How to start a workflow in Nintex Workflow Cloud

You can kick off a workflow in Nintex Workflow Cloud from Nintex Workflow for SharePoint 2016 using the action Start workflow in Nintex Automation Cloud. The action allows you to pass values from Nintex Workflow for SharePoint 2016 to Nintex Workflow Cloud.

To start a workflow in Nintex Workflow Cloud from Nintex Workflow for SharePoint 2016:

Configure your Nintex Workflow Cloud workflow for External start

Before you start, you need to have a published workflow in Nintex Workflow Cloud that begins with an External start event. The External start event can be configured with start event variables that receive values from Nintex Workflow for SharePoint 2016.

To add an External start URL to the Start workflow in Nintex Workflow Cloud action

  1. Set up the External start event in the workflow in Nintex Workflow Cloud.
  2. Find and copy the External start URL from Nintex Workflow Cloud.

  3. Return to Nintex Workflow for SharePoint 2016, and paste the URL into the External start URL box. Click Connect.

    When the External start URL is successfully connected, the text [Connected] appears below the URL and the action creates the parameter configuration section according to the returned Swagger definition of the workflow.

    Swagger is a set of rules, that is a specification, for a format describing RESTful APIs.

Configure error handling

You can configure your action to handle errors and exceptions that require particular processing. The action makes a call to a resource over the network and so may encounter a number of network issues, and so it may be prudent to enable error handling and to capture the error messages.

Error handing will detect errors with your Nintex Workflow Cloud call so that you can add workflow logic to process the exception. For instance, you could include a call in a loop that retries the call a number of times.

To configure error handling

  1. Expand the Error handling section to configure error handling for the action.
  2. Select Yes for Capture Errors.
  3. Define a workflow variable with a Yes/No type to store the result of the error evaluation.
    1. Click Variables.
    2. Click New.
    3. Type the name of the variable. For example, CapturedError.
    4. Click Yes/No for Type.
    5. Click Save.
    6. Select the Yes/No variable in the Store error occurrence in list.
  4. Define a workflow variable with a Multiple lines of text type to store the error message for errors.
    1. Click Variables.
    2. Click New.
    3. Type the name of the variable. For example, ErrorMessage.
    4. Click Multiple lines of text for Type.
    5. Click Save.
    6. Select the Multiple lines of text variable in the Store error text in list.

Related information

Start workflow in Nintex Automation Cloud

Error Handling

Use External Start