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Tip: Clearing the SPD workflow assembly cache

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Hi folks, it's Gabe Hall again with a quick tip you can use when developing workflow activities on WSS for use in SPD :).

If you are building a workflow activity on WSS for SPD you may have to update your activity DLL regularly (say to fix bugs or alter behaviors).  Sometimes when you do this, SPD won't recognize your changes to the activity and instead appear to be using the 'old' DLL.  Depending on what you've changed in the activity on the server, SPD may not allow you to use this activity at all.  This is due to a mismatch between the server's activity and the SPD client's cached activity.  To fix this problem its a good idea to clear your SPD activity cache whenever you update your activities DLL on the server.

To clear the SPD activity cache:

1. Close SPD.
2. Open “My Computer”.
3. Go to %System Drive%\Documents and Settings\%user%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\WebSiteCache (If you are running Vista, that path is different - look for %System Drive%\Users\%user%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WebSiteCache).
4. Go to a directory that looks similar to the name of the website you were connecting to. (Alternatively, you can just delete all these directories and everything should work when you boot SPD).
5. Delete the assembly with the name similar to the one you are changing.
6. Boot SPD.
7. You can now work with your updated activity.

See you soon!
-Gabe

Comments

  • Anonymous
    March 28, 2007
    Live Search Web Service and Data View Web Part Live Search Web Part for MOSS White Paper Migrating a

  • Anonymous
    June 07, 2007
    Didn't work for me...not a workflow DLL though. Basically I have a standard ASP.Net control which is inheriting from SPControl. I have added this control to a to a publishing Layout. In the past (very briefly) it inherited from a WebPart, but now it is back to SPControl. The problem is that now I cannot stop SPD from adding __WebPartId="{541174A7-6472-4699-A869-D02CBB86791C}" to the attributes evrytime I save the file?? I have cleared this cache, re-built the project, IISRESET...everything I can think of. Is there anyway to stop SPD from randomly adding attributes and bits of HTML...essentially can I get it to be more like notepad?

  • Anonymous
    June 10, 2007
    こんにちは。 方法を掲載しようと思いましたが、既にチュートリアルとサンプルのダウンロードが可能なページがありますのでご紹介します。（下記リンク） Adding Activities to SPD (Microsoft

  • Anonymous
    September 30, 2007
    Hi, I'm Phil Allen, a developer with the SharePoint Designer team who works primarily on Workflow. Today

  • Anonymous
    October 09, 2007
    I have a problem with WSS 3.0 custom activity. My __Context property is always null. I have followed step by step instructions in this article but not work. Can you help me? Thanks!

  • Anonymous
    April 15, 2008
    Hi there, i tried this but no luck, using MOSS 2007 though. Any ideas? Faheem

  • Anonymous
    August 15, 2008
    When creating or modifying a web page, one of the handy new features in SharePoint Designer 2007 is the

  • Anonymous
    May 04, 2009
    Body: I got this tip from a Microsoft consultant working on the US Navy project I also work on. If getting

  • Anonymous
    October 13, 2009
    I had a SPD workflow that looked like it compiled - no errors in SPT, but the changes I made were not getting updated.  Clearing the SPD workflow assembly cache solved the problem.  THANKS Gabe!  

  • Anonymous
    October 19, 2009
    Worked for me. The workflows were not getting updated before. Thx !

  • Anonymous
    August 24, 2010
    Thanks... :)

  • Anonymous
    October 12, 2010
    Worked for me, THANK YOU Gabe, THANK YOU!!!

  • Anonymous
    January 10, 2012
    Hi Gabe, I'm working on SPD2010 and created custom workflows for my site. Lately, it stopped updating when I'm trying to publish(new) or re-publish(old) any workflows. Last time the proxyassemblycache got updated is around 4 hours back and after then nothing seems to be updating. The ULS log shows the following msg when I tried to trigger one.. 01/11/2012 12:20:32.41 SPUCWorkerProcessProxy.exe (0x1CC4) 0x1434 SharePoint Foundation Workflow Infrastructure b9vu Unexpected Declarative workflows cannot automatically start if the triggering action was performed by System Account. Canceling workflow auto-start. List Id: %s, Item Id: %d, Workflow Association Id: %s My environment is: windows server 2008r2, SPS2010. Could you please comment in this..thank you.

  • Anonymous
    February 28, 2012
    Thanks It Worked For me

  • Anonymous
    May 04, 2012
    Worked for me.  Would be interesting to know why this workaround is needed though.

  • Anonymous
    June 12, 2012
    Great tip, worked for me. However my websitecache directory was a bit different: %System Drive%Users%username%AppDataLocalMicrosoftWebsiteCache

  • Anonymous
    April 29, 2015
    Thank you Gabe! Came across another thread on this topics - might help someone. www.c-sharpcorner.com/.../how-to-clear-your-sharepoint-designer-20102013-cache