Azure-docs: Orchestration and Activities, Oh my!

[CKeene78]

Can we please get a clear explanation, perhaps a table, of how Orchestration functions, Orchestration vs Activity triggers, and Orchestration Clients actually are? I find myself bouncing between all of these terms and have no idea when one has to be used versus, or in conjunction, with another one and the terms seem to be used rather interchangeably in the documentation. I tried to trigger an JS activityFunction from a blobTrigger orchestrationClient and said not an orchestrator function. I don't even know what the error message means based on this documentation.

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Document Details

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• ID: 34bd4f6c-c769-899d-7ec8-f4d8db7b798a
• Version Independent ID: a8b66e9b-f212-764d-994d-8eb2024416f3
• Content: Bindings for Durable Functions - Azure
• Content Source: articles/azure-functions/durable-functions-bindings.md
• Service: functions
• Product: unspecified
• GitHub Login: @cgillum
• Microsoft Alias: azfuncdf

[mimckitt]

@CKeene78 Thanks for the feedback! I have assigned the issue to the content author to investigate further and update the document as appropriate.

[CKeene78]

Struggled, but think I got the "Orchestration Client (Initial trigger) -> Orchestration Trigger (Controlling Function) -> Activity Triggers (Actual work functions)" workflow. So you need all 3, but in a slightly different order than presented here.

The "Functions" terminology in this article is still confusing: no clear reference to "Functions App" (the collection to durable functions) versus "Work Functions" (functions outlined in this documentation).

[mimckitt]

Thanks for the update @CKeene78.

@cgillum can you please take a look?

[garfbradaz]

I agree here - the order didnt click until i read this blog post and specifcally the diagram showing the Client, Orchestrator and Activities.

https://blog.mexia.com.au/async-http-apis-with-azure-durable-functions.

[cgillum]

Seems like a pretty obvious conceptual doc we should have created right away! Sorry for not including that. @jeffhollan actually authored a nice one in response to this feedback and it's available now: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-functions/durable-functions-types-features-overview

[msebolt]

This issue is now past 90 days and needs to be closed. Thanks for the link provided per @cgillum. Since this is listed as reading before the Bindings article, it should resolve any confusion as noted by @CKeene78.

Please comment below if there are any concerns.