Output parameters in sharepoint designer are not working

Question

Here is what I have

1. A custom activity with 2 in parameters and 2 out parameters.

2. The custom activity code works fine and in debugging mode the parameter is set.

3. I created some log activities, after the activity runs, to see if the output parameters are being set, but they are always empty.

4. I attached a screenshot and also the code

   code of the customactivity

   public partial class CreateDocumentLibrary : SequenceActivity {

       public CreateDocumentLibrary()
       {
           InitializeComponent();
       }
   
       public static DependencyProperty SiteUrlProperty = DependencyProperty.Register("SiteUrl",typeof(string), typeof(CreateDocumentLibrary), new PropertyMetadata(""));
   
       [DescriptionAttribute("Url of site where document library is to be created")]
       [BrowsableAttribute(true)]
       [DesignerSerializationVisibilityAttribute(DesignerSerializationVisibility.Visible)]
       [ValidationOption(ValidationOption.Optional)]
       public string SiteUrl
       {
           get
           {
               return ((string)(base.GetValue(SiteUrlProperty)));
           }
           set
           {
               base.SetValue(SiteUrlProperty, value);
           }
       }
   
       public static DependencyProperty DocumentLibraryNameProperty = DependencyProperty.Register("DocumentLibraryName",typeof(string), typeof(CreateDocumentLibrary), new PropertyMetadata(""));
   
       [DescriptionAttribute("Name for DocumentLibrary")]
       [BrowsableAttribute(true)]
       [DesignerSerializationVisibilityAttribute(DesignerSerializationVisibility.Visible)]
       [ValidationOption(ValidationOption.Optional)]
       public string DocumentLibraryName
       {
           get
           {
               return ((string)(base.GetValue(DocumentLibraryNameProperty)));
           }
           set
           {
               base.SetValue(DocumentLibraryNameProperty, value);
           }
       }
   
       public static DependencyProperty DocumentLibraryResultNameProperty = DependencyProperty.Register("DocumentLibraryResultName", typeof(string), typeof(CreateDocumentLibrary), new PropertyMetadata(""));
   
       [DescriptionAttribute("Result  Name for DocumentLibrary")]
       [BrowsableAttribute(true)]
       [DesignerSerializationVisibilityAttribute(DesignerSerializationVisibility.Visible)]
       [ValidationOption(ValidationOption.Optional)]
       public string DocumentLibraryResultName
       {
           get
           {
               return ((string)(base.GetValue(DocumentLibraryResultNameProperty)));
           }
           set
           {
               base.SetValue(DocumentLibraryResultNameProperty, value);
           }
       }
   
   
       public static DependencyProperty DocumentLibraryLinkProperty = DependencyProperty.Register("DocumentLibraryLink", typeof(string), typeof(CreateDocumentLibrary), new PropertyMetadata(""));
   
       [DescriptionAttribute("Link for DocumentLibrary")]
       [BrowsableAttribute(true)]
       [DesignerSerializationVisibilityAttribute(DesignerSerializationVisibility.Visible)]
       [ValidationOption(ValidationOption.Optional)]
       public string DocumentLibraryLink
       {
           get
           {
               return ((string)(base.GetValue(DocumentLibraryLinkProperty)));
           }
           set
           {
               base.SetValue(DocumentLibraryLinkProperty, value);
           }
       }
   
   
       protected override ActivityExecutionStatus Execute(ActivityExecutionContext executionContext)
       {
           CreateDocLibrary();
           return ActivityExecutionStatus.Closed;
       }
   
       /// <summary>
       /// Checks if the list exists in the spweb object
       /// </summary>
       /// <param name="docLibName">Document Library name</param>
       /// <param name="web">SPWeb</param>
       /// <returns>Returns true if it exists</returns>
       bool listExists(string docLibName, SPWeb web)
       {
           try
           {
               //if there is no list with such name, it will throw an exception
               return (web.Lists[docLibName] != null);
           }
           catch
           {
               return false;
           }
       }
   
       /// <summary>
       /// Creates a document library with the name passed
       /// </summary>
       private void CreateDocLibrary()
       {
           try
           {
               using (SPSite oSPSite = new SPSite(SiteUrl))
               {
                   using (SPWeb oSPWeb = oSPSite.RootWeb)
                   {
                       string docLibNameBase = DocumentLibraryName;
                       string docLibNameTemp = docLibNameBase;
                       int iCounter = 1;
                       while (listExists(docLibNameTemp, oSPWeb))
                       {
                           docLibNameTemp = docLibNameBase + "(" + iCounter.ToString() + ")";
                           iCounter++;
                       }
   
                       SPList oSPList = oSPWeb.Lists.TryGetList(docLibNameTemp);
                       if (oSPList == null)
                       {
                           Guid ID = oSPWeb.Lists.Add(docLibNameTemp, docLibNameTemp, SPListTemplateType.DocumentLibrary);
                           DocumentLibraryResultName = docLibNameTemp;
                           oSPList = oSPWeb.Lists[ID];
                           DocumentLibraryLink = SPUtility.ConcatUrls(oSPWeb.Url, oSPList.Views["All Documents"].Url);
                           oSPList.OnQuickLaunch = false;
                           oSPList.Update();
                       }                        
                   }
               }
           }
           catch (Exception)
           {                
               throw;
           }           
       }
   }   
   

code of the actions.actions

<Action Name="Create Doc Library" ClassName="MyCompany.CustomActivities.CreateDocumentLibrary"
        Assembly="MyCompany.CustomActivities, Version=1.0.0.0,Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=207090b9b3f674c8"
        AppliesTo="all" Category="MyCompany custom activities">

      <RuleDesigner Sentence="Create document library: %1 in site: %2. (Save link in: %3, save document library name in: %4)">
        <FieldBind Field="DocumentLibraryName" Text="Document List Name" DesignerType="TextArea" Id="1"/>
        <FieldBind Field="SiteUrl" Text="Url of base site" Id="2" DesignerType="TextArea"/>
        <FieldBind Field="DocumentLibraryLink" Text="Link to the document library" Id="3" DesignerType="TextArea"/>
        <FieldBind Field="DocumentLibraryResultName" Text="Result name of to the document library" Id="4" DesignerType="TextArea"/>

      </RuleDesigner>

      <Parameters>
        <Parameter Name="DocumentLibraryName" Type="System.String, mscorlib" Direction="In" />
        <Parameter Name="SiteUrl" Type="System.String, mscorlib" Direction="In" />
        <Parameter Name="DocumentLibraryLink" Type="System.String, mscorlib" Direction="Out" />
        <Parameter Name="DocumentLibraryResultName" Type="System.String, mscorlib" Direction="Out" />

      </Parameters>

    </Action>

Answer 1

The problem is with your DesignerType attributes in your ACTIONS files. Since you want to set these to variables you should switch these lines:

<FieldBind Field="DocumentLibraryLink" Text="Link to the document library" Id="3" DesignerType="TextArea"/>
<FieldBind Field="DocumentLibraryResultName" Text="Result name of to the document library" Id="4" DesignerType="TextArea"/>

To this:

<FieldBind Field="DocumentLibraryLink" Text="Link to the document library" Id="3" DesignerType="ParameterNames"/>
<FieldBind Field="DocumentLibraryResultName" Text="Result name of to the document library" Id="4" DesignerType="ParameterNames"/>

The key difference being that the DesignerType has been set to ParameterNames which allows you to specify which variable to save the output into.

Documentation: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb897971(v=office.14).aspx