WF_NOTIFICATION() Message Function (Oracle Workflow Developer's Guide)

Oracle Workflow Developer's Guide
Release 2.6.3
Part Number B10284-02


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WF_NOTIFICATION() Message Function

In addition to message attribute tokens, you can also use a special message function called WF_NOTIFICATION() to add context-sensitive content to a message body. Depending on the parameters you provide, the WF_NOTIFICATION() function can produce either a table of message attributes or a notification history table. The tables are created in a standard Oracle Workflow format.

Note: WF_NOTIFICATION() is not a PL/SQL function, but rather a special message function that can only be called within an Oracle Workflow message body.

Message Attribute Table To include a table of message attributes in a message body, call WF_NOTIFICATION() with the ATTRS option followed by the internal names of the message attributes, separated by commas. Use the following format:

WF_NOTIFICATION(ATTRS,<attribute1>,<attribute2>,<attribute3>,...)

Note: You must not include any spaces or carriage returns in the call to WF_NOTIFICATION(). You only need to use a comma to delimit the parameters in the list.

The message attribute table contains a row for each message attribute listed in the WF_NOTIFICATION() call, showing the display name and the value for each attribute.

Notification History Table To include a notification history table in a message body, call WF_NOTIFICATION() with the HISTORY option in the following format:

WF_NOTIFICATION(HISTORY)

The notification history table contains a row for each previous execution of the same notification activity in the process, as well as a row for the initial submission of the process. Notification history is specific to a particular notification activity node and is most useful when a process loops back to the same node more than once. For example, for a requisition approval notification activity that sends a certain notification to several approvers in turn, the notification history table would contain a row for each approver to whom the notification was sent, as well as a row for the process owner.

The notification history table includes the following columns:

Sequence--The order in which the executions of the notification activity took place, beginning at zero (0) for the initial submission of the process by the process owner.

Who--The notification recipient or process owner.

Action--The action with which the recipient responded to the notification.

Date--The notification date.

Note--An additional note from the recipient. To allow a recipient to add a note for the notification history table, you must create a special 'Respond' message attribute with the internal name WF_NOTE.

Define the message attribute with the following properties:

Internal Name--WF_NOTE

Display Name--Note

Description--Note

Type--Text

Source--Respond

When the WF_NOTE attribute is defined with a source of 'Respond', it appears as part of the notification response section, and the recipient can enter a note there when responding to the notification. The WF_NOTIFICATION() function retrieves the note text stored in the WF_NOTE attribute and displays it in the notification history table.

If the recipient did not enter a note, or if the WF_NOTE message attribute was not defined for the notification, then the Note column in the notification history table is left blank.

Note: The process owner cannot add a note for the notification history table when submitting the process. Only a notification recipient can add a note when responding to the notification.

WF_NOTIFICATION() Message Function

See Also