Scoping Out Property Bags

OnBase Property Bags are variables you can use to temporarily store and retrieve values throughout the Workflow process. In addition to holding Keyword values or other metadata, they are an excellent tool for use with Workflow Expressions and can also be used to communicate between Workflow Actions and Unity Scripts or User Forms. And, as of OnBase 12, there are 2 different types: Session and Scoped.

Session Property Bags exist for an entire session or the entire time a user is logged into the Unity Client. They don’t clear their values until you either manually clear them or close the current OnBase session.

The values in Scoped Property Bags persist only for the duration of the processing of a single document in Workflow and are cleared once the task execution on that document is complete. If you don’t need a variable to persist throughout the user’s login session, Scoped is generally the safest option, when available. (User Forms and some Workflow Actions cannot use Scoped Property Bags.)

Note that Property names are case-sensitive in the Classic Client. Property names are not case-sensitive in the Core based clients. For ease of use, we recommend always naming properties starting with “prop_”.

User Forms and the Workflow Property Bag

In OnBase 7.2 and higher, a Session Property Bag value can be set by a user using a user form and the Form – Display HTML Form for This Document and/or Form – Display HTML Form for Related Document Workflow Actions.

The form field must be configured in the following format:

OB_WFPROPERTY_propertyname_instancenumber

For example, a form field for a property named “Sample” that should only have one instance in the property bag would be configured as:

OB_WFPROPERTY_Sample_1

Multiple instances of a property can be configured for input.

Note: The instance number must be in place, even if there is only one instance. Without the instance number, the form field will fail and the property will not be input into the property bag.

Note: This form field applies only to user forms. If it is used on an E-Form, no action will be taken on any data input into the form field. E-Form fields configured in the above format will need to be changed to continue to function properly in Workflow.