Runnable Instances Detection Period

This topic applies to Windows Workflow Foundation 4 (WF4).

The SQL Workflow Instance Store runs an internal task that periodically wakes up and detects runnable or activatable instances in the persistence database. The Runnable Instances Detection Period property of the SQL Workflow Instance Store specifies the time period after which the SQL Workflow Instance Store runs a detection task to detect any runnable or activatable workflow instances in the persistence database after the previous detection cycle.

Setting a shorter interval for this property reduces the time between the expiration of a timer associated with a workflow instance and the signaling of the event and subsequent loading of the instance. However, it also increases the processing load on a host and may not be desirable in scenarios where durable timers and/or host failures are rare. The type of the property is TimeSpan and the value of the property follows the format: hh:mm:ss. The minimum value for this property is 00:00:01. The default value for the property is 00:00:05.

For more information detecting and activating runnable and activatable workflow instances, see Instance Activation.