One of the exciting new features of Joomla 4 is Workflows. The Joomla 4 workflow is designed for adjusting the publishing sequence for articles to include more aspects like publishing steps (think draft > editing > published) or access control for transitions (think author, editor, publisher). During the Virtual JUG, Tim will take it one step further and combine with the power of custom fields to build a simple practical application using only core Joomla 4, with workflow to show how the new feature can be implemented for something different to a blog.

1. Joomla 4 Workflow
By Tim Plummer
Joomla Australia
September 15th 2020

2. Workflow is a sequence of
steps a piece of content
passes from initiation to
completion.

3. Joomla 3 Content Workflow
Author Administrator

4. Content states in Joomla 3

5. What if we want more approval steps?
Author

6. Or maybe something more complex?

7. Can’t do that in Joomla 3
But let’s see what Joomla 4 can do

8. The Publishing Workflow
component is used to replace
static states (unpublished, published,
trashed and archived) with a more
generic approach.

9. This way you can easily
create a customized
workflow to manage your
articles within a component.

10. Terminology
State/Stage– published, unpublished, trashed, archived
Transitions– move one state to another

11. What if instead of content we built an app?

13. Lets do it, using only core Joomla 4 features
(no third party extensions)

14. Note that Joomla 4 is still in Beta, so don’t use
on live sites yet.

15. Create a new category
Also set access to registered so only logged in users can fill out form.

16. Create a custom fields group

17. Just a reminder that
Custom fields were added
to core Joomla in version
3.7 (April 2017)

18. Make sure they are assigned to the category and field group we created
Create custom fields

19. If you want to learn more about custom
fields, watch August 2020 presentation with
Marc Dechèvre on Joomla! Custom Fields
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTayrSABbpg

20. Create user groups
• Create a user group for the different people who
will be interacting with this workflow

21. Where is my Workflow?
Out of the box,
Workflow feature is
turned off in Joomla 4

22. Enable Workflow feature
• Content->Articles->Options->Integration->Enable Workflow

23. Now you can see Workflows under Content

24. Add a new Workflow

25. Edit the Workflow Stages

26. Rename existing Stages if required
In our example, rename Basic Stage to Level 1 Helpdesk
Default = initial stage

27. Add workflow Stages

28. Set up the Workflow Transitions

29. Add your Transitions
• Give each a name, and decide which Stage can
transition to a specific stage.

30. Add your Transitions
• Set the publishing state for this transition

31. Add your Transitions
• Turn on email notification (if required), and choose who it goes to

32. Add your Transitions
Also decide who can move to next stage

33. Transitions
• Each Workflow step should have a stage

34. Set the workflow for your category

35. Check ACL Permissions
• Assign the appropriate permissions to the groups you created
• Content->Categories->Support Request->Permissions

36. Check ACL Permissions

37. Article Permissions (com_content)
• Adjust article permissions for your new groups
(especially edit custom field value)

38. Now add a menu item for front end

39. You only see this menu item if you are logged in

40. This looks too much like an article

41. Create Override for article form in your template

42. Customise as required
/yourtemplate/html/com_content/form/edit.php and customise look for this category
Note this is the geeking coding bit
that a regular Joomla user
wouldn’t be able to do. Maybe in
future there will be an easier way.

44. Create a My Support Requests view
Note: You can adjust what columns you see on the List Layouts tab.

45. My Leave Applications view
You could take this even further with an override and customise to include columns such as
workflow state

46. The view form looks pretty ordinary

47. Override the view form with alternate layout

48. Override the view form with alternate layout
/yourtemplate/html/com_content/article/default.php and rename as supportapp.php
Edit as required, then assign that layout to your menu item
Another geeking coding bit that
a regular Joomla user may not
be able to do.

49. Override the view form with alternate layout

50. You can also use Access Levels (optional)
• If you want to further restrict access, use
access levels which you can apply to menu
item and category

51. Set up some test users
Create at least one person for each role to test it out

52. Now let’s see it in action
Customer creates a Support Request. It goes to
Level 1 Helpdesk for review
Only transition (in this case status) is to send to
Level 1 Helpdesk

54. Level 1 Helpdesk step
When sent to helpdesk, they can reject, escalate,
complete, or request more information
Note if customer logs in, they don’t
see the helpdesk transition states
Or if Level 2 Support logs in, they
can’t reject, ask for more info or
complete, they can only escalate.

56. Level 2 support step
• Level 2 support can now resolve the issue and
transition the next state

57. Customer confirm step
• Customer can now reopen if issue is not
resolved, or mark as complete.

58. Support Request Complete
• No further action required, but record could be
deleted or archived later if needed

59. Limitations
• Can’t send transition emails to author, only groups or specific people
• Need coding skills to override form and view
• All the records are saved in com_content (Joomla articles)
• Users can see all records in My Support Requests view, not just their
own (can be fixed with layout override)
• Records can get stuck “checked out” to user

60. Questions

61. Tim Plummer
https://timplummer.com.au
@bfsurvey