Question

I am having an issue with Thread.CurrentPrincipal not being propagated from the main thread to the workflow application.

Is there anyway to do this?

Here is my sample application:

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        Thread.CurrentPrincipal = new GenericPrincipal(new GenericIdentity("Bob", "Passport"), new string[] { "managers", "executives" });

        System.Console.WriteLine("MainThread Prinicipal type: " + Thread.CurrentPrincipal.GetType().ToString());
        System.Console.WriteLine("MainThread Prinicipal Identity: " + Thread.CurrentPrincipal.Identity.Name);
        System.Console.WriteLine();

        AutoResetEvent syncEvent = new AutoResetEvent(false);

        WorkflowApplication application = new WorkflowApplication(new Workflow1());

        application.Completed = delegate(WorkflowApplicationCompletedEventArgs e)
        {
            syncEvent.Set();
        };

        application.Run();
        syncEvent.WaitOne();
    }
}

and the workflow

<Activity mc:Ignorable="sap" x:Class="WorkflowConsoleApplication1.Workflow1" sap:VirtualizedContainerService.HintSize="273,427" mva:VisualBasic.Settings="Assembly references and imported namespaces for internal implementation" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/netfx/2009/xaml/activities" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" xmlns:mv="clr-namespace:Microsoft.VisualBasic;assembly=System" xmlns:mva="clr-namespace:Microsoft.VisualBasic.Activities;assembly=System.Activities" xmlns:s="clr-namespace:System;assembly=mscorlib" xmlns:s1="clr-namespace:System;assembly=System" xmlns:s2="clr-namespace:System;assembly=System.Xml" xmlns:s3="clr-namespace:System;assembly=System.Core" xmlns:s4="clr-namespace:System;assembly=System.ServiceModel" xmlns:sad="clr-namespace:System.Activities.Debugger;assembly=System.Activities" xmlns:sap="http://schemas.microsoft.com/netfx/2009/xaml/activities/presentation" xmlns:scg="clr-namespace:System.Collections.Generic;assembly=System" xmlns:scg1="clr-namespace:System.Collections.Generic;assembly=System.ServiceModel" xmlns:scg2="clr-namespace:System.Collections.Generic;assembly=System.Core" xmlns:scg3="clr-namespace:System.Collections.Generic;assembly=mscorlib" xmlns:sd="clr-namespace:System.Data;assembly=System.Data" xmlns:sl="clr-namespace:System.Linq;assembly=System.Core" xmlns:st="clr-namespace:System.Threading;assembly=System.Core" xmlns:st1="clr-namespace:System.Threading;assembly=System" xmlns:st2="clr-namespace:System.Text;assembly=mscorlib" xmlns:st3="clr-namespace:System.Threading;assembly=mscorlib" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml">
    <Sequence sad:XamlDebuggerXmlReader.FileName="C:\projects\WorkflowConsoleApplication1\WorkflowConsoleApplication1\Workflow1.xaml" sap:VirtualizedContainerService.HintSize="233,387">
        <WriteLine sap:VirtualizedContainerService.HintSize="211,61" Text="[&quot;WorkflowThread Prinicipal type: &quot; + System.Threading.Thread.CurrentPrincipal.GetType().ToString()]" />
        <WriteLine sap:VirtualizedContainerService.HintSize="211,61" Text="[&quot;WorkflowThread Prinicipal Identity: &quot; + System.Threading.Thread.CurrentPrincipal.Identity.Name]" />
        <WriteLine sap:VirtualizedContainerService.HintSize="211,61" />
    </Sequence>
</Activity>

The output from the above program is:

MainThread Prinicipal type: System.Security.Principal.GenericPrincipal
MainThread Prinicipal Identity: Bob

WorkflowThread Prinicipal type: System.Security.Principal.GenericPrincipal
WorkflowThread Prinicipal Identity:

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Answer 1

The WorkflowApplication uses its SynchronizationContext to schedule actual work. The default implementation uses the ThreadPool as user7116 described. You are however free to implement your own SynchronizationContext and implement the Post() operation to do whatever you want.