Workflow "Failed on Start" when started via Powershell. Condition not authorized.

Question

Hi,

I recently modified a pre-exisiting, pre-working workflow to add a "Is User in a Sharepoint Group" condition from SPDActivities CodePlex project.

Anyway if I initiate the workflow manually it all works correctly (including the new condition).  However when in production the workflow gets started via Powershell (which also creates the list item), and instead I get a "Failed to Start" in the SP UI, and in the logs I get the following:

05/09/2012 19:04:58.39  w3wp.exe (0x119C)                        0x0F9C SharePoint Foundation          Workflow Infrastructure        98d8 Unexpected Microsoft.SharePoint.SPException: <Error><CompilerError Line="0" Column="0" Text="Activity 'ID273' validation failed: Property &quot;Condition&quot; has invalid value. Condition expression is invalid. The type: &quot;DP.Sharepoint.Workflow.Common, DP.Sharepoint.Workflow, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=0298457208daed83&quot; is not authorized for use in Workflow Rules or Conditions" /></Error>     at Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPNoCodeXomlCompiler.LoadXomlAssembly(SPWorkflowAssociation association, SPWeb web)     at Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWinOeHostServices.LoadDeclarativeAssembly(SPWorkflowAssociation association)     at Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWinOeHostServices.CreateInstance(SPWorkflow workflow)     at Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWinOeEngine.RunWo... 
05/09/2012 19:04:58.39* w3wp.exe (0x119C)                        0x0F9C SharePoint Foundation          Workflow Infrastructure        98d8 Unexpected ...rkflow(SPWorkflowHostService host, SPWorkflow workflow, Collection`1 events, TimeSpan timeOut)     at Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWorkflowManager.RunWorkflowElev(SPWorkflow workflow, Collection`1 events, SPWorkflowRunOptionsInternal runOptions) 

I checked the web.config (all the posts regarding "not authorized" points to a missing authorizedType entry) and I have the following (in the correct locations):

      <SafeControl Assembly="DP.Sharepoint.Workflow, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=0298457208daed83" Namespace="DP.Sharepoint.Workflow.InfoPath" TypeName="*" Safe="True" SafeAgainstScript="False" />
      <SafeControl Assembly="DP.Sharepoint.Workflow, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=0298457208daed83" Namespace="DP.Sharepoint.Workflow.Install" TypeName="*" Safe="True" SafeAgainstScript="False" />
      <SafeControl Assembly="DP.Sharepoint.Workflow, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=0298457208daed83" Namespace="DP.Sharepoint.Workflow" TypeName="*" Safe="True" SafeAgainstScript="False" />

      <authorizedType Assembly="DP.Sharepoint.Workflow, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=0298457208daed83" Namespace="DP.Sharepoint.Workflow" TypeName="*" Authorized="True" />

The Powershell code I use to start them is as follows:

  foreach ($wf in $list.WorkflowAssociations | ? { $_.AutoStartCreate -eq $true }) {
      $oWeb.Site.WorkflowManager.StartWorkFlow($item, $wf, $wf.AssociationData, [Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWorkflowRunOptions]::SynchronousAllowPostpone) | Out-Null
  }
 

Is there another web.config I should be looking at?  Any other pointers to what is wrong?  Is there another method of checking that a user is a member of a Sharepoint group within a workflow?

Thanks in advance

Peter

Answer 1

Hi Peter,

There is an invalid value/expression using in workflow condition, could you please check it, something like a number cannot compare with a string? Check every items uses in condition and see if you can find any problem.

Could you please try to using the sample code to start workflow for one item?
http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/UploadFile/anavijai/how-to-start-the-workflow-for-an-item-using-powershell-in-sharepoint-2010/

Or use C# instead?

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/nishand/archive/2008/08/27/how-to-add-remove-and-start-workflow-programmatically.aspx

Thanks & Regards,
Emir

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Emir Liu

TechNet Community Support