You make me smile

It's a good thing that I like email, 'cause I get an incredible amount now.  So much of it is really just junk, but customer email always takes priority -- and, customers who make me smile are at the top of the list.  Thanks to Fred for today's smile.

"Fred's Custom (SharePoint) Workflow Commandments"

1. Thou shalt always strong-name thy custom activities and workflow assemblies. Failure to do so will doom thee to the first ring of workflow hell.

2. Thou shalt always place thy custom activities and workflow assemblies in the GAC, including second and third level activities that are referenced in thy workflow. Failure to abide by this commandment shall result in painful “workflow failed (re-trying)” errors.

3. Thou shalt, as a minimum, code a workflow Fault Handler with a FaultHandler activity to capture System.Exceptions and log the Fault.Message via a LogToHistory activity. Failure to do so will condemn thee to the third ring of workflow hell known as “dumpster diving through C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\LOGS” to find what went wrong.

4. Thou shalt know thy current settings of job-workflow and job-immediate-alerts for they server. Failure to do so will condemn thee to odd behavior of thy Delay, DelayFor and DelayUntil activities.

For your listening/viewing enjoyment. Patent Pending. Trade Mark. Service Mark. Closed Course, professional driver. Batteries not included. Your mileage may vary.