Managing workflow history
Both SharePoint and Nintex Workflow store information about workflow history. However, the mechanisms used and the information stored varies between the two products.
SharePoint logs information about each workflow instance to a hidden SharePoint list. The default list used by Nintex workflows is named NintexWorkflowHistory, and can be accessed directly from a SharePoint site by using the following URL, where <Site> is the URL of the SharePoint site:
http://<Site>/Lists/NintexWorkflowHistory
Nintex workflows can use other workflow history lists, if defined, as well. The information stored in the SharePoint list is SharePoint-specific, driven by Windows Workflow Foundation, and can be used by other SharePoint tools and utilities.
Nintex Workflow 2013 also logs information about each workflow instance, but that information is stored in several tables within the Nintex Workflow content database. The tables store more detail about the workflow instances, including Nintex-specific information. The amount and detail of information is determined by the Allow verbose workflow logging global setting in Nintex Workflow 2013. If this global setting is enabled, much more detail regarding the execution and performance of workflows is stored in the database.
For more information about how SharePoint and Nintex log workflow history, see Demystifying Workflow History (Part 1).
You can use two service operations, GetWorkflowHistory and GetWorkflowHistoryForListItem, to access the workflow history stored by Nintex Workflow 2013, depending on the workflow type.
Getting history for site workflows
You can use the GetWorkflowHistory service operation to retrieve workflow history for site workflow instances, filtered by workflow name and workflow state. For more information about how to understand the information returned by GetWorkflowHistory, see Understanding workflow history.
Getting history for reusable and list workflows
You can use the GetWorkflowHistory service operation to retrieve workflow history for reusable and list workflows on a file in a SharePoint document library, or you can use the GetWorkflowHistoryForListItem service operation to retrieve workflow history for reusable and list workflows on a list item in a SharePoint list. For more information about how to understand the information returned by GetWorkflowHistory and GetWorkflowHistoryForListItem, see Understanding workflow history.
Understanding workflow history
The information returned by the GetWorkflowHistory and GetWorkflowHistoryForListItem service operations is represented by a collection of WorkflowLog objects, from the Nintex.Workflow.Reports namespace. Each WorkflowLog object represents a single log entry for a single workflow instance.
The WorkflowLog object, in turn, contains two important collections:
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Activities
A collection of ActivityLogInfo objects, each of which represents log information for a workflow activity included in the workflow instance.
Note: If verbose logging is not enabled, some properties, such as the BeforeProperties and AfterProperties collections, may not be available from the ActivityLogInfo object. For more information, see ActivityLogInfo Class.
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HumanTasks
A collection of HumanTaskLogInfo objects, each of which represents a single user action for a workflow instance. For example, task responses for workflow tasks are logged as HumanTaskLogInfo objects.
In addition to these collections, the WorkflowLog object also provides access to the workflow history information logged by SharePoint. The WorkflowHistory property provides a DataTable object that contains the first 2000 list items from the workflow history list for the workflow instance.