Localization of MOSS Built-In Workflows

MOSS comes with a number of built-in workflows, such as Approval, Collect Signature and Feedback. It seems that standard language template packs, like that of Arabic language does not support these workflows. The challenge of localizing these workflows is actually that of translating the associated InfoPath forms. In this post I’ll discuss it in detail.

 Research and Findings:

XSN files are actually CAB files, one may open and edit and then recab them.

 Generic workflows, like Translation Management are implemented in Microsoft.Office.Workflow.Pages They have a code behind page to IniWrkflIP.ASPX with an onload method that actually computes the form and requests it from form server. The localization occurs here where a $Subst:LCID in the form urn name will be replaced with the actual LCID.

internal static
string GetLocalizedFormUrn (string
formUrn, SPWeb
web)
{
     return formUrn.Replace(«$Subst:LCID;», web.Language.ToString(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture));
}
Problem with «the form is not workflow enabled»
I did everything I could for preparing a Persian version off the forms. But when I installed these forms, I still had problem. SharePoint reported a «the form is not workflow enabled» error. Actually the form templates on Centeral Administration has a Workflow column which indicated «No» for my forms. Now I know that my forms should be installed with the feature to get enabled. So I did reinstalled the workflow feature. It just seems that any form in the feature directory will get installed this way.
We don’t know how’s that the original form templates are not «PUBLISHED» the way we should «publish» our forms to a sharepoint site prior to installing them on the form server. When we publish our forms the form will be marked for being published on our servers and we don’t know how they will be published on client urls:

The XSN has a tag with PublishURL on it, u omit this and form sever will assume that the form is correctly published.
<xsf:xDocumentClass solutionVersion=»12.0.0.6″ productVersion=»12.0.0″ solutionFormatVersion=»2.0.0.0″ name=»urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:infopath:ReviewRouting-Assoc-1065-Edit:-myXSD» publishUrl=»C:\MyProjects\FarsiMOSS\GenericWorkflows\Review\Assoc\ReviewRouting_Assoc_1065_Edit.xsn» xmlns:xsf=»http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/infopath/2003/solutionDefinition&raquo; xmlns:msxsl=»urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt» xmlns:xdUtil=»http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/infopath/2003/xslt/Util&raquo; xmlns:xdXDocument=»http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/infopath/2003/xslt/xDocument&raquo; xmlns:xdMath=»http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/infopath/2003/xslt/Math&raquo; xmlns:xdDate=»http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/infopath/2003/xslt/Date&raquo; xmlns:my=»http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/infopath/2003/myXSD&raquo; xmlns:xd=»http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/infopath/2003&#8243; xmlns:xsi=»http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance&raquo; xmlns:xhtml=»http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml&raquo; xmlns:aml=»http://schemas.microsoft.com/aml/2001/core&raquo; xmlns:dt=»uuid:C2F
Finally these are the flowing steps to translate a generic workflow form:

• Get a copy of the form. It is in Features directory. For example for Review_Assoc:
  C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\FEATURES\ReviewWorkflows\Forms\ReviewRouting_Assoc_1033.XSN
  
• Do the translation with InfoPath Save the file for 1065. For our example it would be ReviewRouting_Assoc_1065.XSN
  
• Set the locale of the form on Persian if u like. This has no effect other than on Manage Form Templates if Centeral Administrator u’ll get correct form locale. But whatever locale u said, SharePoint is actually using te Form ID which should be corrected for 1065 (see below)
  
• After completing the translation. Rename it with .Cab extension. Didn’t u know that? Inforpath forms are actually Cabinet compressed files.
  
• You’ll find a MANIFEST.XSF file in the cabinet. Open it with note pad and edit it:
  
  • At the top of the file u’ll find a xsf:xDocumentClass tag. Within it u’ll get a name attribute. It should be corrected for the correct form name. Remember that when u edited the form template, InfoPath had automatically changed the form name here. It should be identical to that of english form name, just 1033 should be changed to 1065. For our example it would be:
    name=»urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:infopath:workflow:ReviewRouting-Assoc:1065″
     
    
  • Just next to it u’ll find a publishURL attribute. Remove the attribute, i.e. delete it totally.
    

     
     

• You should then Edit the Template.XML file. This file also contains a solution name that should be identical to the form name you set in the previous step. At the top of file, u’ll find a ?mso-infoPathSolution tag. Set the name attribute. For our example it would be:
  name=»urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:infopath:workflow:ReviewRouting-Assoc:1065″
  
• Now recab the form. U may use:
  Cabarc n ReviewRouting_Assoc_1065.XSN *.*
  
• Copy the form to the soultion folder, where you picked the original 1033 version.
  
• Now the feature should be reinstalled, so that the forms be installed with the feature. One may use STSADM to do that:stsadm -o deactivatefeature -name reviewworkflows -force -url http://babakserver 
  stsadm -o uninstallfeature -name reviewworkflows -force
  stsadm -o installfeature -name reviewworkflows
  stsadm -o activatefeature -name reviewworkflows -url http://babakserver
  

   

• Sometimes it will be required so that you should Deactivate and re Activate the feature from Site Collection Features page.
  
• To check if everything is ok go to SharePoint Central Administration \ Application Management\ Manage Form Templates. You should see somehing like this:
  
• Note that the form should be Workflow Enabled.
  
• Click on the 1065 version and use the View Properties option. You should see something like this:
  

  
  

• Specially see the Form ID it should be exactly like what is shown here. Otherwise the form won’t be found.
  
• Use the procedure for all forms in the workflow.
  

Now maybe you can see something like this:

 

Links:

http://www.gn.co.ir/KB/SharePoint/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=38