Accessing Signature Control Value in Connector Mapping

Issue

In the current version of XMPro (v6.5) you cannot directly map a Signature control field to a Connector, such as when attempting to write a captured signature value to a master database table using the SQL Connector.

Resolution

In a scenario where you would like to save a signature captured in XMPro to a master database (for use in reporting), you will – as of XMPro 6.5 – need to create an intermediate field containing a text representation of the signature value.

Using XMDesignerIs used to configure XMPro BPM solutions., create the following two fields in your XMPro activityA specific step in a process.  It will be the user interface for that step (web form or a screen), for example, the Leave Application (screen interface or web form) will be the first Activity in the Leave Requisition process.  The Leave Application Authorization will be the second step or Activity in the Leave Requisition process.  One Process can have multiple activities.:

• Signature Field [FLD10Signature] – used to capture the signature
• Reference Label [FLD10SignatureText] – will retain a string representation of the captured signature.

Next, using the XMDesigner code editor, enter the following against the Reference Label’s “Managed Object” property:

Please note:

You will need to modify all instances of FLD10Signature and FLD10SignatureText in this sample script to reflect your specific field names.

• Do not use the Fast Fields editor to create the above script, as it will result in an empty Reference Label value.
• The sample script above assumes the Signature field and Reference Label are not part of an object group.

Once these two fields have been created you may map the Reference Label (FLD10SignatureText) to your Connector – it will emit the signature image data as a base64-encoded string.

Before you implement this solution there are few things you should be aware of:

• XMPro will store this signature internally in encrypted form, but when a signature value is accessed in the way described above it will be presented in an unencrypted way — therefore unsecure form.
• Signature data should be treated as highly sensitive — even read-only access to signature data should be heavily restricted and carefully monitored. Treat this signature data as though it were a credit card or social security number.
• The solution presented in this article is intended only to address behavior in v6.5 of XMPro specifically. From XMPro v6.6 onwards you may map the Signature Control directly to a Connector field.