You can use the Nintex Workflow for Office 365 REST API to save the contents of a Nintex Workflow for Office 365 export (.nwp) file into an existing site workflow or list workflow on a SharePoint site.
Unlike the other operations that allow you to import an export file into a new or existing workflow, this operation is meant solely to update an existing workflow. Saving into a workflow from an export file can be used, for example, to roll back changes to a workflow without having to import or migrate into the workflow.
For more information about the REST resource used to save into a workflow, see Save into a workflow.
To avoid surprises while trying to save into an existing workflow, take the following points into consideration:
Remember to publish the saved workflow.
Importing or saving into a workflow does not publish the workflow for use. If you've saved into a workflow, the latest version of that workflow is not published, even if the previous version was published prior to the operation. You must publish the workflow to use it. You can either use the Workflow designer or the REST API to publish the workflow.
This operation does not include task forms.
If your export file includes task forms, this operation ignores them. To include task forms, see Import into an existing workflow.
If you're saving a list workflow, ensure that your SharePoint list exists.
This operation uses the list information contained in the export file to map the list workflow to the corresponding list on the target SharePoint site. If the REST API can't find the corresponding list on the SharePoint site, an error occurs.
Ensure that your SharePoint authentication cookie hasn't expired.
This example avoids that issue by getting an authentication cookie from SharePoint every time you run the example, but you can cache an authentication cookie and avoid a round trip to SharePoint as long as the authentication cookie hasn't expired.
To use the example, ensure that you have the following prerequisites:
Access to a SharePoint Online site, with Manage Web permissions for the site.
An export file containing a site workflow from Nintex Workflow 2013.
Access to the Nintex Workflow for Office 365 REST API, and an API key with which to authorize the REST API. For more information, see Authentication and authorization.
Access to any version of Visual Studio 2013.
You can download the code used in this example from the following location:
Note: You need to configure the code for the example before you can build and run it. See step 4 in the following example for instructions about how to configure the code for the example.
The following example describes how to create a Visual Studio 2013 project to update an existing workflow from an export file previously exported from that workflow.
Create a new Visual Studio 2013 project, using the Console Application template for Visual C#.
Add the following references to your new Visual Studio project.
Microsoft.SharePoint.Client
Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime
System.Net
System.Net.Http
In your new Visual Studio project, paste the following code into the file named Program.cs, overwriting the existing using statements at the beginning of the file:
using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.Threading.Tasks; using Microsoft.SharePoint.Client; using System.Security; using System.Net.Http.Headers; using System.Net.Http; using System.Net; using System.IO;
Paste the following code into Program.cs, overwriting the Main() static method already included in the Program static class, and then configure the code as described in the comments:
// The API key and root URL for the REST API.
// TODO: Replace with your API key and root URL.
static private string apiKey = "";
static private string apiRootUrl = "";
// The SharePoint site and credentials to use with the REST API.
// TODO: Replace with your site URL, user name, and password.
static private string spSiteUrl = "";
static private string spUsername = "";
static private string spPassword = "";
// The workflow into which to save, and the full path and file name of the
// export file to save into the workflow.
// TODO: Replace with your workflow identifier and export file name.
static private string workflowId = "";
static private string exportFileName = "";
/// <summary>
/// The main entry point for the application.
/// </summary>
[STAThread]
static void Main()
{
// Roll back an existing workflow to the previously saved contents of an export file.
RollbackWorkflow();
}
All the configuration you need to do for this example happens here, and the code provided in subsequent steps uses these variables to get an authentication cookie from SharePoint, read the specified export file, and then save the contents of the export file to the specified workflow.
Paste the following code into Program.cs, immediately after the Main static method in the Program static class:
static private string GetSPOCookie()
{
// If successful, this variable contains an authentication cookie;
// otherwise, an empty string.
string result = String.Empty;
try
{
// Construct a secure string from the provided password.
// NOTE: For sample purposes only.
var securePassword = new SecureString();
foreach (char c in spPassword) { securePassword.AppendChar(c); }
// Instantiate a new SharePointOnlineCredentials object, using the
// specified username and password.
var spoCredential = new SharePointOnlineCredentials(spUsername, securePassword);
// If successful, try to authenticate the credentials for the
// specified site.
if (spoCredential == null)
{
// Credentials could not be created.
result = String.Empty;
}
else
{
// Credentials exist, so attempt to get the authentication cookie
// from the specified site.
result = spoCredential.GetAuthenticationCookie(new Uri(spSiteUrl));
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
// An exception occurred while either creating the credentials or
// getting an authentication cookie from the specified site.
Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString());
result = String.Empty;
}
// Return the result.
return result;
}
The GetSPOCookie static method uses the SharePoint site and credentials that you configured in step 4 to get an authentication cookie from SharePoint.
Paste the following code into Program.cs, immediately after the code you pasted in the previous step:
static private void RollbackWorkflow()
{
// Create a new HTTP client and configure its base address.
HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
client.BaseAddress = new Uri(spSiteUrl);
// Add common request headers for the REST API to the HTTP client.
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Add(
new MediaTypeWithQualityHeaderValue("application/json"));
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("Api-Key", apiKey);
// Get the SharePoint authentication cookie to be used by the HTTP client
// for the request, and use it for the Authorization request header.
string spoCookie = GetSPOCookie();
if (spoCookie != String.Empty)
{
var authHeader = new AuthenticationHeaderValue(
"cookie",
String.Format("{0} {1}", spSiteUrl, spoCookie)
);
// Add the defined Authorization header to the HTTP client's
// default request headers.
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Authorization = authHeader;
}
else
{
throw new InvalidOperationException("Cannot define Authorization header for request.");
}
// Read the contents of our workflow into a byte array, so that we can send the
// contents as a ByteArrayContent object with the request.
if (System.IO.File.Exists(exportFileName))
{
// Read the file.
byte[] exportFileContents = System.IO.File.ReadAllBytes(exportFileName);
ByteArrayContent saveContent = new ByteArrayContent(exportFileContents);
// If we're at this point, we're ready to make our request.
// Note that we're making this call synchronously - you can call the REST API
// asynchronously, as needed.
var saveWorkflowUri = String.Format("{0}/api/v1/workflows/{1}",
apiRootUrl.TrimEnd('/'),
Uri.EscapeUriString(workflowId));
HttpResponseMessage saveResponse = client.PutAsync(saveWorkflowUri, saveContent).Result;
if (saveResponse.IsSuccessStatusCode)
{
Console.WriteLine("Successfully saved workflow.");
}
else
{
Console.WriteLine("Failed to save workflow.");
}
}
}
The RollbackWorkflow static method first reads the specified export file, and then uses an HTTP client to invoke the REST resource provided by the REST API to save the contents of the export file to the specified workflow on your SharePoint site. The client's default request headers are configured, and the PutAsync method is used to invoke the REST resource.
Build and run the Visual Studio project.
If you've configured the variables provided in step 4 appropriately, running the project updates the specified workflow with the contents of the specified export file.