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A message is what a notification activity sends to a role in a workflow process. A message can prompt a user for a reply or an action to take that determines what the next activity in the process should be. The recipient of a workflow message is called the performer.

Each message is associated with a particular item type. This allows the message to reference the item type's attributes as tokens that are replaced with runtime values when the message is delivered.

When you define a message, you can include message attributes that reference item type attributes in the subject and body text. In addition, you can create message attributes that generate a response section unique to the message. As an example, you can create a message attribute called RESULT that prompts a recipient for a response value. The Workflow Engine then uses that response value to determine what the next eligible activity in the process is. See: To Define a Message Attribute.

You can drag a message onto the Notifications branch to create a new notification activity that sends that message. You can also drag a message directly onto an existing notification activity to update the activity to use that message.

Send and Respond Message Attributes

The source (Send or Respond) of a message attribute determines how the message attribute is used. Message attributes defined with a source of 'Send' are generally included in the message's subject and/or body to provide information when the message is sent. Specify the data type of the message attribute. The value of a 'Send' message attribute can be a constant or can be a value returned by an item type attribute of that same data type. To include a message attribute in a message's subject or body so that it gets token substituted with a runtime value when the message is sent, specify the internal name of the message attribute using the format &MESGATTR within the subject or body text.

A message attribute defined with a source of 'Respond' constitutes the response section of a message. A 'Respond' message attribute provides instructions that prompts a recipient for a response. When you define a 'Respond' message attribute, you must specify the data type of the attribute and you can provide an optional default value for the response. The default value can be a constant or a value returned from an item type attribute of the same data type.

Note that if a notification activity has a Result Type defined, that is, it expects a result that determines what the next eligible activity is, you must define a special 'Respond' message attribute in the message that the notification sends. This special 'Respond' message attribute must have an internal name called RESULT, and must be a lookup type to provide a list of possible response values. The response values should originate from the same lookup type used to define the activity's Result Type. This ensures that the response value returned by RESULT is identical to one of the possible results that the notification activity can branch on.