State

What is a State ?

A state represents a step in the lifecycle of a Business Object.

Key features

A business object can have states that provide the following features:

• Direct access to lists filtered by state via the menu
• Grant-based state transitions (specific user groups (e.g., administrators) can be given rights to move an object to a previous or next state.)
• Actions on state transitions (e.g. send email when an order moves to validated...etc.)
• Execute business rules when an object enters a new state or during state transitions.

How to create a State ?

Prerequisites

Before defining states, ensure the following conditions are met

• the object must have a simple enumerated field(which will carry the state)
• this field must be mandatory
• the object must not already have a state

Steps to create a State

1. Define the State Field
   • Select the Business Object whose going to follow a state model
   • Create an enumerated field to store the State (see Creating a Field)
   • Add possible values representing different states (e.g.: Draft, Approved, Rejected)
   • Mark the field as Required
2. State creation wizard
   Once the object has an enumerated field and no state, a state model creation wizard can be accessed via the Add button and then Add State Model.
   
   • Select the Enumerated field whose going to store the state.
     
   • Configure state transitions.
     
   • Set transition permissions.
     
   • Configure automated actions translations on transitions.
     Note: Once the state model has been created, it is no longer possible to access this wizard.
     
3. Define a ModelState model
   • Open the modeler.
   • Choose the ModelState template.
   • Add a state created in 2.
   • Right click on the state and choose Fetch related to insert all the relative states or select all the states to insert.
   • The model presents the different states and their transitions, as well as the group(s) of rights authorized to make the transitions.
   • Double click on a state opens the state form. Double click on a transition open the transition form.