What Happened to the Environment Fields?

I freaked out a little in my first look at K2 blackpearl 4.6.9 — I didn’t see the Environment Fields node in the Object Browser.

What?! No Environment Fields Node in the Object Browser?!
What?! No Environment Fields Node in the Object Browser?!

Oh no! Why would they take away the environment fields? I RAVE about these things, and for good reason — they allow for string values to be injected into a process at runtime. I use this magic in the form of e-mail text and other data the business might want to tweak at will, because it saves me from having to recompile and redeploy the solution — a workflow process will grab the value when it needs it.

Fortunately, one of my team members was able to talk me down from the ledge: Environment Fields are still very much a part of blackpearl — the folder just won’t exist until you create an environment field.

Here’s how: Open your blackpearl project, and navigate to the object browser. Right-click on any of the existing nodes, and click on Add new field… .

Add New Field
Add New Field

You should see the familiar Add New Field dialog appear. Here’s the key: Select Miscellaneous Field in the Item Type drop down list. Name your field and give it a value. Fill in the Field Description field for extra credit and click the black OK button in the dialog’s lower right corner.

The Add New Field Dialog
The Add New Field Dialog

The Object Browser should refresh. A wild Fields node appears!

The Object Browser, complete with Fields node
The Object Browser, complete with Fields node

It’s super effective!

Expand the Fields node to see your field. Hover over the field to see the string value.
Expand the Fields node to see your field. Hover over the field to see the string value.

By the way, if you remove the single Environment Field you just created, the Fields node will disappear again.