Last week, I helped a developer troubleshoot a weird issue where multiple records inserted with RuntimeListViewRowCount option. In case you are wonder what is RuntimeListViewRowCount, it is a web.config setting that enables all List Views in K2 smartforms to return and display the total row counts. It is disabled by default, due to past performance issues and you can read more of this setting here.

In this article, I will be showing you the scenario that will cause the issue and how to work around it.

The Setup

The following is a sample setup of the environment to reproduce the issue.

1. SQL Stored Procedure

This is a stored procedure that does some processing and finally inserts the data to a SQL table and returns a result. Take note of how @Result is returned from the TSQL.

ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[TestInsertSP]
	@Name VARCHAR(255)
AS
BEGIN
	DECLARE @Result VARCHAR(5)

	-- some other processing

	INSERT INTO [dbo].[TestInsertTable]
	VALUES(@Name)

	-- some other processing

	SET @Result = 'OK'
	
	SELECT @Result -- return result
END

2. The SQL Stored Procedure SmartObject

The Stored Procedure is generated as a List type SmartObject method. Why is it List, but not Read or Execute type? This is due to the last line of the stored procedure being a “select” statement. It doesn’t matter whether you are return one or multiple records. When the SmartObject server reflects the stored procedure, it will always evaluate it as a List type when the last line is a “select” statement.

3. The K2 smartforms runtime and RuntimeListViewRowCount

Next, we will edit the K2 smartforms runtime site’s web.config and set the RuntimeListViewRowCount true. This will enable the page count for all List Views in K2 smartforms.

4. A K2 smartforms List View for testing

Lastly, we create a List View for testing. The following shows my test view. Notice that when RuntimeListViewRowCount is set to true, you will see that the paging bar will have the total page count indicated.

The rule in this form is pretty straight forward. Clicking Insert Data button will call on the stored procedure SmartObject above to insert the current date/time as the data, then it will refresh the list. Take note here that the method name is List.

This is the configuration for the SO_TestInsertSP SmartObject.

We shall proceed to test the List View now.

Testing the issue – Multiple records inserted with RuntimeListViewRowCount option

The test is simple. Click on Insert Data button and you expects to see one new record created, as per how the stored procedure is written above. But instead, we see 2 records inserted.

So how do we resolve this multiple entry issue?

The Problem & Solution

Why are we seeing 2 records inserted here? This is because the RuntimeListViewRowCount option will cause the SmartObject to be executed twice in K2 smartforms. First time to get the result, the second time to get the total records count. Although this SmartObject is not used to load the List View content, smartforms will still try to execute List methods twice in a List View. Do remember that the SmartObject created earlier is generated with a List method.

So how to resolve the problem of multiple records inserted with RuntimeListViewRowCount option? The answer is to change the SmartObject method type to anything but List type. It does not make sense for this SmartObject to have a List type method when it only return a result status.

1. Update the Stored Procedure

First, we need to ensure the last line of the stored procedure is not a “select” statement. This is how I changed it.

ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[TestInsertSP]
	@Name VARCHAR(255),
	@Result VARCHAR(5) = NULL OUTPUT
AS
BEGIN
	
	-- some other processing

	INSERT INTO [dbo].[TestInsertTable]
	VALUES(@Name)

	-- some other processing

	SET @Result = 'OK'
	
END

2. Refresh Service Instance and re-create the SmartObject

After updating the stored procedure, we need to refresh the Service Instance. You will see that the method is now an Execute type. We will recreate the SmartObject using the same GUID.

3. Update K2 smartofrms rules

With the new SmartObject created, we will update the smartforms rule.

4. Test again

Now go ahead and test it again. This time round, you will see that there is only one record created when you click on the Insert Data button. Simple!

Have fun!

• Author
• Recent Posts

Ji Kai

Director / Principal Consultant at Alrighty Labs Pte. Ltd.

Ji Kai is the Director and Principal Consultant of Alrighty Labs Pte. Ltd. He has over 10 years of experience in solution designing, consulting and management of software development projects in both private and public sectors. His primary responsibility is to take lead in customer engagements and use his expertise in K2 technologies to assist customers to design successful business process applications. In addition, he has proven past records of leading the successful delivery of complex business process applications on K2 and Microsoft technologies.

Linkedin

Latest posts by Ji Kai (see all)

• Multiple records inserted with RuntimeListViewRowCount option - 30 May 2017
• Friendly Error Message on K2 smartforms - 04 May 2017
• Add company logo and change K2 login form descriptions - 02 Aug 2016