What's New in K2 Five (5.4)

• Integration
  • Custom Steps: Extend your environment by adding custom steps in the workflow designer. These custom steps can help speed development time in workflows, since you can now expose Service Object methods as steps in the workflow designer toolbox, allowing easier drag-and-drop configuration of workflow steps that use SmartObjects to interact with other systems and technologies.

• K2 Designer
• K2 About Dialog: Use the About Dialog page to determine the current version of K2 in your environment. You can also view and copy a list of previously installed versions and fix packs, and download the list as a CSV file.

• API
• Register a custom Event Bus receiver to take an action when a workflow goes into an error state at runtime. For example, you may want to send an email notification to your IT helpdesk when a workflow encounters an error so that a system administrator can investigate and repair the error. For more information see KB003546 - Handling the On Any Workflow Error Event with the Event Bus.

• Installer
• For enhancements and new prerequisites when installing or upgrading, see the K2 Five Installation and Configuration Guide's What's New topic.

Integration
• Cloud Storage Broker: Added methods to the File and Folder SmartObjects for retrieving items or properties - Get Info by ID, Get Share URL by ID, and Get Share URL. Note that the Cloud Storage features (Box, Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive) and the Dynamics 365 for Sales feature are no longer available from the Features page in K2 Management. If you previously enabled these features you can continue to manage the existing service instances via K2 Management> Integration> Service types page.
• Exchange Broker: Added a From field to the Email SmartObject to enable Microsoft Outlook Send On Behalf of or Send As functionality.

• SAP HANA: Integrate K2 and SAP HANA by using an OData endpoint and the OData Service Type to create SmartObjects that represent SAP data/entities. Once the SmartObjects are created, you can integrate with SAP HANA from workflows, SmartForms, and other components that can interact with K2 SmartObjects. See KB003461 - How To: Integrate K2 and SAP HANA using an OData service instance.

• SmartObject system mappings: You can now use current date and time, and current user details as system values in advanced SmartObjects.
• REST service type Set query string spaces encoding using theUse legacy query string parameter encoding service key, either current encoding (+) or legacy encoding (%20).
• SmartObjects
  • UMUser : Added two methods, Get Roles for User and Get Roles for Groups, to the UMUser system SmartObject. Executing the new methods with the input properties returns a list of roles or groups the user belongs to.
• Workflow
  • Validation: When you select the Before Deadline option on the Task step but you have not defined a deadline on the Deadline tab, a validation indicator shows on both the Email reminder and the Redirect reminder. For more information see Error Console and Indicators.
  • Task reminders: Added SmartObject Reminder to the Reminders tab on the Task step. Use this option to add a SmartObject reminder that calls a SmartObject method after an interval, or on a specific date and time. This reminder can be used in many ways such as updating a SharePoint list or send a text message to the person who is working on the task, reminding them that they have an outstanding task.
  • Reminder emails: Use the Rich Text Editor to customize the look of reminder emails with rich text and HTML content.
  • Start Workflow SmartAssist: Added a How will your workflow start? tip message to the Start step when building a workflow. This tip acts as a visual reminder that your workflow does not have any automatic start events and might need configuration. This tip replaces the previous yellow spanner icon.
  • Deploy message: Added a Workflow Start Events warning message when deploying a workflow. This message acts as a visual reminder that your workflow does not have any automatic start events and might need configuration. The Show Me button takes you to the Start step where you can configure the start event on the step.
  • Split step: Added a port limitation to the Split step when designing a workflow. Each step has a limit of 12 ports for connecting incoming and outgoing lines to a Split step. This means you need to cater for both incoming lines and split paths, and ensure that the total does not exceed 12 ports. Example: If you connect one incoming line from another step, 11 of the 12 ports are still available. If you connect two incoming lines, 10 ports are still available.
  • Save Function Result: Added the Set Variable function to the Data section in the Context Browser. Use this function to update a value of an existing variable. You can drag this function into any SmartField and use the Smartfield Composer to configure the function. You can easily use the variable containing the function multiple times anywhere in the workflow.
  • Configuration Panel: When you add a Logic (Decision, End, Merge, Split, Timer or Loop) step onto a Placeholder step and no label is specified, the Show Label check box will be unchecked. Check the check box to show a label. All other steps dragged onto the Placeholder step keep the step name and the Show Label check box is checked by default.
  • DocuSign: The Body field on the Create Envelope step is no longer a required field.
  • Step tab validation: Design-time validation messages now appear on step tabs, to indicate missing or deleted references and variables, and highlight missing or incorrect configuration on the step.
  • Edit previously deployed workflow: You can now load a previous version of a deployed workflow, edit it, and re-deploy it.
  • Set email importance: You can now set the importance on an email by selecting a priority level. You can do this for the email on the Send Email step, and the Email Reminder on the Task step.

  • Reporting: Wait for System: Improved reporting capabilities on a workflow allows you to quickly see what took the longest on the Workflow Instance and where adjustments are required. The Activity Duration report now includes the duration of a sub-workflow and SmartObject Method (wait for external system) steps.

  • Error console Copy Button: use the Copy button in the workflow Error Console window to copy all the error messages' text to the clipboard, and then paste somewhere else such as Microsoft Notepad, an email or Word.
  • SmartObject and SmartObject property validation: Design-time validation messages now appear to indicate missing or deleted SmartObject and SmartObject properties. Also highlight missing or incorrect configuration on the step.
  • Task instruction: You can add up to 4000 characters in the Instruction field when you configure the Task tab on the Task step.
• SmartForms
  • Forms: Added a new property, Background Image, that you can use, for example, to brand a form with a custom background image.
  • Forms: Renamed the Form properties section headers and moved properties into the appropriate sections.
  • Button Control: Added a new property, Style, to the button control that you can use to apply action styling to buttons, for example Quiet Action or Destructive Action.
  • Table control: Several changes have been made to the table control, improving ease of use and styling. After upgrading you may notice that existing forms look different at runtime, especially forms that have been customized by using custom themes or custom styles. Refer to KB003514 - Updates required for custom CSS for steps on fixing your forms. Below are the enhancements made to the table control.

    • Table control: You can now move the Table control using the move widget. This allows you to easily move the control on the canvas.

    • Table column resize: You can now use the column resize widget to change the column width of a table. Set column size by percentage, pixels or drag columns to resize.
    • Table copy format to new row: This enhancement allows the first row of a table to be configured then use the insert-row button to get the rest of the table styled in the same format.

• K2 Management Site
  • Task List : You can now release a task assigned to a role, and view the role members. For an example of releasing a task assigned to a role, see the Scenario: 1 Recipient, 1 Role (do not resolve group to individuals), 2 Responses, where 1 task is released by Administrator topic.

  • Sorting and filtering: You can now more easily sort and filter long lists on the Workflow error log and the roles pages in K2 Management. This makes it easier to find what you are looking for when searching on these pages.

• The Cloud Storage features (Box, Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive) and the Dynamics 365 for Sales feature are no longer available from the Features page in K2 Management. If you previously enabled these features you can continue to manage the existing service instances via K2 Management> Integration> Service types page.
  

• Package and Deployment: All the Package and Deployment SmartObjects and Service Objects were deprecated in K2 Five . These artifacts are removed and no longer supported. If you upgraded from a previous version, you can still find them in K2 Management > System > Package and Deployment or K2 Management > Integration > Service Instances. Keep in mind, if you currently use any of these SmartObjects or Service Objects in your solutions, they are no longer supported or maintained. For a list of the deprecated artifacts, see the table below:

  SmartObjects
  Name	System Name
  CheckList	CheckList_PackagingDeploymentService
  Complex Type	ComplexType_PackagingDeploymentService
  Deployment Result	DeploymentResult_PackagingDeploymentService
  File Handler	File_Handler
  Progress	Progress
  Property	Property_PackagingDeploymentService
  Session	Session_PackagingDeploymentService
  Validation Result	Validation_Result
  Variable	Variable_PackagingDeploymentService
  Service Object
  Name	System Name
  Checklist	Checklist
  Complex Type	ComplexType
  Deployment Result	DeploymentResult
  File Handler	FileHandler
  Progress	Progress
  Property	Property
  Session	Session
  Validation Result	ValidationResult
  Variable	Variable

• Package and Deployment: In K2 Five the Package button no longer shows on the K2 for SharePoint artifacts page. To create a package of your solution, open K2 Package and Deployment. For more information see, K2 Package And Deployment.

• Before upgrading to a newer version of K2, ensure there are no dependency issues in your solutions. See Dependency Checking for information about dependencies and how to resolve dependency issues.
• If you are using K2 for SharePoint, you must re-run the K2 for SharePoint registration wizard after upgrade.
• A number of changes have been made to the Table Control, improving ease of use and styling. After upgrading, you may notice that existing forms look different at runtime, especially forms that have been customized by using custom themes or custom styles. Refer to KB003514 - Updates required for custom CSS for steps on fixing your forms.

• Issue: After upgrading to K2 Five (5.4), the following error could occur when executing the Folder SmartObject ListContents method in the deprecated Cloud Storage brokers: Error Message: "Service returned a property in the resultset that is not on the ServiceObject: Service: 'CE- Box' ServiceObject: 'Folder' Property: 'com_k2_cloud_storage_ProviderLink'".
  Workaround: To resolve the error, refresh the service instance and re-generate the SmartObjects .
• Issue:When inserting a new row/column, the previous row/column’s format applies to the new row/column. However, when adding a control to the cell, the padding differs to the column and no padding displays in rows.
  Workaround: Finish the view or form, then edit the view/form for the correct padding to show.
• Issue: When a workflow contains multi-steps with more than two Wait for external system options configured, duplicate bars display in the Activity Duration chart.
  Workaround: There is no known workaround at this time.
• Issue: When you create or generate a PDF file, the K2 smartforms controls on the output are stacked under each other instead of the designed layout. This happens when the generated PDF file is created from a URL or when you have forms and views which have been edited after upgrading to K2 Five (5.4) Fix Pack 15.
  Workaround: The PDF rendering engine is updated and released in K2 Five (5.4) Fix Pack 16. Contact support if you need this Fix Pack.

K2 Five (5.4) includes:

• K2 Five (5.3) Fix Packs 1 to K2 Five (5.3) April 2020 Cumulative Update Fix Pack 6
• When renaming a SharePoint list that has existing K2 application artifacts, then regenerating the artifacts, the SmartObject artifacts disappear.
• When a file is attached to a SmartForm (generated from a SharePoint list), and the filename contains a special character such as "+", the file can be uploaded but a file-not-found error is thrown when attempting to open the file in another view.
• When configuring a workflow schedule in K2 Management based on a month or year pattern, the workflow does not start according to the schedule.
• In the K2 Workspace > My Forms pane, forms are not sorted alphabetically.
• When nested subforms contain duplicated views, and when the nested forms open other subforms, the "outer" form (the non-subform) displays errors in the Rules tab when it is edited.
• DocuSign steps are missing from the workflow designer when the DocuSign instance is created in a K2 version that was later upgraded to K2 Five 5.3.
• Where you have a form containing a view and the view title is set at runtime, changing the view title during runtime, for example clicking a button sets the view's properties, the new title renders in a different font color.
• The Image control does not always render correctly on anonymous forms.
• Where a SharePoint group contains an Active Directory group as part of its membership, and the Active Directory group is deleted from Active Directory, group members continue to receive workflow task assignments and notifications.
• Some STS errors contain stack track details which may disclose application information.
• When the password for a SQLUM user contains a semicolon (;), the user is unable to log into K2 via FormsSTS.
• A missing reference error is shown if SharePoint items are packaged by reference and include SharePoint SmartObjects.
• Made performance improvements for validating SharePoint lists when creating a package.

For a list of the available Fix Packs refer to the K2 Five (5.4) Fix Packs knowledge base article.