25.1 Automating a Process with Workflow

Model business processes visually and show progress in your app as they run.

You can automate a business process of any complexity with an APEX Workflow. It runs in the background, can be short-lived or long-running, and can perform any kind of actions required, including useful highlights like:

• working with relational data, spatial data, graph data, JSON, XML, and more,
• adding a task to one or more user's task lists and waiting for its completion,
• predicting outcomes based on historical data using machine learning,
• leveraging AI models for semantic similarity searching using vector search,
• integrating with Generative AI services and other REST APIs,
• notifying users via email or push notification,
• generating pixel-perfect PDF reports, or
• waiting for events to occur like data changes or a certain amount of time to elapse.

In App Builder, you define the sequence of activities in a visual diagram that anyone can understand at a glance. A workflow specifies the blueprint for a business process, and the APEX Engine manages each concrete example of every workflow. Using the Create Page Wizard, you can generate a workflow console page to show users "in flight" processes. The companion workflow detail page shows the status of a workflow instance complete with an annotated diagram so everyone involved stays aligned.

• Using the Diagram and Activities Palette
  Use the Workflow Designer to add activities, connect them, and edit their properties.
• Surveying the Native Activities
  Understand the extensible set of native workflow activities.
• Connecting and Routing Activities
  Learn the basic diagramming moves for creating, connecting, and routing workflow activities.
• Resolving Errors Before Saving a Workflow
  Resolve any Workflow Designer errors before saving your changes.
• Associating a Table with a Workflow
  Associate a workflow with a table or query so activities can reference related row data.
• Retrieving Data for an Activity
  Use activity-level Additional Data to query one row of values the current activity needs.
• Defining Parameters and Variables
  Use parameters and variables for values a workflow cannot query or must capture at a point in time.
• Understanding Background Execution
  Workflows run in a background session without page session state or a logged-in user.
• Getting Approval or User Input in a Workflow
  Wait for user approval or input by creating a task or sending a notification.
• Identifying Workflow Participants
  Assign workflow owners and administrators using case-sensitive usernames.
• Listing Workflows and Viewing Details
  Create Workflow Console pages to list the workflows a user owns, administers, or initiated.