R – Windows Workflow: Why do they get stuck in persistence

I'm considering this problem as well for a project I'm currently working. However it seems to me that the function of monitoring the DB is not the responsibilty of the workflow.

We're going to create a Service to add to the runtime. This service will raise events that the workflow listens for in the HandleEventActivity. That way the workflow goes idle, is persisted and stays that way until a real work actually needs doing.

I too faced similar problem , everytime Workflow design was change, all the old workflow instances in the DB use to throw error.

To overcome this , I created Tracking profile for each type of workflow. If I changed any workflow, i updated the version of my profile. This worked for me ..Here is the sample code -

For this you need to add tracking service to workflow runtime .

TrackingProfile profile = CreateProfile();

StoreProfileToDB(profile, connString, typeof(ExceptionWF.ParameterExceptionWF),"2.0.0.0");

private static TrackingProfile CreateProfile() { TrackingProfile myProfile = new TrackingProfile();

        ActivityTrackingLocation stateActivityLocation = CreateActivityLocation(typeof(StateActivity));
        AddActivityExecutionStatus(stateActivityLocation);

        ActivityTrackingLocation eventDrivenActLoc = CreateActivityLocation(typeof(EventDrivenActivity));
        AddActivityExecutionStatus(eventDrivenActLoc);

        ActivityTrackPoint actPt = new ActivityTrackPoint();

        actPt.MatchingLocations.Add(stateActivityLocation);
        actPt.MatchingLocations.Add(eventDrivenActLoc);
        myProfile.ActivityTrackPoints.Add(actPt);

        WorkflowTrackPoint workflowTrack = CreateWorkflowTrackPoint();
        myProfile.WorkflowTrackPoints.Add(workflowTrack);

        UserTrackPoint utp = new UserTrackPoint();
        UserTrackingLocation ul = new UserTrackingLocation();
        ul.ActivityType = typeof(HandleExternalEventActivity);
        ul.ArgumentType = typeof(object);
        ul.MatchDerivedArgumentTypes = true;
        ul.MatchDerivedActivityTypes = true;
        utp.MatchingLocations.Add(ul);

        myProfile.UserTrackPoints.Add(utp);
        myProfile.Version = new Version("1.0.0.0");
        return myProfile;
    }

    private static void StoreProfileToDB(TrackingProfile profile, string connString, Type wfType,string version)
    {
        TrackingProfileSerializer serializer = new TrackingProfileSerializer();
        System.IO.StringWriter writer = new System.IO.StringWriter(new StringBuilder());
        serializer.Serialize(writer, profile);
        SqlConnection conn = null;
        try
        {
            if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(connString))
            {
                conn = new SqlConnection(connString);


                string storedProc = "dbo.UpdateTrackingProfile";
                SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand(storedProc, conn);
                cmd.CommandType = System.Data.CommandType.StoredProcedure;

                SqlParameter param = new SqlParameter("@TypeFullName", SqlDbType.NVarChar, 128);
                param.Direction = ParameterDirection.Input;
                param.Value = wfType.FullName;
                cmd.Parameters.Add(param);


                param = new SqlParameter("@AssemblyFullName", SqlDbType.NVarChar, 256);
                param.Direction = ParameterDirection.Input;
                param.Value = wfType.Assembly.FullName;
                cmd.Parameters.Add(param);


                param = new SqlParameter("@Version", SqlDbType.VarChar, 32);
                param.Direction = ParameterDirection.Input;
                //Note that you should increment version number for your
                //TrackingProfile to be able to use new TrackingProfile.
                //Default version is "1.0.0.0, It uses the default profile if not increamented.
                param.Value = version;
                cmd.Parameters.Add(param);

                param = new SqlParameter("@TrackingProfileXml", SqlDbType.NText);
                param.Direction = ParameterDirection.Input;
                param.Value = writer.ToString();
                cmd.Parameters.Add(param);

                conn.Open();
                cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();

            }//if
        }// try
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            if (ex is SqlException)
            {
                //Check to see if it's a version error
                if (ex.Message.Substring(0, 24) == "A version already exists")
                {
                    EventLogger.Log("A profile with the same version already exists in database");
                }//if
                else
                {
                    EventLogger.Log("Error writing profile to database : " + ex.ToString());
                }
            }
            else
            {
                EventLogger.Log("Error writing profile to database : " + ex.ToString());
            }
        }
        finally
        {
            if (conn != null) { conn.Close(); }
        }
    }