Understanding Workflow Parameters

Workflows that do not operate on input have limited scope; many workflows need to be parameterized to be useful. This is done by adding a parameters member to the global workflow object. The parameters member is in turn an object that is expected to have a member for each parameter. Each parameters member must have the following members:

Table 140  Required Workflow Parameter Members

Required Member Type Description label String Label to adorn input of workflow parameter type String Type of workflow parameter

The type member must be set to one of these types:

Table 141  Workflow Member Type Names

Type name Description Boolean A boolean value ChooseOne One of a number of specified values EmailAddress An e-mail address File A file to be transferred to the appliance Host A valid host, as either a name or dotted decimal HostName A valid hostname HostPort A valid, available port Integer An integer NetAddress A network address NodeName A name of a network node NonNegativeInteger An integer that is greater than or equal to zero Number Any number -- including floating point Password A password Permissions POSIX permissions Port A port number Size A size String A string StringList A list of strings

Example 20  Workflow Using Two Parameters

Based on the specified types, an appropriate input form will be generated upon execution of the workflow. For example, here is a workflow that has two parameters, the name of a business unit (to be used as a project) and the name of a share (to be used as the share name):

var workflow = {
       name: 'New share',
       description: 'Creates a new share in a business unit',
       parameters: {
               name: {
                       label: 'Name of new share',
                       type: 'String'
               },
               unit: {
                       label: 'Business unit',
                       type: 'String'
               }
       },
       execute: function (params) {
               run('shares select ' + params.unit);
               run('filesystem ' + params.name);
               run('commit');
               return ('Created new share "' + params.name + '"');
       }
};

If you upload this workflow and execute it, you will be prompted with a dialog box to fill in the name of the share and the business unit. When the share has been created, a message will be generated indicating as much.