How to pass parameters to a CodeActivity in a NativeActivity code sequence - c#-4.0

Question

I'm trying to get windows workflows working, and I've become a little stumped.
I've gotten a single workflow working, but now I am trying to do something a little more complex: start a workflow, where each activity itself contains a workflow. (Picture something like the main program starts the activities "Input, logic, and output", and then each of those have additional activities like "prompt user, get input, etc.")
I've had it working fine, with the example from here (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/gg535667.aspx), when I am not passing any parameters from the main program to the activites. My question is, how exactly does the 'Variables' and 'metadata.SetVariablesCollection' work in the NativeActivity, and how to I get the parameters to the low level activities?
This is what I am currently trying:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Activities;
using System.Collections.ObjectModel;
using System.Activities.Statements;
namespace Project1
{
internal class MainProgram
{
internal static void Main(string[] args)
{
try
{
var act = new SimpleSequence();
act.Activities.Add((Activity)(new WriteSomeText()));
act.Activities.Add((Activity)(new WriteSomeText()));
act.Activities.Add((Activity)(new WriteSomeText()));
act.Variables.Add(new Variable<string> ("stringArg", "TEXT"));
WorkflowInvoker.Invoke(act);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
System.Console.WriteLine("EXCEPTION: {0}", ex);
}
}
public class WriteSomeText : CodeActivity
{
[RequiredArgument]
public InArgument<string> stringArg { get; set; }
protected override void Execute(CodeActivityContext context)
{
string output = context.GetValue(stringArg);
System.Console.WriteLine(output);
}
}
public class SimpleSequence : NativeActivity
{
Collection<Activity> activities;
Collection<Variable> variables;
Variable<int> current = new Variable<int> { Default = 0 };
public Collection<Activity> Activities
{
get
{
if (this.activities == null)
this.activities = new Collection<Activity>();
return this.activities;
}
set
{
this.activities = value;
}
}
public Collection<Variable> Variables
{
get
{
if (this.variables == null)
this.variables = new Collection<Variable>();
return this.variables;
}
set
{
this.variables = value;
}
}
protected override void CacheMetadata(NativeActivityMetadata metadata)
{
metadata.SetChildrenCollection(this.activities);
metadata.SetVariablesCollection(this.variables);
metadata.AddImplementationVariable(this.current);
}
protected override void Execute(NativeActivityContext context)
{
if (this.Activities.Count > 0)
context.ScheduleActivity(this.Activities[0], onChildComplete);
}
void onChildComplete(NativeActivityContext context, ActivityInstance completed)
{
int currentExecutingActivity = this.current.Get(context);
int next = currentExecutingActivity + 1;
if (next < this.Activities.Count)
{
context.ScheduleActivity(this.Activities[next], this.onChildComplete);
this.current.Set(context, next);
}
}
}
}
}
This ends up throwing the following exception:
EXCEPTION: System.Activities.InvalidWorkflowException: The following errors were encountered while processing the workflow tree:
'WriteSomeText': Value for a required activity argument 'stringArg' was not supplied.
'WriteSomeText': Value for a required activity argument 'stringArg' was not supplied.
'WriteSomeText': Value for a required activity argument 'stringArg' was not supplied.
at System.Activities.Validation.ActivityValidationServices.ThrowIfViolationsExist(IList`1 validationErrors)
at System.Activities.Hosting.WorkflowInstance.ValidateWorkflow(WorkflowInstanceExtensionManager extensionManager)
at System.Activities.Hosting.WorkflowInstance.RegisterExtensionManager(WorkflowInstanceExtensionManager extensionManager)
at System.Activities.WorkflowApplication.EnsureInitialized()
at System.Activities.WorkflowApplication.RunInstance(WorkflowApplication instance)
at System.Activities.WorkflowApplication.Invoke(Activity activity, IDictionary`2 inputs, WorkflowInstanceExtensionManager extensions, TimeSpan timeout)
at System.Activities.WorkflowInvoker.Invoke(Activity workflow, TimeSpan timeout, WorkflowInstanceExtensionManager extensions)
at System.Activities.WorkflowInvoker.Invoke(Activity workflow)
at Project1.MainProgram.Main(String[] args) in c:\users\user\documents\visual studio 2010\Projects\ModelingProject1\Project1\MainProgram.cs:line 25
I know, I only pass 1 parameter, but the exception still says that I am missing 3 parameters. I am missing something as to how to do this properly.

Answer 1

You're correctly declaring stringArg as an InArgument but you're not passing any value to it when calling it inside SimpleSequence.
You can pass something using the constructor, while constructing the all activity itself, like this:
public class WriteSomeText : CodeActivity
{
[RequiredArgument]
public InArgument<string> stringArg { get; set; }
public WriteSomeText(string stringArg)
{
this.stringArg = stringArg;
}
protected override void Execute(CodeActivityContext context
{
string output = context.GetValue(stringArg);
System.Console.WriteLine(output);
}
}
// Calling the activity like this:
internal static void Main(string[] args)
{
var act = new SimpleSequence()
{
Activities =
{
new WriteSomeText("hello"),
new WriteSomeText("world"),
new WriteSomeText("!")
}
};
WorkflowInvoker.Invoke(act);
Console.WriteLine("Press any key to exit");
Console.ReadKey();
}
Also notice that is a best practice to use the constructor to initialize collections:
public SimpleSequence()
{
activities = new Collection<Activity>();
variables = new Collection<Variable>();
}
This way is even more intuitive to initialize the activity:
var act = new SimpleSequence()
{
Activities =
{
new WriteSomeText("hello"),
new WriteSomeText("world"),
new WriteSomeText("!")
},
Variables =
{
new Variable<int>("myNewIntVar", 10),
// ....
}
};
EDIT:
There are a couple of other ways to approach the problem. This is your best friend while starting in the WF4 world.
Check WF\Basic\CustomActivities\Code-Bodied for a little push with this particular case.