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sharepointsharepoint-designersharepoint-workflow
Sagar Nanaware
Sagar Nanaware

Reputation: 11

How to perform Looping Through List Items in SharePoint 2013 Designer Workflows?

I am new to SharePoint. I'm creating a workflow in SharePoint 2013 in which I want to iterate a List using a loop. How to perform looping through list items in SharePoint 2013 Designer Workflows?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 14365

Answers (2)

Shayne
Shayne

Reputation: 1103

You can do this in SharePoint 2013 (ONLY!) using the new "HTTP web service". The "trick" is to

  1. Create a task that will call the HTTP Web Service and call ".../client.svc/web/lists/getbyid(<List Guid>)/items"
  2. Return the (JSON) results in a (new in 2013 also!) "dictionary" variable
  3. Use the "Get an Item from a Dictionary" action
    • "item by name or path" and enter "d/results"
    • select the "dictionary" variable (that you captured the results in)
    • output to another dictionary variable (call it "data")
  4. Then get the count (for the loop) by using the action "Count Items in data" and output that to a variable (totalItems) to get the number of records

For the "loop" you will use the "Loop with condition"; use a variable called "index" and set it to 0. "Loop with condition" until "index < totalItems"

In the body of the loop:

  1. "Get an item from a dictionary" use "item by name or path"
  2. using string builder "d/results/(<index>)/". The "Column Name to Retrieve" will be whatever column(s) you want to evaluate (like maybe "DueDate").

    Note: You will have to use the "Static Name" of the column, which can be found by going to the Task List Settings and clicking the name of the column, then in the URL find the "Field=<Name>" portion.. It is that "<Name>" that you will use.

I know this is very CRUDE maybe even bordering on "useless" for alot of users, but I felt I should at least attempt a quick reply. When I have more time, I will try to edit this and format my reply better. Although, I found this because of a similar need and since I figured out a way to accomplish what I was needing, I felt compelled to at least share it the best I could, in the limited time I had available. ;) So, maybe SOMEONE will find what I have attempted to describe, "useful". :)

Upvotes: 1

Gao Wei
Gao Wei

Reputation: 79

I'm not aware that there's any out-of-box way to get a workflow to "loop through" all entries in a list, but you can try to make two workflows bouncing back to each other until all entries are updated, here is the detailed steps,

  1. assuming that the list that we are working on is named list_work, in this list, create a column named e.g. cargo

  2. define another list, name it e.g. list_control,

    • define a column named e.g. listID,
    • define a column named e.g. cargo,
    • create one entry in the list, set the cargo to a value.

  3. define a workflow, name it e.g. workflow_list_control, which is triggered every time the entry in list_control is updated, and in this workflow,

    • search for an entry in the list_work where the list_work.cargo doesn't equal list_control.cargo
    • if any entry is found, update the entry of list_work and set the list_work.cargo with list_control.cargo, in order to trigger the workflow_list_work (see #4 below)
    • if no entry is found, stop this workflow.

  4. define the workflow that needs to be run on the list_work, e.g. named workflow_list_work, make it's triggered every time the entry in list_work is updated, and in this workflow, make sure it updates the only entry in the list_control with the ID of the entry from list_work that is being modified, only to trigger the workflow_list_control. In this step, try to put a workflow step to wait and verify the ID is properly updated, in order to allow enough time for the previous workflow_list_control properly finishes.

Every time if a looping-through is necessary, modify the entry in list_control with a different value in the cargo field.

Also refer to calculated-column-to-retrieve-total-number-of-id

Upvotes: 1

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