#30 Sharepoint: Accessing a Site Collection\SPWeb within a Workflow and updating a list

Below I am grabbing data off a Workflow with a browser enabled Infopath Form and loading a separate list.

public Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWorkflowActivationProperties workflowProperties = new Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWorkflowActivationProperties(); 

  private void onWorkflowActivated1_Invoked(object sender, ExternalDataEventArgs e)
        {

              ...
                //Save the identifier for the workflow
                workflowId = workflowProperties.WorkflowId;

                // InitiationData comes from the initialization form
                XmlDocument document = new XmlDocument();
                document.LoadXml(workflowProperties.InitiationData);

                // Get Data Off Of Init Form
                XmlNamespaceManager ns = new XmlNamespaceManager(document.NameTable);
                ns.AddNamespace("my", "http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/infopath/2003/myXSD/2006-12-05T20:04:17");
                managerUsername = document.SelectSingleNode("/my:flowFields/my:managerUsername", ns).InnerText;
                managerFullname = document.SelectSingleNode("/my:flowFields/my:managerFullname", ns).InnerText;
                reviewType = document.SelectSingleNode("/my:flowFields/my:reviewType", ns).InnerText;
                reviewComments = document.SelectSingleNode("/my:flowFields/my:reviewComments", ns).InnerText; 

                using (SPSite siteCollection = workflowProperties.Site)
                {
                    using (SPWeb web = siteCollection.OpenWeb())
                    {
                        SPList EmployeeReviewList = (SPList)web.Lists["EmployeeReview"];                     // Specific List
                        SPListItem EmployeeReviewItem = OptimizedAddItem(EmployeeReviewList);       // Add New Item to List
                        EmployeeReviewItem["Review Name"] = reviewType;                                            // Update elements of new item
                        EmployeeReviewItem.Update();
                    }
                }  

  ... }

       //cf.  http://blog.robgarrett.com/2009/02/25/efficient-way-to-add-a-new-item-to-a-sharepoint-list
        public  SPListItem OptimizedAddItem(SPList list)
        {
            const string EmptyQuery = "0";
            SPQuery q = new SPQuery { Query = EmptyQuery };
            return list.GetItems(q).Add();
        }

Credit due for OptimizedAddItem(): http://blog.robgarrett.com/2009/02/25/efficient-way-to-add-a-new-item-to-a-sharepoint-list/

#15 Workflow to Custom Method calls

1. Use Visual Studio 2003 to create the standalone 1.1 framework DLL

2. Copy the dll generated (located under the /bin directory) to your webserver hosting Deltek:
Program Files\Deltek\Vision\Workflow

3. Once the dll is loaded it is visible to Deltek’s WF. You can then configure your WorkFlow by using the  left navigation:: Configuration | WorkFlow | User Initiated Workflow

4. Select Projects from the Application dropdown to get the Project Info Center WFs

5. WF has a top level and sublevels so you can group things anyway you want – we have a few top categories and many sublevels under each categories separated by  New & Edit  which are the 2 distinctions since these are actually DB triggers (at least that is what I think launches these)  executed on insert, update and delete commands in SQL.  Lots here see normal doc and that pdf from the Insight Class.

6. Select Invoke Custom Method from the choices and you will see the following dialog box which “sees” all the dlls in that Workflow directory.

a. Select the dll which is labeled Assembly

b. Select the class from that dll

c. Select the method call from that class

7. The rest is mapping parameters which are all send via strings (ie. no Boolean objects or primitives here checkboxes just send ‘Y’ or ‘N’)

a. To add a parm you cannot just type in the field name like you’d expect . First slide the vertical line between name and value to the left a little so you can see the ellipsis (…) on the far right of each row in the parm grid. Click on that and you get yet another dialogue box. Select your field and make sure you click the Add Column button then OK. You can type in the expression box directly just be careful. If you do this a lot you can save off the field names in ‘[:name]‘ format in text file & cut/paste.

Lastly check the Invoke after all changes are saved checkbox to ensure all your parms are good.

I have noticed timing issues on parms that are filled in from other workflows so show care there. Also be aware these WF can significantly slow down save performance.

Stored Procedures ::

1. Create a viable SP

2. WF “sees” all the SPs so no other migration is needed

3. Select Stored Procedure & load parms the same way as above.