Not able to set End task description in TeamSite workflow

AnuragSengupta

Hi,

I am using the below node to end my workflow job in wft xml:

...

</workflow>

However, somehow the descriptionis not getting associated with the end task and

$endttask->GetDescription() is returning " none"

I also checked iwgetwfobj endtaskid on the runtime and there also the description is set as "none".

As per the documentation, endtask may have name and description both the attribute.

my suspect is there may be some special syntax to declare end task description attribute that I am not aware.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

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Comments

Rick Poulin

Why does it matter though? Once the workflow ends it disappears, so there's not really any point in having a description for the end task -- nobody would ever see it.

Adam Stoller

While I agree with @rpoulin - I just did a very quick test on 8.0 (Windows) where I tweaked the OOTB solutions/configurable_default_submit.wft by setting $debugging = TRUE; and added a description to the end task - and, at least in debug mode, the generated job spec appears to preserve the description:

    <endtask name="End" description="Ta Da!">
        <activation>
            <pred v="Submit"/>
        </activation>
    </endtask>

I don't have the time, or inclination, to write an externaltask to verify that I can access that description - but it looks like it's there...

AnuragSengupta

Hi ghoti,
I have also checked in debug mode and the description appears there. However from a external task the end task description disappeared.

@rpoulin, I know the end task descriptions hardly matters, but I have this pecular situation where I need to pass the next task name to a external task and retrieve the task description to send email. The idea is to reuse the same email sending .IPL for all task in the workflow and dynamically form the email subject line based on task description.

Adam Stoller

You could put a conditional into the script - that if the description is "none" to either return a global canned message or to check the task type and then determine if / what message to use.

AnuragSengupta

@ghoti

yes, Currently I have introduced a condition to check the task description and if its is 'none' , treate it as the end task.

However, that is not a very fullproof approach and may break in future.

Rick Poulin

Well like ghoti implied, instead of just checking for empty task description, check for empty task description AND task type == end task.

AnuragSengupta

@rpoulin

Thanks for your thoughts.

But these are all workarounds and I can implement it in more than one way.

But my initial question was why I am not able to retrieve the end task description while it is defined that end task can have description attribute.

Adam Stoller

If you really care - open a case with Support. We're just guessing here and providing suggestions based on the questionable value of the use-case.

Rajesh

Anurag,

I second the suggestions provided by the experts. The end job description is always set to "none" no matter what you have set in workflow and iwgetwfobj shows that.

However, if you are very much desperate to get the description you want then may be add an external task as the first task of your workflow to change the description of your end task and then try to fetch it later in your workflow.

Thanks

Rajesh