Leverage Groups for Workflow Approvals - workflow

Question

We're implementing a new workflow (combined with staging task sync) on an existing website where we would like to notify all members that "own" that particular section/content to approve changes.
One of the options is to have multiple roles and their corresponding workflows configured for their role and scope, but this seems like overkill - at least for us, as currently one single role is set for approvals (and another for editors)
However I've recently come across this new page property:
And have a couple of questions:
Can regular CMS users (without membership) be part of a group?
Would we be able to leverage this group for the workflow's email notifications instead of the roles? E.g. email to everyone in the owner group when a page was sent for approval.
Is this option by default inherited from the parent page when a new one is created or does it need to be set individually for each page?
We have a Kentico 11 EMS license and working on an advanced workflow, therefore custom code is possible.

Answer 1

Can regular CMS users (without membership) be part of a group?
- why don't you use roles here?
Would we be able to leverage this group for the workflow's email
notifications instead of the roles? E.g. email to everyone in the
owner group when a page was sent for approval.
- you'll need to customize workflow manager class, but in general yes, it is possible. You could find an inspiration in this post
Is this option by default inherited from the parent page when a new
one is created or does it need to be set individually for each page?
- Use a macro to default the field. If you populate it with anything else then the new values will be saved.

Answer 2

Sample code snippet for Custom Global Event Handler for Workflow steps i.e., Reject and Approve steps.
using CMS;
using CMS.Base;
using CMS.DataEngine;
using CMS.DocumentEngine;
using CMS.EmailEngine;
using CMS.EventLog;
using CMS.Helpers;
using CMS.MacroEngine;
using CMS.SiteProvider;
using CMS.WorkflowEngine;
using System;
// Registers the custom module into the system
[assembly: RegisterModule(typeof(CustomWorkflowEvent))]
public class CustomWorkflowEvent : CMSModuleLoader
{
// Module class constructor, the system registers the module under the name "CustomInit"
public CustomWorkflowEvent()
: base("CustomInit")
{
}
// Contains initialization code that is executed when the application starts
protected override void OnInit()
{
base.OnInit();
// Assigns custom handlers to events
// WorkflowEvents.Approve.After += WorkFlow_Event_After();
WorkflowEvents.Reject.After += WorkFlow_Event_After;
WorkflowEvents.Approve.After += Approve_After;
// WorkflowEvents.Action.After += WorkFlowAction_Event_After;
}
private void Approve_After(object sender, WorkflowEventArgs e)
{
try
{
WorkflowStepInfo wsi = e.PreviousStep;
if (wsi != null)
{
CMS.WorkflowEngine.Definitions.SourcePoint s = wsi.GetSourcePoint(Guid.NewGuid());
//Make sure it was an approval (standard) step
var approvers = WorkflowStepInfoProvider.GetUsersWhoCanApprove(wsi, null, SiteContext.CurrentSiteID, "UserID = " + CMSActionContext.CurrentUser.UserID, "UserID", 0, "Email, FullName, Username");
EventLogProvider.LogInformation("Approvers Data", "Approvers Data", approvers.ToString());
if (approvers != null)
{
//Loop through the approvers
string siteName = null;
SiteInfo si = SiteInfoProvider.GetSiteInfo(SiteContext.CurrentSiteID);
if (si != null)
{
siteName = si.SiteName;
}
EmailTemplateInfo eti = EmailTemplateProvider.GetEmailTemplate("Workflow.Rejected", SiteContext.CurrentSiteName);
MacroResolver mcr = MacroResolver.GetInstance();
EmailMessage message = new EmailMessage();
// Get sender from settings
message.EmailFormat = EmailFormatEnum.Both;
message.From = eti.TemplateFrom;
// Do not send the e-mail if there is no sender specified
if (message.From != "")
{
// Initialize message
// message.Recipients = strRecipientEmail;
message.Subject = eti.TemplateSubject;
// Send email via Email engine API
// EmailSender.SendEmailWithTemplateText(SiteContext.CurrentSiteName, message, eti, mcr, true);
}
}
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
throw;
}
}
private void WorkFlow_Event_After(object sender, WorkflowEventArgs e)
{
try
{
WorkflowStepInfo wsi = e.PreviousStep;
if (wsi != null)
{
CMS.WorkflowEngine.Definitions.SourcePoint s = wsi.GetSourcePoint(Guid.NewGuid());
//Make sure it was an approval (standard) step
var approvers = WorkflowStepInfoProvider.GetUsersWhoCanApprove(wsi, null, SiteContext.CurrentSiteID, "UserID = " + CMSActionContext.CurrentUser.UserID, "UserID", 0, "Email, FullName, Username");
EventLogProvider.LogInformation("Approvers Data", "Approvers Data", approvers.ToString());
if (approvers != null)
{
//Loop through the approvers
string siteName = null;
SiteInfo si = SiteInfoProvider.GetSiteInfo(SiteContext.CurrentSiteID);
if (si != null)
{
siteName = si.SiteName;
}
EmailTemplateInfo eti = EmailTemplateProvider.GetEmailTemplate("Workflow.Rejected", SiteContext.CurrentSiteName);
MacroResolver mcr = MacroResolver.GetInstance();
EmailMessage message = new EmailMessage();
// Get sender from settings
message.EmailFormat = EmailFormatEnum.Both;
message.From = eti.TemplateFrom;
// Do not send the e-mail if there is no sender specified
if (message.From != "")
{
// Initialize message
// message.Recipients = strRecipientEmail;
message.Subject = eti.TemplateSubject;
// Send email via Email engine API
// EmailSender.SendEmailWithTemplateText(SiteContext.CurrentSiteName, message, eti, mcr, true);
}
}
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
throw;
}
}
}
Hope Helps you.

Answer 3

Can regular CMS users (without membership) be part of a group?
It is not part of CMS users. Groups are coming from Groups Application.
GROUP: Allows you to manage user groups. Groups are a social networking
feature enabling users to find information and communicate according
to shared interests.
Would we be able to leverage this group for the workflow's email notifications instead of the roles? E.g. email to everyone in the owner group when a page was sent for approval.
No
Is this option by default inherited from the parent page when a new one is created or does it need to be set individually for each page?
No