Launching a Workflow Process from a Business Component

One way to replace business component scripting with more declarative configuration is by using Siebel Workflow. A workflow process can perform many of the same operations that you can configure with eScript. If you want to execute a workflow when a BusComp field is updated, you can invoke it from scripting in the SetFieldValue event of the business component. There is, however, the option of using business component user properties for a completely declarative solution.

An example of using the applet version of the Named Method n user property to invoke a workflow process can be found in Siebel Bookshelf. The same user property is available for business components. An example of a named method declaration follows:

User Property Name: Named Method 1
User Property Value: "MyInvokeWFMehod", "INVOKESVC", "Employee", "Workflow Process Manager", "RunProcess", "'ProcessName'", "'The Do Something Cool Workflow Process'", "'WorkPhone'", "[Work Phone Number]", "'Login'", "[Login Name]", "'RowId'", "[Id]"

In this example, "MyInvokeWFMehod" is the name I give to the named method. "Employee" is the name of the business component. "The Do Something Cool Workflow Process" is the name of the workflow process. After the workflow process name, a series of name-value pairs are additional parameters passed to the workflow. "WorkPhone" and "Login" are process properties of the workflow process. Each process property name can be followed by a bracketed field name or business component expression. "RowId" is a method argument of the Workflow Process Manager business service that passes its value to the "Object Id" process property of the workflow.

Please note that parameter names and literals must be in quotes, despite the fact that the user property arguments are already in quotes, which results in the strange syntax of "'Literal Value'".

Another user property is also usually required to invoke the named method, unless the named method is already invoked by the business component itself. To invoke the named method upon a field being updated, use the On Field Update Invoke n user property. For example:

User Property Name: On Field Update Invoke 1
User Property Value: "Work Phone Number", "Employee", "MyInvokeWFMehod"

When the "Work Phone Number" field of the "Employee" business component is updated, the "MyInvokeWFMehod" named method is invoked, which calls the "RunProcess" method of the "Workflow Process Manager" business service, which acts as a proxy for the "Workflow Process Manager" server component, which executes the "The Do Something Cool Workflow Process" process, using values passed from the business component directly into workflow process properties.

In summary, use the On Field Update Invoke n business component user property together with the Named Method n business component user property and your own workflow process for a completely non-scripted way to add complex logic to the event of updating a business component field.

On Field Update Invoke

The On Field Update Invoke user property is a clean way to run some custom functionality when a BusComp field is updated. If you reflexively assume that you need to put script in the SetFieldValue event, you should consider this user property to execute your specialized functionality instead.

The syntax is as follows:

User Property Name: On Field Update Invoke n
User Property Value: "[FieldToCheck]", "[BusCompName]", "[MethodName]", "[Condition]"

Condition is an optional parameter. If you leave it out, the method will be called any time the field is updated. If you include it, the condition must be true for the method to be invoked.


FieldToCheck is also optional. If the parameter is omitted, include double quotes as a placeholder. The method will be invoked any time the BusComp is updated, as if it were called from the BusComp_WriteRecord event. If the parameter is present, the user property works just like BusComp_SetFieldValue; the update happens as soon as the cursor leaves the FieldToCheck field.


Note that you can run a BusComp method on a different BusComp than the one that spawns the event. Specify the BusCompName and the MethodName. Siebel does this quite extensively (for updating child records when a parent record is updated, for example) to implement vanilla functionality. The BusComp method is invoked on another business component in the active Business Object.

It is also important to understand what methods can be called from this user property. It can be used to call an eScript function. You can add eScript to the BusComp_PreInvokeMethod event to capture the invocation and call a function on the current BusComp, and from there invoke a workflow process or business service.

The user property can also invoke methods on the Business Component Class that would normally be invoked through the InvokeMethod method. For example, you could call the CompleteActivity method on an Activity. Be aware of the specialized methods that are available for the class you are using.

If your implementation includes Siebel Order Management, Signals can also be raised from this user property. For any of the Order Management Business Components, if a method is not found on the business component itself, Siebel will raise a signal if it exists.

Whatever you choose, Siebel recommends the On Field Update Invoke user property as preferable to adding scripting to the BusComp_SetFieldValue event. The SetFieldValue event is inefficient, and even though the On Field Update Invoke user property may invoke a custom script, it can be more efficient than invoking the same script from the SetFieldValue event.

Text Length Override

One of my favorite User Properties is "Text Length Override". It is a simple technique for enforcing the length of a text field without ugly popup messages.

If you have a business requirement to restrict user input to a certain number of characters, you have several options. You can find a database column that has the exact number of characters you need. You can create a field validation that will popup an error message if a user enters more characters than required. The user must correct the error condition before being allowed to step off the field. You can do something even more intrusive (with scripting, for example) to alert the user that he or she has made a mistake and/or fix the problem for them.

But a completely non-intrusive, transparent, and elegant way to address the situation is to use the Text Length Override User Property on the field. Text Length Override is a User Property that corrects what almost seems to be a defect in the normal functioning of a BusComp field.

It seems intuitive that a field attribute called "Text Length" would set a limit to the amount of text that could be entered into a field. Probably most people wouldn't bother to look that one up. But the fact is that Text Length does nothing at all unless combined with the Text Length Override User Property. The amount of text that a field will accept is normally determined by the size of the underlying database column.

So how does this work? Suppose the following:

• You have a BusComp Field called "Short Name".
• The field is mapped to a column called ALIAS_NAME, which is a varchar(100).
• The business requires that no more than 30 characters of text can be entered into Short Name.

Here's what you need to do if you want to prevent excess text from being entered, but you don't want a validation message to interrupt the user interaction with the view:

1. Set the Text Length attribute on the Short Name field to 30
2. Create a User Property object as a child of the Field.
3. Set the Name attribute of the User Property to "Text Length Override".
4. Set the Value of the User Property to "True".*

That's all. The User Property "overrides" the normal functionality of the Text Length attribute (it normally doesn't do anything), and limits the text to the Text Length specified.

* Siebel 8 Bookshelf says that you can set the value of the User Property to anything, even null, and the functionality will be the same. This is a change from previous versions.