CODEWITHSUNDEEP
dynamics-crm
Kumar Manish
Kumar Manish

Reputation: 3772

Custom workflow vs Configurable workflow in mscrm dynamics

There are two type of workflow available in the mscrm dynamics. 1. Configurable workflow 2. Custom workflow.

My Question :

  1. In which scenerio, we use the custom workflow ?
  2. How custom workflow are different from plug ins ?

Upvotes: 3

Views: 2458

Answers (3)

Yuvraj Kakkar
Yuvraj Kakkar

Reputation: 1163

Step by step creating custom work flow -

http://mahenderpal.wordpress.com/2012/08/26/step-by-step-creating-custom-workflow-in-microsoft-crm-2011/

It specifies a scenario also.

For around Dynamics crm follow - http://niiranen.eu/crm/2013/10/getting-your-head-around-dynamics-crm-2013-processes/

Upvotes: 0

salyh
salyh

Reputation: 2135

1) You must differentiate between "custom workflow step(=custom workflow activities)" and "Custom XAML workflows" (just for the sake of completeness):

You use a custom workflow activity (thats a custom workflow step written in c#) if non of the standard workflow steps fit your needs and you do not can use a plugin (see below). Custom workflow steps are especially helpful if they represent a generic functionality which can be reused.

You use a Custom XAML workflows if you want to use the full power of the windows workflow Foundation instead of the limit subset which the dynamics crm workflow designer provides. You must develop the Custom XAML workflows outside of crm (in visual studio for example) and then deploy it into crm. But beware: You cannot edit it inside crm and you cannot use Custom XAML workflows in the crm cloud (=crm online). You also have to enable Custom XAML workflows in the crm config database (they are disabled by default).

I would recommend against Custom XAML workflows, they are not very well supported/integrated into crm and they are error prone.. Use Plugins or a combination of custom workflow activities instead. Another option is to write a c# windows service which connects to crm and accomplish the desired functionality from outside.

2) It depends if you are using Dynamics 2011 or 2013/online. In 2011 Workflows are always asynchronous. They can be triggered automatically by a trigger (create entity for example) or manually by the user. In the first case they run under the userid of their respective owner, in the second case they run under the userid of the user which starts the workflow. Plugin can run synchronous or asynchronous and they are capable of doing user impersonation. But they cannot directly be triggered from the user. Workflows are suitable for long running stateful persistent background operations, Plugin for stateless short running operations. If you are using crm dynamics 2013 then workflows can also run synchronous.

Only synchronous operations can present error messages to the user.

Upvotes: 2

Andrew Butenko
Andrew Butenko

Reputation: 5446

  1. We have to use custom workflow actions when it is not enough standard workflow actions.
  2. https://community.dynamics.com/crm/b/crmpowerobjects/archive/2013/05/28/comparison-using-workflows-vs-javascript-vs-plugins-in-dynamics-crm.aspx

Upvotes: 0

Related Questions