v3.3

Workflow Core 3.3.0

Workflow Middleware

Workflows can be extended with Middleware that run before/after workflows start/complete as well as around workflow steps to provide flexibility in implementing cross-cutting concerns such as log correlation, retries, and other use-cases.

This is done by implementing and registering IWorkflowMiddleware for workflows or IWorkflowStepMiddleware for steps.

Step Middleware

Step middleware lets you run additional code around the execution of a given step and alter its behavior. Implementing a step middleware should look familiar to anyone familiar with ASP.NET Core's middleware pipeline or HttpClient's DelegatingHandler middleware.

Usage

First, create your own middleware class that implements IWorkflowStepMiddleware. Here's an example of a middleware that adds workflow ID and step ID to the log correlation context of every workflow step in your app.

Important: You must make sure to call next() as part of your middleware. If you do not do this, your step will never run.

public class LogCorrelationStepMiddleware : IWorkflowStepMiddleware
{
    private readonly ILogger<LogCorrelationStepMiddleware> _log;

    public LogCorrelationStepMiddleware(
        ILogger<LogCorrelationStepMiddleware> log)
    {
        _log = log;
    }

    public async Task<ExecutionResult> HandleAsync(
        IStepExecutionContext context,
        IStepBody body,
        WorkflowStepDelegate next)
    {
        var workflowId = context.Workflow.Id;
        var stepId = context.Step.Id;

        // Uses log scope to add a few attributes to the scope
        using (_log.BeginScope("{@WorkflowId}", workflowId))
        using (_log.BeginScope("{@StepId}", stepId))
        {
            // Calling next ensures step gets executed
            return await next();
        }
    }
}

Here's another example of a middleware that uses the Polly dotnet resiliency library to implement retries on workflow steps based off a custom retry policy.

public class PollyRetryStepMiddleware : IWorkflowStepMiddleware
{
    private const string StepContextKey = "WorkflowStepContext";
    private const int MaxRetries = 3;
    private readonly ILogger<PollyRetryStepMiddleware> _log;

    public PollyRetryMiddleware(ILogger<PollyRetryStepMiddleware> log)
    {
        _log = log;
    }

    // Consult Polly's docs for more information on how to build
    // retry policies:
    // https://github.com/App-vNext/Polly
    public IAsyncPolicy<ExecutionResult> GetRetryPolicy() =>
        Policy<ExecutionResult>
            .Handle<TimeoutException>()
            .RetryAsync(
                MaxRetries,
                (result, retryCount, context) =>
                    UpdateRetryCount(
                        result.Exception,
                        retryCount,
                        context[StepContextKey] as IStepExecutionContext)
            );

    public async Task<ExecutionResult> HandleAsync(
        IStepExecutionContext context,
        IStepBody body,
        WorkflowStepDelegate next
    )
    {
        return await GetRetryPolicy().ExecuteAsync(
            ctx => next(),
            // The step execution context gets passed down so that
            // the step is accessible within the retry policy
            new Dictionary<string, object>
            {
                { StepContextKey, context }
            });
    }

    private Task UpdateRetryCount(
        Exception exception,
        int retryCount,
        IStepExecutionContext stepContext)
    {
        var stepInstance = stepContext.ExecutionPointer;
        stepInstance.RetryCount = retryCount;
        return Task.CompletedTask;
    }
}

Pre/Post Workflow Middleware

Workflow middleware run either before a workflow starts or after a workflow completes and can be used to hook into the workflow lifecycle or alter the workflow itself before it is started.

Pre Workflow Middleware

These middleware get run before the workflow is started and can potentially alter properties on the WorkflowInstance.

The following example illustrates setting the Description property on the WorkflowInstance using a middleware that interprets the data on the passed workflow. This is useful in cases where you want the description of the workflow to be derived from the data passed to the workflow.

Note that you use WorkflowMiddlewarePhase.PreWorkflow to specify that it runs before the workflow starts.

Important: You should call next as part of the workflow middleware to ensure that the next workflow in the chain runs.

// AddDescriptionWorkflowMiddleware.cs
public class AddDescriptionWorkflowMiddleware : IWorkflowMiddleware
{
    public WorkflowMiddlewarePhase Phase =>
        WorkflowMiddlewarePhase.PreWorkflow;

    public Task HandleAsync(
        WorkflowInstance workflow,
        WorkflowDelegate next
    )
    {
        if (workflow.Data is IDescriptiveWorkflowParams descriptiveParams)
        {
            workflow.Description = descriptiveParams.Description;
        }

        return next();
    }
}

// IDescriptiveWorkflowParams.cs
public interface IDescriptiveWorkflowParams
{
    string Description { get; }
}

// MyWorkflowParams.cs
public MyWorkflowParams : IDescriptiveWorkflowParams
{
    public string Description => $"Run task '{TaskName}'";

    public string TaskName { get; set; }
}

Exception Handling in Pre Workflow Middleware

Pre workflow middleware exception handling gets treated differently from post workflow middleware. Since the middleware runs before the workflow starts, any exceptions thrown within a pre workflow middleware will bubble up to the StartWorkflow method and it is up to the caller of StartWorkflow to handle the exception and act accordingly.

public async Task MyMethodThatStartsAWorkflow()
{
    try
    {
        await host.StartWorkflow("HelloWorld", 1, null);
    }
    catch(Exception ex)
    {
        // Handle the exception appropriately
    }
}

Post Workflow Middleware

These middleware get run after the workflow has completed and can be used to perform additional actions for all workflows in your app.

The following example illustrates how you can use a post workflow middleware to print a summary of the workflow to console.

Note that you use WorkflowMiddlewarePhase.PostWorkflow to specify that it runs after the workflow completes.

Important: You should call next as part of the workflow middleware to ensure that the next workflow in the chain runs.

public class PrintWorkflowSummaryMiddleware : IWorkflowMiddleware
{
    private readonly ILogger<PrintWorkflowSummaryMiddleware> _log;

    public PrintWorkflowSummaryMiddleware(
        ILogger<PrintWorkflowSummaryMiddleware> log
    )
    {
        _log = log;
    }

    public WorkflowMiddlewarePhase Phase =>
        WorkflowMiddlewarePhase.PostWorkflow;

    public Task HandleAsync(
        WorkflowInstance workflow,
        WorkflowDelegate next
    )
    {
        if (!workflow.CompleteTime.HasValue)
        {
            return next();
        }

        var duration = workflow.CompleteTime.Value - workflow.CreateTime;
        _log.LogInformation($@"Workflow {workflow.Description} completed in {duration:g}");

        foreach (var step in workflow.ExecutionPointers)
        {
            var stepName = step.StepName;
            var stepDuration = (step.EndTime - step.StartTime) ?? TimeSpan.Zero;
            _log.LogInformation($"  - Step {stepName} completed in {stepDuration:g}");
        }

        return next();
    }
}

Exception Handling in Post Workflow Middleware

Post workflow middleware exception handling gets treated differently from pre workflow middleware. At the time that the workflow completes, your workflow has ran already so an uncaught exception would be difficult to act on.

By default, if a workflow middleware throws an exception, it will be logged and the workflow will complete as normal. This behavior can be changed, however.

To override the default post workflow error handling for all workflows in your app, just register a new IWorkflowMiddlewareErrorHandler in the dependency injection framework with your custom behavior as follows.

// CustomMiddlewareErrorHandler.cs
public class CustomHandler : IWorkflowMiddlewareErrorHandler
{
    public Task HandleAsync(Exception ex)
    {
        // Handle your error asynchronously
    }
}

// Startup.cs
public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
    // Other workflow configuration
    services.AddWorkflow();

    // Should go after .AddWorkflow()
    services.AddTransient<IWorkflowMiddlewareErrorHandler, CustomHandler>();
}

Registering Middleware

In order for middleware to take effect, they must be registered with the built-in dependency injection framework using the convenience helpers.

Note: Middleware will be run in the order that they are registered with middleware that are registered earlier running earlier in the chain and finishing later in the chain. For pre/post workflow middleware, all pre middleware will be run before a workflow starts and all post middleware will be run after a workflow completes.

...

v3.2

Workflow Core 3.2

• Option to run foreach in non-parallel mode #597
• StartWith no longer required #598
• Concurrency issue #608
• Option to auto-delete complete workflows on redis #613

v3.1.0

Workflow Core 3.1.0

Decision Branching

You can define multiple independent branches within your workflow and select one based on an expression value.

For the fluent API, we define our branches with the CreateBranch() method on the workflow builder. We can then select a branch using the Branch method.

The select expressions will be matched to the branch listed via the Branch method, and the matching next step(s) will be scheduled to execute next.

This workflow will select branch1 if the value of data.Value1 is one, and branch2 if it is two.

var branch1 = builder.CreateBranch()
    .StartWith<PrintMessage>()
        .Input(step => step.Message, data => "hi from 1")
    .Then<PrintMessage>()
        .Input(step => step.Message, data => "bye from 1");

var branch2 = builder.CreateBranch()
    .StartWith<PrintMessage>()
        .Input(step => step.Message, data => "hi from 2")
    .Then<PrintMessage>()
        .Input(step => step.Message, data => "bye from 2");


builder
    .StartWith<HelloWorld>()
    .Decide(data => data.Value1)
        .Branch((data, outcome) => data.Value1 == "one", branch1)
        .Branch((data, outcome) => data.Value1 == "two", branch2);

The JSON representation would look somthing like this.

{
  "Id": "DecisionWorkflow",
  "Version": 1,
  "DataType": "MyApp.MyData, MyApp",
  "Steps": [
    {
      "Id": "decide",
      "StepType": "...",
      "SelectNextStep":
      {
        "Print1": "data.Value1 == \"one\"",
        "Print2": "data.Value1 == \"two\""
      }
    },
    {
      "Id": "Print1",
      "StepType": "MyApp.PrintMessage, MyApp",
      "Inputs": 
	  { 
		"Message": "\"Hello from 1\"" 
	  }
    },
    {
      "Id": "Print2",
      "StepType": "MyApp.PrintMessage, MyApp",
      "Inputs": 
	  { 
	    "Message": "\"Hello from 2\"" 
	  }
    }
  ]
}

Outcomes for JSON workflows

You can now specify OutcomeSteps for a step in JSON and YAML workflow definitions.

"SelectNextStep":
{
	"<<Step1 Id>>": "<<expression>>",
	"<<Step2 Id>>": "<<expression>>"
}

If the outcome of a step matches a particular expression, that step would be scheduled as the next step to execute.

v3.0.0

Workflow Core 3.0.0

Support for PostgeSQL is delayed because of this issue with upstream libraries

Split DSL into own package

The JSON and YAML definition features into their own package.

Migration required for existing projects:

• Install the WorkflowCore.DSL package from nuget.
• Call AddWorkflowDSL() on your service collection.

Activities

An activity is defined as an item on an external queue of work, that a workflow can wait for.

In this example the workflow will wait for activity-1, before proceeding. It also passes the value of data.Value1 to the activity, it then maps the result of the activity to data.Value2.

Then we create a worker to process the queue of activity items. It uses the GetPendingActivity method to get an activity and the data that a workflow is waiting for.

public class ActivityWorkflow : IWorkflow<MyData>
{
    public void Build(IWorkflowBuilder<MyData> builder)
    {
        builder                
            .StartWith<HelloWorld>()
            .Activity("activity-1", (data) => data.Value1)
                .Output(data => data.Value2, step => step.Result)
            .Then<PrintMessage>()
                .Input(step => step.Message, data => data.Value2);
    }
             
}
...

var activity = host.GetPendingActivity("activity-1", "worker1", TimeSpan.FromMinutes(1)).Result;

if (activity != null)
{
    Console.WriteLine(activity.Parameters);
    host.SubmitActivitySuccess(activity.Token, "Some response data");
}

The JSON representation of this step would look like this

{
    "Id": "activity-step",
    "StepType": "WorkflowCore.Primitives.Activity, WorkflowCore",
    "Inputs": 
    {
        "ActivityName": "\"activity-1\"",
        "Parameters": "data.Value1" 
    },
    "Outputs": { "Value2": "step.Result" }
}

v2.1.2

Workflow Core 2.1.2

• Adds a feature to purge old workflows from the persistence store.

New IWorkflowPurger service that can be injected from the IoC container

Task PurgeWorkflows(WorkflowStatus status, DateTime olderThan)

Implementations are currently only for SQL Server, Postgres and MongoDB

v2.1.0

Workflow Core 2.1.0

• Adds the SyncWorkflowRunner service that enables workflows to be executed synchronously, you can also avoid persisting the state to the persistence store entirely

usage

var runner = serviceProvider.GetService<ISyncWorkflowRunner>();
...
var worfklow = await runner.RunWorkflowSync("my-workflow", 1, data, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10));

v2.0.0

Workflow Core 2.0.0

Upgrade notes

Existing JSON definitions will be loaded as follows

using WorkflowCore.Services.DefinitionStorage;
...
DefinitionLoader.LoadDefinition(json, Deserializers.Json);

• Targets .NET Standard 2.0

  The core library now targets .NET Standard 2.0, in order to leverage newer features.

• Support for YAML definitions

  Added support for YAML workflow definitions, which can be loaded as follows

  using WorkflowCore.Services.DefinitionStorage;
  ...
  DefinitionLoader.LoadDefinition(json, Deserializers.Yaml);

  Existing JSON definitions will be loaded as follows

  using WorkflowCore.Services.DefinitionStorage;
  ...
  DefinitionLoader.LoadDefinition(json, Deserializers.Json);

• Object graphs and inline expressions on input properties

  You can now pass object graphs to step inputs as opposed to just scalar values

  "inputs": 
  {    
    "Body": {
        "Value1": 1,
        "Value2": 2
    },
    "Headers": {
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    }
  },
  

  If you want to evaluate an expression for a given property of your object, simply prepend and @ and pass an expression string

  "inputs": 
  {    
    "Body": {
        "@Value1": "data.MyValue * 2",
        "Value2": 5
    },
    "Headers": {
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    }
  },
  

• Support for enum values on input properties

  If your step has an enum property, you can now just pass the string representation of the enum value and it will be automatically converted.

• Environment variables available in input expressions

  You can now access environment variables from within input expressions.
  usage:

  environment["VARIABLE_NAME"]
  

v1.9.3

Workflow Core 1.9.3

• Fixes the order of processing for multiple events with same name/key
• Adds UseMaxConcurrentWorkflows to WorkflowOptions to allow overriding the max number of concurrent workflows for a given node

v1.9.2

Workflow Core 1.9.2

Changes the default retry behavior for steps within a saga to bubble up to the saga container.
This means you do not have to explicitly set each step within the saga to Compensate.

v1.8.3

• Added Attach and Id to fluent API
  This will enable one to attach the flow from a step to any other step with an Id
  Control structure scope will be preserved

    .StartWith<Step1>()
        .Id("step1")
    .Then<Step2>()
    .Attach("step1")    

• Added index queue ahead of upcoming feature for async indexing
• Various performance improvements