Nintex Workflow - Nintex.Workflow.NWException:Error getting context data for 'SIte Owners'

Auch wenn alle Workflows ohne Fehlermeldung funktionieren kann folgende Fehlermeldung im ULS von SharePoint häufig auftreten:

Nintex.Workflow.NWException: Fehler bei Zugriff auf Kontextdaten von ‘SiteOwners’. ---> System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.  
 at Nintex.Workflow.CommonDataItems.<>c__DisplayClass4.<GetSiteOwners>b__3()  
 at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSecurity.<>c__DisplayClass5.<RunWithElevatedPrivileges>b__3()  
 at Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities.SecurityContext.RunAsProcess(CodeToRunElevated secureCode)  
 at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(WaitCallback secureCode, Object param)  
 at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(CodeToRunElevated secureCode)  
 at Nintex.Workflow.CommonDataItems.GetSiteOwners(ContextDataOptions options)  
 at Nintex.Workflow.CommonDataItems.GetValue(String key, ContextDataOptions options)  
 at Nintex.Workflow.NWContextSiteOwners.get_Data()     -
 -- End of inner exception stack trace --- (Build:3080)

Nintex versucht die Kontextvariable "Site Owners" aufzulösen, auch wenn die nicht in einem Workflow auf der Seite verwendet wird. Der Fehler passiert, weil auf der Seite keine "Site Owner" als "default" hintlegt ist. Überprüfen kann man das, indem mein die URL  aufruft und prüft, ob eine bestehende Gruppe für die "Site Owners" verwendet wird.

Nintex Workflow 2010: User access control - set permissions for allowed actions

In Nintex Workflow 2010 it is pretty simple to set permission for allowed actions, a good way to personalize the actions a designer can use. OK, to restrict the access to workflow actions, you can uncheck the action in the "Manage allowed actions" menu at Central Administration or Site Collection level, too. Do this, and no one will publish or use a workflow with the unchecked action furthermore. And I mean really no one, uncheck a action is not mapped to specific users or groups. Further, Nintex is clever and detect this unchecked actions in User defined actions (UDA) and a workflow with a UDA containing a unchecked action can't be published. Now, if you want restrict the access for "Call a Webservice" or a "Execute SQL" actions for a specific workflow designer group, but also want all other workflow designers to use UDAs containing such actions preconfigured, you have to manage the permissions in the Central Administration. This settings you only can do in the Central Administration, not on the Site Collection or Site Level. OK, to set permissions, go to the Central Administration and clicking "Managed allowed actions" under the "Nintex Workflow Management" header.

 Select the action you want configure and click on "Edit permissions" at the Ribbon.  Now you have the possibility to uncheck the "Make this actions available for all users" check box and change the users or groups with rights on this action.

In my case, I only allow "sps_admin_ak" to configure the "Call a Webservice" action. The user "sps_admin_ak" configure a UDA ( View this post about UDAs ) with the "Call a Webservice" action, for example to set user permissions on a SharePoint list or web. In the next step, any other workflow designer use this UDA in a workflow.

At least, the workflow designer will be able to publish the workflow with the UDA containing the "Call a webservice". He wont be able to use the "Call a Webservice" directly, but can use it preconfigured in a UDA.

Makes sense, I like it :-)

Nintex Workflow 2010: Introduction to User Defined Actions

Hi,

one of the new features in Nintex Workflow 2010 are "User Defined Actions", shortly UDA. Maybe you guess, that a user can define own actions with this new feature - and you are right! A user can build a Workflow in the Workflow designer and save the Workflow as a UDA. Sounds pretty similar to Snippets which is already a feature in Nintex Workflow 2007. The diffrent between Snippets and UDAs is, that UDA is a "black box" with input and output parameters. If a user use a UDA, he can't change the UDA's configuration. OK, now let's have a look how to build a UDA in Nintex Workflow 2010. You can find the UDA Management in the Site Actions menu.

Of course, you can find the UDA Management in the Site Settings, Site Collection Settings and Central Administration, too. In the UDA management, you have several options.

You can create, modify or delete UDAs, import from a Workflow file, export, promote and analyze them. What we want to do is to create a new one. If you click at the Create Button, the Nintex Workflow Designer is opening. The first thing we have to do is to define parameters for the UDA. This are the parameters, a user using our UDA can configure in the Action Configuration. You can find the parameter settings at the "UDA settings" in the Workflow designer Ribbon.

I defined two input parameters for a SiteURL and for a Person or Group. Now I'm ready to build my Workflow. I can use the parameters like variables.

I designed a worklow which is setting user permissions on a SharePoint Site, using the SharePoint WebServices and depending on the input parameters. Finally, I published the Workflow in the usual way. Now, the UDA can be used in other Workflows.

Other Workflow Designers now only have to put this UDA to a Workflow and configure the input parameters to setup User permissions to another site in a Workflow easily.

At my opinion, the UDA feature is one of the  best new features in Nintex Workflow 2010, because it offers the possibility to make the already user friendly Workflow Designer even more friendly for Power Users or Business Users.

Have fun,

Andreas

Nintex Workflow 2010 released!

Nintex released Nintex Workflow 2010, the follower of Nintex Workflow 2007! Nintex offers with the 2010 product release a new version of their liked workflow engine built in SharePoint 2010. Some of the key features of the new version are:

• Sharepoint 2010 like Ribbon interface,
• New SharePoint 2010 features like "Site Workflows",
• Integration in Infopath, Excel Services and Business Integration services,
• Integration to Microsoft CRM,
• User defined actions,
• Print View,
• ...

Find more about Nintex Workflow 2010 at the product page.

Regards,

Andreas

SharePoint and Nintex Workflow 2007: New database server

What's to do if you have to change the a database server in an existing SharePoint Farm for a new one? And what's happening with existing Nintex Workflow 2007 installations?
To exchange the database server used by SharePoint, you habe to do the following steps:

1. Make a full backup via SharePoint Central Administration.
2. Use the "SharePoint Products and Technologie Configuration Wizard" to disjoin every single SharePoint Server from the SharePoint farm.
3. Use the "SharePoint Products and Technologie Configuration Wizard" to create a NEW farm (wich means you create a new SharePoint Configuration database) and take the new database server for configuration settings.Join every single Server to the SharePoint farm.
4. Restore the full backup via CentralAdministration in the SharePoint Farm.

After this steps, your SharePoint farm use a new database server and should contain the old content and functionality. But what's with the Nintex Workflow databases? Contains the full backup the databases? Can you turn off the old database server? NO!!! You can't! Nintex Databases aren't include in a SharePoint backup, you have to transfer them to the new Database Server manuallly, p.e. with a database backup and restore.

After this, you have to update the internal reference of the Content DBs to the new server. This you can do with the nwadmin tool. You find this tool under the path C:\Program Files\Nintex\Nintex Workflow 2007\ in standard installations.
You have to run the following command line:

NWAdmin.exe -o UpdateContentDatabase -serverName serverName [-databaseName databaseName] [-newServerName newServerName] [-newDatabaseName newDatabaseName] [-integrated

-username username -password password]
 
Run this command line in the cmd and replace the parameters with you own values. After runing this command line, the references of your Nintex Databases will be updated.
Further information about UpdateContentDatabase operation with all parameters or and other nwadmin operations you can find in this pdf.
 
Regards,
 
Andreas