Scripted Approvals via Flow Action

[tiguin2798]

Hello,

I have a need to generate approvals via a script in a custom flow action so I can pass custom inputs into a notification without triggering the OOB "approval.inserted" event. For this I have basically recreated the "Ask for Approvals" flow action step.

My script appears to be working as in the attached script it generates system info logs for each user I need an approval for with the correct information, however the approvals are never actually inserted into 'sysapproval_approver'. Is there something I'm  missing in my script here? I am separating out user sys_ids into a string Array and then looping through each to create the approvals. I am doing the same if a group is entered and a system log is created for each expected record.

Per another post the only thing I can see I may be missing to set is the apprRec.source_table, but I do not want to set this directly as I would like this flow action to be reusable for any approvals that need my custom fields.

(function execute(inputs, outputs) {

    function normalizeArray(input) {
        if (!input) return [];
		return Array.isArray(input) ? input : [input];
	}

    var approvalUsers = normalizeArray(inputs.approvalUsers);
    var approvalGroups = normalizeArray(inputs.approvalGroups);
	
    var specialInstructions = inputs.specialInstructions || '';
    var approvalReason = inputs.approvalReason || '';
	
	var currentRecordSysId = '';
	if (inputs.currentRecord && inputs.currentRecord.sys_id) {
		currentRecordSysId = inputs.currentRecord.sys_id.toString();
		gs.info('[Approval Script] Valid currentRecord.sys_id found. : + currentRecordSysId');
	}
	if (!currentRecordSysId) {
		gs.error('[Approval Script] No valid currentRecord.sys_id found.');
		outputs.approvals_created = 0;
		return;
	}
    
	var approverArray = [];
	
	for (var i = 0; i < approvalUsers.length; i++) {
		var user = approvalUsers[i];
		var userSysId = (user && typeof user === 'object' && user.getTableName)
			? user.getValue('sys_id')
			: user.toString();
		if (userSysId && approverArray.indexOf(userSysId) === -1) {
			approverArray.push(userSysId);
		}
	}
	
	for (var j = 0; j < approvalGroups.length; j++) {
		var groupSysId = approvalGroups[j];
		var groupGR = new GlideRecord('sys_user_grmember');
		groupGR.addQuery('group', groupSysId);
		groupGR.query();
		
		while (groupGR.next()) {
			var userSysId = groupGR.getValue('user');
			if (approverArray.indexOf(userSysId) === -1) {
				approverArray.push(userSysId);
			}
		}
	}
	
	var approvalsCreated = 0;
    for (var k = 0; k < approverArray.length; k++) {
		var userId = approverArray[k];
		gs.info('[Approval Script] Creating approval for user sys_id: ' + userId);
		
		var apprRec = new GlideRecord('sysapproval_approver');
		apprRec.newRecord();
		apprRec.document_id = currentRecordSysId;
		apprRec.approver = userId;
		apprRec.u_special_instructions = true;
		apprRec.u_special_instructions_for_approval = specialInstructions;
		apprRec.state = 'requested';
		apprRec.sysapproval = currentRecordSysId
		apprRec.approval_reason = approvalReason;
		apprRec.short_description - 'Special Instructions Approval via Flow Action "Approval - Special Instructions"';
		apprRec.insert();
		
		var approvalId = apprRec.insert();
		if (approvalId) {
			approvalsCreated++;
			gs.info('[Approval Script] Approval created: ' + approvalId + ' for user: ' + apprRec.approver + ' document id: ' + currentRecordSysId + ' state: ' + apprRec.state + ' approval reason: ' + approvalReason + ' speical instructions Output: ' + specialInstructions + ' special instructions true/false: ' + apprRec.u_special_instructions);
			gs.eventQueue('special.approval.instructions', apprRec, specialInstructions, null);
		} else {
			gs.error('[Approval Script] Failed to create approval for user: ' + userId)
		}
	}
	
	outputs.approvals_created = approvalsCreated;
	
})(inputs, outputs);

[GlideFather · Accepted solution]

Hi @tiguin2798,

in the Flow Designer there's Flow variable (top-right corner), you can create one and script the logics of who will be the approver(s) and this variable can be then used as a input for the ootb action Ask for Approval as a data pill.

If it is more complex, maybe you can consider Decision tables for that as well.

[tiguin2798]

Thank you, it turned out the apprRec.source_table is what I was missing. I was able to create an input variable for the source table and set it this way in the script from input.

[GlideFather]

Perfect that you found the way to fix it, @tiguin2798!