Creating a Get Next Approver rule
To create a Get Next Approver rule, use the following procedure.
To define a Get Next Approver rule
- Follow the procedure in Creating-a-rule to complete the basic information about the rule.
- Select Get Next Approver from the Rule Type list.
- The rule condition in the Run If text box is optional. Use this field to define a conditional statement that controls whether the rule executes.
- In the If Multiple Results field, select a value from the menu.
This field determines what occurs when more than one row of data is returned by the Get Next Approver rule. The following choices are available:- Value from First—Uses the value from the first record retrieved.
- Values from All—Uses all of the values retrieved.
- Return Error—Returns an error message if more than one record is retrieved.
- Clear—Leaves this field blank.
- In the If Multiple Approvers field, select a value from the menu.
This field value determines the signature requirements when more than one approver is returned by the Get Next Approver rule.- One Must Sign—A single signature record is created and only one of the approvers listed in the record is required to act upon the approval request to consider the record complete.
- All Must Sign—A separate signature record is created for each individual in the approver list, including individuals within a role. In this case, all of the approvers retrieved by the Get Next Approver rule must act upon the approval request.
- Clear—Leaves this field blank.
- In the Next Approver Rule Is field, select a value from the menu.
This field value determines how the approver list is constructed when multiple Get Next Approver rules exist in the process. It is often used in a Rule-Based process that uses set of Get Next Approver rules to build an approver list.- Additive—Indicates that any name or role this rule assigns to the approver list is added to the existing approver list, and further rules are to be processed.
- Ending—Indicates that any name or role this rule assigns to the approver list is added to the existing approver list, but no further rules are to be processed.
- Exclusive—Indicates that this rule assigns the entire approver list, and no further rules are processed. In addition, if a previous rule created an approver list, that list is ignored.
- Clear—Leaves this field blank.
- (Optional ) Enter the rule condition in the Run If text box.
If used, this field defines a conditional statement that controls whether the rule runs. You can type the conditional statement or you can build it by using the qualification bar and list. See Building-qualifications-and-expressions. - Click the Set Fields tab.
- In the Set Fields Type field, select the appropriate action type. See Defining-actions-for-a-rule.
- For a query, select a form name from the From Form menu.
This value indicates in which form to search for the query. - In the On Server field, select the server where the form is located.
- Current—The form exists on the current server.
- Alternate—The form exists on another server. In this case, type the remote server name in the Server field.
- Depending on the action type, enter the qualification statement or command line in the Qualification area.
- In the Fields Data area, enter the name of the field or fields to receive the data in the Field Name column, and a value statement or the name of each source form field in the Value column.
- Click Save.
Example of a Get Next Approver rule
The following figure illustrates an example of a Get Next Approver rule for the Parent-Child process in the Lunch Scheduler sample application.
The Basic tab in this example does not contain a Run If statement, so the rule always runs. The If Multiple Approvers setting causes the Approval Server to create a single signature record for the approver list (One Must Sign). Therefore, only one approver action is required for the approval request to be complete. The Next Approver Rule Is field is set to Ending, so no other Get Next Approver rules will be processed after this one.
On the Set Fields tab, the Qualification statement causes the Approval Server to match the current approver ($Approver$) to the Login Name field in the AP-Sample:Signature Authority form during the query. The current approver could be the approval request submitter or an approver.
The rule retrieves the "parent" of the current approver by getting the value from the $Manager Login Name$ field on the matching record in the AP-Sample:Signature Authority form and setting the value in the Next Approver field of the approval request.
Example of a Get Next Approver rule in a Parent-Child process