Timeout

Timeouts trigger an Action once the configured duration has elapsed. Timeouts are always hidden and are not shown to the Users. The Timeout Form Control differs from timeouts configured at the Form Activity in the following ways:

Control properties

• Timeout in - Duration of the timeout, i.e., when the timeout is triggered. The duration can be set in seconds, minutes or hours.
• Action configuration - Configures the Action the Timeout triggers:
  • Outcome - When the Action is triggered the Outcome selected here is used to leave the Form Activity. If multiple Outcomes with the same name exist, all of them are used and the execution of the Instance continuous in parallel.
  • Action - Specifies the triggered Action type:
    • Discard - Discards all modifications of the Form Controls.
    • Save - Stores the data from the Form Controls in the Variable backing the Form Activity. The Variable is set in the Variable configuration of the Form Activity.
    • Sign - Stores only the signature in the specified Attribute.
    • Sign and Save - This is a combination of Sign and Save. It stores the signature in the specified Attribute and stores data from the Form Controls in the Variable backing the Form Activity.
  • Style - Only available, if the Action is linked to a Button. Then, this property sets the color of the Button representing the Action.
  • User attribute - Specifies in which Attribute the Id of the User triggering the Action will be stored. The Attribute has to be selected from the Variable backing the From. The Attribute needs to be of type Big Integer if only one User can complete the From or has to be an array of Big Integer, if the property Must all owners complete the task? is set for this Action and all owners are required to complete the Form.
  • Return to dashboard? - When set to Yes, the User will be send back to the main Dashboard by this Action regardless if there are any further Forms to show or not. When set to No, the User will be presented with the next Form. When there are no further Forms left in the Instance, the User will be send back to the main Dashboard in any case.
  • Skip form validations? - When set to Yes, any validation rules configured at the Form Controls are ignored. This might be desirable for Discard Actions. When set to No, all validation rules configured at the Form Controls are enforced.
  • Claims ownership of task? - When set to Yes, only the User triggering the Action will remain the owner of the From and all other Users or User Groups will be relieved of their owner status. When set to No, the owner configuration is unmodified.
  • Must all owners complete the task? - Specifies if one owner can trigger the leaving of the Form by this Action (No) or if all owners have to individually trigger this Action (Yes) to leave the Form and continue the Instance. When set to Yes, the following logic applies:
    • All Users set individually by their Id as owners have to trigger the Action separately
    • One User per configured User Group has to trigger the Action
    • The triggering of the Action by Users who are in more than one User Group is counted for all User Groups simultaneously. I.e., it is not necessary for Users to trigger the Action multiple times if they are part of more than one User Groups configured as owners.
    • When Must all owners complete the task? is set to Yes, special care must be giving in the configuration of the other Actions:
      • Only one Action of a From is allowed to be set to Yes. Otherwise, deadlocks are created when individual Users choose different Actions.
      • Usually only read-only Forms require the completion by multiple owners. If the Form is not read-only, one User can complete it, then another use can modify it without the first User noticing it. However, comment fields are often an exception to this read-only rule.
      • The Attributes configured at Signature attribute and User attribute have to be arrays.
  • Reset approval of all owners - Triggering this Action resets other Actions (Yes) or leaves other Actions unchanged (No) when the Form Activity is entered again in the same Instance. This property is particular important, when Must all owners complete the task? is used:
    • In the case that some, but not all of the Owners, trigger an Action which has Must all owners complete the task? set to Yes and the remaining Owners trigger another Actions, the Instance leaves the Form Activity and continues the execution of the Instance.
    • If this continuation leads the Instance back to the same Form Activity, the Novunex Platform still remembers that some Owners already triggered the Action which has Must all owners complete the task? set to Yes.
    • If this is not desired, Reset approval of all owners needs to be set to Yes, so that the Novunex Platform resets all previously triggered Actions, when a From Activity is re-entered in the same Instance.