Search Results po_wf_util_pkg




Overview
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Overview

PO_WF_UTIL_PKG is a utility package body in the APPS schema that provides the workflow integration layer for the Oracle Purchasing application. Its central purpose is to abstract the interaction between Purchasing business documents and the Oracle Workflow engine (WF_ENGINE, WF_CORE, WF_ITEM, WF_ACTIVITY, and related dictionary objects) behind a stable set of item-attribute and activity-attribute access routines. Purchasing workflows such as PO approval, document rejection, and buyer/supplier notification must read and write business values (amounts, document numbers, statuses, dates, and message text) against a workflow item key. Rather than embedding direct WF_ENGINE.SetItemAttr* and WF_ENGINE.GetItemAttr* calls throughout approval code, Purchasing routes those operations through this package, which also layers in the APPS.PO_WF_DEBUG_PKG diagnostic facility and Purchasing profile lookups via FND_PROFILE.

The package holds status VALID in the APPS schema under EBS 12.1.1 and 12.2.2. It is heavily reused rather than invoked directly by end users: ETRM metadata records 55 dependent packages referencing it, while it itself is not referenced by any single upstream database object.

Key Procedures and Functions

The package exposes a symmetric get/set API over workflow item and activity attributes, plus a small number of workflow-support utilities:

  • SETITEMATTRTEXT / GETITEMATTRTEXT — write and read character-typed item attributes on a workflow item, used for text-valued business data such as document status, supplier name, or hold reason.
  • SETITEMATTRNUMBER / GETITEMATTRNUMBER — write and read numeric item attributes, typically monetary amounts, quantities, and approval limits.
  • SETITEMATTRDATE / GETITEMATTRDATE — write and read date-typed item attributes such as need-by dates and approval timestamps.
  • SETITEMATTRDOCUMENT / GETITEMATTRDOCUMENT — store and retrieve document-typed attributes, allowing references to Purchasing document entities to be carried as item attributes.
  • GETACTIVITYATTRTEXT / GETACTIVITYATTRNUMBER / GETACTIVITYATTRDATE — read text, numeric, and date attributes defined on a workflow activity, providing access to activity-level configuration and result values.
  • CLEAR_WF_CACHE — invalidate cached workflow metadata held by the session, ensuring subsequent lookups observe current workflow definitions.
  • GETWORKFLOWERRORMESSAGE — translate a workflow error into an application-consumable message, relying on PO_MESSAGE_S for message text.

Tables Accessed

The documented table reference for this package is WF_ITEMS, accessed through an APPS synonym. WF_ITEMS stores the item type, item key, and attribute values that constitute the runtime state of a workflow instance; the get/set routines above read and write the TEXT_VALUE, NUMBER_VALUE, DATE_VALUE, and related columns of that table on behalf of Purchasing documents. Underlying workflow validation and attribute handling is delegated to WF_ENGINE, WF_ENGINE_UTIL, WF_ITEM, WF_ITEM_ACTIVITY_STATUS, WF_ACTIVITY, WF_PROCESS_ACTIVITY, and WF_CORE, while PO_MESSAGE_S supplies error and message text. Profile values are obtained from FND_PROFILE, and SQL primitives from SYS.STANDARD.

Usage Notes

PO_WF_UTIL_PKG is invoked primarily from Purchasing approval and notification code paths. The 55 dependent packages recorded in ETRM confirm its role as a shared service: downstream Purchasing packages call these routines when launching, advancing, or interrogating a workflow process rather than issuing raw WF_ENGINE calls. Typical invocation contexts include Purchasing form activity that triggers approval workflow, concurrent programs that submit or re-drive workflow processes, notification response handling, and custom extensions that need to read or seed item attributes on a purchasing workflow. Because SETITEMATTR* performs writes to workflow item state, custom callers should invoke these routines within the same transaction and item-key context as the workflow activity being processed, and should use CLEAR_WF_CACHE after changing workflow definitions. Diagnostic behavior is mediated by PO_WF_DEBUG_PKG, allowing tracing to be enabled without changing caller code.