As has been alluded to, you cannot wait for the completion of a Workflow from within the execution of a synchronous plugin. Synchronous plugins terminate after 2:00mins; you cannot rely on a Workflow to trigger and complete within 2 minutes.
As has also been suggested, you can run your plugin asynchronously; this will allow you to execute long running operations, however your plugin will no longer execute in "real time".
If you decide to stick with the Workflow polling mechanism or wish to do so in future, the ExecuteWorkflowResponse returns an AsyncOperationId. To determine the outcome of that operation, you must periodically poll the CRM system in a
loop until the operation has completed or failed:
ExecuteWorkflowRequest req = new ExecuteWorkflowRequest();
req.EntityId = contact.Id;
req.WorkflowId = new Guid("xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx");
ExecuteWorkflowResponse resp = (ExecuteWorkflowResponse)xrm.Execute(req);
Guid asyncOperationId = resp.Id;
QueryByAttribute retrieveOpQuery = new QueryByAttribute
{
EntityName = "asyncoperation",
ColumnSet = new ColumnSet("statecode")
};
retrieveOpQuery.AddAttributeValue("asyncoperationid", asyncOperationId);
// Wait for the asyncoperation to complete.
// (wait no longer than 1 minute)
for (int i = 0; i < 60; i++)
{
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);
EntityCollection retrieveOpResults = xrm.RetrieveMultiple(retrieveOpQuery);
if (retrieveOpResults.Entities.Count() > 0)
{
Entity op = retrieveOpResults.Entities[0];
if (((OptionSetValue)op["statecode"]).Value == 3 /* Completed */)
{
// success !!
break;
}
}
if (i == 59)
{
// timeout
}
}
All that said, I would try to simplify the architecture. Spawning and waiting on Workflows makes it unclear what is occurring when someone has to debug and/or modify the process at a later date. Consider any of the following:
- If you MUST run the operation in real time, you cannot rely on Workflow to implement any of the functionality. Move all logic it into your plugin
- If asynchronous operation is OK, move your plugin logic into a Custom Workflow Activity (assuming the message on which your plugin triggers can be triggered via Workflow)
--pogo (pat) @ pogo69.wordpress.com
