Crm 2011 how to get the stepid in which the plugin is executing

Question

In crm 2011, inside the Execute method of a plugin, how can I know the id of the registered step that is executing? For instance, I have two steps for the pre create of an account. The execute method will run two times one for each step. I need to know in the execute method the stepid of the step that is actually running. I can't find it in the context.

UPDATE:

I'm updating here to explain the scenario, because in the comments I don't have enough characters. So the scenario:

I have a solution for autonumbering entities that enables users to format their numbers the way they want.

For that I have an entity (autonumber) where they configure the format, the entity and the field they want to number. Every time a record is created for the autonumber entity it will create and register a step dynamically in the pre operation of the create message of the entity to be numbered, for example the account. When that step is executed it will load the autonumber record to know how to number the account field.

The created step must be linked to the autonumber record and for that the autonumber entity has an attribute to store the id of the step. This attribute is filled on the pre create of the autonumber entity when the step is created. This link attribute allows for the step to be unregistered when the user deletes the autonumber record because it knows exactly which step to unregister. It also allows the user to set the order in which the step is going to be executed if there are more plugins registered to the account.

The problem that I had was when I wanted to number 2 or more attributes for the same entity. In this case the users would create, lets say, 2 records of the autonumber entity in order to number 2 fields of the account. In this case I will have 2 steps registered to the account. When the account is being created one step will number one field and the other step will number the other field. That's why I need to know the id of the step that is being executed in order to load the right autonumber record.

Sorry for the tedious explanation but this scenario is a bit complex and I'm not sure if I was clear enough, but if you want I'll try to be more clear.

Answer 1

The OwningExtension property available on the IPluginExecutionContext will return an EntityReference to the SdkMessageProcessingingStep which should provide all the information you need.

What are you trying to achieve by registering the same plugin twice for the same Message and Stage? I'm struggling to think of a valid scenario.

Answer 2

You can get the name of the message from the context. Usually, I do something similar to this.

public void Execute(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
{
  IPlugingExecutionContext context 
    = (IPlugingExecutionContext)serviceProvider
      .getService(typeof(IPlugingExecutionContext));

  switch(context.MessageName)
  {
    case "Create" ExecuteCreate(); break;
    case "Retrieve" ExecuteCreate(); break;
    case "Update" ExecuteCreate(); break;
    case "Delete" ExecuteCreate(); break;
    default ExecuteFunctionality(Context.MessageName);
  }
}

Then, of course, you need to implement those methods too. And usually I have a private field that hold the reference to context. It's good to be able to access it easily when the need arises. Also, you can (and should) check if the message is supported by your plug in, if there's a Target and if it's of the right entity type. Stuff like that.