How do I get WorkFlowActivityBase class in Visual Studio? - visual-studio

Question

I am creating a custom workflow in Microsoft Dynamics CRM to automatically update a field when a record is saved.
A developer on a forum provided the following source code; but he is not responding to my questions.
public class SalesRepActivity2 : WorkFlowActivityBase
{
[Input("Sales Rep Name")]
public InArgument<string> SalesRepName { get; set; }
[Output("Sales Rep")]
[ReferenceTarget("systemuser")]
public OutArgument<EntityReference> SalesRep { get; set; }
[Output("IsSuccess")]
public OutArgument<bool> IsSuccess { get; set; }
[Output("Message")]
public OutArgument<string> Message { get; set; }
protected override void Execute(
CodeActivityContext activityContext,
IWorkflowContext workflowContext,
IOrganizationService CrmService,
ITracingService trace)
{
try
{
string salesRepName = SalesRepName.Get(activityContext);
if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(salesRepName))
{
IsSuccess.Set(activityContext, false);
Message.Set(activityContext, "Sales Rep Name not provided");
}
var QEsystemuser = new QueryExpression("systemuser");
QEsystemuser.ColumnSet.AddColumns("salesrepname");
QEsystemuser.Criteria.AddCondition("salesrepname", ConditionOperator.Equal, salesRepName);
var results = CrmService.RetrieveMultiple(QEsystemuser);
if (results == null || !results.Entities.Any())
{
IsSuccess.Set(activityContext, false);
Message.Set(activityContext, "User with " + salesRepName + " not found");
return;
}
if (results.Entities.Count > 1)
{
IsSuccess.Set(activityContext, false);
Message.Set(activityContext, "Multiple users found with same name : " + salesRepName);
return;
}
IsSuccess.Set(activityContext, true);
SalesRep.Set(activityContext, results.Entities.Single().ToEntityReference());
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
IsSuccess.Set(activityContext, false);
Message.Set(activityContext, "An error occurred trying to find user : " + ex.Message);
}
}
I am trying to get the code to compile on my machine.
I installed the following NuGet packages, which resolved most of the errors:
Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Workflow.2015
Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.2015
But my project cannot resolve the WorkFlowActivityBase class.
Is there a reference I should set or a NuGet package I should install to resolve this?
Thank you.

Answer 1

WorkFlowActivityBase is a custom base class that implements the CodeActivity (System.Activities) anyone can write, it's not an official Dynamics class. Yon can find dozen of classes lie that in the web.
Basically, you should use the CodeActivity. here as an example:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powerapps/developer/common-data-service/workflow/sample-create-custom-workflow-activity

Answer 2

The code you posted is not a good place for you to start because it makes heavy use of proprietary objects. Ziv has provided good information about extending the CodeActivity class but I do not recommend starting there. Instead read about how to develop custom workflow activities, and write a workflow using the base Microsoft classes so that you understand how they work:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powerapps/developer/common-data-service/workflow/workflow-extensions
Once you have some experience with creating custom workflows, and you understand the limitations of the base objects, then go back and implement something more fancy.

Answer 3

Here in an exaple from the documentation:
namespace Microsoft.Crm.Sdk.Samples
{
public sealed class SimpleSdkActivity : CodeActivity
{
protected override void Execute(CodeActivityContext executionContext)
{
//Create the tracing service
ITracingService tracingService = executionContext.GetExtension<ITracingService>();
//Create the context
IWorkflowContext context = executionContext.GetExtension<IWorkflowContext>();
IOrganizationServiceFactory serviceFactory = executionContext.GetExtension<IOrganizationServiceFactory>();
IOrganizationService service = serviceFactory.CreateOrganizationService(context.UserId);
...
var systemUsers = service.RetrieveMultiple(QEsystemuser)
}
}
}