4.1

Table Of Contents
Procedure
1 Click the User Interaction element in the workflow schema.
2 Click the External Inputs tab.
3 Right-click in the External Inputs tab and select Bind to workflow parameter/attribute to define the
parameters that the user must provide in the user interaction.
4 (Optional) If you already defined the input parameters in the workflow, select the parameters from the
proposed list.
5 Click Create parameter/attribute in the workflow to create a workflow attribute to bind to the input
parameter that the user provides.
6 Give the parameter an appropriate name.
7 Select the input parameter type from the list of types by searching for an object type in the Filter box.
For example, if the user interaction requires the user to provide a virtual machine as an input parameter,
select VC:VirtualMachine.
8 Select Create workflow ATTRIBUTE with the same name to bind the input parameter that the user
provides to a new attribute in the workflow.
9 Leave the input parameter value set to Not set.
The user provides this value when they respond to the user interaction during the workflow run.
10 Click OK to close the Parameter information dialog box.
You defined the input parameters that the user provides during a user interaction.
What to do next
Define the exception behavior if the user interaction encounters an error. See “Define User Interaction
Exception Behavior,” on page 47.
(Optional) Define User Interaction Exception Behavior
If a user does not provide the input parameters within the timeout period, the user interaction returns an
exception. You can define the exception behavior in a scripted function.
If you do not define the action for the workflow to take if the user interaction times out, the workflow ends in
the Failed state. Defining the exception behavior is a good workflow development practice.
Prerequisites
n
Add a user interaction element to the workflow schema.
n
Set the security.group and timer.date attributes for the user interaction.
n
Define the external input parameters of the user interaction.
Procedure
1 Click the User Interaction element in the workflow schema.
2 Click the Exception tab.
3 Click Not set for the output exception binding.
4 Click Create parameter/attribute in workflow to create an exception attribute to which to bind the user
interaction.
The Parameter information dialog box opens.
Chapter 2 Developing Workflows
VMware, Inc. 47