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Thursday, February 08, 2007

SharePoint V3 STP's Containing SharePoint Designer Workflows

I finished creating a SharePoint V3 site that contains five custom list web parts and a total of ten SharePoint Designer workflows (each list has two workflows). I was anxious to find out what happens if I create a site template (.STP) from the site and then create a new site from that .STP file. I wanted to see what would happen to the workflow. I wanted to answer these questions:

"What happens when you create an STP from a SharePoint V3 site that has SharePoint Designer workflow?"
"How do I migrate workflows from one Web Application to another?"

Here is what I did:

  • Saved Site as a Template (Site Actions > Site Settings > Save Site as Template)
  • Created Site from Template (Site Actions > Create > Sites and Workspaces > Select Template)
Here is what I observed on the Site:

  • All five custom list web parts were available
  • The custom list columns were intact
  • The default custom list view "all items" was intact
  • The custom list current views showing on the site were only showing the title column (must do Site Actions > Edit Page > Edit Web Part > Modify Shared Web Part > Selected View [View Name] > OK and then the current view of web part is updated properly on the page)
  • After performing an action that would initiate a workflow, the workflow status became “Failed on Start (Retrying)”
Here is what I observed in SharePoint Designer:

  • The workflow definitions were intact (.ASPX, .XOML, .XOML.RULES, .XOML.WFCONFIG.XML)
  • I could open the workflows (File, Open Workflow)
  • The Conditions and Actions were intact
  • When I clicked “Check Workflow”, I got the message “The workflow contains no errors.”
  • When I clicked “Finish”, I didn't get any errors
So, I went back to the site and to the custom list that had “Failed on Start (Retrying)” message. I tried a second time to initiate the workflow. This time I watched the status go from “In Progress” to “Completed.” The workflow is one that produces an ID number on a list item and the ID number was present upon completion of workflow, so I know this workflow was working.

One by one I opened each workflow in SharePoint Designer and clicked “Finish.” Then I tested all ten workflows and they worked fine.

In summary, if you create a site template (.STP) from an existing site that contains SharePoint Designer workflows, then after you create a new site from that .STP file, you should expect the following clean up tasks:


  • Refresh the current view of all web parts that have workflow: Site > Site Actions > Edit Page > Edit Web Part > Modify Shared Web Part > Selected View [All Items] > OK
  • Refresh the workflows in SharePoint Designer: SharePoint Designer > File > Open Workflow > Finish

1 comment:

KinemaZOne said...

You get Workflow starting problem only for workflow with roles (contitions "IF"). Please, do you mean some other solution without to operate on the delivery server with Share Point Designer?

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