Monday, October 27, 2014

Tip: Dynamically updating workflow service

Recently I have come across the need to create a tool to update workflow service dynamically using the .NET FW 4.5 new Dynamic Update feature. I have spent few days looking into how I can do it with Workflow Service. However, it turned out to be a failure because the method I used is only suitable for app host type of workflow. At the edge of disappointment, I found this useful web sample provided by the Microsoft sample web site. It's a tutorial on how I can do side-by-side versioning and dynamic update to a workflow service. It's a perfect example showing how we can insert the update map into the workflow service (which is something different from the console app host method) and finally show how we can update running instances of the workflow service using the scarcely documented API WorkflowUpdateableControlClient.

WF4.5 Developer Preview - C# Expression, Workflow Versioning and Dynamic Update