I have found that ActiveRecord uses the Session-Scope object within the ASP.NET application and that if the web-site is read-write we can have a tug-o-war between the Workflow's own Data-Access SessionScope and that of the ASP.NET site.

I would really like to have the WindowsWorkflow Runtime use the same object session as the web-site however, they have different lifetimes.

Sometimes, a web-request may save a very simple piece of data which would execute quickly however, if the web-site kicks off a workflow process.. how can that workflow make data-modifications while still allowing the Appliaction_EndRequest to dispose the ASP.NET SessionScope ... it's like ownership of the SessionScope should be shared between the workflow runtime and the ASP.NET website.

Manual Workflow Scheduler may be the Savior... if a workflow is synchronous and merely uses CallExternalMethod to interact with the Host then we could constrain all the data-access to the host.. then the sessionScope can exist once. This however, won't solve the problem of a delay activity... if this delay fires, we could need to update data... in this case we'd need an isolated Session Scope and concurrency may arise.

This however, differs from SharePoint workflows where it seems that the SharePoint workflow can save data from the web and the workflow and that concurrency is handled through other means.

Can anyone offer any suggestions on how to allow the workflow to manage data and play nice with ASP.NET web sites?