How to check if a record is locked through an approval process?

Question

How do I check if a record of a custom object is locked through an approval process ? I know i can use the ProcessInstance to access my approval processes, but I can't check if it is locked or unlocked.

Answer 1

You could create an "In Approval Process?" checkbox and set it to true in the Initial Submission Actions and then set it to false in the Final Approval, Rejection, and Recall Actions of approval processes.

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SF has added isLocked method in System.Approval class from Spring 16 (Api level 36). So it is now possible to check if the record is locked or unlocked using Apex.

Additionally, SF has also added the ability to lock/unlock the record using Apex code. Please refer to same document. Basically, the code would look like

Approval.isLocked(recordId);
     or
Approval.isLocked(recordIds);

Check https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.200.0.apexcode.meta/apexcode/apex_methods_system_approval.htm#apex_System_approval_isLocked for more info

Answer 2

Another workaround is to activate 'Track Field History' for the custom object, then if the record is locked it will be shown in the custom object History table.

For example if you have a custom object "Project" with API Name "Project__c", if you activate 'Track Field History' the table "Project__History" will be automatically created and you can check if a record is locked using this query:

SELECT CreatedDate, CreatedById, Field, ParentId FROM Project__History WHERE ParentId='a0P370000005PkHEAU' ORDER BY CreatedDate DESC LIMIT 1

(with the ParentId value in the WHERE clause the Id of the Custom Object Record.)

and checking that Field is equal to locked:

Project__History  p = [SELECT CreatedDate, CreatedById, Field, ParentId FROM Project__History WHERE ParentId='a0P370000005PkHEAU' ORDER BY CreatedDate DESC LIMIT 1];
if (p.Field == 'locked') {   //the record is locked }