Saving a record without populating all mandatory variables

[Jim Coyne]

We have a few mandatory workflow variables setup. The variables are mandatory to ensure the techs populate them before closing a task as the information is required in subsequent tasks. Unfortunately, we have been running into problems with the Catalog Task form.

The problem with mandatory variables is you cannot enter information in some of the fields and/or variables and save the record - the blank mandatory variables prevent the update of the record. This is a valid use case as you do not always get all the required information at the same time and it would be nice to update the task as you receive that information. Same thing if a tech wanted to enter some info in the work notes or comments field - cannot save unless the mandatory fields are filled in.

This has been bugging me for a while but I think I've come up with a pretty good solution. I've created 2 new UI Actions on the Catalog Task form to override the global OOB Save and Update actions.   Here is how the Save version is configured:

Name:                       Save

Table:                     Catalog Task [sc_task]

Action name:         sysverb_update_and_stay   (to override the OOB "Save" UI Action)

Client:                   checked

Form button:         checked

Onclick:                 u_saveRecordClient()

Condition:             current.canWrite()

Script:

//Client-side 'onclick' function
function u_saveRecordClient(){
     //ignore mandatory fields
     var state = g_form.getValue('state');

     //we can save without filling in all mandatory fields and variables if the task is not closed or closing
     if (g_form.getValue('state') != 3){
           g_form.checkMandatory = false;       //ignore mandatory fields
           try {
                 //now ignore any mandatory variables
                 var allVariables = document.getElementById('variable_map').getElementsByTagName('item');
                 for(var i = 0; i < allVariables.length; i++){
                       var item = allVariables[i];
                       g_form.setMandatory('variables.' + item.getAttribute('qname').toString(),false);
                 }
           } catch(err) {}
     }
   
     //Call the UI Action and skip the 'onclick' function
     //this will execute the code below
     gsftSubmit(null, g_form.getFormElement(), 'sysverb_update_and_stay'); //MUST call the 'Action name' set in this UI Action
}

//Code that runs on the server, without 'onclick'
//Ensure call to server-side function with no browser errors
if(typeof window == 'undefined')
     u_saveRecordServer();

function u_saveRecordServer() {
     action.setRedirectURL(current);     //come back to the same record
     current.update();
}

The Update version would be slightly different:

Name:                       Update

Table:                     Catalog Task [sc_task]

Action name:         sysverb_update   (to override the OOB "Update" UI Action)

Client:                   checked

Form button:         checked

Onclick:                 u_updateRecordClient()

Condition:             current.canWrite()

Script:

//Client-side 'onclick' function
function u_updateRecordClient(){
     //ignore mandatory fields
     var state = g_form.getValue('state');
     //we can update without filling in all mandatory fields and variables if the task is not closed or closing
     if (g_form.getValue('state') != 3){
           g_form.checkMandatory = false;       //ignore mandatory fields
           try {
                 //now ignore any mandatory variables
                 var allVariables = document.getElementById('variable_map').getElementsByTagName('item');
                 for(var i = 0; i < allVariables.length; i++){
                       var item = allVariables<i>;
                       g_form.setMandatory('variables.' + item.getAttribute('qname').toString(),false);
                 }
           } catch(err) {}
     }
     //Call the UI Action and skip the 'onclick' function
     //this will execute the code below
     gsftSubmit(null, g_form.getFormElement(), 'sysverb_update'); //MUST call the 'Action name' set in this UI Action
}
//Code that runs on the server, without 'onclick'
//Ensure call to server-side function with no browser errors
if(typeof window == 'undefined')
     u_updateRecordServer();
function u_updateRecordServer() {
     current.update();
}

The script sets "g_form.checkMandatory = false" in order to bypass the mandatory fields, but, unfortunately, it does not work with variables. So, I figured why not run through all the variables and remove their mandatory properties?

I'd like to get a few comments to see what people think.   It seems to work fine so far.   Now the real solution of course would be to have the "g_form.checkMandatory" property take variables into account as well.     🙂

To use them elsewhere, just change the Table field.

UPDATES:

- modified the code above to add a "try {} catch(err) {}" block to avoid problems when there are no variables on the form (thanks shill)

- added a missing "{" at the end of line 7 (thanks chucksimonds)

- added the separate settings for the Update UI Action

[joedziedzicbbt]

Jim,
I am interested in doing this same thing for a few of our catalog items. I just installed that Update set on demo11, but it does not appear to work for me. It did not create the UI action, so I created it myself, but it is still not working for the test fields.

[Jim Coyne]

OK, the problem is the UI Actions in the update set are setup on the Catalog Task table and not the Requested Item table. I see the UI Action you added on the RITM table, but there were some problems with it:
- Action field was incorrect (now "sysverb_update_and_stay")
- Client check box was not checked
- Onclick field was blank

Check it out now.

[joedziedzicbbt]

Wow, so bonehead move on my part?

I do see that it is working now. I also made the Configuration Item a mandatory field, and was able to use the Save 2.0 button to save changes as well. Looks like this works on more than just catalog variables. I'm going to go ahead and test this out in our dev environment. It should help is out with a few of our work flows. Thanks for your work!

[shill]

Jim, I have used this on our catalog successfully, but noticed a javascript error (and failure in the UI action) IF there were no variables displayed on the form.

In my case, I had a three task workflow for this item. For the last task, I did not display any variables (not needed at that point). This would result in a javascript browser error when attempting to use either UI action.
Our workaround was to just add one of the variables to the task, and that corrected the issue.