Definition of infinite loop:-
An infinite loop (or endless loop) is a sequence of
instructions in a computer program which loops endlessly, either due
to the loop having no terminating condition, having one that can
never be met, or one that causes the loop to start over.
How it happens in CRM:-
CRM detects an infinite loop with two variables
'depth' and 'time', the theory says that if some code (Plugins or Workflows)
had been called in one transaction for 8 times (default value of max
depth) in 1 hour (default value of time), the system would
detect that as infinite loop.
The Depth is passed to plugins or to
custom steps as follows:-
IPluginExecutionContext context =
(IPluginExecutionContext) serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IPluginExecutionContext));
var depth = Context.Depth;
var workflowContext = context.GetExtension<IWorkflowContext>();
var depth = workflowContext.Depth;
If plugin had been called from the user directly (for
example you created a record) the depth would be 1,
But if it had been called from workflow or another
plugin (for example a workflow updated a field that fires the plugin) then the
depth would be 2.
So, it's not guaranteed to do the following check to
prevent the infinite loop
Code:
If(depth > 1)
return;
And it's better to solve the problem instead of
working around it.
There are some cases when a plugin might need to
update itself but for the majority of the time avoid doing because it’s
confusing/complex and there is usually a better way.
e.g.
scheduled
process
I had tried to use Recursive or Scheduled Workflows
approach
For every 15 minutes it calls itself, according to CRM
infinite loop definition above it will not countered this as an error, because
if we reached the 8th time then, 1 hour and 45 minutes
would be passed. For example if we started the workflow at 12:00 then when it would reach 8th at 1:45.
But unfortunately the CRM will detect this as an infinite loop error
So, we can rephrase the definition above
"If some code (Plugins or Workflows) had been
called in one transaction for 8 times (default value of max depth) in 1 hour (default value
of time), the system would detect that as
infinite loop".
Finally, you can make external tool that runs for
every X of time and check what's failed from the infinite loop and re-run it
again.
Tip:
You can find the maximum depth and the default value
of time by running this query on MSCRM_CONFIG database
SELECT messageprocessormaximumdepth, messageprocessorminimuminactiveseconds
FROM deploymentproperties