SharePoint 2010 "foreach" - sharepoint-2010

Question

I have 2 SharePoint lists, and I have to copy all items from List1 to List2.
On List1 there is a boolean field (defaults to 'no'), a text field and an associated WorkFlow which triggers on modifications.
The WokFlow simplified:
Copy current item to List2
Set my boolen field to 'yes'
Search for an item with boolen field 'no', set its text field to 'copy'
I start the process by modifing an item in List1, then it will copy itself to List2, modifies an another item, and so on... until there is any item with a boolen field set to 'no'.
This works perfectly for 10 items, but then it fails. Item 10 modified item 11's text field to 'copy', but item 11's WorkFlow does not started. I've tried it serval times, and always stopped after 10 copies.
I've Googled and MSDN'd. The best solution I've found is to pause for 1 minute in the WorkFlow. But I have thousands of items...
Has anyone any advice? I even cant find any limit in the SharePoint 2010 server that defaults to 10.
Thank You!

Answer 1

You are triggering a hardcoded resource throttle in SharePoint 2010 due to the speed on the workflow. It's there to prevent the system from becoming unresponsive during workflow operations. Code in an application page or timer job will get around this limit but it's not recommended to have a greedy operation that cause the system to become unresponsive to users.

Answer 2

You can do CAML batch methods.
somethig like this:
void UpdateList()
{
StringBuilder methodBuilder = new StringBuilder();
string batch = string.Empty;
string newValue="mmmm";
string updateColumn = "SampleColumn";
try
{
string batchFormat = "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>" +
"<ows:Batch OnError=\"Continue\">{0}</ows:Batch>";
string methodFormat = "<Method ID='{0}' >" +
"<SetList>{1}</SetList>" +
"<SetVar Name='Cmd'>Save</SetVar>" +
"<SetVar Name='ID'>{2}</SetVar>" +
"<SetVar Name='urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office#{3}'>{4}</SetVar>" +
"</Method>";
using (SPSite siteCol = new SPSite("SampleSite"))
{
using (SPWeb web = siteCol.OpenWeb())
{
// Get the list containing the items to update
SPList list = web.Lists["SampleList"];
string listGuid = list.ID.ToString();
SPListItemCollection allItems = list.GetItems();
// Build the CAML update commands.
for (int i = 0; i < allItems.Count; i++)
{
int itemID = allItems[i].ID;
methodBuilder.AppendFormat(methodFormat, itemID, listGuid, itemID, updatedColumn, newValue);
}
web.AllowUnsafeUpdates = true;
// Generate the CAML
batch = string.Format(batchFormat, methodBuilder.ToString());
// Process the batch
string batchReturn = web.ProcessBatchData(batch);
}
//done
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
//show the error
}
}
You can create batch methods for create , delete and update items on lists and document libraries.
Refs:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/ms437562%28v=office.15%29.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/ms459050(v=office.15).aspx

Answer 3

if you want to change workflow concurrent execution limits ....
For check limits:
Get-SPFarmConfig | Select WorkflowPostponeThreshold
For change
Set-SPFarmConfig -WorkflowPostponeThreshold 50
Timer service process items ( workflows continuations) on batch sizes
Get-SPFarmConfig | Select WorkflowBatchSize
Set-SPFarmConfig -WorkflowBatchSize 150