I have created a Workflow Server and Hosted it in IIS. I have a sample site which has a service reference and call the workflow service by creating the service object. Everything works fine.
But in case an exception occurred in the workflow, it will suspend the workflow. I can see it in the SQL Persistence store DB.
But how can i resume this workflow from the client site?
I think I figured it out. When a workflow is suspended, you have to explicitly resume it using Appfabric. But If the workflow is Abandon, workflow service will resume the workflow when the next hit comes. Until then it will be saved in the SQL Persistence store.
In order to change the default behavior for the Unhandled Exception please put the below in your <behavior> section of the web.config.
<workflowUnhandledException action="Abandon" />
I tried this. When the exception happened it will go to the catch and execute what ever command I have given. But it does not suspend the workflow. It just abandon it. Later I fix the issue and call the second part of my workflow using CorreationIDs , it resumes the workflow and completes it.
Hope this helps a poor soul out there like me. Workflow Foundation does not have much documentation and almost all the demos are in console applications which is basic. It is a struggle. :(
Related
I have a web application that checks the user accounts from the database to determine their source. I want to make sure that the thread that goes to check the database runs first without any scheduling algorithm of WebSphere server.
More Clarification:
Even if I define the method at first it takes time to gather all information so I want to make sure that the thread completes getting all the information from the database and proceed to other threads in the server.
Have you tried using javax.servlet.ServletContexetListener.contextInitialized ?
Note that the JavaDoc states "All ServletContextListeners are notified of context initialization before any filters or servlets in the web application are initialized."
Team:
I need to invoke a WF activity (XAML) from a WF service (XAMLX) asynchronously. I am already referencing the Microsoft.Activities.Extensions framework and I'm running on the Platform Update 1 for the state machine -- so if the solution is already in one of those libraries I'm ready!
Now, I need to invoke that activity (XAML) asynchronously -- but it has an output parameter that needs to set a variable in the service (XAMLX). Can somebody please provide me a solution to this?
Thanks!
* UPDATE *
Now I can post pictures, * I think *, because I have enough reputation! Let me put a couple out here and try to better explain my problem. The first picture is the WF Service that has the two entry points for the workflow -- the second is the workflow itself.
This workflow is an orchestration mechanism that constantly restarts itself, and has some failover mechanisms (e.g. exit on error threshold and soft exit) so that we can manage our queue of durable transactions using WF!
Now, we had this workflow working great when it was all one WF Service because we could call the service, get a response back and send the value of that response back into another entry point in a trigger to issue a soft exit. However, a new requirement has arrisen asking us to make the workflow itself a WF activity in another project and have the Receive/Send-Reply sequences in the WF Service Application project.
However, we need to be able to startup this workflow and forget about it -- then let it know somehow that a soft exit is necessary later on down the road -- but since WF executes on a single thread this has become a bit challenging at best.
Strictly speaking in XAML activities Parallel and ParallelForEach are how you perform asynchrony.
The workflow scheduler only uses a single thread (much like UI) so any activity that is running will typically be running on the same thread, unless it implements AsyncCodeActivity, in which case you are simply handing back the scheduler thread to the runtime while waiting for a callback from whichever async code your AsyncCodeActivity implementation is calling.
Therefore are you sure this is what you want to achieve? Do you mean you want to run it after you have sent your initial response? In this case place your activity after the Send Reply.
Please provide more info if these suggestions don't answer your question./
Update:
The original requirement posed (separating implementation from the service Receive/Send activities) may actually be solved by hosting the target activity as a service. See the following link
http://blog.petegoo.com/index.php/2011/09/02/building-an-enterprise-workflow-system-with-wf4/
I am trying to construct a simple windows workflow to monitor a directory for inbound files and do some DB updates using Windows WF 4.0. Currently I am planning to build a 'WCF Workflow Service' and host it as a 'Windows service' running 24/7 (with a daily service shutdown and startup).
Further in the future I am planning to consume this service using an ASP.NET/WPF application to create a basic dashboard kind of stuff.
Considering the idea of directory polling for files with WF hosted on windows service, does it seems to be a good idea? What can be the cons of this?
Please advice if there are any drawbacks on this or can this achieved by better means?
I'm actually doing this, but it is a bit more complex than you think, and should be avoided if possible.
You should not be blocking from within an Activity; if it is expected to be a long running Activity that is waiting from input from the outside (FileSystemWatcher event, for instance), the workflow should idle itself and wait to be woken from the outside.
How I did this was I created a workflow extension that hosted the FileSystemWatcher. Once the Activity was ready to watch for a file, it created a bookmark and passed it to the extension.
The extension then started the FSW, holding onto the bookmark.
When a FSW event was fired, the extension resumed the bookmark, passing in an object that contained details about the event. The Activity did what was needed with the event, then re-scheduled itself.
Normally I wouldn't have done this, but I had some requirements that forced me to use WF4 to accomplish this goal. If I didn't have to use WF4, I would have just spun up the FSW within the service and consumed the events.
Unless you expect to have to be very flexible with your configuration detailing what you do with the FSW event, and expect this to change relatively often during deployment of the service, I'd skip WF4.
I need to get the next activities(transitions) what my workflow is being blocked for as soon as workflow entered a new state without relying on workflow persistence service, I found out that workflow persistence start to hit database when workflow instance is idle, which has a time latence when there are more than one instance of workflow running, it pose a serious problem for me, I need the blooking bookmarks to be in Synch with my workflow status, which I will set in code activity when workflow enters its new state, from codeActivityContext and NativityContext, there is no way to get the api to get this information(the next transitions), both the statemachine class and state class are sealed, there is not way to tag into it.I am using the blocking bookmarks to indict how the workflow will flow to U.I, so that I can drive the workflow from U.I, I am hosting the statemachine using workflowserviceHost with IIS. I am wondering why I am the only one run into this issue, I have been struggle with this issue for some time.
Thanks in advance.
Your best options is using a TrackingParticipant where you can see exactly what is going on in a workflow as it is executing. From the TrackingParticipant you can then save the bookmarks and have the UI reuse them.
I have an autocomplete service that executes in under 1ms - perfect! This is a timing of the method.
When I built this service outside of the project, the service call would take a total of 5ms. The service is a ASMX, and returns a JSON result.
But once I integrated this service into the real project it now takes 200ms, although the method call is actually still executing in 1ms. So it must be serialization, ASP.NET pipeline or IIS.
The project is so big it's hard to know exactly what HttpModules/Handlers are running.
So my question is, is there a simple profiler a can place on a HTTP request in IIS that will tell me how long each stage takes?
BTW this all on my local box, before anyone says network speed!
Many Thanks,
Ash.
You can use Failed Request Tracing, but for status code 200: