“Versioning” Update
Written by: Ross Beurmann
So the customer came back with a change to the “Versioning” request which was instead of Displaying the date to display the “Version” count. This has lead me down an interesting change of the workflow which included the addition of a List to hold the version count as well as a calculation in the work flow which is no a couple of steps longer. The “ChangeTitle” step was not changed at all however the “ChangeName” field was changed due to the numbering system rather than the date. I also had to change the NameDate Field to be the NameCount Field which changes the file name to “%FileName%-%Version #%.” The custom list for the version number is also going to be used to assist fellow MSS employee Chris Lincoln in creating a JavaScript Mouse over in the Document Library showing the Description of each grouping or reports by title, which in itself will be a pretty cool blog entry for next week! Please see my previous blog post here to get the background of this issue/resolution.
The Document Library drives this Workflow not the List.
As seen in the previous blog, Step 1 is the ChangeTitle step and this copies the File Name into the Title Column, the rationale was to maintain unique file names but keep the documents grouped by non-unique Titles.
Step 2 is new and it is the “CreateListItem” step. This creates the item in the list if it not already there. Validating that it is not there maintains only one record in the List while allowing for multiple records in the Library. I validate it off of the current item (Document) title but it ensures that there is no such record in the List which maintains an accurate “Version” count. Once this validation has completed the list Item is completed, if there is already an item with like Title in the list it skips to Step 3 which sets the Version count. The Item is created the Title is copied from the Current Item (Document) and the Version Count is set to 0. Please see the Screen Shots Below for “CreateListItem” Step.
Step 3 adds 1 to the current version # in the List. If this is a new document it becomes Version 1, if it is an old document it is version x + 1. We will use this field to create a variable to add to our New Calculated value we are calling this step “SetCount” and it updates the lists count and stores a “calc” variable. The calc variable set in step three will enable the “Versioning” as seen in Step 4. Please see the Screen Shots Below.
Step 4 has been modified slightly, as before the pause was to give time for the File Name to enter into the calculated value, since this step actually places the “Count” Value into the Item and Calculated Values pull from the Item itself the pause has been moved to below the input of the calc variable into the “Count” field on the current item. The pause allows for the calculated value NameCount to wait for the Count variable to be added which takes about 30 seconds, however 1 minute is the shortest pause possible in SharePoint Designer. Please see the screen shot below:
There will be a third post regarding this effort as far as adding the JavaScript mouse over tool tips for the groups by title in the default view.
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