Hey guys,
In my last post I show you how to create a custom activity now I want to show you how can deploy a custom activity.
The first step is to register the built
assembly in GAC with gacutil.
Then we have to configure the settings for SPD. The first step
is to create a *.ACTIONS file in the 12 hives folder. So navigate to:
C:\Program
Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\web server extension\12\Template\language
Id\Workflow
In this folder is
already a file named WSS.ACTIONS I prefer to create a new *:ACTIONS File for
the custom Activities. So create one and copy the code below there:
<WorkflowInfo>
<Actions Sequential="then"
Parallel="and">
<Action Name="Your Custom
Action"
ClassName="YourNamespace.YourCustomActivity"
Assembly="YourCustomAssemblyName,
Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=0298457208daed83"
AppliesTo="all"
Category="Custom Actions">
<RuleDesigner Sentence="Copy item
in %1 to list at %2, existing items.">
<FieldBind Field="Message"
Text="value" Id="1" DesignerType="TextArea" />
</RuleDesigner>
<Parameters>
<Parameter Name="Message"
Type="System.String, mscorlib" Direction="In" />
</Parameters>
</Action>
</Actions>
</WorkflowInfo>
So now we have a look
at the definition of this config file.
WorkflowInfo:
This is the root
element for a *.ACTIONS File, this must be included in every Actions File
-
Attributes:
o
Language – refers to the language of the server. It must be
in form language/culture pair
Actions Element:
The Actions Element describes
the set of Actions which are defined in the config file. The Sequential and
Parralel values are used to identify what the
SPD should be write if this
Action is not the first one. So if you have multiple languages set up then you
have to create 2 Actions file in each language folder one.
And you have to
specify the sequential value e.g. in english and german.
Action Element:
-
Name – The name which should be displayed in SPD for use
-
ClassName – The class Name of the current Activity
-
Assembly – The .NET Assembly which includes the Activities
-
Category (optional) – Provides a new category in SPD
-
CreateTask(optional) – If set to true then a task list item
will be created
-
ListModeration(optional) – If set to true this action element
applies to a list or
doc library that has content approval enabled
Rule Designer
Element:
This element contains
information about how to render a workflow sentence in SPD.
Attributes:
-
Sentence – the sentence which describes the Activity and used
to bind the parameters to the Workflow
Field Bind Element:
This is one of the
important elements in the config file. It describes How a parameter should be
bind in SPD.
-
DesignerType -
specifies the type of control which will be shown in SPD
o
This can have a child element named Option
§ Name
– The display name of the option for a drop down list
§ Value
– The value for the current item
-
Field – specify the parameter name of the workflow
-
Id – The identifier for the field, this will be used to map
the field in the sentence
-
Text – The text which will be shown in the sentence instead
of the placeholder
The most interesting
attribute is the Designer Type attribute. Which Designer Type is when
accessible shows this table:
|
Value
|
Data
Bound
|
Default
Builder
|
Show
DropDown
|
Advanced
Builder
|
Control
Description
|
|
Boolean
|
x
|
o
|
x
|
o
|
Drop
down box with true and false choice
|
|
ChooseDocLibItem
|
o
|
o
|
o
|
x
|
Document
library selector
|
|
ChooseListItem
|
o
|
o
|
o
|
x
|
Default
|
|
CreateListItem
|
o
|
o
|
o
|
x
|
Default
|
|
Date
|
x
|
x
|
o
|
o
|
Date/Time
selector
|
|
Dropdown
|
o
|
o
|
x
|
o
|
DropDown
list. Static items can be populated by adding Option elements
|
|
Email
|
o
|
o
|
o
|
x
|
Email
advanced control
|
|
FieldNames
|
o
|
o
|
x
|
o
|
Drop
Down List with all field names of the current list
|
|
Float
|
x
|
o
|
o
|
o
|
Textbox
|
|
Hyperlink
|
x
|
x
|
o
|
o
|
URL
browser
|
|
Integer
|
x
|
o
|
o
|
o
|
TextBox
|
|
ListNames
|
o
|
o
|
x
|
o
|
DropDown
List with all Lists of the WebSite
|
|
Operator
|
o
|
o
|
x
|
o
|
DropDown
List with operators which will be filled static in the Option Element
|
|
ParameterNames
|
o
|
o
|
x
|
o
|
DropDown
List with all local variables which has been defined for the current workflow
|
|
Person
|
x
|
x
|
o
|
o
|
Person
or Group selector
|
|
SinglePerson
|
x
|
x
|
o
|
o
|
Person
or Group selector
|
|
Stringbuilder
|
o
|
o
|
o
|
x
|
Inline
text box editor
|
|
Survey
|
o
|
o
|
o
|
x
|
Default
|
|
Text
|
x
|
o
|
o
|
o
|
Default
|
|
Textarea
|
x
|
x
|
o
|
o
|
Default
|
|
UpdateListItem
|
o
|
o
|
o
|
x
|
Default
|
|
writablefieldNames
|
o
|
o
|
x
|
o
|
DropDown
List populated with a list of fields or a list of doc librariers
|
Parameters:
Container
for all Parameter elements and
contains no definable attributes. The Parameters
element is a complex element type
and can be used with both Actions and Conditions elements to define their parameters.
Parameter
-
Type
– The Type of the parameter e.g. System.String
-
Direction
– defines whether the parameter will be used as in- or output. Valid values are
‘In’ and ‘Out’
-
Name
– the identifier for the parameter
-
InitialValues
– optional used to define which default value should be send with this
parameter
After you have
finished the creating of an *.ACTIONS File you have to register the
CustomActivity assembly in the portal as authorized type.
So navigate to web.config
file of the portal e.g. C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\80\web.config
Open it and search
for ‘authorizedTypes’
Add a new authorized
Type for your assembly as following and save the web.config file.
<authorizedType Assembly="SampleActivity, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=9e176eda06c49b19" Namespace="Test.SampleActivity" TypeName="*" Authorized="True" />
If you don't want to do it manually here you can find an automatic script build with PowerShell.
Restart IIS in some
cases a restart of the whole system is required.
So that’s it. Now you
can open your SPD and try to insert your custom activity.
Posted
Aug 04 2008, 11:44 AM
by
Nadine Storandt