Transition Action Dialog Box

Use the Transition Action dialog box to define the actions that are triggered by a transition.

To display the dialog box:
  1. Click a transition in the workflow editor.
  2. In the Properties dialog box, on the Actions tab, click Add Action, or click an action and then click Edit Action.
Description Type a description.
For Send Mail actions, the description is used as the subject line for the message. To include system variables, click and select a variable (see Transition Action Variables). For example: File %filename% is ready for approval.
You can include system variables only for Send Mail actions.
Type Select an action type. Different options are available depending on the action type you select. For more information, see Type-Specific Options below.

Comment

Sets the transition comment for automatic workflow transition.

Execute command

Runs an external system command or program.

Execute task

Initiates the execution of a task.

Export data to XML

Exports data from SOLIDWORKS in XML format.

Import data from XML

Imports XML data into SOLIDWORKS.

Inc. Revision

Automatically increments the file's revision number.

Send Mail

Sends a customized notification to a user or group.

Set Variable

Updates a value in the file data card.

Type-specific options appear at the bottom of the dialog box based on your selection.

Comment, Execute command, Execute task, Export data to XML, and Import data from XML are not available in the workflow of a standard vault.
Run for items (SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional only) Apply this action to items. See Items (For SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional only).
Run for named bills of materials (SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional only) (Not available when Type is Set Variable.) Apply this action to named BOMs.
Run for files (SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional only) Apply this action to files. When selected, you can limit the action to certain file types using Only run for files with these extensions.
Only run for files with these extensions (SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional only) (Only available when Run for files is selected.) Limit the action to certain file types. Type one or more file extensions, separated by semicolons (;).

SOLIDWORKS PDM Standard supports the files with SLDDRW extension only.

Type-Specific Options

The following table describes the options that become available when you select specific action types in the dialog box.

Type Options
Comment (SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional only)
This option is available only for automatic workflow transitions. When you change the workflow transition from automatic to parallel or normal, a warning appears.

Transition Comment

Lets you enter a comment that will be processed during an automatic workflow transition. This comment appears in the transition line of the file's history. To include system variables, click and select a variable.

You can enter characters up to 250.
Execute Command ( SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional only)

Enter command to execute

Specifies the full path to the executable (as seen from the client computer performing the transition), or the name of the executable if it is already registered in Windows (such as Notepad or WordPad). Specify the path as if launching the executable from the command line or Start > Run.

Wait until the started program terminates

Suspends SOLIDWORKS PDM activity (for example, no other transition actions are run) until the program completes.
Execute Task (SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional only)

Select task to execute

Initiates the execution of the selected task. See Tasks.
Export Data to XML (SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional only)

Select export script to use

Exports data from SOLIDWORKS in XML format (for example, for use by an ERP system). Select an export script. See Export Rule Dialog Box.
Import Data from XML (SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional only)

Filename of file to import from (use *as wildcard)

Imports XML data (for example, from an ERP application). See Import Rule Dialog Box. Type the name of the XML file to import. You can use the * wildcard. To include system variables, click and select a variable.

Inc. Revision
SOLIDWORKS PDM does not write the revision number to a data file data card variable as part of the Inc. Revision action. Create a separate Set Variable action if needed.

Revision Comment

Lets you enter a comment for incremental revision that appears in the file's history. To include system variables, click and select a variable.

You can enter up to 250 characters.
Send Mail

To

Lists the user or group to receive the message.

Message

Shows the message body. To include system variables, click and select a variable. For example:

  Brian,
  %projectpath%%filename% is ready to be approved. Thanks. 
  %user%
Variables are replaced by their values at the time the message is generated.
Set Variable
When updating a file data card variable from a transition action, SOLIDWORKS PDM creates a new version of the file. If the file includes references, the references are automatically updated to match the new version.

Variable

Shows the data card variable to update. The read-only Type field shows the variable's data type.

Configuration

Indicates the specific configuration tab of the data card on which the variable is to be updated.

To update all available configurations, leave this field empty.

Value

Sets the variable value. To include system variables, click and select a variable. For example, if you type Checked by %user%, and the login name of the person performing the transition is Bill, then the variable is set to Checked by Bill.

You can also include a source configuration with the system variable. For example, if you select a variable Description, and add a source configuration, MyConfig1 with a delimiter, the Value field displays %var_Description@MyConfig1%. This sets the variable to the description from the source configuration.

If you select Overwrite Latest Version in a transition and configure a set variable action that is linked to a file version, for Value, select Version instead of Next Version as the transition overwrites the topmost file version. The value field for Version displays %version%.

The values of %version% and %nextversion% are calculated based on the current file version before running the transition. For example, if the file version is 3 before transition, the %version% value is 3 and %nextversion% value is 4 after transition. When using overwrite version on a transition, if the value of the variable needs to be the file version after transition, select Version for Value.

Version Comment

Lets you enter a comment that appears in the file's history. To include system variables, click and select a variable.

Version Comment is shared for all set variable actions on a transition. You can enter characters up to 250.

You cannot add a comment to the version free variables that are updated through a transition.

Mapped Approvers (SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional only)

Expand Mapped Approvers to see the roles, role members (Users), and number of approvers that are required to complete this transition.

For example, if you have created the roles Engineering and Manufacturing, the expanded list shows those roles and the users who are members of the roles.

When you select one or more users, SOLIDWORKS PDM stores their user and system data for use as the variable value.

When the selected user approves the transition, the software displays the value in data cards that contain the variable.

This option is available only for parallel workflow transitions.

For more details, see Setting Parallel Approval Data Mapping (For SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional only).

Override Approver Value (SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional only)

To select this option, first expand Mapped Approvers.

When you select Override Approver Value, radio buttons replace the Users check boxes in the Mapped Approvers list.

This lets you select one user whose data is used for the variable value, irrespective of users who actually transition the file.

The software displays the selected user’s data in data cards that contain the variable.

For more details, see Setting Override Approver.