It is often desirable to have an application, or form,
transition through a set of phases or stages. At each stage the form
might be used by different people in different roles. The form also
might be presented in a slightly different manner in each stage, such
as having some items or pages hidden, or in a read-only state.
Each form in an
HCL Leap
application
can have multiple stages. By default, a newly created form has two
stages:
- Start – The initial state of every
form. Once the form transitions away from the Start stage
it cannot return.
- End – The final state of every form.
Once a form transitions to the End stage it's
lifecycle is complete. The form cannot be submitted again and cannot
be transitioned to another stage.
Additional stages can be added and configured by the application
designer using the
Stages tab; however, the
Start and
End stages
are always required and are unique.
Each stage, except for the End stage, can have multiple stage actions.
Each stage action presents itself as a button in the form's footer
area and therefore the terms
“stage action”, and
“stage button” are
used interchangeably. There are three types of stage actions:
- Submit – Submits the form data, and
transitions the form to the next stage. A single stage can have multiple
Submit buttons; each Submit button may have different settings, and
may transition the form to a different “next” stage. Every stage,
except the End stage, must have at least one Submit button.
- Save Draft – Temporarily stores the
form's data so the user can return later to complete the rest of the
form. A single stage can have multiple Save Draft buttons. Each button
may have different settings, such as a unique message for the user.
A stage is not required to have a Save Draft button. For more information,
see Saving work as Draft.
- Cancel – Returns the form to its
original state before the end-user started making modifications. The
form remains within the same stage. A single stage can have only
one Cancel button. A stage is not required to have a Cancel button.
By default, every newly created stage, including the Start stage,
is given a single
Submit button and
Cancel button
as a starting point.
During the transition from one stage to the next, there are several activities that can take
place: Send an Email, Call a Service, and Assign Users. The Stages tab also
allows the application designer to disable or hide any form item, or entire page, within a specific
stage for a particular form. Leap provides control over
which users can access or modify the form's data at any particular stage. The setting of these
permissions is done by the application designer using the Access tab. For more information, see
Application and Security
overview.