Info: This article is work in progress and subject to change.
Every component you place on a Workflow Assistant panel is one of three types: a Field, an Action, or a Notification. The Configurator calls these the entity types because they are the top-level categories that every other choice — field type, button type, asset kind, visibility, validation — sits underneath.
This article explains what each type is for, when to choose which, and how the three work together to keep users on the happy path.
If you have read 02a — Panel anatomy, you already know that a component lives inside a row, inside a section, inside a tab. This page tells you what the component itself can be.
Fields, Action and Notification
The three types at a glance
| Type | What it does | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Field | Reads or edits a single metadata value on the selected asset or collection | Whenever you want the user to see a value, change a value, or be reminded of a value while they work |
| Action | Triggers something useful: navigates to a folder, runs a Lucene query, stamps metadata across selected assets, opens a URL, or invokes one of the built-in widgets | Whenever the user needs to do something — move, search, mark, link, group — without leaving the panel |
| Notification | Shows a contextual message — Info, Warning, Error, or blank — when a condition is met against the selected asset’s metadata | Whenever the user needs feedback about where they are in the process, what to do next, or what they need to correct |
Fields
A Field is the workhorse of any panel. It exposes one Assets metadata value — title, status, due date, tag list, rights category, anything — to the user, and lets them read it or edit it depending on how you have configured the field.
Thirteen field types are available. The full reference is on page 05a — Fields reference, but here is the shape of the catalogue:
| Field type | Holds | Common uses |
|---|---|---|
| Text | Free-form short text | Titles, codes, names |
| Rich text | Free-form text with bold, italic, and Markdown formatting | Long descriptions, instructions |
| Number (Integer) | Whole numbers | Counts, IDs, page numbers |
| Decimal | Floating-point numbers | Prices, ratios, durations expressed as decimals |
| Date | Day, month, year | Deadlines, publication dates |
| Datetime | Day, month, year, hour, minute, second | Event timestamps, exact deadlines |
| Dropdown | A single value from a list you define | Status, category, assigned packager |
| Tags | A multi-value text field | Topics, regions, audiences |
| Link to external page | A clickable URL | Reference documents, supplier pages |
| Navigate to asset by ID | A clickable Assets ID that takes the user to that asset | Linked source briefs, related collections |
| Formatted | A read-only system value such as file size or duration, presented in a readable form | Asset metadata you want to display but not edit |
| Milli-to-time | Converts a millisecond timestamp into a human-readable time | Video timecodes, durations |
| External data source | A value drawn from an external system, presented as a tree or searchable dropdown | Product catalogues, taxonomy lookups |
Every field type shares a common set of options:
- Display name — what the user sees as the field label
- Field name — the technical name of the matching Assets metadata field that this field reads from and writes to
- Hint text and Disable hint — the tooltip that appears on hover
- Disabled and Disable condition — whether the field is editable, and the rule that decides
- Required and Required condition — whether the field must hold a value before the user can move on
- Visibility by asset kind — which kinds of asset the field appears for
Several types add their own options on top — minimum and maximum values for numbers, a values list for dropdowns and tags, a date format string for date fields, and so on. The Fields reference page covers every option on every type.
Note: The technical Field name on a Field component must match a real Assets metadata field. The Configurator helps you by autocompleting from the available fields in your Assets installation as you type. Typing or pasting a name that does not exist will cause the Workflow Assistant to error when an end user opens the panel — this is the single most common silent-mistake pattern reported to support.
Actions
An Action does something. It is the verb to a Field’s noun. Where a Field shows or stores a value, an Action moves the user, runs a query, stamps metadata across a selection, links assets together, or opens a URL.
The Configurator gives you several action types, each delivered as a button the user clicks:
| Action type | What it does |
|---|---|
| Navigate to folder | Changes the current Assets folder to a path you specify. Optionally includes subfolders. Useful for “Jump to the XX folder” or “Open the approvals queue” |
| Query assets | Runs a Lucene query against Assets and shows the results. The query can substitute values from the currently selected asset, so a single button can return “all briefs with the same ISBN as this one” |
| Metadata stamper | Updates one or more metadata fields on every selected asset in a single click. The classic Approve / Reject pattern is built on this |
| Navigate to URL | Opens an external URL in a new tab. Useful for linking out to specifications, supplier pages, or related systems |
| Built-in widget actions | Pinned Collections, Asset Link, Metadata Stamp, Group into Collection, and Metadata Report — turn-key components covered in 05d — Widgets reference |
Every Action gives you the same controls you get on a Field plus a few of its own:
- Always on — the button is enabled even when no asset is selected. Use this for navigation buttons that should work from anywhere
- Confirmation popup — a confirm dialog appears before the action runs, with a message you write
- Disable condition — a Lucene query that, when true, disables the button and shows a message you write
Tip: Actions that change data (any Metadata stamper, anything that moves assets) deserve a confirmation popup unless they are designed to be reversible. The cost of the extra click is far smaller than the cost of an accidental status change across a hundred assets.
Notifications
A Notification is feedback. It is how you tell users — quietly or loudly — where they are, what to do next, what they have got wrong, or what they should be aware of before they act.
A Notification appears on the panel only when its display condition is met. The condition is a Lucene query, evaluated against the metadata of the currently selected asset or collection. When the query returns true, the notification shows; when it does not, the notification is hidden. There is no other rendering rule.
Four message types are available, each with its own visual treatment:
| Message type | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Info (blue) | Helpful context the user should know but does not need to act on. “This asset is part of the spring catalogue” |
| Warning (yellow) | A condition that needs attention but does not block work. “This asset is missing a credit — please fill before publish” |
| Error (red) | A condition that should stop the user from acting. “This asset is in a region your account is not licensed for” |
| Blank (no colour) | A neutral message where the colour treatment of Info is too prominent. Useful for routine guidance |
Notifications are the design choice that separates a panel that works from a panel that feels well-designed. In our experience, the single most common design mistake when building a Workflow Assistant panel is using too few notifications. Without them, a user who has ended up in an unexpected state — wrong asset kind selected, missing required metadata, viewing an asset that needs attention — has to deduce that from the absence of buttons or the presence of a disabled overlay. With them, the user is told what is going on, and what to do next, in plain language that you write.
Tip: Write notifications as if the user has never seen the panel before. “This asset has no credit. Add one in the Credit field below before publishing.” reads better than “Credit missing.” Keep them short, but keep them human.
Choosing between similar components
A few common confusions come up. Here is how to think about them.
| If you want to … | Use a … |
|---|---|
| Show or edit one value from Assets metadata | Field |
| Tell the user something based on the metadata | Notification |
| Have the user do something | Action |
| Show a single Assets value the user must not edit | Field with Disable edit turned on, or a Formatted field if the value is a system field like file size |
| Let the user pick from a fixed list | Dropdown field |
| Let the user pick from a list that changes outside Assets (a product catalogue, a taxonomy) | External data source field |
| Let the user add several values from an open list | Tags field |
| Let the user add several values from a closed list | Tags field with Restrict to values turned on |
| Run a search across the library | Query assets action |
| Apply the same metadata change to many selected assets | Metadata stamper action |
| Group selected assets into a new Collection | Group into Collection widget |
| Generate a CSV report of selected assets’ metadata | Metadata Report widget |
If the choice is not obvious, default to a Notification. A panel with too many Notifications is easy to fix; a panel that silently lets users into the wrong state is not.
Where to go from here
- 02c — Asset kinds and visibility — for any of these three types, you choose which kinds of asset the component applies to. This is the next concept to learn
- 02d — How conditions work: Lucene and regex in plain language — Notifications, Disable conditions, and Required conditions all use Lucene; this primer makes it readable
- 05a — Fields reference — the full catalogue of every field type and every option
- 05b — Actions and buttons reference — the full catalogue of every action type and every option
- 05c — Notifications reference — the full catalogue of message types, conditions, and options
Revisions
- 7 May 2026: First publication of the manual
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