SharePoint Workflow: how to update the item without triggering the workflow again

Question

I have a SharePoint workflow which is running whenever the item changes. The workflow communicates with an external REST service. If the service returns a string, I want to update one of the field values with that string. Unfortunately, this update will trigger another instance of the workflow for this item once the current workflow terminates. I end up with an infinite loop!

How I can prevent this from happening? SPListItem has Update(), UpdateOverwriteVersion(), and SystemUpdate() methods but none of them seem to prevent subsequent workflows from being triggered.

I could inspect the last modified timestamp of the item and terminate the workflow if the last update happened within a certain timespan, but I am looking for a more robust solution.

Solution 1

You could use some extension method to update item silently.

public static class SPListItemExtensions
{
/// <summary>
/// Provides ability to update list item without firing event receiver.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="item"></param>
/// <param name="doNotFireEvents">Disables firing event receiver while updating item.</param>
public static void Update(this SPListItem item, bool doNotFireEvents)
{
    SPItemEventReceiverHandling rh = new SPItemEventReceiverHandling();
    if (doNotFireEvents)
    {
        try
        {
            rh.DisableEventFiring();
            item.Update();
        }
        finally
        {
            rh.EnableEventFiring();
        }
    }
    else
    {
        item.Update();
    }
}

/// <summary>
/// Provides ability to update list item without firing event receiver.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="item"></param>
/// <param name="incrementListItemVersion"></param>
/// <param name="doNotFireEvents">Disables firing event receiver while updating item.</param>
public static void SystemUpdate(this SPListItem item, bool incrementListItemVersion, bool doNotFireEvents)
{
    SPItemEventReceiverHandling rh = new SPItemEventReceiverHandling();
    if (doNotFireEvents)
    {
        try
        {
            rh.DisableEventFiring();
            item.SystemUpdate(incrementListItemVersion);
        }
        finally
        {
            rh.EnableEventFiring();
        }
    }
    else
    {
        item.SystemUpdate(incrementListItemVersion);
    }
}

/// <summary>
/// Provides ability to update list item without firing event receiver.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="item"></param>
/// <param name="doNotFireEvents">Disables firing event receiver while updating item.</param>
public static void SystemUpdate(this SPListItem item, bool doNotFireEvents)
{
    SPItemEventReceiverHandling rh = new SPItemEventReceiverHandling();
    if (doNotFireEvents)
    {
        try
        {
            rh.DisableEventFiring();
            item.SystemUpdate();
        }
        finally
        {
            rh.EnableEventFiring();
        }
    }
    else
    {
        item.SystemUpdate();
    }
}

private class SPItemEventReceiverHandling : SPItemEventReceiver
{
    public SPItemEventReceiverHandling() { }

    new public void DisableEventFiring()
    {
        base.DisableEventFiring();
    }

    new public void EnableEventFiring()
    {
        base.EnableEventFiring();
    }


   }
}

Solution 2

Some more links because the above solution is not working for 2010:

• MSDN SPEventReceiverBase.EventFiringEnabled Property
• How DisableEventFiring / EventFiringEnabled works

The best solution:

• Disable Sharepoint item events firing during item update

Solution 3

It seems Microsoft have reworked this in SharePoint 2010, the EventFiringEnabled and EventFiringDisabled have been made obsolete.

Instead use a boolean Property named EventFiringEnabled.