WF4 versioning - how do I cancel / terminate an invalid instance? - workflow-foundation-4

I've got a state machine workflow implemented using WorkflowFoundation 4.1. I'm using the SQL Server persistence store and the WorkflowApplication class for loading and running workflows.
I'm making changes to the state machine workflow model, and am finding that existing instances break very easily. I've written code that can replay the workflow back into the correct state, which is basically a migration, which works fine, however I need to be able to clear out the old workflow instance as well.
The main issue is that if the workflow is invalid, I can't even load it, so I can't terminate or cancel it either.
Is there a way to use the workflow API to remove a workflow without loading it (ie, some command on the SqlPersistenceStore), or do I have to clean the database manually?

The SqlWorkflowInstanceStore doesn't allow you to do so directly. You will need to go into the database and delete the record there. If you are using AppFabric there is actually a command to delete a workflow instance without loading it first for just that purpose. There should be a PowerShell command to do that using code.

Related

Populate SQLite only once upon installation of UWP app

I am developing UWP application using vs studio 2017 version 15.9.6.
I want to use Windows local SQLite database. I want to run an SQL script named mySql.txt when the user first time install the application. I dont want to run it every time when the user run the app as it contain insert statement, which will cause duplicate rows insertion. So I want to run that script only once, preferably in the installation time.
How can I do that? I am very new to UWP and .NET. Please guide me step-by-step if possible.
You can make sure the initialization/seeding is done only once for the app. For that you may utilize ApplicationDate.Current.LocalSettings.
These allow you to write simple data for your application which are bound to your app. Once the user uninstalls the app, these data will be removed as well. This fits your scenario exactly.
Suppose your database initialization code is in the method InitializeDb(). You could use the following to make sure the initialization is done only once:
if (!ApplicationData.Current.LocalSettings.Values.ContainsKey("DbInitialized"))
{
InitializeDb();
ApplicationData.Current.LocalSettings.Values["DbInitialized"] = true;
}
This code first checks if we have initialized the db previously and if not, performs the initialization and stores a flag into app settings to make sure the next time the initialization is skipped.
You can run this code during app initialization, for example in OnLaunched method, or on when the database service is first required.
This is of course the simplest implementation, so you can (and should) add some exception handling, so that if the initialization fails, it can be retried and so on. Also you may want to handle app updates and DB updates - in which case you can use ApplicationData.Current.Version which allows you to track the version of application data and can be used to keep track of DB version as well so you can perform appropriate migrations between versions.
Finally, for even better user convenience, there is also a way to perform the app update steps during updates. See this article for more info.

Does Flyway have s.th. like dbmaintain's "markDatabaseAsUpToDate" (maven-)task?

Our common workflow when creating a new sql migration script is
to write and execute every single statement in the developers local datatase schema. When finished, it's checked into the source control system.
Problem is: at the database scheme of the creating developer, the script is already "executed". For scripts not beeing reentrant - it would be convenient to have s.th. like Dbmaintain's maven task "markDatabaseAsUpToDatemaven".
Does Flyway have s.th. equivalent?
P.S.: Our current workflow (as a workaround) is as follows:
"mvn flyway:migrate" this file as an empty file (without content - so it never fails).
put the sql statments in, save & "migrate" again.
"mvn flyway:repair"
Thanks
While the workflow you describe sounds like it can do the job, you can achieve the same in a simpler and fully automated way: set cleanOnValidationError to true (on for dev!) and everytime the script changes, the DB gets recreated.
More info: http://flywaydb.org/documentation/maven/migrate.html#cleanOnValidationError

Quartz.Net (2.2.3) Scheduling New Jobs

I am running the Quartz.Net server as a Windows service, like described in the documentation. I am trying to understand how I can create new jobs for Quartz to schedule, without the need to rebuild the Quaretz.net server application everytime.
I would like to be able to add new jobs from an exe, dll, or other options welcome. This way I can add jobs dynamically. From what I can tell it seems all jobs must be defined up front and built into the server. From there the user can pass parameters and enable triggers via XML file. I am using MS SQL Server instead of XML file for persistence layer.
My use case is I need to generate reports at particular times, but the users can create new reports after launch of my application. I am using Dev Express for my reporting (not sure if this matters).
Any guidance is very appreciated.
You should check out the work Tolis Bekiaris did on the eXpand Framework's JobScheduler. It's a module for DevExpress's XAF and Quartz.NET which should give you plenty of sample code, especially if you are already using XPO for your data.
You can get the source code here.
Or alternatively, it's on Github.
You'll find the job scheduler code in eXpand/Xpand/Xpand.ExpressApp.Modules/JobScheduler.

How should I implement a runonce script for Symfony 2?

I use Scrum methodology and deploy functionality in builds every sprint.
There is necessity to perform different changes in the stored data (I mean data in database and on filesystem). I'd like to implement it as a PHP scripts invoked from console. But they should be executed only once, during the deployment.
Is there any way to implement it through app/console without listing it in the list of registered Console commands? Or is there any other way to implement runonce scripts?
DoctrineMigrations covers some part of my requirements, but it's hard to implement complex changes in Model. And it does not cover changes in files on the filesystem.
I don't think symfony has a facility for that, and besides, hiding the command is not the same as securing the command.
Instead, I would make the script determine if it has been run already (could be as simple as adding a version number to a file and checking that number before running) and stop if it detects it has already run before.

How can I undo the previous step in Windows Workflow Foundation?

I have a project that uses Windows Workflow and I have a database in SQL Server 2008 with Workflow tables.
I want to Edit Record in Project so want to go back to a previous Activity without condition, and update the workflow instance in database.
How can I undo the previous step in Windows Workflow Foundation?
Not really. There is a bit if hack though that might be useful. When you use a workflow instance store and tell the workflow to abandon it's state when an unhandled exception occurs the last saved state in the instance store is unchanged. So you can reload the workflow from that state and continue as if the next activity never executed. The problem is in controlling when the workflow persist. You get to control that for the most part but there are some circumstances where a workflow will always persist.

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