Custom Tracking service in app.config, Web.config web service workflow

Question

 

 I want my workflow exposed as a web service to use my custom tracking service (that extends TrackingService). I am a relative newbie to WF, and Im using VS2005.

 I am just guessing right now, but I thought I could do the following in my app.config:

<configuration>

<configSections>

<section name="WorkflowRuntimeConfig" type="System.Workflow.Runtime.Configuration.WorkflowRuntimeSection, System.Workflow.Runtime, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>

<section name="LocalServicesConfig" type="System.Workflow.Runtime.ServiceSection, System.Workflow.Runtime, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>

</configSections>

<WorkflowRuntimeConfig>

<Services>

<add type="System.Workflow.Runtime.Hosting.ManualWorkflowSchedulerService, System.Workflow.Runtime, Version=3.0.00000.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>

</Services>

</WorkflowRuntimeConfig>

<LocalServicesConfig>

<Services>

<add type="PersonServiceWorkflow.PersonTrackingService, PersonServiceWorkflow, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null"/>

</Services>

</LocalServicesConfig>

</configuration>

I use the "Publish as Web Service" option to generate my WS and Web.config file:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<!--

Note: As an alternative to hand editing this file you can use the

web admin tool to configure settings for your application. Use

the Website->Asp.Net Configuration option in Visual Studio.

A full list of settings and comments can be found in

machine.config.comments usually located in

\Windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\v2.x\Config

-->

<configuration>

<configSections>

<section name="WorkflowRuntime" type="System.Workflow.Runtime.Configuration.WorkflowRuntimeSection, System.Workflow.Runtime, Version=3.0.00000.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>

</configSections>

<WorkflowRuntime Name="WorkflowServiceContainer">

<Services>

<add type="System.Workflow.Runtime.Hosting.ManualWorkflowSchedulerService, System.Workflow.Runtime, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>

<add type="System.Workflow.Runtime.Hosting.DefaultWorkflowCommitWorkBatchService, System.Workflow.Runtime, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>

</Services>

</WorkflowRuntime>

<appSettings/>

<connectionStrings/>

<system.web>

<!--

Set compilation debug="true" to insert debugging

symbols into the compiled page. Because this

affects performance, set this value to true only

during development.

-->

<compilation debug="false">

<assemblies>

<add assembly="System.Design, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B03F5F7F11D50A3A"/>

<add assembly="System.Drawing.Design, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B03F5F7F11D50A3A"/>

<add assembly="System.Transactions, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B77A5C561934E089"/>

<add assembly="System.Workflow.Activities, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>

<add assembly="System.Workflow.ComponentModel, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>

<add assembly="System.Workflow.Runtime, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>

<add assembly="Microsoft.Build.Tasks, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B03F5F7F11D50A3A"/>

<add assembly="System.Messaging, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B03F5F7F11D50A3A"/>

<add assembly="System.Runtime.Remoting, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B77A5C561934E089"/>

<add assembly="System.DirectoryServices, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B03F5F7F11D50A3A"/>

<add assembly="System.Windows.Forms, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B77A5C561934E089"/>

<add assembly="Microsoft.Build.Utilities, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B03F5F7F11D50A3A"/>

<add assembly="Microsoft.Build.Framework, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B03F5F7F11D50A3A"/></assemblies></compilation>

<!--

The <authentication> section enables configuration

of the security authentication mode used by

ASP.NET to identify an incoming user.

-->

<authentication mode="Windows"/>

<!--

The <customErrors> section enables configuration

of what to do if/when an unhandled error occurs

during the execution of a request. Specifically,

it enables developers to configure html error pages

to be displayed in place of a error stack trace.

<customErrors mode="RemoteOnly" defaultRedirect="GenericErrorPage.htm">

<error statusCode="403" redirect="NoAccess.htm"/>

<error statusCode="404" redirect="FileNotFound.htm"/>

</customErrors>

-->

<httpModules>

<add type="System.Workflow.Runtime.Hosting.WorkflowWebHostingModule, System.Workflow.Runtime, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" name="WorkflowHost"/>

</httpModules>

</system.web>

</configuration>

  What do I need to modify in app.config or Web.config so that the WorkflowRuntime utilizes my PersonTrackingService (ie. call this.TrackData(string) server side)?

 Thanks

Chris

 

 

Answer 1

Chris, I believe you need to add the ExternalDataExchangeService to your list of workflow services:

   <add type="System.Workflow.Activities.ExternalDataExchangeService, System.Workflow.Activities, Version=3.0.00000.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" ConfigurationSection="LocalServicesConfig"/>

Note the additional ConfigurationSection attribute at the end. 

Answer 2

In either web.config or app.config you want to put the <add> node for your PersonTrackingService in the same <Services> node as the <add> node for the ManualWorkflowSchedulerService:

<configuration>

<configSections>

<section name="WorkflowRuntime" type="System.Workflow.Runtime.Configuration.WorkflowRuntimeSection, System.Workflow.Runtime, Version=3.0.00000.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>

</configSections>

<WorkflowRuntime Name="WorkflowServiceContainer">

<Services>

<add type="System.Workflow.Runtime.Hosting.ManualWorkflowSchedulerService, System.Workflow.Runtime, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>

<add type="System.Workflow.Runtime.Hosting.DefaultWorkflowCommitWorkBatchService, System.Workflow.Runtime, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>

<add type="PersonServiceWorkflow.PersonTrackingService, PersonServiceWorkflow, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null"/>

</Services>

</WorkflowRuntime>

<appSettings/>

<connectionStrings/>

<system.web>

.....

Thanks,
Joel West
MSFTE - SDE in WF runtime and hosting

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights

Answer 3

 

 Thank you Joel. That was it, plus a few other hoops - I was getting a soap exception when it tried to load PersonTrackerService, then again on a framework call to getProfile. I had to re-deploy as a webservice then all was fine.

 Is there detailed documentation on this that Im missing?

 Thanks again,

 Chris

Answer 4

Documentation on the configuration files is in our latest internal doc build ("configuration files" in the index).  Not sure if it is there in the current public builds, I don't have a diff (documenation work is still in progress).  Should be available in the RTM build though or soon after in the online help.

Thanks,
Joel West
MSFTE - SDE in WF runtime and hosting

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights