fix(release): grab missing commits needed for release branch 1.17

[sicoyle]

Description

I went through all the commits here and cherry picked in the ones we want (minus CI/build/backport things)
https://github.com/dapr/python-sdk/pull/936/commits

We were actually missing a lot of things we need in the release branch such as race condition fixes, workflow versioning, conversation api features, etc...

Issue reference

We strive to have all PR being opened based on an issue, where the problem or feature have been discussed prior to implementation.

Please reference the issue this PR will close: #[issue number]

Checklist

Please make sure you've completed the relevant tasks for this PR, out of the following list:

• Code compiles correctly
• Created/updated tests
• Extended the documentation

[codecov]

Codecov Report

❌ Patch coverage is 89.75610% with 21 lines in your changes missing coverage. Please review.
⚠️ Please upload report for BASE (release-1.17@f3339f6). Learn more about missing BASE report.

Files with missing lines	Patch %	Lines
...ext-workflow/dapr/ext/workflow/workflow_runtime.py	64.28%	20 Missing ⚠️
dapr/clients/grpc/client.py	83.33%	1 Missing ⚠️

Additional details and impacted files

@@               Coverage Diff               @@
##             release-1.17     #938   +/-   ##
===============================================
  Coverage                ?   86.89%           
===============================================
  Files                   ?      103           
  Lines                   ?     7305           
  Branches                ?        0           
===============================================
  Hits                    ?     6348           
  Misses                  ?      957           
  Partials                ?        0           

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[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR backports a set of missing changes into the release-1.17 branch, primarily around Conversation API (Alpha2) feature parity, Workflow runtime readiness/race-condition hardening, and aligning example validation expectations.

Changes:

• Extend Conversation API Alpha2 models to surface model + usage (including token breakdown details) and add support for response_format + prompt_cache_retention on requests.
• Add WorkflowRuntime worker readiness waiting logic and improve error logging during workflow/activity execution.
• Update many example READMEs’ expected_stdout_lines (and some workflow examples) to match current log/output formatting used by example validation.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 39 out of 39 changed files in this pull request and generated 8 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
tests/clients/test_conversation.py	Adds tests for Alpha2 model/usage and response_format request propagation.
tests/clients/fake_dapr_server.py	Fake sidecar populates Alpha2 model and usage in responses.
ext/dapr-ext-workflow/tests/test_workflow_runtime.py	Adds unit tests for worker readiness + start() behavior.
ext/dapr-ext-workflow/dapr/ext/workflow/workflow_runtime.py	Implements worker readiness polling and additional exception logging.
ext/dapr-ext-workflow/dapr/ext/workflow/workflow_context.py	Doc wording update (“cross-app” → “multi-app”).
ext/dapr-ext-workflow/dapr/ext/workflow/logger/logger.py	Adds Logger.exception() passthrough.
ext/dapr-ext-workflow/dapr/ext/workflow/dapr_workflow_context.py	Doc/log wording update (“cross-app” → “multi-app workflow”).
examples/workflow/multi-app1.py	Removes sleeps; waits for workflow completion via client API.
examples/workflow/multi-app2.py	Adjusts runtime “keep alive” comment.
examples/workflow/multi-app3.py	Adjusts runtime “keep alive” comment.
examples/workflow/fan_out_fan_in.py	Removes fixed sleep after start().
examples/workflow/child_workflow.py	Replaces sleeps with wait_for_workflow_completion.
examples/workflow/README.md	Updates expected output lines and renames “Cross-app” section to “Multi-app”.
examples/w3c-tracing/README.md	Updates expected output lines (removes == APP == prefix).
examples/state_store_query/README.md	Updates expected output lines (removes == APP == prefix).
examples/state_store/README.md	Updates expected output lines (removes == APP == prefix).
examples/secret_store/README.md	Updates expected output lines (removes == APP == prefix).
examples/pubsub-streaming/README.md	Updates expected output lines (removes == APP == prefix).
examples/pubsub-streaming-async/README.md	Updates expected output lines (removes == APP == prefix).
examples/pubsub-simple/README.md	Updates expected output lines (removes == APP == prefix).
examples/metadata/README.md	Updates expected output lines (removes == APP == prefix).
examples/langgraph-checkpointer/README.md	Updates expected output lines (removes == APP == prefix).
examples/jobs/README.md	Updates expected output lines (removes == APP == prefix).
examples/invoke-simple/README.md	Updates expected output lines (removes == APP == prefix).
examples/invoke-http/README.md	Updates expected output lines (removes == APP == prefix).
examples/invoke-custom-data/README.md	Updates expected output lines (removes == APP == prefix).
examples/invoke-binding/README.md	Updates expected output lines (removes == APP == prefix).
examples/grpc_proxying/README.md	Updates expected output lines (removes == APP == prefix).
examples/error_handling/README.md	Updates expected output lines (removes == APP == prefix).
examples/distributed_lock/README.md	Updates expected output lines (removes == APP == prefix).
examples/demo_workflow/README.md	Updates expected output lines (removes == APP == prefix).
examples/demo_actor/README.md	Updates expected output lines (removes == APP == prefix).
examples/crypto/README.md	Updates expected output lines (removes == APP == prefix).
examples/conversation/README.md	Updates expected output lines (removes == APP == prefix).
examples/configuration/README.md	Updates expected output lines (removes == APP == prefix).
dapr/clients/grpc/conversation.py	Adds Alpha2 model/usage dataclasses and populates them in gRPC response conversion.
dapr/clients/grpc/client.py	Adds response_format and prompt_cache_retention to converse_alpha2() request building.
README.md	Improves local dev setup instructions (venv step + renumbering).
.github/workflows/validate_examples.yaml	Pins to latest stable (non-prerelease) Dapr Runtime/CLI for example validation.

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[sicoyle]

I resolved all the copilot comments as these commits are in the release branch already aside from the ones i added to fix the build steps

[CasperGN]

Thank you for this @sicoyle