How to Use Pre-Transition JavaScript in a Workflow to Evaluate a Request Before Submission

Pre-transition JavaScript lets you inspect and update request data right before a workflow action is completed. This is useful when you want to validate line items, count how many rows exist in a repeating section, check whether all required rows are complete, or set hidden fields that drive later workflow behavior.

The example below shows how to loop through a line item section, count the rows, evaluate values in each row, and then write results back to the request before the Submit action finishes.

What Pre-Transition JavaScript Does

A pre-transition action runs before the workflow moves from one state to the next. In this step, you can:

• Read request field values
• Read line item values
• Count rows in a repeating section
• Check row-level conditions
• Set other fields on the form
• Allow or block submission

In your example, the script does all of the following before submission:

• Counts how many line item rows exist
• Counts how many rows are marked complete
• Counts rows that belong to specific departments
• Counts how many of those department rows are complete
• Sets form fields based on the results
• Returns true so the workflow can continue

Where This Code Is Used

This code belongs in the Pre-transition Action area of a workflow action, such as Submit.

Typical path:

1. Open the workflow
2. Open the action, such as Submit
3. Go to Client Actions
4. Paste the JavaScript into Pre-transition Action
5. Save and test

This allows the request to be evaluated right before it moves into the next workflow state.

Understanding the Data Structure

In a line item section, each row is stored using a field naming pattern like this:

line_extendedfieldDepartmentList_extendedfieldIsCompletedBool_0
line_extendedfieldDepartmentList_extendedfieldIsCompletedBool_1
line_extendedfieldDepartmentList_extendedfieldIsCompletedBool_2

The number at the end is the row index.

That means your code can check each possible row by building the field name dynamically:

"line_extendedfieldDepartmentList_extendedfieldIsCompletedBool_" + index

If that property exists in formScope.formdata, then that row exists.

How the Script Determines the Number of Line Item Rows

The row count is determined by looping through a range of possible row indexes and checking whether the row field exists.

Example:

var totalRows = 0;

for (var index = 0; index < 100; index++) {
    if (formScope.formdata.hasOwnProperty("line_extendedfieldDepartmentList_extendedfieldIsCompletedBool_" + index)) {
        totalRows++;
    }
}

How this works

• The loop checks indexes 0 through 99
• For each index, it looks for a field from that row
• If the field exists, the row exists
• Each time a row is found, totalRows increases by 1

This gives you the number of rows currently in the line item section.

Why this is useful

Once you know how many rows exist, you can:

• Require all rows to be completed before submit
• Perform different logic when only one row exists
• Perform extra checks when there are multiple rows
• Set flags based on whether certain rows meet conditions

Example Use Case From Your Script

Your code counts:

• totalRows: total number of line item rows
• rowsChecked: how many rows have the completion checkbox set to true
• rowsForHodgeTX: how many rows match specific Dubuque departments
• rowsForHodgeTXChecked: how many of those Dubuque rows are complete
• rowsForHodgeDW: how many rows match specific Davenport departments
• rowsForHodgeDWChecked: how many of those Davenport rows are complete

Then it sets these fields:

• customString8 to "true" or "false" depending on whether all rows are completed
• customBool2 to true or false depending on whether all required Hodge rows are completed for the selected location

Step-by-Step Breakdown of the Script

1. Create variables to hold your counts

var totalRows = 0;
var rowsChecked = 0;

var rowsForHodgeTX = 0;
var rowsForHodgeTXChecked = 0;

var rowsForHodgeDW = 0;
var rowsForHodgeDWChecked = 0;

These variables store totals you will calculate while reading the request.

2. Loop through possible line item rows

for (var index = 0; index < 100; index++) {

This checks up to 100 possible rows. If your form might contain more than 100 rows, increase the limit.

3. Check whether each row exists

if (formScope.formdata.hasOwnProperty("line_extendedfieldDepartmentList_extendedfieldIsCompletedBool_" + index)) {
    totalRows++;

This confirms the row exists by checking for one of the fields in that row.

4. Read values from each row and apply logic

Example from your code:

if (formScope.formdata["line_extendedfieldDepartmentList_extendedfieldIsCompletedBool_" + index] === true) {
    rowsChecked++;
}

This counts how many rows are marked complete.

You can do the same for any line item field:

• department
• amount
• status
• checkbox
• date
• text field

5. Set form-level fields based on results

Your script sets:

if (totalRows === rowsChecked) {
    formScope.formdata["customString8"] = "true";
} else {
    formScope.formdata["customString8"] = "false";
}

This means all rows are complete only when the number of completed rows equals the number of existing rows.

Then it sets another field:

if (rowsForHodgeTX === rowsForHodgeTXChecked && formScope.formdata.multiLocation === '701091') {
    formScope.formdata["customBool2"] = true;
} 
else if (rowsForHodgeDW === rowsForHodgeDWChecked && formScope.formdata.multiLocation === '701090') {
    formScope.formdata["customBool2"] = true;
} else {
    formScope.formdata["customBool2"] = false;
}

This allows later workflow logic to use the result.

6. Return true to let the workflow continue

return true;

Returning true allows the transition to continue.

If you wanted to stop submission, you could return false after showing a message or setting a validation condition, depending on how your platform handles client-side workflow validation.

This code is for specific factories and will need to be adjusted based on location IDs.

var totalRows = 0;

var rowsChecked = 0;

var rowsForHodgeTX = 0;

var rowsForHodgeTXChecked = 0;

var rowsForHodgeDW = 0;

var rowsForHodgeDWChecked = 0;

for (var index = 0; index < 100; index++) {

    var completedField = "line_extendedfieldDepartmentList_extendedfieldIsCompletedBool_" + index;

    var deptField = "line_extendedfieldDepartmentList_customLookup6_" + index;

    if (formScope.formdata.hasOwnProperty(completedField)) {

        totalRows++;

        var isCompleted = formScope.formdata[completedField] === true;

        var deptCode = formScope.formdata[deptField];

        var location = formScope.formdata.multiLocation;

        if (isCompleted) {

            rowsChecked++;

        }

        // Dubuque

        if (

            location === '701091' &&

            (deptCode === '004' || deptCode === '104')

        ) {

            rowsForHodgeTX++;

            if (isCompleted) {

                rowsForHodgeTXChecked++;

            }

        }

        // Davenport

        if (

            location === '701090' &&

            (

                deptCode === 'E98'  ||

                deptCode === 'ROD3' ||

                deptCode === 'ROD4' ||

                deptCode === 'WHS3' ||

                deptCode === 'WHS4' ||

                deptCode === '883'  ||

                deptCode === '745'  ||

                deptCode === '846'  ||

                deptCode === '748'  ||

                deptCode === 'NMRP' ||

                deptCode === 'SCSI' ||

                deptCode === 'S98'  ||

                deptCode === 'RTNV' ||

                deptCode === '799'  ||

                deptCode === '751'  ||

                deptCode === 'TODW' ||

                deptCode === 'TOWH' ||

                deptCode === 'TOWW' ||

                deptCode === 'I98'  ||

                deptCode === '782'  ||

                deptCode === '416'

            )

        ) {

            rowsForHodgeDW++;

            if (isCompleted) {

                rowsForHodgeDWChecked++;

            }

        }

    }

}

// All rows complete

formScope.formdata["customString8"] = (totalRows === rowsChecked) ? "true" : "false";

// Hodge complete flag

if (formScope.formdata.multiLocation === '701091') {

    formScope.formdata["customBool2"] = (rowsForHodgeTX === rowsForHodgeTXChecked);

} else if (formScope.formdata.multiLocation === '701090') {

    formScope.formdata["customBool2"] = (rowsForHodgeDW === rowsForHodgeDWChecked);

} else {

    formScope.formdata["customBool2"] = false;

}

return true;