Global lists: When do I have to use global lists?

Global lists management is a new feature of the WorkflowGen version 5.6.

Before the version 5.6, when you want to use lists in your web forms, you have to edit the listbox’s items for each form or you have to bind the listbox to an external database query.

Global lists management provides a solution to centralize those lists which can used in several web forms.

A global list is created by a WorkflowGen Administrator who can delegate the content management to a global participant.

The content of the list can be:

  • edited manually
  • imported from a CSV text file or a XML file
  • data bound to a SQL query

To use a global list in the form designer, in the field setting / databinding you just have to select “Global list” in the “connection mode”.

So when to use global lists?

  • when a list is used in several web forms
  • when you want to secure the content management of the list
  • for databound lists: when you want to centralize the connection strings and SQL queries especially if you manage multiple environments (dev, staging , prod)

The possible uses of the global lists will evolve in the future versions due to the important potential of this new feature.

can a global list be edited(new columns added) while its already being used by ACTIVE workflows?

Yes, this is possible.