Friday, May 1, 2009

WF Error When Missing Assigned To

The Error


I recently came across some strange errors which caused me to lose a lot of time on and could not find anything on. I had a Publishing with a WF Workflow and I was getting errors like this whenever I would access my page after initiating the workflow.


Application error when access /_layouts/Workflow.aspx, Error=Object reference not set to an instance of an object. at Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.Internal.WorkflowUtilities.GetIsTaskAssignedToUserOrGroup(CachedWorkflowTask task, Int32 userId) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.Internal.WorkflowUtilities.GetCurrentUserApprovalTask(CachedListItem listItem) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.Internal.WorkflowUtilities.IsApprovalWorkflowTaskActiveForUser(CachedListItem listItem) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.WebControls.ConsoleNode.CurrentState(Page currentPage, Boolean cacheResult) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.WebControls.ConsoleNode.CurrentState(Page currentPage) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.WebControls.ConsoleDataSource.PopulateDataSource() atMicrosoft.SharePoint.Publishing.WebControls.XmlConsoleDataSource.PopulateDataSource() at Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.WebControls.ConsoleDataSource.GetHierarchicalView(String viewPath) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.WebControls.PublishingSiteActionsMenuCustomizer.OnPreRender(EventArgs e) at System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() at System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() at System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() at System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() at System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() at System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() at System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() at System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() at System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() at System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)


I was also seeing "unexpected" errors on SharePoint and in the logs I would find the following:


ERROR: request not found in the TrackedRequests. We might be creating and closing webs on different threads. ThreadId = 13, Free call stack = at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPRequestManager.Release(SPRequest request) at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPWeb.Invalidate() at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPWeb.Close() at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSite.Close() at SourceCode.SharePoint.Common.SPObject.System.IDisposable.Dispose() at SourceCode.SharePoint.Workflow.Proxy.Common.GetK2IntegrationListItem(SPWorkflowActivationProperties properties) at SourceCode.SharePoint.Workflow.Proxy.MultipleTasksAndUsers.ActionK2WorkListItem(SPUser user, Boolean isFinished, String actionResult, String serialNr, String actionResponse, SPWorkflowTaskProperties afterProperties) at SourceCode.SharePoint.Workflow.Proxy.MultipleTasksAndUsers.OnTaskChanged_Event(Object sender, TaskEventArgs e) at System.Workflow.ComponentModel.Activity.RaiseGenericEvent[T](DependencyProperty dependencyEvent, Object sender, T e) at SourceCode.SharePoint.Workflow.ActivityLibrary.TaskActivity.onTaskChanged_Invoked(Object sender, ExternalDataEventArgs e) at System.Workflow.ComponentModel.Activity.RaiseGenericEvent[T](DependencyProperty dependencyEvent, Object sender, T e) at System.Workflow.Activities.HandleExternalEventActivity.RaiseEvent(Object[] args) at System.Workflow.Activities.HandleExternalEventActivity.Execute(ActivityExecutionContext executionContext) at System.Workflow.ComponentModel.ActivityExecutor`1.Execute(T activity, ActivityExecutionContext executionContext) at System.WorkflowComponentModel.ActivityExecutor`1.Execute(Activity activity, ActivityExecutionContext executionContext) at System.Workflow.ComponentModel.ActivityExecutorOperation.Run(IWorkflowCoreRuntime workflowCoreRuntime) at System.Workflow.Runtime.Scheduler.Run() at System.Workflow.Runtime.WorkflowExecutor.RunScheduler() at System.Workflow.Runtime.WorkflowExecutor.RunSome(Object ignored) at System.Workflow.Runtime.Hosting.DefaultWorkflowSchedulerService.WorkItem.Invoke(WorkflowSchedulerService service) at System.Workflow.Runtime.Hosting.DefaultWorkflowSchedulerService.QueueWorkerProcess(Object state) at System.Threading._ThreadPoolWaitCallback.WaitCallback_Context(Object state) at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.runTryCode(Object userData) at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.RuntimeHelpers.ExecuteCodeWithGuaranteedCleanup(TryCode code, CleanupCode backoutCode, Object userData) at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.RunInternal(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state) at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state) at System.Threading._ThreadPoolWaitCallback.PerformWaitCallbackInternal(_ThreadPoolWaitCallback tpWaitCallBack) at System.Threading._ThreadPoolWaitCallback.PerformWaitCallback(Object state) , Allocation call stack (if present) null


This was pretty frustrating because every time I would go to the publishing page I would get this error. However the minute that I cancel the workflow or finish by completing the tasks in the task list the error would go away and I could access the publishing page.


The Issue


I was able to narrow down the issue to the following scenario:

  • I had a Site with the Publishing Feature Turned on.
  • In the Pages Library I had it configured such that all content had to be approved.
  • I had configured a custom WF Workflow on Pages Library configured to "Start this workflow to approve publishing a major version of an item".

The issue was that even though the workflow could be started I would only get this error if I had it configured to "Start this workflow to approve publishing a major version of an item". I manually initiated the workflow I would not get the error.


What I found out is the Assigned To field in the task was missing! Now if you have an OOB Approval workflow or do something in SharePoint Designer it is impossible to create this error. However if you are writing a custom workflow in Visual Studio and do not set the Assigned To field in the task you will get this error.


This error will ONLY occur if you are using it for a Publishing Page too. I was able to run this same workflow with the exact configuration on a MS Word document and would not receive the error. I do not know exactly what to call this menu system (below) but you will see it when using publishing pages.



Basically when you have a workflow started when a major version is published, the WF workflow will be "daisy chained" into the approve/deny workflow that is turned on when you require content approval. This menu system is validating against the Assigned To field in the Task that is associated to the running workflow instance. If the Assigned To is blank, you will get the errors above when trying to access the page.


The Resolution


Make sure to set the Assigned To field of tasks being created for your workflows.

2 comments:

Avrilll said...

We are getting the same error on a custom list with an SPD workflow. It happens when users try to edit multiple items using datasheet view. I think the workflow can't keep up and deadlocks itself

Jason Apergis said...

Well I thought it would not be possible to create this error in SharePoint designer because it is creating the task in the task list which would ensure that the Assigned To field would be filled in. Anyways - I have been wrong before.

Thanks,
Jason