Issue retrieving WindowsIdentity.Name inside WF 4.5 when using sqlWorkflowInstanceStore

Question

I'm using Microsoft's WF 4.5 and have largely been quite successful with it. I'm using it for an internal website and therefore making use of Windows authentication within our domain. I have stumbled across an error, however, that i'm unable to resolve.

Whenever I try to enable the sqlWorkflowInstanceStore in web.config, the Workflow throws an exception when it attempt to assign System.ServiceModel.ServiceSecurityContext.Current.WindowsIdentity.Name to a variable.

Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

    Server stack trace: 
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannel.ThrowIfFaultUnderstood(Message reply, MessageFault fault, String action, MessageVersion version, FaultConverter faultConverter)
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannel.HandleReply(ProxyOperationRuntime operation, ProxyRpc& rpc)
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannel.Call(String action, Boolean oneway, ProxyOperationRuntime operation, Object[] ins, Object[] outs, TimeSpan timeout)
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannelProxy.InvokeService(IMethodCallMessage methodCall, ProxyOperationRuntime operation)
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannelProxy.Invoke(IMessage message)

    Exception rethrown at [0]: 
       at System.Runtime.Remoting.Proxies.RealProxy.HandleReturnMessage(IMessage reqMsg, IMessage retMsg)
       at System.Runtime.Remoting.Proxies.RealProxy.PrivateInvoke(MessageData& msgData, Int32 type)
       at IService.SubmitWorkHours(Int32[]& p_workHours)
       at ServiceClient.SubmitWorkHours(Int32[]& p_workHours)

Below is my web.config (password has purposely been masked)

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<configuration>
  <system.serviceModel>
    <bindings>
      <basicHttpBinding>
        <binding name="BasicHttpBinding_IService" sendTimeout="00:05:00">
          <security mode="TransportCredentialOnly">
            <transport clientCredentialType="Windows"/>
          </security>
        </binding>
      </basicHttpBinding>
    </bindings>
    <services>
      <service name="Service1" behaviorConfiguration="WindowsAuthenticationBehavior">
        <endpoint address="http://localhost/SimpleTimesheetService/TimesheetApproval.xamlx" binding="basicHttpBinding" 
                  bindingConfiguration="BasicHttpBinding_IService" contract="IService" name="BasicHttpBinding_IService"/>
      </service>
    </services>

    <behaviors>
      <serviceBehaviors>
        <behavior name="WindowsAuthenticationBehavior">
          <serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true"/>
          <serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="true"/>
          <serviceCredentials>
            <windowsAuthentication includeWindowsGroups="true" allowAnonymousLogons="false"/>
          </serviceCredentials>
          <serviceAuthorization principalPermissionMode="UseWindowsGroups" />
          <sqlWorkflowInstanceStore instanceCompletionAction="DeleteAll" instanceEncodingOption="GZip" instanceLockedExceptionAction="NoRetry" connectionString="server=D801903;database=AppFabPersist;PWD=*******;UID=sa;" hostLockRenewalPeriod="00:00:30" runnableInstancesDetectionPeriod="00:00:05" />
        </behavior>
      </serviceBehaviors>
    </behaviors>

  </system.serviceModel>  
  <system.web>
    <authentication mode="Windows" />
    <compilation debug="true"/>
  </system.web>
</configuration>

If I comment out the sqlWorkflowInstanceStore, then the WindowsIdentity.Name comes back fine.

Any ideas why?

Answer 1

In workflow 4.0 and probably 4.5 , the context does not expose the OperationContext and thus the ServiceSecurityContext.

If you have an alternative solution let me know