Service Manager workflows use Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) activities. To work smoothly with the Authoring Tool, these activities derive from the base class WorkflowActivityBase, which belongs to the Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.Workflow.Common namespace. The WorkflowActivityBase base class introduces properties and methods not available in the generic Activity base class for WF activities. For more information about how to define WF activities by using the generic Activity base class, see Activity Class (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=193539).

Benefits of Using the WorkflowActivityBase Class

Users can import WF activities from the Visual Studio activity library, and work with those activities in the Authoring Tool authoring pane. However, those activities behave in the same way as they do in the Visual Studio Design environment. They do not have the customizations that are built in to the Service Manager activity library.

Note
Not all Visual Studio WF activities have been tested for compatibility with the Authoring Tool, and some Visual Studio WF activities might not run correctly in the Authoring Tool.

The following table lists the differences in behavior between WF activities based on the WorkflowActivityBase base class and WF activities based on the generic Activity base class.

Scenario	System Center Service Manager Authoring Tool WF Activity (WorkflowActivityBase base class)	Visual Studio WF Activity (Activity base class)
User binds activity properties (to Service Manager object properties or to properties from other activities).	Calls the Bind property to dialog box customized for Service Manager users.	Calls the Bind property to dialog box intended for developers.
User adds the activity to a For-Each Loop activity.	Adds the properties Propertytobind (the loop index) and CurrentItem, which are required to take part in loop-specific operations (CurrentItem is an internal property).	Behaves in the same way for each iteration of the loop, and does not interact with the property that indexes the loop.

Important
Because of the customizations required for the System Center Service Manager Authoring Tool workflow designer, activities based on the WorkFlowActivityBase class do not function as expected in the Visual Studio workflow design environment.

Users can build custom WF activities in Visual Studio for use in the System Center Service Manager Authoring Tool. However, to take advantage of the custom design-time behavior of the System Center Service Manager Authoring Tool, custom activities must be based on the WorkflowActivityBase class instead of the Activity class.

WF activities can interact with a different type of activity, the Service Manager activities used by Service Manager work items. Work items are one of the main types of objects that Service Manager uses. Work items track units of work such as Incidents, Service Requests, Change Requests, and other units of work. Most work items are comprised of one or more Service Manager activities. For example, a Change Request typically includes at least two activities: a Review activity and a Change Execution activity. The work item typically executes these activities in order.

When a work item is created, the first Service Manager activity becomes active and remains active while Service Manager (or the user) carries out whatever work the activity represents. When that work finishes, Service Manager marks the first activity as Completed and activates the next activity in the sequence. When the final activity in the sequence is marked as Completed, Service Manager marks the entire work item as Completed.

Some Service Manager activities can be executed manually, such as the Review activity of a Change Request. Other Service Manager activities can be automated, such as an activity that sends an e-mail to a user. The Change Execution activity of a Change Request can be automated. Service Manager uses WF workflows to automate Service Manager activities.

This example of a WF workflow activity in Service Manager uses the Set Activity Status to Completed WF activity. This WF activity typically represents the last step in a workflow that implements an automated Service Manager activity, and it sets the status of that activity to Completed. Setting this status triggers the system to move to the next activity in the work item, and this process repeats until the last activity in the work item is completed.

The Set Activity Status to Completed activity takes one input, Activity ID that identifies the Service Manager activity on which to act. The WF activity then connects to the Service Manager management server, retrieves the specified Service Manager activity from the database, sets its status to Completed, and then saves it back to the database. Most of the code samples included in this example come from the SetActivityStatusToCompleted.cs file, an underlying file that describes the Set Activity Status to Completed activity.

Initializing the Example WF Activity

The first section of the SetActivityStatusToCompleted.cs file contains the declaration and initialization statements. This activity is based on the WorkflowActivityBase class and uses the validator class SetActivityStatusToCompletedValidator and the designer class WorkflowActivityBaseDesigner.

The WorkflowActivityBaseDesigner class contains the customizations described in "Benefits of Using the WorkflowActivityBase Class." You can further extend and customize this class.

The first section of the activity definition includes the following code:

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namespace Microsoft.ServiceManager.WorkflowAuthoring.ActivityLibrary { // --------------------------------------------------------------------- /// <summary> /// Activity to set an activity's status to complete /// </summary> // --------------------------------------------------------------------- [ToolboxItem(typeof(ActivityToolboxItem))] [ActivityValidator(typeof(Validators.SetActivityStatusToCompletedValidator))] [Designer(typeof(WorkflowActivityBaseDesigner))] public sealed partial class SetActivityStatusToCompleted : WorkflowActivityBase {

Input Properties for the Example WF Activity

It declares one property, ActivityId, as a dependency property. This means this property can be bound to parameters defined at the workflow level. In this case, the ID of the Service Manager activity is passed in to the workflow as a workflow parameter, and flows into this activity as an input.

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// -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /// <summary> /// Dependency Property for ActivityId property /// </summary> // -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- public static DependencyProperty ActivityIdProperty = DependencyProperty.Register("ActivityId", typeof(String), typeof(SetActivityStatusToCompleted)); // -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /// <summary> /// Activity ID /// </summary> // -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Browsable(true)] [DesignerSerializationVisibility(DesignerSerializationVisibility.Visible)] public string ActivityId { get { return (string)this.GetValue(ActivityIdProperty); } set { this.SetValue(ActivityIdProperty, value); } }

Execution Behavior in the Example WF Activity

The Execute method does the actual work of this WF activity. Within the scope of the Execute method, the WF activity does the following:

• Detects whether it is operating within a For-Each Loop activity, and if so, sets the appropriate WF activity properties.
  
  
• Connects to the specified Service Manager management server and creates an EnterpriseManagementGroup object.
  
  
• Uses the ActivityId property to get the identified Service Manager activity from the database.
  
  
• Finds the class definition of the Service Manager activity, gets the Status property of the retrieved Service Manager activity, and set the property to the Completed enumeration list value.
  
  
• Commits the changes to the Service Manager activity.
  
  
• Uses the TrackData method (part of the WF infrastructure) to log tracking information about the execution and status of the WF activity.
  
  

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// -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /// <summary> /// The execute method will have the implementation to set the activity status to complete. /// </summary> // -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- protected override ActivityExecutionStatus Execute(ActivityExecutionContext executionContext) { try { // Initialize the current item if the activity contained within the For-Each loop base.Execute(executionContext); // Validate Parameters if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(ActivityId)) { throw new ArgumentNullException("ActivityId"); } string SMServer = "localhost"; Guid TaskGuid = new Guid(ActivityId); EnterpriseManagementGroup _mg = new EnterpriseManagementGroup(SMServer); EnterpriseManagementObject Activity = _mg.EntityObjects.GetObject <EnterpriseManagementObject>(TaskGuid, ObjectQueryOptions.Default); ManagementPack SystemMP = _mg.ManagementPacks.GetManagementPack( SystemManagementPack.System); ManagementPack ActivityMP = _mg.ManagementPacks.GetManagementPack( Resources.ActivityManagementMP, SystemMP.KeyToken, SystemMP.Version); ManagementPackClass activityClass = _mg.EntityTypes.GetClass( Resources.WorkItemActivityClass, ActivityMP); ManagementPackProperty status = activityClass.PropertyCollection["Status"]; ManagementPackEnumeration Completed = _mg.EntityTypes.GetEnumeration("ActivityStatusEnum.Completed", ActivityMP); Activity[status].Value = Completed; Activity.Commit(); } catch (ArgumentNullException argNullException) { // Log to Tracking Service TrackData(argNullException.ToString()); throw; } catch (EnterpriseManagementException mgmtException) { TrackData(mgmtException.ToString()); throw; } return ActivityExecutionStatus.Closed; } } }

Validation Behavior in the Example WF Activity

The SetActivityStatusToCompletedValidator.cs file defines the validation behavior of the WF activity. This behavior defines how the designer indicates whether this WF activity is fully defined, or if it still requires one or more inputs to be defined. The System Center Service Manager Authoring Tool indicates a validation error similar to Visual Studio by using a red exclamation point (!) icon on the workflow activity in the authoring pane.

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namespace Microsoft.ServiceManager.WorkflowAuthoring.ActivityLibrary.Validators { // -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /// <summary> /// Validator for the SetActivityStatusToCompleted activity /// </summary> // -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- internal class SetActivityStatusToCompletedValidator : ActivityValidator { // -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /// <summary> /// Validator for the SetActivityStatusToCompleted activity /// </summary> // -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- public override ValidationErrorCollection Validate(ValidationManager manager, object obj) { // Performing default validation ValidationErrorCollection errorColl = base.Validate(manager, obj); SetActivityStatusToCompleted setActivityStatusToCompletedObj = (SetActivityStatusToCompleted)obj; // Check if validation is happening during compilation of activity and // not during the hosting of an activity if (setActivityStatusToCompletedObj.Parent == null) { return errorColl; } string propertyName = Common.GetPropertyName(setActivityStatusToCompletedObj); // Add validation error if ActivityId is null or empty if (setActivityStatusToCompletedObj.ActivityId == null && setActivityStatusToCompletedObj.GetBinding(SetActivityStatusToCompleted.ActivityIdProperty) == null && String.Compare(propertyName, "ActivityId", false, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture) != 0) { errorColl.Add(new ValidationError( Resources.SetActivityStatusToCompleted_ActivityId_DesignTimeValidation, 10, false)); } return errorColl; } } }

Using the Example WF Activity in a Workflow

The following sample shows the Visual C# code that the System Center Service Manager Authoring Tool generated for an example workflow that uses the Set Activity Status to Completed activity. This code declares a simple sequential workflow, SetActivityStatusToCompleteWF that has one workflow parameter, the dependency property ActivityId. The value of ActivityID is determined by the Management Pack definitions shown later in this example. When the workflow runs, Service Manager identifies the value and passes it into the workflow.

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namespace WorkflowAuthoring { using System; using System.ComponentModel; using System.ComponentModel.Design; using System.Workflow.ComponentModel.Design; using System.Workflow.ComponentModel; using System.Workflow.ComponentModel.Serialization; using System.Workflow.ComponentModel.Compiler; using System.Drawing; using System.Collections; using System.Workflow.Activities; using System.Workflow.Runtime; public partial class SetActivityStatusToCompleteWF : System.Workflow.Activities.SequentialWorkflowActivity { public static DependencyProperty ActivityIdProperty = DependencyProperty.Register("ActivityId", typeof(string), typeof(SetActivityStatusToCompleteWF)); [System.ComponentModel.DesignerSerializationVisibilityAttribute(DesignerSerializationVisibility.Visible)] [System.ComponentModel.BrowsableAttribute(true)] [System.ComponentModel.CategoryAttribute("Misc")] public string ActivityId { get { return ((string)(this.GetValue(ActivityIdProperty))); } set { this.SetValue(ActivityIdProperty, value); } } } }

Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) uses the XOML format for some of the workflow definitions. In the case of the example workflow, the System Center Service Manager Authoring Tool creates the file SetActivityStatusToCompleteWF.xoml with the following content:

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<SequentialWorkflowActivity x:Class="WorkflowAuthoring.SetActivityStatusToCompleteWF" x:Name="SetActivityStatusToCompleteWF" xmlns:ns0="clr-namespace:Microsoft.ServiceManager.WorkflowAuthoring.ActivityLibrary;Assembly=Microsoft.ServiceManager.WorkflowAuthoring.ActivityLibrary, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/workflow"> <ns0:SetActivityStatusToCompleted ActivityId="{ActivityBind SetActivityStatusToCompleteWF,Path=ActivityId}" x:Name="setActivityStatusToCompleted1" PropertyToBind="{x:Null}" /> </SequentialWorkflowActivity>

SetActivityStatusToCompleteWF.xoml declares that the workflow, SetActivityStatusToCompleteWF, runs one workflow activity, Set Activity Status To Completed. That activity has one input parameter, ActivityId, which gets its value from the ActivityId property of the workflow.

Service Manager cannot use an isolated workflow .dll file; the workflow must be integrated with a management pack. The management pack defines when the workflow should run, and what input values to use. At the same time that it generates the workflow code and compiles the workflow .dll file, the System Center Service Manager Authoring Tool adds the workflow-related information to a management pack.

The example workflow, SetActivityStatusToCompleteWF, is associated with an example management pack named Woodgrove.AutomatedActivity.AddComputerToGroupMP.xml. This management pack extends the Change Management process with a new automated Service Manager activity. When the new activity becomes active during a change management operation, it triggers the SetActivityStatusToCompleteWF workflow.

The management pack defines the trigger of the workflow (when the new Service Manager activity changes state) and defines the value to use for the ActivityId property (the unique identifier of the new Service Manager activity). When the workflow runs, it changes the status of the new Service Manager activity to Completed. Note that in a normal workflow, this would be the last step following some other task performed by other WF activities in the workflow.

The Monitoring section of the management pack contains the Rule definition for the workflow. In turn, the Rule definition has two parts, the DataSource element and the WriteAction element.

In the case of the example workflow, the DataSource element contains a Subscription element, which specifies that the workflow should run when an instance of the AddComputerToGroup class (a custom Service Manager class) changes state to Active.

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<Monitoring> <Rules> <Rule ID="SetActivityToCompleteRule" Enabled="true" Target="SystemCenterLibrary!Microsoft.SystemCenter.SubscriptionWorkflowTarget" ConfirmDelivery="false" Remotable="true" Priority="Normal" DiscardLevel="100"> <Category>Notification</Category> <DataSources> <DataSource ID="DS" TypeID="Subscriptions!Microsoft.SystemCenter.CmdbInstanceSubscription.DataSourceModule"> <Subscription> <InstanceSubscription Type="$MPElement[Name='AddComputerToGroup']$"> <UpdateInstance> <Criteria> <Expression> <SimpleExpression> <ValueExpression> <Property State="Post"> $Context/Property[Type='Activity!System.WorkItem.Activity']/Status$ </Property> </ValueExpression> <Operator>Equal</Operator> <ValueExpression> <Value> $MPElement[Name='Activity!ActivityStatusEnum.Active']$ </Value> </ValueExpression> </SimpleExpression> </Expression> </Criteria> </UpdateInstance> </InstanceSubscription> <StartWatermark>1</StartWatermark> <PollingIntervalInSeconds>60</PollingIntervalInSeconds> <BatchSize>100</BatchSize> </Subscription> </DataSource> </DataSources>

The WriteAction element (specifically, Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.SystemCenter.Subscription.WindowsWorkflowTaskWriteAction) defines what to do when the trigger condition is met. Within this element, a Subscription element identifies the workflow assembly file to run (SetActivityStatusToCompleteWF.dll) and the class in the assembly that represents the workflow, WorkflowTypeName.

The Subscription element also includes a WorkflowParameter element, which defines the ActivityId property and, using the syntax $Data/BaseManagedEntityId$, binds it to the unique identifier of the Service Manager activity recorded in the DataSource element.

The WriteAction element also stores optional configuration details for the workflow, such as how many retries to perform if the workflow fails, how frequently to retry, and the maximum time in seconds that a workflow should run before it is shut off.

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<WriteActions> <WriteAction ID="WA" TypeID="Subscriptions!Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.SystemCenter.Subscription.WindowsWorkflowTaskWriteAction"> <Subscription> <WindowsWorkflowConfiguration> <AssemblyName>SetActivityStatusToCompleteWF</AssemblyName> <WorkflowTypeName> WorkflowAuthoring.SetActivityStatusToCompleteWF </WorkflowTypeName> <WorkflowParameters> <WorkflowParameter Name="ActivityId" Type="string">$Data/BaseManagedEntityId$ </WorkflowParameter> </WorkflowParameters> <RetryExceptions></RetryExceptions> <RetryDelaySeconds>60</RetryDelaySeconds> <MaximumRunningTimeSeconds>300</MaximumRunningTimeSeconds> </WindowsWorkflowConfiguration> </Subscription> </WriteAction> </WriteActions> </Rule> </Rules> </Monitoring>

Importing the Management Pack