Setting defaults for activities created as part of case

[amberau]

Is it possible to set activity field defaults for activities created in the sequence or timeline of a particular case type?

Could we set the default status for each activity type in a case, or assign a role or the client to fill the "with" or "assigned" fields for activities? Default activity subjects with tokens? This would reduce a lot of the manual work in managing a case and improve automation via scheduled reminders. I just haven't been able to find out if it's already possible or if this is functionality I would need to write myself.

E.g. I would like to have an activity "Send claim forms to client" automated as part of a case by using a scheduled reminder. So it would be great if I could add that activity to the case sequence, then set it to be created with the status "Completed" (I can only do that in the timeline now), and the client in the "With" field so I can use activity targets in the scheduled reminder "to" field.

And what if I want to automatically update the case status based on the completion of a particular activity?

Sorry if I'm missing the obvious, and thanks for any help you can offer

[Erik Hommel]

As far as I know you can set defaults with the timeline. If you do not want to use that you have to develop your own extension to create the defaults. But perhaps there are newer possibilities in the latest version as I know CiviCase has been updated. What version are you using?

[amberau]

Thanks for replying, Erik. I'm using 4.5.3. I can't see any option to set defaults on the timeline except the activity status, and I can't find any documentation that mentions the ability to set activity defaults.

No worries, I'll just write a custom extension

[amberau]

As an update: had a closer look at the internal workings of the CiviCase processor for creating new cases and it appears that mine are simply not working properly - the subject is not being set, and the client is not being set as the target for the activity. This is true whether I define the the case through the user interface or in XML (the user interface doesn't allow you to set the subject though, as far as I can tell).

Not sure what is happening here, but will continue to investigate and report if this turns out to be a bug.

[Erik Hommel]

We have done a few custom extensions on cases, give me a shout if you run into weird stuff. CiviCase behaves a little differently from other entities when you get to hooks :-)

[amberau]

Thanks Erik, will do. For the moment I have it working with a custom extension that just overrides Process.php - far from ideal but it will allow me to get people using the cases I'm developing and I can massage it later

[Erik Hommel]

Sounds like a plan  Enjoy!