Key components

The Workato web user interface supports all development and configuration work for Workflow apps. Workflow apps are powered by the following key components.

Data storage

Workflow apps integrate seamlessly with your business applications using workflow recipes. Page components can use recipes as data sources, allowing your app to work with data from external systems in real-time.

Apps with request and approval functionality include a primary data table for storing records such as invoices, PTO requests, or sales quotes. You can add linked tables to support complex data relationships. Data table records are accessible and editable through the Workflow apps connector.

Application user interface

Workato automatically generates much of an application's UI experience through the Workflow apps portal. For example, Workato generates the list of requests, app navigation, and history trail of requests with support for custom task status labels. The Workflow apps portal has a responsive design and can be used on mobile, tablet, and desktop devices. You can brand the app portal to match your organization.

You can customize the user experience of your app by creating and customizing Pages, which support custom forms and dashboards. Pages use a drag-and-drop editor and a broad set of components enabling you to design apps according to your business requirements.

Additionally, Workflow apps support the following advanced UI behaviors:

• Conditional logic: Control the visibility or editability of page components using IF conditions.
• Component actions: Save data, trigger recipes, reload components, open external links, or complete tasks.
• Validation: Enforce built-in validation for certain components or define custom validation using regex.
• Form prefilling: Auto-populate fields using URL parameters.
• Public forms: Create forms that accept input from unauthenticated users, allowing external users to submit data.

Business logic

Workflow recipes orchestrate application behavior and user interaction. This enables you to design workflows across time, systems, users, and interfaces. Recipes can manage logic such as routing, approvals, data updates, and system integrations.

Apps with request and approval functionality have recipes that use the Workflow apps connector New request trigger and can include user input/action, workflow state transitions and task handling. In certain scenarios, workflows are triggered by an event from another service, such as an email or message in a messaging platform, but a request in a Workflow app must be created or fetched to implement a request and approval workflow.