not will displayed permission denied
13. Holidays Request Approval mechanism
Manage employee leaves from the top menu "Human Resources".
Employees can create leave requests that are validated by their manager
and/or HR officers.
note and/or based on chosen holiday type on holiday request
Once validated, they are visible in the employee's calendar.
HR officers can define leave types and allocate leaves to employees and
employee categories
14. Customized Holidays Request Approval
mechanism
Based on job employement hierarchy :
How to add approval workflow OpenERP 7
How to control number of approvals based on employee job id
department
manager
project
manager
project
manager
project
manager
developer1 developer2
Head Manager
19. Steps to modify hr.wkf.holidays
Follow needs flow diagrams :
To add another approval state :
Modify state field in _column partion in class hr.holidays in hr_holidays.py to
be:
'state': fields.selection([('draft', 'To Submit'), ('cancel', 'Cancelled'),('confirm',
'To Approve'), ('refuse', 'Refused'), ('validate1', 'to dept_mang_apprv'),
('validate2', 'to head_mang_apprv'), ('validate', 'Approvedff')],'Status',
readonly=True, track_visibility='onchange',
20. Add activity node In xml file for this state
<record model="workflow.activity" id="act_validate2">
<!-- second_accepted -->
<field name="wkf_id" ref="wkf_holidays" />
<field name="name">validate_second</field>
<field name="kind">function</field>
<field name="action">holidays_second_validate()</field>
<field name="split_mode">OR</field>
</record>
22. this node will be active based on transition defined:
<record model="workflow.transition" id="holiday_validate1_validate2">
<!-- 4. first_accepted -> second accepted (second_validate signal) --> <field
name="act_from" ref="act_validate1" />
<field name="act_to" ref="act_validate2" />
<field name="signal">second_validate</field>
<field name="condition">True</field>
<field name="group_id" ref="base.group_hr_user"/> </record>
23. OR this node will be active based on transition defined:
<record model="workflow.transition" id="holiday_confirm2validate2">
<!-- 2. submitted->dept_man_approval directlyif jobid==1[project manager]) -->
<field name="act_from" ref="act_confirm" />
<field name="act_to" ref="act_validate2" />
<field name="signal">validate</field>
<field name="condition">True</field>
<!--field name="condition">check_job_promag()</field-->
<field name="group_id" ref="base.group_hr_user"/>
</record>
24. check_job_promag() is defined in object class in hr_holidays.py file and check
must return false or true to satisfy expression
def check_job_promag(self, cr, uid, ids, context=None):
#hol_ids=self.search(cr, uid,[('hol_job_id','=',1)])
for record in self.browse(cr, uid, hol_ids, context):
if record.hol_job_id==1:
return True
else:
return False
25. Buttons of type workflow is defined in hr_holidays_view.xml
<button string="Validate" name="second_validate" states="validate1"
type="workflow" class="oe_highlight"/>
To apply this workflow file on state change of module , must be called in
descriptor of module __openerp__.py file
26. Useful URLS regarding workflow
https://doc.openerp.com/v6.1/developer/07_workflows.html/
exception handling during workflow transitions:
https://answers.launchpad.net/openobject-server/+question/103295
How to hide a workflow button based on user in openerp 7?
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/23568345/how-to-hide-a-workflow-button-based-on-user-in-
openerp-7
How to add approval workflow OpenERP 7
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16393415/how-to-add-approval-workflow-openerp-7?rq=1
Editor's Notes
Note:
The first two arguments wkf_id and name are mandatory per each activity.
transition rules
Workflow transition rules are rules that restrict some operations to certain groups. Those rules handle rights to go from one step to another one in the workflow. For example, you can limit the right to validate an invoice, i.e. going from a draft action to a validated action.
// how to defines groups and security next session ISA
Previously I add hol_job_id filled to hr. holidays refer to job id for employee
