Deploying a Reusable Workflow to a List Content Type using PowerShell

Question

We have a situation where deployment of a reusable workflow for a site content type cannot be completed through the web interface due to the number of libraries where the content type is in use (time-out on deploy and update).
It was hoped that this could be accomplished with PowerShell but the method of deploying to a list content type appears to be different than it is to a list (all content types).
The below snippet works fine for a list / all content types:
function AddWorkflowToLibraries ($SiteCollection, $ctName, $WfName, $WfAssociationName)
$site = Get-SPSite $SiteCollection
[Guid]$wfTemplateId = New-Object Guid
#Step through each web in site collection
$site | Get-SPWeb -limit all | ForEach-Object {
$web = $_
$_.Lists | ForEach-Object{
if($_.AllowContentTypes -eq $true)
if($_.ContentTypes.Item("$ctName") -ne $null)
write-host "Enabling workflow on" $_.Title "in" $_.ParentWebUrl
$ct = $_.ContentTypes[$ctName]
$culture = New-Object System.Globalization.CultureInfo("en-US")
$template = $site.RootWeb.WorkflowTemplates.GetTemplateByName($WfName, $culture)
if($template -ne $null)
$tasklist = "Tasks"
$historylist = "Workflow History"
if(!$web.Lists[$historylist])
$web.Lists.Add($historylist, "A system library used to store workflow history information that is created in this site. It is created by the Publishing feature.",
"WorkflowHistory", "00BFEA71-4EA5-48D4-A4AD-305CF7030140", 140, "100")
if (!$web.Features["00BFEA71-4EA5-48D4-A4AD-305CF7030140"]) {
Enable-SPFeature -Identity WorkflowHistoryList -Url $web.Url
$wfHistory = $web.Lists[$historylist]
$wfHistory.Hidden = $true
$wfHistory.Update()
if(!$web.Lists[$tasklist])
$web.Lists.Add($tasklist, "This system library was created by the Publishing feature to store workflow tasks that are created in this site.", "WorkflowTasks", "00BFEA71-A83E-497E-9BA0-7A5C597D0107", 107, "100")
$association = [Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWorkflowAssociation]::CreateListAssociation($template, $wfName, $web.Lists[$tasklist], $web.Lists[$historylist])
$association.AllowManual = $true
$_.AddWorkflowAssociation($association)
$_.Update()
else
Write-Error "Workflow Template not found"
AddWorkflowToLibraries <Site Name> <Content Type Name> <Workflow Template Name> <Association Name>
However changing the association as follows causes the script to still execute without a problem but the workflow doesn't appear for the content and the associations collection is empty:
function AddWorkflowToLibraries ($SiteCollection, $ctName, $WfName, $WfAssociationName)
$site = Get-SPSite $SiteCollection
[Guid]$wfTemplateId = New-Object Guid
#Step through each web in site collection
$site | Get-SPWeb -limit all | ForEach-Object {
$web = $_
$_.Lists | ForEach-Object{
if($_.AllowContentTypes -eq $true)
if($_.ContentTypes.Item("$ctName") -ne $null)
write-host "Enabling workflow on" $_.Title "in" $_.ParentWebUrl
$ct = $_.ContentTypes[$ctName]
$culture = New-Object System.Globalization.CultureInfo("en-US")
$template = $site.RootWeb.WorkflowTemplates.GetTemplateByName($WfName, $culture)
if($template -ne $null)
$tasklist = "Tasks"
$historylist = "Workflow History"
if(!$web.Lists[$historylist])
$web.Lists.Add($historylist, "A system library used to store workflow history information that is created in this site. It is created by the Publishing feature.",
"WorkflowHistory", "00BFEA71-4EA5-48D4-A4AD-305CF7030140", 140, "100")
if (!$web.Features["00BFEA71-4EA5-48D4-A4AD-305CF7030140"]) {
Enable-SPFeature -Identity WorkflowHistoryList -Url $web.Url
$wfHistory = $web.Lists[$historylist]
$wfHistory.Hidden = $true
$wfHistory.Update()
if(!$web.Lists[$tasklist])
$web.Lists.Add($tasklist, "This system library was created by the Publishing feature to store workflow tasks that are created in this site.", "WorkflowTasks", "00BFEA71-A83E-497E-9BA0-7A5C597D0107", 107, "100")
$association = [Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWorkflowAssociation]::CreateListContentTypeAssociation($template, $wfName, $web.Lists[$tasklist], $web.Lists[$historylist])
$association.AllowManual = $true
$_.ContentTypes[$ctname].AddWorkflowAssociation($association)
$_.ContentTypes[$ctname].Update()
else
Write-Error "Workflow Template not found"
AddWorkflowToLibraries <Site Name> <Content Type Name> <Workflow Template Name> <Association Name>
The only change is:
$association = [Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWorkflowAssociation]::CreateListContentTypeAssociation($template, $wfName, $web.Lists[$tasklist], $web.Lists[$historylist])
$association.AllowManual = $true
$_.ContentTypes[$ctname].AddWorkflowAssociation($association)
$_.ContentTypes[$ctname].Update()
But unlike the list version, the association doesn't appear to be saved and no error is generated.
Is anyone aware of what may cause this or have an example in C# that may explain something my script is missing?

Answer 1

Hi Garry,
After you associate the workflow to the content type, you should update the update the content type using
$ct.UpdateWorkflowAssociationsOnChildren($true,$true,$true,$false)
 method.
Here is the completed script:
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SharePoint")
$site=Get-SPSite "http://serverName"
$web=$site.OpenWeb()
$list=$web.Lists["ListC"]
$taskList=$web.Lists["Tasks"]
$historyList=$web.Lists["Workflow History"]
$ct=$list.ContentTypes["Link"]
$culture=New-Object System.Globalization.CultureInfo("en-US")
$wfTemplate=$web.WorkflowTemplates.GetTemplateByName("Three-State",$culture)
$associationWF=[Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWorkflowAssociation]::CreateListContentTypeAssociation($wfTemplate, "myThreeStateWF",$taskList,$historyList)
$ct.WorkflowAssociations.Add($associationWF)
$ct.UpdateWorkflowAssociationsOnChildren($true,$true,$true,$false)
Here is a demo about how to update it using C#
http://www.thorntontechnical.com/tech/sharepoint/sharepoint-2010-associate-workflow-to-content-type-in-a-feature
Wayne Fan
TechNet Community Support