Launch a QBO3 Task from the main menu

Question

I would like to add a Main Menu option to create a new Insurance Claim Filing, where:

• the user should be presented with a custom screen to input required fields
• upon saving a workflow should launch
• the workflow should create a spreadsheet including data entered by the user
• a task should be queued to have a manager review the spreadsheet

How do I accomplish this?

Answer 1

In this case, you want to put a cart before the horse. That is, you will render a child object (a Task) before it's parent object (Process) is created. Leveraging QBO's related table data pattern and a tiny bit of javascript will bind the Process, Task, Document and Workflow together nicely.

By leveraging a QBO's related table data feature,

Consider configuring the following:

• a Task Template called Insurance Claim Data Entry
  • include whatever user-defined fields you want
  • add a field named Process_Process: this will trigger the task to create an Process
    • set the onchange javascript handler to call ensureProcess() (see below)
  • add a hidden field named Process_ProcessTemplateID: this will dictate the Process Template the Process is based on, and in turn, trigger the automatic creation of a workflow
  • add the following javascript function from the Task GUI Designer:

function ensureProcess() {
    var task = qbo3.getObject('FormEdit');
    task.options.url = 'Decision/ImportForm.ashx/';
    document.id('FormEdit').getElement('input[name=Object]').value = 'Process';
    document.id('FormEdit').getElement('input[name=Process_ProcessTemplateID]').value = '1';
}

• a Workflow Template called Insurance Claim Filing
  • Step 1: a Task named Insurance Claim Data Entry
  • Step 2: a Document named Insurance Claim Analysis
  • Step 3: a Task named Insurance Claim Review
• a Process Template called Insurance Claim Filing
  • set it up to automatically launch an Insurance Claim Filing workflow when it's created

Tasks can be rendered before their parent exists by calling:

/api/ImportFormTemplate/RenderForm?ID={a task template id}

You can add to the Main Menu, replacing {a task template id} with the ID of your Task Template named Insurance Claim Data Entry.

When a user clicks on the Main Menu link to call ImportFormTemplate/RenderForm, the Task will be rendered. Key concepts to note:

• the Process_Process field is required, and a lynchpin to creating the Task's Parent object (in this case a Process).
• the Process_ProcessTemplateID ensures that the newly created Process uses the Process Template you created
• the Process Template you configured will automatically launch a workflow whenever a Process based upon it is created
• the Workflow will automatically bind to the just-created Insurance Claim Data Entry task that kicked the whole thing off, because it's configured with a Repeatability of One per parent