ProcessFlow 9 Invoice Approval

I was surprised that I hadn't done an Invoice Approval Flow in LSF9 until now and so didn't know about a potential problem. The WorkUnit created for the Invoice Approval wouldn't update beyond "Ready to Progess" until I added the AP26.1 & J-AP26.1 Form & Field Definitions.

This problem existed in 8.03 but the AP30.2 & J-AP30.2 definitions resolved that issue. Apparently in ProcessFlow 9 you have to also add the AP26 definitions and set them up exactly like the AP30.2 definitions.

Once this was done the next invoice I released was processed as expected in ProcessFlow. The ones that hadn't updated I went ahead and Released on the WorkUnit form and they processed.

Design Studio JavaScript

I have been asked how I learned JavaScript for use within Design Studio (and with some limitations within ProcessFlow) and I admit I steal a lot of code from other people. I do have a JavaScript for Dummies book but my main source for JavaScript help is http://www.w3schools.com/js/

Lawson does provide some examples in the Design Studio Reference Guide but not usually for what I need to do. For Portal Page elements a good source of information is the DOM reference within Design Studio - Tools - Objects Viewer

DOM stands for Document Object Model and within Design Studio can be used to figure out how the objects within the Portal Page work.

Getting an AGS Call to Work

I recently received an email from a new ProcessFlow user asking how to get an AGS call to work to update PA42 with the correct status for a job requisition approval flow. She sent me her current AGS call and I compared it to one I knew worked. The only thing missing was the &FROM-WORKFLOW=Y section.

I get questions like this from time to time about why an AGS call from ProcessFlow (or Design Studio) doesn't work and the first question I usually ask is can you perform the update on the actual form in Portal? If they can then it's not a security issue (it often is even for the "Lawson" user).

Now comes the debugging part - what is happening on the Portal form that isn't included in the AGS call? I usually start with the API Builder tool to test my AGS call. You'd be surprised how often the results let you know that a field is required that you left out.

Sometimes though it's not obvious and you just have to keep adding fields until you get to a complete AGS call (and sometimes the additional fields don't make sense to you).

However another option is to use a tool like Fiddler to debug the working AGS call from your Portal form. Once you see what Lawson sends itself in the way of an AGS call you can usually duplicate it to get your ProcessFlow or Design Studio AGS call working correctly.