How to deploy a custom SharePoint Workflow Activity

Question

I Created a VS 2010 project with a custom workflow activity and I wish to deploy that to the server. My development machine does not have SharePoint installed, so I decided to use WSP Builder. I haven't used it in over a year so I'm not sure if I'm doing things correctly.

1. I added a the following folder hierarchy to my project: TEMPLATE\FEATURES\FeatureName\ActivityName
2. I added a feature file: TEMPLATE\FEATURES\FeatureName\Feature.xml
3. I added a activity element file: TEMPLATE\FEATURES\FeatureName\ActivityName\Elements.xml
4. I added a class file for my custom activity
5. I signed the project and compiled it
6. I right-clicked the project and built the package from WSP Builder menu

The following are the contents of the xml files:

Feature.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Feature Id="1D271C8B-6747-45C4-9590-2CF96CFC4F93" 
         Scope="Site"
         Title="Feature Name" 
         Description="Feature Description" 
         Creator="Deverop" 
         xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
  <ElementManifests>
    <ElementManifest Location="ActivityName\Elements.xml"/>
  </ElementManifests>
</Feature>

Elements.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
  <WorkflowActions>
    <Action Name="My custom activity"
        ClassName="SharePoint.ActivityName"
        Assembly="SharePoint, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b31fc0364fa5f62c"
        Category="Custom Activities"
        AppliesTo="all">
      <RuleDesigner Sentence="Update web service at address %1 with value %2">
        <FieldBind Field="Address" Text="Address" Id="1" DesignerType="TextArea" />
        <FieldBind Field="StatusId" Text="Status Id" Id="2" DesignerType="TextBox" />
      </RuleDesigner>
      <Parameters>
        <Parameter Name="Address" Type="System.String, mscorlib" Direction="In" DesignerType="Stringbuilder" Description="Web service address" />
        <Parameter Name="StatusId" Type="System.String, mscorlib" Direction="In" />
        <Parameter Name="__Context" Type="Microsoft.SharePoint.WorkflowActions.WorkflowContext, Microsoft.SharePoint.WorkflowActions" Direction="In" DesignerType="Hide" />
      </Parameters>
    </Action>
  </WorkflowActions>
</Elements>

Unfortunately, when I deploy the wsp, I do not see my custom action in SharePoint Designer.

Where could I have gone wrong?

Answer 1

I guess I will answer my own question. The solution was to create a ActivityName.actions file in TEMPLATE\1033\Workflow folder.

ActivityName.actions

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<WorkflowInfo>
  <Actions>
    <Action Name="My custom activity"
    ClassName="SharePoint.ActivityName"
    Assembly="SharePoint, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b31fc0364fa5f62c"
    Category="Custom Activities"
    AppliesTo="all">
      <RuleDesigner Sentence="Update web service at address %1 with value %2">
        <FieldBind Field="Address" Text="Address" Id="1" DesignerType="TextArea" />
        <FieldBind Field="StatusId" Text="Status Id" Id="2" DesignerType="TextBox" />
      </RuleDesigner>
      <Parameters>
        <Parameter Name="Address" Type="System.String, mscorlib" Direction="In" DesignerType="Stringbuilder" Description="Web service address" />
        <Parameter Name="StatusId" Type="System.String, mscorlib" Direction="In" />
        <Parameter Name="__Context" Type="Microsoft.SharePoint.WorkflowActions.WorkflowContext, Microsoft.SharePoint.WorkflowActions" Direction="In" DesignerType="Hide" />
      </Parameters>
    </Action>
  </Actions>
</WorkflowInfo>

UPDATE In addition, I had to add a SafeControl and AllowedType entry in the web.config in order to use the custom action.