It is often necessary that attributes or whole groups of attributes are mandatory for a state or transition in a STEP Workflow. This means that the object can only pass further in the workflow if the indicated attributes have values. To facilitate this, the relevant mandatory attribute groups and/or attributes can be indicated directly in the STEP Workflow Designer, with mandatory indications being enforced in both the workbench and Web UI.
This simplifies the configuration within the workflow itself, enabling business users to steer the Web UI and Smartsheets behavior for end-users without requiring use of the Web UI Designer.
For more information on how to set up these attributes in a workflow, refer to the Mandatory Attributes, References, and Variables in Workflows in the Workflows documentation.
For information about how conditionally mandatory attributes are handled in Web UI, refer to the Conditionally Mandatory Attributes and References in Workflows topic of the Workflows documentation.
Handling Workflow State and Transition Mandatory Attributes in Web UI
Web UI screens must be configured to include all mandatory attributes. If not, end users will receive errors that they cannot correct. Mandatory attributes set on a Web UI screen are only honored if the 'Submit Action' has 'Enforced Validity' checked within the component properties.
State-mandatory attributes are checked prior to transition-mandatory attributes. In the case that both are used, end users will first have to correct state-mandatory attributes before transition-mandatory attribute errors are displayed.
Note: References listed in attribute groups are not supported for use in workflow state and transition mandatory attributes through Web UI configurations (e.g., selecting an attribute group that includes a reference will not cause that reference to be considered mandatory). However, mandatory references listed in attribute groups are supported (in certain Web UI components) if designated as mandatory when editing states and transitions in the STEP Workflow Designer. For more information, refer to the Mandatory Attributes, References, and Variables in Workflows topic in the Workflows documentation.
Web UI support of mandatory attributes requires the use of Attribute Value or Attribute Value Group Web UI components. To make an attribute mandatory, they must be added on the appropriate Properties dialog via the Mandatory parameter, as described in the following topics:
Enforcement of the mandatory attributes occurs in the Web UI, with errors being displayed to the user if an attempt to transition the attribute is made without all mandatory attributes being populated.
Any mandatory attributes are indicated in the Web UI with an asterisk. Those that are mandatory on transitions, rather than states, do not show an asterisk, but when the user attempts to submit the object to the next state in the workflow, the corresponding input field will be highlighted to indicate missing data.
The user is also notified of the missing data with a message in the Notification Panel.
Additionally, when using tab pages within a Node Details screen type, if there is any kind of error that impacts the data displayed on a tab (a validation error or missing mandatory value), then a yellow line is displayed directly under the tab name. The underline serves as an easy notification to users that attention is required on a particular tab page or on multiple tab pages. No configuration is needed to turn on this feature.
Important: It is important to consider how mandatory attributes interact with conditional attributes.