Add a Workflow to an Assembly

Question

How can a new workflow class be added to an existing assembly that has already been registered and contains custom workflow activities that are already being used by workflows?

I often register an assembly with a workflow activity and then later want to add more classes.

The only way that has worked for me is to de-register and re-register the assembly, otherwise the custom workflow activity does not show up in the workflow designer; this approach is not ideal as it involves removing steps from all the workflows that use the assembly.

Answer 1

After you add the new CodeActivity inside the existing workflow assembly you need to update the assembly using the Plugin Registration Tool. By default the new classes will not be selected, but you can select them and the Plugin Registration Tool will include them. It is not necessary to unregister and register again the dll.

A good practice is to change the Assembly Version and File Version inside the project properties before compile (for example from 1.0.0.0 to 1.0.0.1) , it will force the CRM service to use the just updated assembly (and the designer will see the new activities)