What's New in Nintex Automation (5.7)

The latest release expands on the previous release with new features, enhancements, and bug fixes.

  • The Designer
    • Style Profile Designer preview form: You can now select which form you want to view your customizations on in the preview pane of the Developer tab. This helps with troubleshooting while working on a specific form.
    • The Check Box, Rating, and Radio Button controls are now style profile aware. You can set the background color, the outline, and the main color for each control type using the advanced colors. If you are using custom code (CSS) that targets these controls, your custom code may no longer work.
    • The ToolBar Button control's icon is also now style profile aware. You can set the icon's highlight, destructive, base, and base secondary color using the advanced colors. If you are using custom code (CSS) that targets the icon of this control, your custom code may no longer work.
  • SharePoint
    • Nintex Automation for SharePoint app:
      • From Nintex Automation (5.7) onwards there are two different apps for SharePoint. The legacy Nintex K2 for SharePoint: used for SharePoint on-premises and upgraded environments for SharePoint Online, and Nintex Automation for SharePoint: used on new installations for SharePoint Online.
      • Existing customers upgrading to Nintex Automation (5.7) use the legacy app from the SharePoint App Catalog for all SharePoint environments. New installations of Nintex Automation use the legacy app from the SharePoint App Catalog for SharePoint on-premises, and the new Nintex Automation for SharePoint app (SPFx) for SharePoint Online. See Nintex Automation for SharePoint app overview for more information about the new app.
  • Management
    • New property added to Exchange Online Email SmartObject List method, called "From Address".
  • Installer
    • For enhancements and new prerequisites when installing or upgrading, see the Nintex Automation Installation and Configuration Guide's What's New topic.
  • Nintex branding
    • Nintex branding has been applied to Nintex K2 Five for alignment with the Nintex product suite. Nintex K2 Five is now called Nintex Automation.
  • Workflow Designer
    • Changes in autosave:
      • The Workflow Designer previously used SignalR to autosave changes at every click. SignalR has been removed in this version to enhance performance in the Workflow Designer. The autosave that triggers every two minutes still remains.
      • If a workflow closes unexpectedly, it now remains locked and reverts to the last saved version. When you edit the workflow, a pop-up allows you to unlock it and retrieve the last saved version. The owner of the workflow can also unlock it from the workflow menu in the category tree of the Designer.
  • Management
    • Licenses:
      • With Nintex Automation 5.7 FP02 the functionality has changed for expired licenses. A check is now done on a daily basis for expired licenses and if your license has expired, you no longer have access to components such as Designer, Workspace, and Management. You must request a new license key and use Setup Manager to update your license. You can also customize the setting for the daily expired license check.

  • Support for InfoPath was removed in Nintex K2 Five (5.0) and was tightly coupled with SharePoint 2010 which prevented upgrades if SharePoint 2010 components were installed, however some components of InfoPath remained installed. With Nintex K2 Five (5.5), these remaining components were removed. Any legacy workflows built in Nintex K2 Studio or Nintex K2 for Visual Studio using InfoPath wizards will receive an error. Rebuild all affected workflows in the latest Workflow Designer.

  • Internet Explorer 11 is unsupported and the Designer and runtime functionality is blocked.

  • Microsoft has ended support for Silverlight on October 12, 2021. As a result the legacy Silverlight designer has been blocked from the product in Nintex K2 Five (5.5) and removed in Nintex K2 Five (5.6). If you upgraded from Nintex K2 blackpearl 4.7 to Nintex K2 Five and are still using workflows built in the Silverlight designer, you must rebuild these in the Workflow Designer (HTML) before upgrading to the latest version or remain on Nintex K2 Five (5.4). A script is available to help you identify how many and which workflows were designed in the legacy designer. The scripts are available in KB003656 - Important update regarding Internet Explorer 11 and Nintex K2 Five.
  • Before upgrading to a newer version of the product, ensure there are no dependency issues in your solutions. See Dependency Checking for information about dependencies and how to resolve dependency issues.
  • The jQuery version used in SmartForms has been upgraded to jQuery 3.6.3 and all jQuery libraries updated to reduce vulnerabilities and ensure your solutions are secure. See jQuery upgrade for SmartForms for more information and how it affects existing solutions.
  • SharePoint integration - See Nintex Automation for SharePoint app overview for considerations when using the legacy Nintex K2 for SharePoint app and the new Nintex Automation for SharePoint app.
  • Microsoft has ended support for Silverlight on October 12, 2021. As a result the legacy Silverlight designer has been blocked from the product in Nintex K2 Five (5.5) and removed in Nintex K2 Five (5.6). If you upgraded from Nintex K2 blackpearl 4.7 to Nintex K2 Five and are still using workflows built in the Silverlight designer, you must rebuild these in the Workflow Designer (HTML) before upgrading to the latest version or remain on Nintex K2 Five (5.4). A script is available to help you identify how many and which workflows were designed in the legacy designer. The scripts are available in KB003656 - Important update regarding Internet Explorer 11 and Nintex K2 Five.
  • When installing K2 connect (5.3) on Nintex Automation (5.7), ensure you use the K2 connect (5.3) (5.0006.1000.2) version of the installer.
  • If you replace an existing Task step with a new Task step in a workflow, and the Form rules of the existing SmartForm Task remain but it shows the new Task’s name, follow the following article to successfully fix the issue: Known Issue : Old Workflow Task name in SmartForm overwritten by new Task

  • Issue:
    When installing or upgrading to Nintex Automation (5.7) an error may occur and show in the installer log.
    Error:
    "Failed executing external process. Exception: SharePointOnlineManagementShell_22713-12000_en-us.msi did not complete execution, navigate to [Install location]\Nintex Automation (5.7) (5.0008.1000.0)\Installation\Redist\Redistributable\SharePoint Online Management Shell\SharePointOnlineManagementShell_22713-12000_en-us.msi and run the executable."
    Resolution:
    1. From Programs and Features, remove the existing SharePoint Online Management Shell.
    2. Navigate to the following location:
      [InstallDirectory]\Nintex Automation (5.7) (5.0008.1000.0)\Installation\Redist\Redistributable\SharePoint Online Management Shell.
    3. Run the SharePointOnlineManagementShell_22713-12000_en-us.msi to install the new SharePoint Online Management Shell Redistributable.
    4. In the Setup Manager, run the Configuration Analysis again.

  • Issue:
    When you configure a specific custom workflow step created for a single SQL Service Instance and Service Object in a workflow, the configuration panel allows you to select a service instance that is not linked to the specific custom workflow step.
  • Issue:
    When using the new Nintex Automation for SharePoint app to create a workflow and you select "an item was deleted" to start the workflow, an error occurred in the Windows Event Viewer. To see the error, follow the steps below:
    1. Search for Event Viewer from your Start menu to open the Windows Event Viewer.
    2. Expand Applications and Services Logs and select the K2 category to see the error.
    Error:
    "An error has occurred in a K2 for SharePoint component.
    [Error details]:
    24408 XX:XX\XXX-XXTEST111-XXSvc does not have rights to Start Process siteA Documents\Documents Workflow"
    Resolution:
    Restart the K2 Service
    OR
    In Management>Workflows Server Rights, remove the K2 Service Account and then re-add it
  • Issue:
    If your browser and K2 server is in different regions and the K2 for SharePoint Registration Wizard or other SmartObject executions fail with below error, there may be an issue or delay with synchronizing K2 Trust database entries for your tenant across regions. Please log a support ticket mentioning your tenant Id (Look up from Management Site > Authentication > OAuth Resources > MSOA > entity id parameter value) for assistance.
    Error:
    “Error issuing app only token”
    Resolution:
    Use a workstation browser that matches the region of the Hostserver
    OR
    Directly run the wizard from the Hostserver

    To determine which K2 Trust service your server is accessing, execute the following command from the Hostserver:
    • Copy 
    nslookup trust.k2.com
    You can infer the region used from the DNS name returned, e.g. k2trust-a-westus.cloudapp.net for West US, East Asia or West Europe respectively.

Nintex Automation (5.7) includes:

  • Nintex K2Five (5.6) Fix Packs 1 to 23.
  • When using a Set Variables step in a workflow and you drag variables or environment fields that are longer than what is visible in the field, you could not navigate to the beginning of the variable text.
  • When a variable is populated with HTML using the Set Variables step in a workflow, then using the variable in an email, the HTML did not render correctly at runtime.
  • When the Smartfield Composer for a function or SmartObject in a workflow is closed after the initial configuration, you could not edit it again.
  • When transferring data into a Picker control on a form containing a style profile, characters containing a part below the baseline (tail) such as g and y did not resolve correctly as shown in the image below.
  • When creating a custom workflow step and selecting a Service Type from the Create tab of the custom step management form, the Service Object drop-down list did not show all the related Service Objects. See Known Issues section.
  • When configuring the Watermark property of the Rich Text control and using the control on a form, then applying a style profile to the form, the watermark did not show at runtime.
  • When configuring the Variables of a SmartObject step in a workflow, the drop-down list did not expand.
  • When a user is configured as “out of office” and the “forwarded user” tries to open a subview from the worklist task, a “worklist item could not be opened…user is not allowed to open the worklist item… “ error occurred.
  • After upgrading to K2 Cloud Update 16 and trying to open a View Flow, the View Flow did not load.
  • When configuring working hours in Management, selecting a Start Time or End Time between 12:00 AM and 12:59 AM, then adding the configuration and clicking Finish, the AM changed to PM.
  • When an Out of Office task is forwarded to a user, the user could not access the task and an “Unable to cast object of type 'SourceCode.Forms.Runtime.Execution.WorkflowBrokerMetaData' to type 'SourceCode.Forms.Runtime.Execution.SmartObjectBrokerMetaData'." error occurred.
  • When replacing an existing Task step with a new Task step in a workflow, the Form rules of the existing SmartForm Task remained but it was showing the new Task’s name. Follow the steps below to successfully apply the fix:
    1. Edit the following file: [K2 install folder]/K2Designer/Web/K2DesignerHost/configs/environments/environment.config.json.
    2. Search for the following in the file:
      Copy
      "activityNamingStategy": {
                                              "random": false
                          },    
    3. Change the value false to true.
    4. Clear browser cache.
  • When creating a Custom Voting Rule on a Task step in a workflow and using any of the operators in the rule to set the number of responses, an ‘AtLeast’ function was applied to all operators selected.
  • When configuring a SmartForm for a workflow task, the remove references icon did not appear for configuring References on the Open Task on a Form page.
  • When a workflow contains a Task step using a Text > Split function in the Task Notification, a “500 Server Error” error occurred when trying to edit the workflow.
  • When you select Start with a SharePoint List under the start event in the Workflow Designer and then select a SharePoint subsite, a 500 server error occurred. It is recommended to clear your browser cache to successfully apply the fix.
  • When configuring an email reminder on a Task step, using the Infinite setting in the Repetitions field, and using a variable containing an empty value, caused reminders to be sent every second infinitely. Follow the steps below to successfully apply the fix:
    1. Delete the reminder by clicking the Trash bin.
    2. Click the Email Reminder link to recreate the reminder.
  • When dragging a REST service Service Object into the Methods section of an Advanced SmartObject, manually mapping a parameter to a property, and clicking the Finish button to save the mappings, the Finish button did not respond.

See Nintex Automation (5.7) Fix Packs.