Let’s Set the Title Automatically

The Title is important for distinguishing between Processes. If the subject line is set appropriately you can easily see what has been requested and which Task was assigned just by looking at the Task assignment notification.

One idea for setting an appropriate title is for it to be automatically set on the Workflow App. By using Data Items to express what the Process is handling within the subject line, you can set an easy-to-understand title without requiring the User to enter it manually.

• The content you want will always be included!
• The format will always be correct!

For example, if you embed the item’s title in a “request to purchase goods” Process and embed a theme in a request to create a blog article, the operator can easily understand the details of the Task. And if you have the subject line format in place it can be a great help if you want to search for a specific Process.

In this tutorial a Update Data is used to automatically arrange the Process Title into the following format.

Workflow diagram

Create a new App and draw the following workflow diagram.

The Update Data object is found in the palette labelled Auto-processing Task

Update Data is an object for manipulating Data Item values, which you can use to match the subject line to the format given above. It accepts the input of Date and Datetime-type Data Items (for example, the date when expenses were advanced) in the Start Task, and after the operation it displays the Title in the Confirmation task.

Data Item Settings

Prepare the following Data Items.

Data Item name	Data-type	Field name	Remarks
Title	–
Date	Date-type Y/M/D	q_date

Set the data editing permissions as follows:

	Start	Confirmation
Title	Only display	Only display
Date	Editable	No display

Update Data Settings

The Update Data is an object that saves a value that is generated by an expression into a specified Data Item. Set the properties as follows:

Since we are manipulating the Title string this time, select the Title Data Item as the set value. In the text box enter an expression that represents the format given above.

[Test]#{processInstanceInitQuserName} - #{#dateFormatter.format('yyyy/MM', #q_date)}

Since the Update Data supports data embedding, use the “Insert reference” menu on the right end as appropriate. The Date-type Data Item must be formatted and saved in the Data Item in the format yyyy/MM using the format of dateformatter function. (example: 2020/04)

For details on the Update Data and assignment expression formats, consult the following reference pages.

• Update Data – Questetra Support
• R2272: Output of Strings via EL syntax – Questetra Support
• M404: “Customer Name” to be Automatically Set in the [Title] Midstream – Questetra Support

That’s all for the App settings. When you exit the editing and release it, and check the operation; the Title should be set automatically. (as seen in the figures below)

Automatically Set the Title Using the Initial Value

There is also a method of automatically setting the title using the Initial Value field in the Title Data Item without using the Update Data. Since it is not necessary to place Update Data in the Workflow diagram it can be simpler to set up. However, because it is based on the Initial Value it’s not able to work flexibly, such as reflecting input from the User in the Title or changing the Title according to the conditions in the process.

For example, if you want to embed “Process Start Date / Time” instead of a Date-type Data Item, set the following value as the Initial Value, then [Test] {Process Start User} – {year/month of Process Start Time } can automatically be set as the title.

[Test]#{processInstanceInitQuserName} – #{#dateFormatter.format('yyyy/MM', processInstanceStartDatetime)}

Please refer to this tutorial and implement various formats to suit your App!