Display Start Form Repeating Section Data on a Workflow Task Form in Nintex Automation Cloud

This blog post will show you how to effectively display repeating section data in a task form in your workflows. One of the many great features in a Nintex Automation Cloud (NAC) form is the Repeating Section control. Form designers have the ability to add a dynamic section of repeating rows to collect input data. This control allows the form user to enter multiple instances of the same type of data all on the same form. Examples of a form Repeating Section include adding multiple students to an individual training class and entering multiple product line items on a single purchase order.

While it is easy to collect dynamic data in a repeating section, it has been a challenge in the past after form submission to display that information in future workflow steps like a workflow task form. But recent updates to Nintex Automation Cloud functionality solve this issue. Below is an example process with a customer order start form and a workflow task form.

Product Order Form Start Form
First, we will start with a Product Order Form (see image below), which the user fills out and submits to start the process. This form first gathers information about the customer, including name, email, and phone. The Product Selection section of the form is a repeating section and allows the user to enter a line for each item they want to order. The user must select the desired Product, Quantity needed, and the Unit Cost for each item. The form automatically calculates each Line Total and the Order Grand Total.

Workflow Task Form
After the Product Order Form has been submitted by a customer, a workflow runs that manages the processing of the order. One of the next steps in the workflow utilizes the “Assign a task to multiple users” action to assign a task to a warehouse employee to prepare the customer requested products for packing and shipping. This task generates an email to the warehouse employee with a link to a task form that includes all the customer information and data from the Product Selection repeating section. Here are the steps to configure the workflow task form to the display the repeating section with data from the start form.

• Add an “Assign a task to multiple users” to your workflow.
• Open the task action and click on the Edit Form button in the Task Type section.
  • Expand the “Start event variables” section at the bottom of the left-hand Form Toolbox menu.
  • Expand the “Form variables” section.
  • Find and drag the “Product Selection Repeating Section” (or whatever you named it) control onto the form designer.
    • The controls in this repeating section will be read only on the task form.
    • All the lines of data from the start form repeating section will display in this section.
    • You can move the controls inside the repeating section around to display them as desired.
    • You can change the Title in each control to match the Title from the start form.
• Below are images of the configuration of the “Assign a task to multiple users” action and the resulting workflow task form.