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Version 5 by Ed York
on Jul 01, 2009 11:05.

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on Jul 10, 2009 09:25.

 
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 This is the third part of a four-part series on automating workflow execution within Citrix Workflow Studio.&nbsp; In the first two parts of the series, I discussed how you can create Powershell scripts to execute workflows.&nbsp; [Part 1|http://community.citrix.com/blogs/citrite/edy/2009/06/19/Using+Powershell+to+automate+workflow+execution+within+Citrix+Workflow+Studio]&nbsp;provided a high-level overview of&nbsp;creating Powershell scripts for automating workflow execution&nbsp;and [Part 2|http://community.citrix.com/blogs/citrite/edy/2009/06/26/Passing+parameters+into+a+workflow+within+Citrix+Workflow+Studio]&nbsp;expanded on those scripts to discuss how to pass parameters into the workflow.&nbsp; In this blog, I will discuss how you can automate workflow execution with a custom&nbsp;Windows application.&nbsp; The sample .NET application I built is shown below.&nbsp; I am providing both the executable and full source code to allow you to expand upon this solution to meet the needs of your environment.
 !1_CustomApp.JPG|align=left!
  
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 *When would I need to use a custom&nbsp;application for executing workflows?*
 A lot of you&nbsp;might be asking the question - "If we can use the Workflow Studio Console to execute workflows, why would I need a custom application to do that for me?".&nbsp; The answer really comes down to how you need to execute certain workflows in your environment.&nbsp; If you need to execute workflows "*on-demand*" or "*on a schedule*", the Workflow Studio Console would meet those needs.&nbsp; Just open the Workflow Studio Console and schedule a job to run immediately or on a pre-determined schedule.&nbsp; However, if you need "*event-driven*" automation where a third-party application kicks off the execution of a workflow based on an event happening, that is where you need to be able to hook into Workflow Studio with a custom solution to perform that type of automation.&nbsp;
  
 The custom application provided in the *Downloads* section below provides a sample for how you can tie any .NET windows application to Workflow Studio for executing workflows.&nbsp; Feel free to try out the sample application on your Workflow Studio machine.&nbsp; The full source code is also provided to allow you to customize and extend the application further based on what you need to do.
  
 *Downloads:*
 [Download the application executable here|^WFS Application Executable.zip]
 [Download the application source code here|^WFS Application Source Code.zip]
 *&nbsp;*
  
 *Preparing your Workflow Studio environment to use the custom application:*
 The custom application needs to run on a machine that contains Workflow Studio since it ties into Powershell and calls the Workflow Studio cmdlets for performing various actions on Workflow Studio.&nbsp; In your *Workflow Studio Console*, you will need to pre-deploy the workflow that you want to automate (see [Part 1|http://community.citrix.com/blogs/citrite/edy/2009/06/19/Using+Powershell+to+automate+workflow+execution+within+Citrix+Workflow+Studio]&nbsp;for more information on pre-deploying workflows).&nbsp; The workflow that you want to automate can include parameters as well.&nbsp; Parameters for a workflow are defined in the *Workflow Studio Designer* under the *Global Properties* section (see [Part 2|http://community.citrix.com/blogs/citrite/edy/2009/06/26/Passing+parameters+into+a+workflow+within+Citrix+Workflow+Studio]&nbsp;for more information on defining workflow parameters).
  
 This custom application functions as any typical Windows application in that it runs under the context of the logged-on user account.&nbsp; The logged-on account needs to have permissions in Workflow Studio to execute workflows.&nbsp; These permissions are defined in the *Security* section of the *Workflow Studio Console*.&nbsp; For simplicity, I typically add the user accounts as a "*Workflow-Admin*", but you can play with the security roles here to determine what roles are actually needed.
 !2_SecurityRoles.JPG|align=left!
  
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 *Using the custom application:*
 To use the custom application, log onto your Workflow Studio machine with an account that has permissions to execute workflows within Workflow Studio.&nbsp;&nbsp;Place *WFSWorkflowExecute.exe* on your Workflow Studio machine.&nbsp; When you launch the application, the initial view is shown below.
 !3_CustomAppBlank.JPG|align=left!
  
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 Click the *Get Runtimes* button to get the Workflow Studio runtimes that are installed on the local machine.&nbsp; The runtimes are listed within the combo-box below and the name of the runtime specifies which account the&nbsp;runtime is running under.&nbsp;&nbsp;
 !4_Runtimes.JPG|align=left!
  
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 When a runtime is selected, all of the workflows that are deployed on that runtime are listed as well.&nbsp; To execute a certain workflow, you need to know which runtime you deployed the workflow on.&nbsp;&nbsp; This sample application also provides the&nbsp;version of the workflow as you may have deployed two different versions of the same workflow to the same runtime.&nbsp; Using the version numbers helps you keep them straight.
  
 When you want to execute a workflow, you need to know if that workflow requires any parameters.&nbsp; The workflow parameters are defined in the *Workflow Studio Designer* in the *Global Properties* section of the workflow.&nbsp; As mentioned above, [Part 2|http://community.citrix.com/blogs/citrite/edy/2009/06/26/Passing+parameters+into+a+workflow+within+Citrix+Workflow+Studio]&nbsp;of this blog series goes into detail on how to define and use parameters inside a workflow.
 !5_GlobalProperties.JPG|align=left!
  
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 When specifying workflow parameters inside the custom application, the parameter name is *case sensitive*.&nbsp; (Notice how I kept the parameter name as "gMessage").&nbsp; If you mistype&nbsp;the parameter name&nbsp;or use the wrong case, you will get an error message when executing the workflow stating that the parameter name is not recognized.&nbsp; Just keep this in mind as you type the name of the parameters into the application.
 !6_WorkflowExecute.JPG|align=left!
  
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 Click the *Execute Workflow* button to execute the workflow.&nbsp; If the workflow was successfully executed, you'll get a pop-up message indicating success.
 !7_Success.JPG|align=left!
  
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 To verify the workflow was executed, you can open the *Workflow Studio Console* and check out the *Jobs* section.*&nbsp;* !8_JobCompleted.JPG|align=left!
  
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 *Understanding the source code:*
 A lot of you out there will want to customize this application in your own environment.&nbsp; I developed this application with *C#* using *Visual Studio 2008* and the *Powershell SDK*.&nbsp; Your development machine will also need *Powershell 1.0* and *Citrix Workflow Studio*.&nbsp; For advice on setting up your Visual Studio environment, check out this [article|http://community.citrix.com/blogs/citrite/edy/2009/05/01/Workflow+Studio+SDK+Series+-+Part+2+-+Setting+up+your+Visual+Studio+development+environment].&nbsp; If you follow the steps in that article, you'll just need to add the Powershell SDK and you should be all set.
  
 The Powershell SDK is included as part of the *Windows Software Development Kit*.&nbsp; You can get information on the [Poweshell SDK here|http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb204630(VS.85).aspx]. &nbsp;I downloaded the full ISO and it took me quite a while to get it.&nbsp; When you are ready to install, you don't need everything in the setup wizard.&nbsp; The&nbsp;Powershell SDK link provided above&nbsp;actually tells you what you specifically need to install to just get the Powershell SDK.&nbsp; To use the Powershell SDK inside your Visual Studio project,&nbsp;the project will need to&nbsp;reference *System.Management.Automation.dll*.&nbsp;&nbsp;
  
 Once you get your development machine set up, you can open the solution that I provided above&nbsp;inside Visual Studio.&nbsp; Essentially all this custom&nbsp;application does is use the Powershell SDK APIs to execute cmdlets on Powershell.&nbsp; Since Workflow Studio provides Powershell cmdlets to automate various tasks, we can use the Powershell SDK to automate many Workflow Studio functions.&nbsp;
  
 From my personal experience, using the Powershell SDK takes a little time getting used to.&nbsp; What I found to be helpful is to first&nbsp;write out the Powershell commands in Notepad and test them within Powershell to make sure they are functioning as expected.&nbsp; If you are working with Powershell variables, use the *echo* statement frequently to understand the current value of the variable.&nbsp; Then when you are ready to use the Powershell SDK in your Visual Studio project, you can convert each of your Powershell statements to the equivalent Powershell SDK code.&nbsp; In the source code that I provided for this custom application, I put comments into the code to explain what Powershell command I was trying to execute within that code block.&nbsp; Reviewing those comments should help you to get started with understanding how to use the Powershell SDK.&nbsp; For example, here is the *ExecuteWorkflow()* function that is used by the custom application.&nbsp; Stepping through this code inside Visual Studio and watching the variables is another great way to learn this code.
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 {code}
 public string ExecuteWorkflow(Hashtable objFunctionParameters, Hashtable objWorkflowParameters)
 {
  try
  {
  //Declare local variables
  string l_strReturn = "Executing workflow";
  string l_strWorkflowName = objFunctionParameters["WorkflowName"].ToString();
  string l_strRuntimeName = objFunctionParameters["RuntimeName"].ToString();
  Hashtable l_objWorkflowParameters = objWorkflowParameters;
  
  //Create a runspace containing the Workflow Studio snap-ins
  RunspaceConfiguration l_objRSConfiguration = RunspaceConfiguration.Create();
  PSSnapInException l_objSnapInException = null;
  l_objRSConfiguration.AddPSSnapIn("Citrix.WorkflowStudio.Azman", out l_objSnapInException);
  l_objRSConfiguration.AddPSSnapIn("Citrix.WorkflowStudio.Core", out l_objSnapInException);
  l_objRSConfiguration.AddPSSnapIn("Citrix.WorkflowStudio.DataStore", out l_objSnapInException);
  l_objRSConfiguration.AddPSSnapIn("Citrix.WorkflowStudio.Installer", out l_objSnapInException);
  Runspace l_objRunspace = RunspaceFactory.CreateRunspace(l_objRSConfiguration);
  l_objRunspace.Open();
  
  //Get reference to the Workflow Studio runtime that was passed in.
  //We are executing the Powershell command below:
  //$rt = Get-WorkflowRuntime -ServiceName $ServiceName
  Pipeline l_objPipeLine = l_objRunspace.CreatePipeline();
  Command l_objCommand = new Command("get-workflowruntime");
  l_objCommand.Parameters.Add("ServiceName", l_strRuntimeName);
  l_objPipeLine.Commands.Add(l_objCommand);
  Collection<PSObject> l_objCommandResults = l_objPipeLine.Invoke();
  PSObject l_objRuntime = l_objCommandResults[0];
  l_objPipeLine = null;
  
  //Get reference to the deployed workflow that was passed in.
  //We are executing the Powershell command below:
  //$workflow = get-deployedworkflow -workflowruntime $rt -workflowname $strWorkflowName -includeschedule
  l_objPipeLine = l_objRunspace.CreatePipeline();
  l_objCommand = new Command("get-deployedworkflow");
  l_objCommand.Parameters.Add("workflowruntime", l_objRuntime);
  l_objCommand.Parameters.Add("workflowname", l_strWorkflowName);
  l_objCommand.Parameters.Add("includeschedule");
  l_objPipeLine.Commands.Add(l_objCommand);
  l_objCommandResults = l_objPipeLine.Invoke();
  PSObject l_objWorkflow = l_objCommandResults[0];
  l_objPipeLine = null;
  
  //Schedule the workflow to run immediately.
  //We are executing the Powershell command below:
  //schedule-workflow -workflowruntime $rt -workflowstrongname $workflow.WorkflowStrongName -workflowparameters $wfparameters -runimmediately
  l_objPipeLine = l_objRunspace.CreatePipeline();
  l_objCommand = new Command("schedule-workflow");
  l_objCommand.Parameters.Add("workflowruntime", l_objRuntime);
  l_objCommand.Parameters.Add("workflowstrongname", l_objWorkflow.Properties["WorkflowStrongName"].Value.ToString());
  l_objCommand.Parameters.Add("workflowparameters", l_objWorkflowParameters);
  l_objCommand.Parameters.Add("runimmediately");
  l_objPipeLine.Commands.Add(l_objCommand);
  l_objCommandResults = l_objPipeLine.Invoke();
  l_objPipeLine = null;
  
  //Close the runspace
  l_objRunspace.Close();
  
  //Return success
  l_strReturn = "Job completed!";
  return l_strReturn;
  }
  catch (Exception objException)
  {
  //Initialize error message
  string l_strError = "";
  l_strError = "An error has occurred. The error is \"" + objException.Message.ToString() + "\". ";
  return l_strError;
  }
 }
 {code}\\
 *Blogs in this series:*
 [Using Powershell to automate workflow execution within Citrix Workflow Studio|http://community.citrix.com/blogs/citrite/edy/2009/06/19/Using+Powershell+to+automate+workflow+execution+within+Citrix+Workflow+Studio]
 [Passing parameters into a workflow within Citrix Workflow Studio|http://community.citrix.com/blogs/citrite/edy/2009/06/26/Passing+parameters+into+a+workflow+within+Citrix+Workflow+Studio]
 Automating workflow execution for Citrix Workflow Studio using a .NET windows application (_this one_)
 Automating workflow execution for Citrix Workflow Studio using an ASP.NET web application
  [Automating workflow execution for Citrix Workflow Studio using an ASP.NET web application|http://community.citrix.com/blogs/citrite/edy/2009/07/02/Automating+workflow+execution+for+Citrix+Workflow+Studio+using+an+ASP.NET+Web+application]
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