Workflow actions
In Nintex Workflow 2013, a workflow action represents the combination of a SharePoint workflow activity and a Nintex Workflow workflow action adapter. Configuration pages, included with the workflow action adapter, provide an interface with which a user can configure the workflow action. The workflow action adapter is associated with the corresponding workflow activity by metadata, stored in the Nintex configuration database.
Workflow activities
Workflow activities are the fundamental building block of workflows in SharePoint. For more information about workflow activities in SharePoint 2013, see SharePoint 2013 workflow fundamentals.
Custom workflow actions can incorporate either existing workflow activities or custom workflow activities. Custom workflow activities provide additional extensibility and flexibility for your custom actions. For more information about creating custom workflow activities, see Creating workflow activities.
Workflow action adapters
Workflow action adapters provide additional Nintex-specific functionality, such as design-time rendering, configuration, to SharePoint workflow activities Nintex Workflow 2013, and adding the associated workflow activity to the workflow. For more information about workflow action adapters, see Workflow action adapters.
Configuration pages
The configuration page is an ASP.NET (.aspx) page for a workflow action adapter, displayed by the Workflow designer when a user wants to interact with the configuration settings for a workflow action. Nintex Workflow 2013 provides a set of user controls for designing configuration pages. For more information about configuration pages, see Configuration pages.
Metadata
The Nintex configuration database stores the following metadata for workflow actions, including the information needed to instantiate the workflow activity, workflow action adapter, and configuration page for a workflow action. For custom workflow actions, this metadata is provided by action definition files, included with custom workflow actions and deployed either by Nintex Workflow Management or a SharePoint solution package. For more information about action definition files, see Action definition files.