Why do we need to restart the CRM server after registering the custom workflow using Plugin Registration tool to make that work properly - workflow

Question

Can we have any alternative way to make run-able the custom Workflow activity in Workflow steps.
All the time what I do is register the dll using Plugin registration tool and then restart the server. Then only we can use the custom workflow activity on Workflow.
I have tried after restarting the IIS and hoping so it'll be done but no luck.
All the time restarting server should not be any solution. Is there any alternative way for it please suggest. All you are suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

1) You do not need to restart IIS; restart the application pool (its far faster and doesn't disrupt other applications that might be running on the server; by default its the 'CrmAppPool') using the command:
%systemroot%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd recycle apppool CrmAppPool
2) Similarly, you can recycle the async process by running (powershell):
Restart-Service -displayname "Microsoft Dynamics CRM Asynchronous Processing Service"
3) Both of these commands can be run remotely using the powershell command:
powershell Invoke-Command [CrmServerName] -ScriptBlock { ["Restart-Service...."] }
4) You do not need to deploy to the server to debug plugins. Its far easier/faster to create a test harness. The link below outlines how to setup a dev environment for unit testing.
How I develop and unit test CRM 2011 plugins

Answer 2

CRM caches the dlls, restarting the services causes it to refresh those caches.
If you register a synchronous plugin then you need to reset IIS.
If you register an asynchronous plugin or custom workflow activity you need to reset the asynchronous service.

Answer 3

We don't need to restart the server to make it run the plug-in code, the only thing is you need to restart IIS after that.

Answer 4

Try restart IIS and then restart the asynchronous service, this must be the only thing necessary.

Answer 5

The point here is very specific -
It's not only true for the CRM, but is also true for any web application hosted on IIS. Web App (CRM for you case) caches dlls for the very first time when the message is executed (plugin message/event - Although this is done by .net platform internally, so to address the other similar calls more efficiently.). So, in that case you need to flush off the synced thing from your web app. And that is why you need to recycle app pool (SMART WAY -> for single application flush, and without impacting other applications on the server, you should always go for APPPOOL Recycle instead to IIS restart.)
For this, what I would suggest you is to write a powershell script to recycle AppPool for your application and trigger it on Post build event of your project (plugin project) in VS. So, that will make your process automated and will reduce your efforts to much lesser.
Regarding custom WF assembly, Since it executes under Async. Service, so you need to discard off the cached content from here as well.
Hope this helps!

Answer 6

You shouldn't need to restart anything.
What you need to do is increment the build number of the assembly you are updating each time you deploy it.
This makes sure that CRM knows not to use it's cached version but to load the updated one the database

Answer 7

If you want to see the CWAs without any need of restarts just select the activity in the plugin registration tool and press the "save" button below the properties