sharepoint WSS workflow - "failed on start" error

Question

I've got a WSS 3.0 "project" site with all my workflows working properly. I want an easy way to clone this site, there will be one per project, so it has to be something the empowered end user can do (stsadm export won't work for him).

I save the site, with content, as a template, then create a new site from the template. This new site has all the work flow, but when I try to run them, I get "Failed to start" this is from error log. I suspect this is the key msg in the log ... "Can not find the condition "__Rule_ID21"

04/10/2009 10:06:03.00 w3wp.exe (0x13A4) 0x150C Windows SharePoint Services Workflow Infrastructure 72fs Unexpected RunWorkflow: Microsoft.SharePoint.SPException: Error>CompilerError Line="0" Column="0" Text="Activity 'ID13' validation failed: Can not find the condition "__Rule_ID13"." CompilerError Line="0" Column="0" Text="Activity 'ID21' validation failed: Can not find the condition "__Rule_ID21"." /> Error> at Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPNoCodeXomlCompiler.LoadXomlAssembly(String assmNameIn, SPWeb web) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWinOeHostServices.CreateInstance(Guid trackingId, SPWorkflow workflow) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWinOeEngine.RunWorkflow(Guid trackingId, SPWorkflowHostService host, SPWorkflow workflow, Collection`1 events, TimeSpan timeOut) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWorkflowManager.RunWorkflowElev(SPWorkflow originalWo...

04/10/2009 10:06:03.00* w3wp.exe (0x13A4) 0x150C Windows SharePoint Services Workflow Infrastructure 72fs Unexpected ...rkflow, SPWorkflow workflow, Collection`1 events, SPRunWorkflowOptions runOptions)

04/10/2009 10:06:03.00 w3wp.exe (0x13A4) 0x150C Windows SharePoint Services Workflow Infrastructure 98d7 Unexpected Microsoft.SharePoint.SPException: at Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPNoCodeXomlCompiler.LoadXomlAssembly(String assmNameIn, SPWeb web) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWinOeHostServices.CreateInstance(Guid trackingId, SPWorkflow workflow) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWinOeEngine.RunWorkflow(Guid trackingId, SPWorkflowHostService host, SPWorkflow workflow, Collection`1 events, TimeSpan timeOut) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWorkflowManager.RunWorkflowElev(SPWorkflow originalWorkflow, SPWor...

04/10/2009 10:06:03.00* w3wp.exe (0x13A4) 0x150C Windows SharePoint Services Workflow Infrastructure 98d7 Unexpected ...kflow workflow, Collection`1 events, SPRunWorkflowOptions runOptions)

Answer 1

I'm thinking it's something to do with the condition rules that you use in your workflow but I can't remember the specific's about how they're stored and accessed by the WF

Answer 2

Tricky. At this point my guess is that your best bet is to open your workflow files, which you can access from SharePoint Designer (open your original/root/template web in it).

Once you've located the workflow files, instead of opening them in the visual designer, try opening them in Notepad so you see the XML source code. Don't mess with it right now, but this way you should be able to find the rules and activities "13" and "21" that fail in template-exported webs. Look for ID13, __Rule_ID13, ID21 and __Rule_ID21. The idea here is to find out which two of your activity/condition pairs fail. Once you know which they are, you can:

• let us know
• try to export the web without these activity/condition pairs (or temporarily replace them with dummy ones that WON'T fail)
• take a closer look at them: could there be any reason for them to not work in a web other than the original one?

Don't think there is an easy answer. SharePoint Designer workflows in general, particular in a WSS-only environment, certainly do have their limitations and glitches.

Answer 3

Warning!! Turning on Diagnostic Logging in production could crash the server.

In Central Admin > Operations > Diagnostic Logging > Event Throttling:

Category = All

Eventlog = information

tracelog = verbose !!Danger!!

Look at the most recent log in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\LOGS (copy and paste into excel)

Filter "Category" for "Workflow Infrastructure". This should start leading you down the right path. Hope it helps and wish you luck

Ian Philpot

Answer 4

The problem is that SharePoint designer workflows are associated with a particular list instance using the GUID of that list. When you save a site as a template and recreate a new site using that template the list that is created will use the same list template as the list the template was based off but it will have a different identifying GUID. Re-use of workflows created with SharePoint designer is a common problem.

Here is one possible solution though it requires some grunt work each time a new site is created from the template: http://nickgrattan.wordpress.com/2007/10/17/applying-a-sharepoint-designer-workflow-to-multiple-lists/

What you'd probably be best to do would be to create a site definition (be careful because you must follow accepted practice, here is a start http://www.sharepointjoel.com/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=117) that contains a list instance with an attached workflow that has been created as a feature using Visual Studio.

Answer 5

It is the GUID problems as stated by Simon Fox