Branching based on Extended Property Table

[BryanBoutz1]

I have a workflow that needs to branch based on the value of extended property.  My intent was to use the Workflow Manager ???ReturnValue??? custom step type to read the value using a token and a conditional value path to route accordingly.  The problem is that the field is a date and Workflow Manager can only work with integers for conditional paths.  I don't see a way to use a function on the returned value to convert it into an int.  I'd like to avoid having to deploy a custom developed step to each client,  so I'm looking for a work around.

One option is to add a computed column to the Extended Property table that implements the necessary date to int business logic.  Does anyone know if that will work, or will Workflow Manager expose it as an editable field then get grumpy if someone tries to manually edit it?  If so, then I will probably try to do the same thing using insert and update triggers instead.

This seems like it would be a common problem.  Any other suggestions?

[Anonymous User]

Hi Bryan,

Return value only supports integers, as it needs to match the value to a return code. We are considering a range of enhancements to this functionality, and I will note your request in our backlog.

In the meantime, my recommendation would be to write a python script to perform this comparison and get it to return an integer value (example exit(3)) that you've configured on a subsequent step path. Like what you would do for return value.

Run your python script using the 'Executable' step type.

If you have any other questions please let me know.

Cheers,
Michael