How to get the context item in Workflow activity (SharePoint)

Question

I am writing custom activity for sharepoint workflow and I don't know how I can use current workflow item, SPWeb or SPSite.

I see http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/davidbi/archive/2008/07/21/How-to-get-the-context-item-in-workflow-activity-sharepoint.aspx but xml routines of this solution is too bad for me.

Perhaps there is another code-only solution to get context item in Workflow activity?

Answer 1

The answer to this is a couple steps:

1. Add the properties to your Custom Activity .cs
2. Link the properties in your .actions file (so SPD knows how to map to your properties)
3. Use the properties in your code

STEP 1: Here is the code for the properties (my class is named GetEmails which you will need to rename to be your class):

public static DependencyProperty __ContextProperty = System.Workflow.ComponentModel.DependencyProperty.Register("__Context", typeof(WorkflowContext), typeof(GetEmails));

[Description("The site context")]
[Category("User")]
[Browsable(true)]
[DesignerSerializationVisibility(DesignerSerializationVisibility.Visible)]
public WorkflowContext __Context
{
    get
    {
        return ((WorkflowContext)(base.GetValue(GetEmails.__ContextProperty)));
    }
    set
    {
        base.SetValue(GetEmails.__ContextProperty, value);
    }
}

public static DependencyProperty __ListIdProperty = System.Workflow.ComponentModel.DependencyProperty.Register("__ListId", typeof(string), typeof(GetEmails));

[ValidationOption(ValidationOption.Required)]
public string __ListId
{
    get
    {
        return ((string)(base.GetValue(GetEmails.__ListIdProperty)));
    }
    set
    {
        base.SetValue(GetEmails.__ListIdProperty, value);
    }
}

public static DependencyProperty __ListItemProperty = System.Workflow.ComponentModel.DependencyProperty.Register("__ListItem", typeof(int), typeof(GetEmails));

[ValidationOption(ValidationOption.Required)]
public int __ListItem
{
    get
    {
        return ((int)(base.GetValue(GetEmails.__ListItemProperty)));
    }
    set
    {
        base.SetValue(GetEmails.__ListItemProperty, value);
    }
}

public static DependencyProperty __ActivationPropertiesProperty = DependencyProperty.Register("__ActivationProperties", typeof(Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWorkflowActivationProperties), typeof(GetEmails));

[ValidationOption(ValidationOption.Required)]
public Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWorkflowActivationProperties __ActivationProperties
{
    get
    {
        return (Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWorkflowActivationProperties)base.GetValue(GetEmails.__ActivationPropertiesProperty);
    }
    set
    {
        base.SetValue(GetEmails.__ActivationPropertiesProperty, value);
    }
}

STEP 2: Then in your .actions file add to your block the mappings for those properties (note the entries for __ListID, __ListItem, __Context, and __ActivationProperties):

<Action Name="[DESCRIPTION OF YOUR ACTION]"
  ClassName="[Your.Namespace.Goes.Here].GetEmails"
  Assembly="[yourDLLName], Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=0bfc6fa4c4aa913b"
  AppliesTo="all"
  Category="[Your Category Goes Here]">
  <RuleDesigner Sentence="[blah blah blah]">
    <FieldBind Field="PeopleFieldName" Text="people field" Id="1"/>
    <FieldBind Field="Output" Text="emailAddress" Id="2" DesignerType="parameterNames" />
  </RuleDesigner>
  <Parameters>
    <Parameter Name="__Context" Type="Microsoft.SharePoint.WorkflowActions.WorkflowContext" Direction="In" />
    <Parameter Name="__ListId" Type="System.String, mscorlib" Direction="In" />
    <Parameter Name="__ListItem" Type="System.Int32, mscorlib" Direction="In" />
    <Parameter Name="PeopleFieldName" Type="System.String, mscorlib" Direction="In" />
    <Parameter Name="Output" Type="System.String, mscorlib" Direction="Out" />
    <Parameter Name="__ActivationProperties" Type="Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWorkflowActivationProperties, Microsoft.SharePoint" Direction="Out" />
  </Parameters>
</Action>

STEP 3: Here is an example execute function:

protected override ActivityExecutionStatus Execute(ActivityExecutionContext provider)
{
    Output = string.Empty;

    try
    {
        SPWeb web = __Context.Web;
        // get all of the information we currently have about the item
        // that this workflow is running on
        Guid listGuid = new Guid(__ListId);
        SPList myList = web.Lists[listGuid];
        SPListItem myItem = myList.GetItemById(__ListItem);

        //...
    }
    catch (Exception e)
    {
        //...
    }

    return ActivityExecutionStatus.Closed;
}

Answer 2

I'm not sure if this is a change in the 2010 API but the __Context property provides all the necessary pieces, including the list and item. The example below includes @davek's suggestion for discarding the security context:

            var contextWeb = __Context.Web;
            var site = new SPSite(contextWeb.Url);
            var web = site.OpenWeb();

            var list = web.Lists[new Guid(__Context.ListId)];
            var item = list.GetItemById( __Context.ItemId);

Answer 3

Kit Menke's answer is very comprehensive and covers just about all you need: I would only add the following...

If you do this:

SPWeb tmpweb = __Context.Web;
SPSite site = new SPSite(tmpweb.Url);
SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb();

instead of this:

SPWeb web = __Context.Web;
...

then you are free of the security context passed through to the workflow by the person who triggered it.