Adding New Step Types: Overview

New step types allow Content Server users to add custom steps to the workflow maps that they create in Content Server. You add a new step type to Content Server when you want to customize the interface and operations presented to workflow participants for particular types of tasks in a workflow. When you add a new step type, you design the interface that is presented to the performer of a workflow step and define the functionality that the new interface provides.

For example, you can create a step type that lets the creator of a workflow map customize the interface and operations that are presented to workflow participants when they work on steps - without using the Content Server IDE. This step type could allow the creators of workflow maps to attach HTML templates that define an interface to the tasks. The creators of workflow maps could also attach callback scripts that perform custom operations. Then, different templates and scripts could be associated with different tasks of this step type in a workflow.

To add a new step type, you must create an orphan of the following objects:

• WFMain:WFRoot:WFObjectTypes:WFTaskTypes:StandardTasks , which is the API object for the step type.

• WebWFP:WebWfpRoot:WFTask, which controls the information required by the Workflow Designer to add the step to a workflow map and to support the transport capability of Content Server.

• WebWork:WebWorkRoot:WFTask, which controls the step when a workflow participant is working on it and when it is displayed on the Detailed Status page in Content Server.

In this section, you learn how to:

• Define a step type's API object, Workflow Designer information, and status information
• Add a new step type to your custom module