Workflow - Component - Developer Guide - Globals

In this Article I'm going to explain how to create a Global variable and add it to the Project when a Component is added into Workflow.

• List
• Setup
• Simple Component
• Deploy
• Help File
• Logging
• Inputs
  • Checkbox
  • Dropdown / Combo
• Inspecting other Components
• Creating Globals (this)
• Creating Project Properties
• Working with SQL
• Working with a Web Service

- - -

Set up a component how you would usually. The difference here is you can set information at a Project level.

I've implemented this in a component to get and set a Workflow Connection String.

You may have seen this when you add the Create SMP Credentials, this is what I used as a basis

Symantec.Components.Platform.dll
namespace Symantec.Workflow.Components.Platform
public class InitializeWorkflowSettings

So we need a reference to the Project.

AbstractOrchestrationProject project = CurrentProjectHolder.GetInstance().Project;

When you add the Component to the Project you can set a Default value.

Give the data a name - here I've called mine "ConnectionString".

public WorkflowSQLConnectionString()
{
    if (!DesignMode.IsInDesignMode)
        return;
    AbstractOrchestrationProject project = CurrentProjectHolder.GetInstance().Project;
    if (project == null || project.GlobalData == null)
        return;
    if (project.GlobalData.Data["ConnectionString"] == null)
    {
        project.GlobalData.Data.Add(new DataDefinition("ConnectionString", typeof(string)));
        //project.GlobalData.Data["ConnectionString"].DefaultValue = (object)"Data Source=SERVER;Initial Catalog=ProcessManager;Integrated Security=True;Pooling=True;Connect Timeout=30";
        project.GlobalData.Data["ConnectionString"].DefaultValue = @"";
    }
}

Finally in your Run method you can set this value.

public override void Run(IData data)
{
    ...
    data["[Global].ConnectionString"] = connectionString;
    ...
}

This means you can now use the Global variable throughout your Workflow.

Usually I use a Profile Property (Application Property) in Process Manager instead of Globals/Project Properties as then you can update the values if you move the Projects between Servers/Environments but this way means it looks locally on the box and no need to update it anywhere else.