Is it possible to programmatically invoke a workflow on external list items?

Question

Is it possible to invoke a workflow on an external list programmatically and pass parameters into the workflow? Is there an example using SharePoint 2010?

Answer 1

No, per this MSDN blog, SharePoint doesn't permit association with external lists:

In SharePoint 2010, workflows cannot be associated directly with external lists. This is because the data is not stored in SharePoint, so the workflow cannot be notified when items change. This does not mean that workflow does not work with external lists. You can create a site workflow, or just have a list workflow on a regular list, like a document library, and have it read or update from an external list. You can also use an external list item as a destination for a task process in SPD, although the link to the task will always show no title for the external list item.

EDIT: I didn't fully answer the question. You can create a site workflow that then looks up external list items, so you could pass in parameters the same way you would to any other workflow.

Answer 2

Not supported with external lists as discussed below. But you can use native lists to simply replicate external data with. In this way you have all list features available, including notifications and workflows in case external data changes.

See here how it works: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEUeLtIA84c

Hope that helps. Regards, Frank

Answer 3

AFAIK external list items in SharePoint 2010 do not support workflows.