Joomla User Manual

Implementing Workflows¶

The general order of tasks to create a new workflow are:

1. Plan
2. Add new User Groups (optional)
3. Add new Users and assign them to appropriate User Groups (optional)
4. Create the new Workflow
5. Create the State(s) for that Workflow with the Condition(s)
6. Create the Transition(s) of the Workflow
7. Add or Edit the applicable Category to add the Workflow
8. Edit the Permissions of the Category so that the new User Groups have permissions to do only what they need to do
9. Set up notifications if desired
10. Set up login access for the Users on the frontend (or the backend: not included in this tutorial) (optional)

Planning¶

Plan what your workflow will do. Planning is always the most important part. Answer these questions to help you plan:

• How many groups of users (even if there is only one user in the group) need to take an action?
• How many actions will there be in the Workflow?
• Will any of the groups need to receive notifications to do their action?
• Will the groups do their actions from the frontend or the backend or combination of both?
• Which Categories will have a/this Workflow?
• Will different Categories have different Workflows?

Scenario #1¶

• One User Group adds blog posts but cannot publish them
• Second User Group approves blog posts and publishes them

Create New User Groups¶

1. Go to Users → Groups → New
2. Enter the Group Title: Blog Posters
3. Select the Group Parent: Registered
4. Click Save & New
5. Enter the Group Title: Blog Approvers
6. Select the Group Parent: Registered
7. Click Save & Close

Create New Users (or edit existing Users)¶

Using the directions on create your new Users.

1. Create User(s) and assign them to the Blog Posters User Group.
2. Create User(s) and assign them to the Blog Approvers User Group.

Note:: If you want your Users to receive notifications for a Transition (see more below) then select Yes for Receives System Emails for each User to receive notifications.

Create the Workflow¶

1. Go to Content → Workflows → New
2. Enter the Title: Blog Workflow
3. Click Save & Closed

NOTE: Only mark this Default if it will be the Default Workflow for ALL NEW Articles created in Categories without an assigned Workflow. Existing Articles will not be changed.

Create the State(s) of the Workflow¶

1. From the Workflows list view, click the “manage” link in the States column next to the Blog Workflow. You will see the default State of Published.
2. Click the Default State for Published and change the Title to: Publish new blog post.
3. The Condition of items in this state: Published will remain unchanged.
4. Click Save & New.
5. Enter the Title: New blog post, unpublished.
6. Change the Condition of items in this State to Unpublished.
7. Change the Default to Yes (Green) since this is the Default State for Articles in this Workflow.
8. Click Save & Close.

Create Transition for the Workflow¶

There are two ways to access Transitions:

1. Click Transitions from the sidebar while in the States list view.
2. Click the blue line with arrows in both directions from the Workflow list view.
3. Go to Transitions.
4. Click New.
5. Add the Title: Approve/Publish
6. Select the State New blog post – unpublished in the From state field drop-down.
7. Select the State Publish new blog post in the To state field drop-down.
8. Click Save and remain in this Transition.
9. Click the Permissions tab of the Transition.
10. Select the User Group Blog Approvers.
11. For the Action Execute transition, select Allowed from the Select New Setting drop-down.
12. Click Save & Close.

Note: You can quickly access your States and Transitions from the Workflow list view. The orange circle is the States and has the quantity of States listed next to the Workflow Title. The blue line with arrows in both directions is for Transitions and shows the quantity of Transitions for the Workflow.

Assign Workflow & User Group Permissions to the Category¶

1. Go to Content → Categories
2. Access the Blog Category (or create it if necessary) and click the Workflow tab.
3. Click the drop-down and select Blog Workflow.
4. Click the Permissions tab.
5. Click on the Blog Poster User Group.
6. For the Action Create and Edit, change the Select New Setting drop-down to Allowed.
7. Click on the Blog Approvers User Group.
8. For the Action Delete, Edit, Edit State and Edit Own, change the Select New Setting drop-down to Allowed.
9. Click Save & Close.

For more information on ACL and assigning permissions to User Groups, see the ACL Tutorial.

Setting up Notifications¶

Notifications use the Joomla core Messaging component. It is very basic. When enabled for Workflows, it will send a message to the User associated with the Group assigned to the Transition. The message simply states that they have a message in the site. It will then be their responsibility to login and check the articles that need approval and publish them.

To set up notifications for the Workgroup Transitions:

1. Go to Extensions → Plugins
2. Click the Table Options button and Select Type of content
3. Click on Content – Joomla and then toggle Yes for Email on transition execution
4. Then make sure that the Users themselves have Receive System Emails toggled to Yes in Users → Manage.

To set it up so that Users can Post and Approve from the frontend¶

1. Create a Menu Item for the Menu Item Type Login so that your Blog Posters can login. Menus → Choose or create a menu → New → Users → Login OR
2. Create a module for Login so that your Blog Posters can login. Extensions → Modules → New → Login
3. Add a Menu Item to a Menu that displays only for the Registered User Group to Add an article Menu Item Type Articles → Create Article NOTE: this will display for all Registered Users unless you create an Access Level for your Blog Poster User Group and select this in the Menu Item under Access.
4. When your User logs in, they add an Article, enter the content and Save.
5. This will trigger a notification to the Blog Approvers Users that there is a new private message on the site. It doesn’t get more specific than that. Approvers should just come to the site and approve the Article. It will also send a message to Super Admins.
6. When the Blog Approver logs in, they can navigate to where the new article will appear. They will be able to see the unpublished article and edit it/approve it/publish it. Then they can Save & Close and logout.

Admin note: Super Admins can use Batch to move existing Articles to a different workflow than it is currently assigned. It won’t make a difference if the Articles are already published.

Scenario #2¶

Add another scenario here to help others see the power of Workflows. Docs can be edited or added to by anyone with an account.

Related Information¶

See also:

• Publishing Workflow Implementation
• Publishing Workflow