Value References

Overview

Value references allow you to add dynamic information and parameter values to your workflow markup – they are placeholders for information that's located somewhere else.

Each time the reference is encountered, for example in a trigger action or macro condition, the value at that moment in time is retrieved. This means your workflow can dynamically adapt to changing situations.

Reference types

There are several types of value reference, depending on where the information is stored:

Where can I use them?

Value references are used in macro parameters, sometimes macro body, and even conditions. However, actual availability depends on two factors:

the type of reference determines which macros it can be used in
the macro used determines which parameters support value references

For a full list of places where value references are used, see Conditions, Content and Value References. But remember it's the reference type and macro which determine the specifics.

Comala Document Management includes

get-metadata macro to retrieve the value of a value reference
set-metadata macro to create metadata or set a value for a metadata reference
workflow parameter references are bespoke value references that are created and defined for a workflow using workflow builder

Workflow parameters are used as placeholders for example, for users who are reviewers for approvals; for duration periods for the expiry of your content, or for labels to be added to your documents.

This allows the creation of a workflow that can be used for different teams or projects but these workflow parameters values are set within a space or for a specific document. The values are then retrieved by the workflow on the application of the workflow or a workflow event.

A default value can be set for each workflow parameter when it is defined in the workflow. This default value of a workflow parameter can be changed on a workflow event such as applying the workflow. A value can be retrieved from the space parameters dashboard (on workflow application); by a user on application of the workflow (if parameter is editable) or using the set-metadata macro in a workflow trigger on a workflow event.

Value reference retrieval order

If a named value reference is requested, for using the get-metadata macro, then the value reference is resolved in the following order:

Comala Metadata which include workflow parameters with edit=true that have been saved and metadata set using Comala Document Management set-metadata macro
Confluence page properties macro
Communardo Metadata
Workflow parameters saved at the space level - without edit=true
Page references
Suppliers (ServiceRocket, Workflows, Metadata)

This order is important when there are conflicts in value reference names.

Basic example

In your workflow, you might need to refer to the author of a piece of content. You won't know this information in advance.

To get around this problem, use the @author@ value reference, which is one of the references that the app creates and updates automatically. When a macro that uses the reference is activated, the reference value is replaced with the username of the person who most recently created or edited the content.

{workflow:Value references}
   {state:Editing|submit=Review}
   {state}
   {state:Review|approved=Published|rejected=Editing}
      {approval:Review}
   {state}
   {state:Published|final=true|updated=Editing}
   {state}
   {trigger:pageapproved|approval=Review|partial=true}
      {send-email:@user@|Subject=Your recent @approvalname@ approval} 
         Thank you for approving @page@ which was created by @author@ 
      {send-email}
   {trigger}
{workflow}

All examples

Page:

Adding page activity to email — Include page activity report, or a link to it, in custom email notifications
Page:

Assignment Examples — Define who can take part in, or be assigned to, a content review.
Page:

Attachment events — Triggering events when attachments are created, updated or removed.
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Communardo Metadata for Confluence app — Using the Communardo metadata as value references in a workflow - including use in a custom condition for a trigger macro
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Make tasks disable a review — Two ways to use tasks to disable a review. The first way uses a precursor task state where the tasks can be set and completed. The second example uses a Value Reference as a condition to check that all tasks are complete. For the value reference method, you will need the Reporting for Confluence app in addition to Comala Document Management.
Page:

Scaffolding app - Retrieve list-data via supplier reference
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State expiry dates — Using state expiry dates, defining them with metadata, and making them editable

Comala Document Management for Data Center