Azure-functions-durable-extension: Simple custom progress strings

[danielearwicker]

Idea: allow orchestration function to emit strings, which are recorded in the event stream of the execution, e.g.

context.EmitProgress("going-nicely");

The response from the status end-point would include the most recently emitted string:

{
    "runtimeStatus": "Running",
    "input": {},
    "createdTime": "2017-11-22T15:18:03Z",
    "lastUpdatedTime": "2017-11-22T15:19:07Z",
    "progress": "going-nicely" <---
}

This would be useful for clients that want to observe the progress of the overall operation during its execution. So I can launch a function, poll the status end-point and display a progress UI that knows which stage the execution has reached so far. It would be up to the app author to decide on a string format.

[cgillum]

Thanks for the suggestion. This is a nice idea that I've been thinking about. The Durable Task Framework does have a "status" concept which allows orchestrator logic to expose it's status. I think I just need to think about how to properly expose it.

[SimonLuckenuik]

Very good added value to the framework in my view, currently if I want to provide progression like that I am currently forced to manage it on the side. I came here to raise that exact same suggestion for the exact same need :-)

A simple SetProgress on the DurableOrchestrationContext would do the trick for me.

[cgillum]

This feature has been merged into the dev branch and will go out with the next release. See the description in the linked PR for more details.