Gravity Flow 2.9 Released

We’re excited to announce that Gravity Flow version 2.9.2 is now available via auto-update and for download from your Account area.

Gravity Flow 2.9 is a major release and sees an important addition that we know many of our community are going to love – Editable Fields for all step types!

With this new update, you can now define or select Editable Fields on all step types, streamlining your workflows and allowing asigned users to easily edit specific fields.

Let’s find out more…

Note: Caching and script optimization plugins and services have been known to cause problems with the functionality of features when Gravity Flow is updated to the latest version. To counter this issue, we recommend clearing/flushing all caches including the browser cache following all updates.

Editable Fields: The Approval Step

With Gravity Flow 2.9, you will now be able to use the Editable Field setting in an Approval step, which will significantly improve workflow design.

Up until now, to enable assignees to approve an entry with a modified field value, a combination of Approval Step with the Revert setting connected to a User Input step has been required. This can now all be handled as a single Approval step.

Within the Approval step under Editable Fields, simply define which of the fields you’d like to make editable by clicking on the field in the list on the left to move it to the list of editable fields on the right.

However, keep in mind, this may not always be the right change for your use case. For example:

• Are you using one-click approval links in notifications?
  Prior to 2.9, an assignee could approve/reject the entry with one click in the email regardless of what values did/not exist in a required field. With 2.9 and the Editable Fields setting on a step marking a required field as editable, if the entry happens to have a blank value in it when the assignee clicks the same link they will now see a field validation warning in the Entry Details page. They will have to provide a value for that field in order to approve or reject.
• Does your step have lots of fields or a few very large paragraph fields?
  Converting to an Approval step may not be ideal as it does not have the Save Progress setting which User Input steps provide. If you do not expect an assignee to complete writing or reviewing essays or large applications, the save progress setting which bypasses required field validation is essential. It is only when they select to submit the step – to indicate they are done – that validation occurs.

Check out the Gravity Flow documentation on Configuring the Approval Process for more information on using the Editable Field setting with the Approval step.

Editable Fields: Custom Steps

Until now, there has been no easy way for developers to enable Editable Fields for a custom step type.

With 2.9, any custom steps you create, or have created, can incorporate the Editable Fields setting. To do so:

• Define a trait at the start of the class via use Editable_Fields;
• Ensure your get_settings function includes the standard assignee type, list and routing calls.

public function get_settings() {
	return array(
		'title'  =>; 'My Custom Step',
		'fields' => array(
			$settings_api->get_setting_assignee_type(),
			$settings_api->get_setting_assignees(),
			$settings_api->get_setting_assignee_routing(),
		),
	);
}

By following the above, your custom step will connect all the relevant functions and UI elements to allow editable fields to be defined and handled.

For more information on adding the Editable Fields setting to custom steps, check out the Gravity Flow custom workflow step framework documention.

Gravity Flow Changelog 2.9

• All step types can now define ‘use Editable_Fields;’ as part of their step class to have the editable fields step setting / functionality added to the step.
• Updated Approval step type to include editable fields setting.
• Updated User Input step type to include editable fields setting.
• Updated step settings screens to reduce page reloads required to create/update a step.
• Fixed an issue that causes Nested Form fields on a User Input Workflow Step to produce a fatal error on submission.
• Fixed an issue with outgoing webhook steps displaying an error if a GET request includes no request field values.
• Fixed an issue with inbox settings flyout where the component’s icon is missing.
• Fixed an issue with editable fields which causes the setting to use the wrong UI.

Gravity Flow 2.9.1 Changelog 

• API: Added filter gravityflow_step_notification_assignees to allow customization of notification assignees with syntax matching the gravityflow_step_assignees filter.
• API: Added support for gravityflow_editable_fields_[step_type] filter which any step type that supports editable fields will perform.
• API: Fixed support for gravityflow_editable_fields_user_input filter to perform after gravityflow_editable_fields filter.

Gravity Flow 2.9.2 Changelog 

• Fixed an error where conditional routing settings cannot be saved on the notification step.

Any questions on Gravity Flow 2.9 or how to update the plugin? Feel free to contact our friendly and knowledgeable Support team.

Vote On Future Features!

Being able to define or select Editable Fields on all step types has been one of our most requested features to date, so we are delighted to release it in 2.9.

Have your say on future Gravity Flow features by heading over to our Roadmap and voting on what you’d like to see!