4.1

Table Of Contents
What to do next
Set the timer.date attribute to set the timeout period for the user interaction.
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To set the timeout to an absolute date and time, see “Set the timeout.date Attribute to an Absolute
Date,” on page 44.
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To create a function to calculate a timeout that is relative to the current date and time, see “Calculate a
Relative Timeout for User Interactions,” on page 45.
(Optional) Set the timeout.date Attribute to an Absolute Date
You set the timeout.date attribute for a user interaction to set how long the workflow waits for a user to respond
to a user interaction.
You set an absolute time and date in the Date object. When the time on the given date arrives, the workflow
that is waiting for a user interaction times out and ends in the Failed state. For example, you can set the user
interaction to timeout at midday on February 12th. To calculate a timeout that is relative to the current time
and date, see “Calculate a Relative Timeout for User Interactions,” on page 45.
Prerequisites
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Open a workflow for editing in the workflow editor.
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Add a user interaction element to the workflow schema.
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Set the security.group attribute for the user interaction.
Procedure
1 Click the User Interaction element in the workflow schema.
2 Click the Attributes tab for the user interaction.
3 Click Not set for the timeout.date source parameter to set the timeout parameter value.
4 (Optional) Select NULL to allow the user interaction to set the workflow to wait indefinitely for the user
to respond to the user interaction.
5 Click Create parameter/attribute in workflow to set the workflow to fail after a timeout period.
The Parameter information dialog box opens.
6 Name the parameter.
7 Select Create workflow ATTRIBUTE with the same name to create a Date attribute in the workflow.
8 Click Not set for the parameter Value.
9 Use the calendar to select an absolute date and time until which the workflow waits for the user to respond.
10 Click OK to close the calendar.
11 Click OK to close the Parameter information dialog box.
You set the timeout.date attribute to an absolute date. The workflow times out if the user does not respond
to the user interaction before this time and date.
What to do next
Define the external input parameters that the user interaction requires from the user. See “Define the External
Inputs for a User Interaction,” on page 46.
vCenter Orchestrator Developer's Guide
44 VMware, Inc.