Friday, 18 September 2009

Fix For SharePoint 2007 Workflow - "WorkflowValidationFailedException: The workflow failed validation."

If your workflow fails and goes to a status of "Failed on Start (retrying)", and you have declarative rule conditions in your workflow (or RuleSets), it is likely that your workflow cannot be loaded due to a validation error like the one below:

Engine RunWorkflow: System.Workflow.ComponentModel.Compiler.WorkflowValidationFailedException: The workflow failed validation.

FULL EXCEPTION FROM ULS:
08/31/2009 11:54:56.68 w3wp.exe (0x10DC) 0x047C Windows SharePoint Services Workflow Infrastructure 936l High Engine RunWorkflow: System.Workflow.ComponentModel.Compiler.WorkflowValidationFailedException: The workflow failed validation. at System.Workflow.Runtime.WorkflowDefinitionDispenser.ValidateDefinition(Activity root, Boolean isNewType, ITypeProvider typeProvider) at System.Workflow.Runtime.WorkflowDefinitionDispenser.LoadRootActivity(Type workflowType, Boolean createDefinition, Boolean initForRuntime) at System.Workflow.Runtime.WorkflowDefinitionDispenser.GetRootActivity(Type workflowType, Boolean createNew, Boolean initForRuntime) at System.Workflow.Runtime.WorkflowRuntime.InitializeExecutor(Guid instanceId, CreationContext context, WorkflowExecutor executor, WorkflowInstance workflowInstance) at System.Workflow.Runtime.WorkflowRuntime.Load(Guid key, CreationContext con... 08/31/2009 11:54:56.68* w3wp.exe (0x10DC) 0x047C Windows SharePoint Services Workflow Infrastructure 936l High ...text, WorkflowInstance workflowInstance) at System.Workflow.Runtime.WorkflowRuntime.GetWorkflowExecutor(Guid instanceId, CreationContext context) at System.Workflow.Runtime.WorkflowRuntime.InternalCreateWorkflow(CreationContext context, Guid instanceId) at System.Workflow.Runtime.WorkflowRuntime.CreateWorkflow(Type workflowType, Dictionary`2 namedArgumentValues, Guid instanceId) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWinOeHostServices.Send(SPWinOeWorkflow winoeworkflow, SPWorkflowEvent e) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWinOeEngine.RunWorkflow(Guid trackingId, SPWorkflowHostService host, SPWorkflow workflow, Collection`1 events, TimeSpan timeOut)


The Fix:

As described in http://blog.hhebnes.no/?tag=/workflows, the fix is to:

Edit the Visual Studio project file (using notepad) and add the second line below:

<Import Project="$(MSBuildBinPath)\Microsoft.CSharp.targets" />
<Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\Microsoft\Windows Workflow Foundation\v3.5\Workflow.Targets" />

Then reload the project and redeploy the wsp and everything will hopefully work. I suspect this might be an issue with WSPBuilder and the project it creates as it doesn't create .NET 3.5 projects by default.
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4 comments:

  1. Adil Hussain26 January 2010 at 19:39

    Hi,
    I have come accross with the same issue and trying to solve the issue for last couple of hours. I have the same stack trace as mentioned in your post but i do have the below entry in the Project file


    But still I am receiving the error of failed on start(retrying)

    By the way One of the workflow in my project is working fine and new workflow is giving me error. Also I am using first time the declarative rule condition in this workflow. I am not using Declarative rule condition in the first workflow which is working fine.

    Thanks
    Regards
    Adil

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown10 July 2010 at 01:17

    Thanks a lot man. I've been searching for the solution for days. You're my life savor

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wagner Iaschitzki23 May 2012 at 04:30

    Hi David, thanks a lot, you save me a lot of time!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous8 August 2013 at 07:37

    what if it's an SPD workflow?

    ReplyDelete