C# Azure Function passing object OrchestrationTrigger no longer working after update

[aardrasystems]

My Azure Function app was originally using Version 3, and everything was working well. Recently, I updated to Azure Function App V4, and I have encountered some issues with my durable function execution. I am not sure if this is related to the Azure Function App upgrade or some changes in the durable nugget package version. Originally, when using Function 3, I was using version 1.8.3, but now I am using the most recent version.

The issue is that when I start the durable function, I am no longer able to pass an object when triggering the OrchestrationTrigger, as I did previously.

Please see my code example below:

public static async Task<HttpResponseMessage> HttpStart(
    [HttpTrigger(AuthorizationLevel.Anonymous, "get", "post")] HttpRequestMessage req,
    [DurableClient] IDurableOrchestrationClient starter,
    ILogger log)
{
    // Function input comes from the request content.
    log.LogInformation("Started Device Control Checker");
    dynamic eventData = await req.Content.ReadAsAsync<object>();
    message_device_checker_obj message_control_durable = new message_device_checker_obj();
    string instanceId = await starter.StartNewAsync("devicecontrol_validation", eventData.message_control);
    return starter.CreateCheckStatusResponse(req, instanceId);
}

It seems that with StartNewAsync, I am no longer able to pass an object but just a simple string.

Can anyone advise me on how I can change this so that my object can be passed into the durable function?

I am then reading the object in the code below, but it's coming as NULL.

  public static async Task<List<string>> RunOrchestrator(
         [OrchestrationTrigger] IDurableOrchestrationContext context,ILogger log)
     {

         log.LogInformation($"Device Control Control Started--->");
         Iot_data_state iotstatedata = new Iot_data_state();            
         var outputs = new List<string>();
         message_device_checker_obj inputmessage = new message_device_checker_obj();
         outputs.Add("Stating Durable");

         iotstatedata.NextState = "int_zone";
         iotstatedata.device_control = context.GetInput<message_device_checker_obj>();            
         iotstatedata.termination_counter = 0;
         iotstatedata.sleepduration = 0;

         while (iotstatedata.NextState != "finished")
         {
             iotstatedata = await context.CallActivityAsync<Iot_data_state>("device_control_process", iotstatedata);
             outputs.Add(iotstatedata.NextState + " " + iotstatedata.now_time);

             if (iotstatedata.sleepduration > 0)
             {
                 DateTime deadline = context.CurrentUtcDateTime.Add(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(iotstatedata.sleepduration));
                 await context.CreateTimer(deadline, CancellationToken.None);
             }
         }
         return outputs;
     }

[davidmrdavid]

@aardrasystems: At a glance, I would suspect you're calling onto a different overload of the StartNewAsync method. See here for the overloads:

azure-functions-durable-extension/src/WebJobs.Extensions.DurableTask/ContextImplementations/DurableClient.cs

Lines 1034 to 1044 in 5cf4b11

	/// <inheritdoc/>
	Task<string> IDurableOrchestrationClient.StartNewAsync(string orchestratorFunctionName, string instanceId)
	{
	return ((IDurableOrchestrationClient)this).StartNewAsync<object>(orchestratorFunctionName, instanceId, null);
	}
	/// <inheritdoc/>
	Task<string> IDurableOrchestrationClient.StartNewAsync<T>(string orchestratorFunctionName, T input)
	{
	return ((IDurableOrchestrationClient)this).StartNewAsync<T>(orchestratorFunctionName, string.Empty, input);
	}

I suspect that now that you're using the new version, you'll need to call it like this: string instanceId = await starter.StartNewAsync<object>("devicecontrol_validation", eventData.message_control); // or replace the generic parameter "object" with the right type for the argument you're using