Blank input Datagrid Fields from Aria Automation Custom form are skipped and not passed to Aria Orchestrator

Products

• VMware Aria Suite

Issue/Introduction

• When running an Aria Orchestrator workflow with datagrid-type variables from the Aria Automation Service Broker, the datagrid-type workflow inputs are not correctly passed from the Aria Automation custom form to Aria Orchestrator if any of the fields in the variable are left blank.
• It can be observed that if the workflow is executed both from Aria Automation and Aria Orchestrator using the same inputs (with some fields left blank), the format of the datagrid variable created differs depending on whether the submission is made through the Orchestrator form or the Aria Automation Service Broker catalog.

Environment

Aria Automation 8.x
Aria Orchestrator 8.x 

Cause

This is an observed behavior with Aria Automation custom forms in the way datagrid variables are handled and parsed to the Orchestrator.

Resolution

There is currently no resolution available to fix this issue and this issue would be addressed in a future release.

Workaround:

To workaround this issue, when planning on running Aria Orchestrator workflows containing datagrid variables from Aria Automation's Service Broker Catalog, follow either of the below recommendations:

1. Set the datagrid variable fields as required fields in Orchestrator.
2. Add null checks wherever the datagrid variable's field is not mandatory (required).
3. Provide a default value for the datagrid variable's field.

Additional Information

Steps to reproduce

1. Create a simple workflow item in Aria orchestrator with a datagrid type input variable.
2. Add the Aria Orchestrator as a content source in Aria Automation
3. Import the content - Workflow from the added content source in step 2.
4. Create the content sharing policy by adding the workflow from step 3 and apply the policy as required.
5. Once available in the catalog, - view the custom form created - and ensure no changes are made.
6. Now run the workflow from Aria Automation - with multiple entries into the datagrid, and skip values for one or 2 fields (column) for a entry (row) and similar permutations and ensure to enter values for all fields for one entry (row)..
7. Click submit.
8. Observe the variable created as a part of the workflow run in Aria Orchestrator. - the fields with no values, would completely be omitted
9. Now on the same run instance in Aria Orchestrator, click Run again, so that the workflow now uses the same inputs used for the previous run.
10. Click Run.
11. Observe the output - We now see that the fields (column) with no value are printed with an empty string ' '.