Form steps and dynamic tasks - has anyone tried it?

[Kjetil Kilhavn]

Tirsdag 13. mars 2012 12.24.43 skrev Mike Pokraka:
> Hi Kjetil,
> 
> Just my opinion, but forms are great to get something really simple out
> the door quickly, but the moment you need modifications you end up with
> copies of form steps in forks and all sorts of ugly stuff. 
I think that description is quite close to the situation. I'll have to think 
about what to do. I've provided an estimate under the assumption that I could 
change the existing solution and wouldn't have to rewrite it completely.

Ohhh, the hardship a workflow consultant has to suffer.

> For anything
> beyond the simplest setups I find it easier to whip up a quick function
> module with dialog from scratch and plug that into a method than use those
> dastardly things.
> 
> Even easier if you can squeeze what's needed into a call to
> POPUP_GET_VALUES, then you can also make the task descriptions dynamic and
> have the whole thing in one task.
I initially thought I'd be clever about it and create a new ABAP Objects class 
which supported the various scenarios, but again ABAP Objects, dynamic 
solutions and Business Workflow have proven to mix a bit like oil and water. 
It's possible, but takes a lot of effort.

Time to do some hard work: think.

> 
> Regards,
> Mike
> 
> On Tue, March 13, 2012 10:54 am, Kjetil Kilhavn wrote:
> > I have not really used form steps before. There is one workflow here that
> > uses
> > it, and now they want some changes. I was thinking of using dynamic task
> > selection in the workflow, but it seems that is not possible.
> > 
> > Here's the scenario: The current solution displays some information about
> > a
> > budget to be approved. There are two amounts and some other information.
> > 
> > Now they want to change this solution so there are three possibilities.
> > Sometimes one amount should be displayed, other times three amounts. This
> > depends on the other data in the system, and it is not a problem to
> > determine
> > the proper case.
> > However, since the structure seems to be hard-linked to the form my
> > problem is
> > that I can not pass different structures for the different cases. Thus I
> > would
> > have to have all fields necessary for at least one of the cases available.
> > I
> > can dynamically hide the fields I don't need, but it then seems the only
> > point
> > left in using dynamic task allocation is to have different task
> > descriptions
> > and work item texts. The user will also have different tasks in the
> > workflow
> > inbox which can be seen by an advantage or disadvantage depending on one's
> > view.
> > 
> > With such little advantage in using dynamic task allocation it seems I may
> > as
> > well split the whole thing completely and have different workflows which
> > makes
> > the maintenance and re-testing easier if they suddenly decide they want a
> > change in one of the processes. The workflow is very small, so this is not
> > really much duplication of effort/code.
> > 
> > Please enlighten me as to whether I am making any sense, or do you have a
> > better suggestion.
> > --
> > Kjetil Kilhavn (+47 40220607) - Blue Consulting AS (http://www.bluec.no)
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> > SAP-WUG at mit.edu
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> 
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-- 
Kjetil Kilhavn (+47 40220607) - Blue Consulting AS (http://www.bluec.no)