Creating workflow templates
- Arild Fylling (Unlicensed)
Workflow templates allow you to standardize a workflow setup, and to easily update and manage all the workflows that are set up using templates.
Creating a new workflow template
To create a new workflow template, go to Workbench page for Workflows:
Click the + sign to create a new template:
The workflow creation process for the template will be the same as described previously in the Quick start and Building workflows sections.
All configurations and block settings set in the workflow template will later be inherited by workflows which are created using the template.
Committing changes and publishing the workflow
After saving the workflow you will see that it is listed with status “Draft” in Workbench.
A workflow template with status “Draft” has changes that have not yet been committed.
A workflow template with status “Unpublished” is not visible to your clients.
To commit the draft of the workflow, click the upwards arrow icon:
The changes have now been committed to the workflow template. But the template is still not available to your clients, as the status is now “Unpublished”.
Click the cloud-arrow icon to publish the workflow:
The workflow is now published and visible for your clients.
You (or your clients) can now easily set up new workflows based on the template on the clients' accounts, as shown in the Quick start section: Creating a workflow from template
Editing the template
You can make changes to the template by clicking the pencil icon in Workbench.
Changes made in workbench will first have “draft” status, as before:
When committed, the changes will be replicated to all instances of the workflow template.
If you for example have 100 clients each using a workflow based off of the same workflow template, then changes you make and commit to the workflow template will be replicated to all 100 client workflows.
There are two exceptions to this: Customized blocks and workflows
About customized blocks and workflows
A workflow or block is said to be customized if it was based on a template but altered to differ from the original template.
Customized workflows/blocks will not be updated if the original template is updated.
A workflow based on a template becomes “customized” if its structure is changed (blocks are added, deleted, or re-ordered). This causes the workflow to be unbound from the template, so that changes made to the template are no longer applied to the customized workflow from that point on.
However, changes made to the templates of individual blocks would still be applied (unless those blocks are customized).
Blocks become customized if the block code is altered, as shown in the UI:
Customized blocks, in workflows which are based off of a template workflow, will not be updated with changes made to the workflow template.
Each block has a button that reverts customization and connects the block back to the block template.