Likelihood to Recommend Apache Flex is an open-source SDK used to make rich Internet applications. It's developed with Action Script and MXML and works particularly well with Android and iOS ecosystems. Any flash-based application framework, such as Eclipse or the Flash above Builder, can be used to implement this. Free is best for mobile app developers, but suppose you have concerns, and consider Apache Flex's development team welcomes any questions via email.
Read full review SharePoint does not provide, out of the box, a tool to create / update workflows from web. You have to use SharePoint Designer in order to create them. If you need to implement custom workflows for specific business processes, then SharePoint Designer is well suited. SharePoint Designer allows you to create workflows with task approval, email notifications, assign variables and update SharePoint Lists / Documents properties. In our company, we have created specific workflows for : - Purchase order - RH forms validation like annual employee review - Dematerialized existing forms and validation
Read full review Pros Runs on flash (at the time this was handy, not so much now. hah). Good support from the company. Ability to run offline. Read full review 2013 Workflows - Loops: You can build loops to work while a value (not) equals something, or N number of times. You can insert Parallel Blocks to do multiple things at once, or to watch for multiple things, and when 1 thing finishes, cancels the others and moves to the next step or stage. 2013 Workflows - Stages: Previously all we had were steps, which worked sequentially. With the Concept of Stages, we can create blocks of steps and based on the data collected during those functions, we can tell the workflow to go to a different Stage in the workflow based on a set of 1, or multiple, Conditionals in a transition area after each Stage. Giving you the power to develop multiple entire processes and skipping to the correct part of the workflow, rather than going through 20 conditionals to find out you needed to do action 31. 2013 Workflows - REST API: the "Call HTTP Web Service" is a very powerful tool, but hard to understand if you have never seen it done, or have a guideline. It works very similar to the requirements in PowerShell to connect and get and post data to SharePoint using the Rest API. You can also use this to manage permissions on List Items, Lists, Sites, and Site Collections. Best part is when developed correctly, it is SUPER FAST! Intentionally Building Infinite Loops: I have built multiple review process from Managing Certifications to Updating Published Documentation, that monitors when an Item, based on provided approved metadata, when the "Author" needs to review the document within the given amount of time. They will get e-mails with links asking if changes are needed. If not, it is routed to the Approving Executive, and the Workflow Automatically updates the Metadata to push out the review dates to the next date, based on metadata provided on how how often the document should be reviews. By using conditionals in the transition of stages, it basically starts over, and goes into a parallel block to allow the monitoring of multiple values of metadata to move to the next stage. Very Powerful when you want to automate these types of process. It truly is a "Set It and Forget It" process. Read full review Cons It's heavy as it needs to load the Flash plugin first before rendering anything to the user. Not future ready as there is no support for mobile and tablet platforms. Read full review In the newest version of SharePoint Designer, they have gotten rid of the Design view which makes what used to be quick and easy changes much more code-intensive. This makes it harder for non-IT users and is more risker for all SharePoint Designer users. SharePoint Designer workflows have a lot of functionality, but there are also some crucial limitations, such as not being able to put lookup fields in email subjects or using parenthesis to separate/group logical conditions. Although this goes along with the Design view, there really isn't a good user interface anymore for adding conditional formatting and styles in views/pages. Read full review Likelihood to Renew It is a helpful tool that we use every day.
Read full review Support Rating Support is good from Microsoft. They are quite responsive when we raise a ticket but SP Designer support will be ended by Microsoft in the near future as they have got new techs like
PowerApps and Flow to achieve the same functionality SP Designer does and even more than that.
Read full review Alternatives Considered Apache Flex is a modern, standards-based programming language that supports common design patterns. It's an open-source SDK used to make rich Internet applications that work on different browsers and platforms. Any flash-based application framework, such as Eclipse or the Flash above Builder, can be used to implement this. So far, in comparison, it's much more crucial, especially for people working in fields like mobile development.
Read full review I haven't used anything else like this. I use different products for workflows and forms, but they aren't listed in the listings for this page. Instead of using it for workflows or forms (deprecated 2 years ago), I use
Nintex . For everything else, I have what I need in the Modern version of SharePoint online
Read full review Return on Investment Positive: Easy to learn if you already knew AS. Negative: Too heavy on flash knowledge (I know it's contradictory, but it was a plus & a minus). ROI was great since it saves time on multiple devices compiling. Read full review For my needs, I have not found SharePoint Designer useful for my day to day maintenance of SharePoint. It is useful for viewing all the objects that make up the SharePoint site. It is not as intuitive in regard to setting up Workflows. I have yet to use it to set up workflows in SharePoint. Maybe if I needed more complex workflows, it would be beneficial. I like to use SharePoint Designer for moving around files within SharePoint sites. Read full review ScreenShots