The Switch activity checks if the value of a passed field or variable is equivalent to one of several case values.

The switch activity behavior is similar to a switch statement in Java.

When creating a switch activity, select a Variable or Field to check against activity conditions for a matching field value. When the value passed in this variable or field matches the value defined in the Condition field of the activity condition, the workflow progresses through that activity condition.
Note: Condition activities run as the user whose actions match the conditions the workflow was waiting for and advances the workflow.

Results

The variable or field selected in the Variable or Field activity variable determines the possible result values.

Input variables

The following variables determine the behavior of the activity.
Table 1. Switch activity input variables
Field Description
Type Select Variable or Field as the type of value to check against available conditions. This selection sets the label and available options for the other field.
Variable or Field
Select the source of the value compared against the switch activity conditions. The field label and available options depend on the Type selection.
  • Variable: select any service catalog variable.
  • Field: select any field from the Table defined in the workflow properties.

States

The activity state tells the workflow engine what to do with the activity.
Table 2. Switch activity states
StateDescription
Executing The workflow engine knows to start the onExecute function of the activity.
Waiting The workflow engine ignores the activity until a specific event to restart the activity is fired.
Finished The activity finished running. See the result value for the outcome of the activity.
Cancelled This activity, or the workflow that contains this activity, was canceled.
Error A JavaScript error occurred. Review the logs for error details.

Example

You can create a switch activity that sets different field values on an incident based on the Assignment group of the incident record.
Figure 1. Switch activity example
The Field selected is the incident Assigned to field.
Figure 2. Switch activity Field

If the value of the Assigned to field of the workflow-triggering incident is Service Desk or Field Services, the workflow populates values on the incident record before continuing. If the Assigned to value is Hardware, the workflow continues without populating any field values.

Condition type (Standard, Else, or Error) is used. For more information, see Manage workflow activity conditions.
Figure 3. Hardware group condition