By Serge Luca

MVP

 

Step 3/20. Extending the workflow: finding the manager and creating a custom activity

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The Scenario :

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If the expense report requests manager approval, we need to find the current user’s manager and assign him a task. In this step, we will focus on finding the manager. We will code this in a custom code activity and we will refactor and encapsulate our code in a custom activity.

Make sure the Sharepoint object model namespace has been specified in ExpensereportWorkflow.cs:

 

using Microsoft.SharePoint;

 

Let’s create a general function that Retrieves a manager from a list :

 

 

We can invoke this function from our requetsManagerApproval event handler:

SPWorkflowActivationProperties.Originator  is the user id of the workflow caller.

SPWorkflowActivationProperties.Web is the web site associated with the workflow instance.

 

 

Build the project, call install.bat and test the workflow by logging in with the “Serge” account (Serge’s manager is Jim)

 

There are still some extra characters we need to remove in the FindManager function 

 

Build the project, call install.bat and test the workflow :

Creating a Custom activity

If we need to access the FindManager function in several workflows it make sense to encapsulate it in an Custom activity.

Add a new Workflow project the  solution : select the Workflow  Activity Library template; name it U2U.ManagerActivity:

Reference  Microsoft.Sharepoint.dll in order to use the Sharepoint Object Model :

Delete the file Activity1.cs and add a new Activity component (Select Add new Item-Activity).

Name the file RetriveManager.cs:

 

Go the  activity code and derive RetrieveManager from the Activity class :

 

            public partial class RetrieveManager: Activity

            {

            public RetrieveManager()

            {

                  InitializeComponent();

            }

Declare:

using Microsoft.SharePoint

Define a public property for each data that can be know at design time :

 

• ·         ManagerListTitle,
• ·         ManagerColumnName,
• ·         ManageeColumnName

 

We have to define a dependency property for each information that can only be retrieved at runtime:

• Managee
• WebSite

Make sure the snippet for dependency property is available, otherwise click on CTRL K+B , select Visual C# and add the workflow folder :

Define a dependency property for the WebSite :

 

Replace MyProperty with WebSite:

 

Replace the type with SPWeb:

 

 

Create another 2 other Dependency properties : Managee and Manager; keep string as the type.

Override Execute Method of the Activity:

 

Call the Findmanager function in Execute()

 

      }

 

Sign and rebuild your assembly.

If you display  the ExpenseReportWorkflow in the Workflow Designer, the new Activity should show up in the toolbox :

We can drag and drop it just before the RequestManagerApproval activity:

 

Set  the properties known at design time: (pay attention to the case sensitivity):

 

Select the WebSite property , click on the ellipsis button (…) and bind it to an existing member : the Web property the WorkflowProperties field :

 

 

Select the Managee property and bind it to an existing member  : the Originator property of the workflowProperties member :

 

The activity will retrieve the manager and we will store this maneger into a new workflow property :

Create a new public field in the workflow : Manager

 

 

Bind the activity Manager property to rthe workflow Manager property:

 

In the workflow, update  the requestManagerApprovalexecuteCode function to display the Manager:

 

Make sure your account has a manager defined in the Managers list.

Build the project and test the workflow. If you get the error message "Failed on start", this probably means that the activity assembly has not been registered into the Gac.

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