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Applies to:

  • Winshuttle Foundation

Working with nodes

See also

A node is a point within a workflow that represents a step in a business process, such as a task or activity, a decision, or a request for approval. Nodes are assigned to participants by placing them within a corresponding Swim Lane in the canvas.

On this page

Insert nodes into a Workflow from the Composer ribbon (shown below).

Composer workflow nodes overview

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For some nodes, the Swim Lane placement is important. For other nodes, it is not.

Each node has configurable properties that define the behavior of the node.

Click a node (below) to view its configuration properties.

And Join node Activity Node image Plugin Action node image Decision node image End node image Start Node image
Approval node image Notification node image And-Join node image Loop node image Value Setter node image Xor Join node image

Adding nodes to a workflow

Back to top Example of adding nodes and transitions to a workflow
  1. On the ribbon, click the Workflow tab.
  2. Click the node you want to insert (for example, the Start node).
  3. In the canvas, click and drag the mouse in a Swim Lane to draw the node.

Tips:

  • You can also double-click in a Swim Lane to automatically create nodes of a uniform size.
  • We recommend placing the Start and End nodes in the Originator Swim Lane. However, depending on your workflow, you may choose a different Swim Lane.

Deleting nodes

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You can delete a workflow node by either of the following methods:

  1. In the canvas, right-click the node and then click Delete.

OR:

  1. In the canvas, click the node to select it.
  2. Press the DEL key on the keyboard. Or, on the ribbon, click Delete.

Copying nodes

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You can copy a workflow node by any of the following methods:

Method 1 (right-click)

  1. In the canvas, right-click the node and then click Copy.
  2. Click Paste to paste a copy of the node.
  3. Drag the node to the appropriate Swim Lane.

Method 2 (ribbon commands)

  1. In the canvas, click the node to select it.
  2. On the ribbon, click Copy.
  3. On the ribbon, click Paste.
  4. Drag the node to the appropriate location in your workflow.

Method 3 (keyboard)

  1. Click the node you wish to copy.
  2. Press CTRL+C on the keyboard.
  3. Press CTRL+V to paste the node.
  4. Drag the node to the appropriate location in your workflow.

Changing node properties

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Every node in a workflow has one or more properties that define settings and characteristics for the node.

To edit the properties for a node:

  1. In the canvas, click the node you want to edit.
  2. In the Properties pane, change the node properties.
    • You can sort the properties by heading Winshuttle Composer Sort Properties by heading button or alphabetically Winshuttle Composer Sort Properties alphabetically button.
    • Click the Refresh Winshuttle Composer refresh SharePoint information buttonto refresh SharePoint information from the server (see below).

    See Workflow node types and properties for a description of each node and its properties.

Below: Start node and its properties