New Article On Windows Workflow

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New Article On Windows Workflow

Lately, I’ve been spending my evenings with Windows Workflow. Hello, Workflow is a new, feature length introduction to WinWF.

The primary building block in Windows Workflow is the activity. All activities in WinWF derive from an Activity base class. Activities compose the steps, or tasks in a workflow. We can arrange activities into a hierarchy and feed the activities to the workflow engine as instructions to execute. The activities can direct workflows involving both software and humans.

Comments on this entry:

# re: New Article On Windows Workflow

by Dan Kahler at 3/5/2006 5:24 AM

Nicely done, Scott. You've fit a lot of information into a single article, without moving so fast that it's all a blur.

# re: New Article On Windows Workflow

by scott at 3/6/2006 2:34 PM

Thanks for the kind comment, Dan. I was thinking I was putting everyone to sleep!

# re: New Article On Windows Workflow

by Ajsab at 3/20/2006 7:13 AM

I havn't gone deep into WinWF but I could see that K2.NET is more comprehensive & advanced !!

I'm using K2.NET for my WorkFlow solutions ..
It is made to be very easy to use & work with, still it lacks the Mircorst ease-of-use touches

# re: New Article On Windows Workflow

by scott at 3/21/2006 3:30 AM

Ajsab: Thanks for the info. I've heard there is some level of compatibility between K2.NET and WinWF. Is that true?

# re: New Article On Windows Workflow

by Nisha at 3/30/2006 9:10 AM

Good done! It become very easier to startup the working with WorkFlow.

# re: K2

by Howard at 4/4/2006 3:53 PM

Ajsab fails to mention that K2.NET is a commerical product, whereas WinWF is a free add-on to VS2005.

# re: New Article On Windows Workflow

by Jun Meng at 4/24/2006 5:40 PM

In WinFX Feb CTP, I cannot find the XOML file in the workflow solution. Do you know where it is? Thanks.

# re: New Article On Windows Workflow

by Jun Meng at 4/24/2006 7:14 PM

Never mind. The default template for generating workflow file is code-only when creating a WF project from the beginning.

# re: New Article On Windows Workflow

by Farhan Ghafoor at 6/6/2006 4:12 PM

Ultra Terrific Article – Was in need of exactly something similar and I enjoyed it a lot – infact I am feeling I am a work flow guru now. I have 13 years of experience, got the bottom line of work flow which is what you need after this many years.

Thanks a lot Scott for your time to do this cool write up.

Just wondering - do you have something similar for WCF ?

# re: New Article On Windows Workflow

by Rusty at 7/13/2006 12:22 AM

Great introductory article, however I cannot get it to work with WF RC2.

I noticed some things changed a bit, but was able to work through it ok and get it to build.

When I try and execute this, though, nothing happens and CPU is pegged at 100%. I would love to see an updated version, so I can learn the error of my ways. ;-)

# re: New Article On Windows Workflow

by Scott at 7/13/2006 1:40 AM

Rusty:

I will be updating this article, but probably not until after RTM.

# re: New Article On Windows Workflow

by Sonali at 8/22/2006 12:06 AM

Thanks Scott,
It's a great article, it answered most of my questions and cleared some doubts. I am glad i found this article. I have a few questions.
The article mentions :
we can host the designer and allow the non-developer types (a.k.a. business people) to design and edit workflows.
Can we host the article in a web application?
That is i create my set of custom activities and create a web page that shows the designer with my custom activiteis and the standard one and any non-developer type person can use it to design and edit workflows ?
Is there some demo example of this, so that i can get a better picture of it.

One more question :: "Activities can be viewed as instructions to the workflow engine."
Are they part of the workflow engine or can we have a set of activity dlls that can be fed to a workflow engine?

Thanks a Lot
Sonali

# re: New Article On Windows Workflow

by Sonali at 8/22/2006 12:45 AM

Hi Scott,

Is SQL server a must for running workflow applications ?

Or is it required only for the persistance and tracking services ?

Can we use some other database some other database like Sybase?

if we need sql server can we use sqlserver express or do we need the standard sql server ?

thanks
Sonali

# re: New Article On Windows Workflow

by Sonali at 8/22/2006 12:55 AM

Thanks Scott,
Sorry there were some Typos in my previous question so i am posting it again

It's a great article, it answered most of my questions and cleared some doubts. I am glad i found this article. I have a few questions.
The article mentions :

we can host the designer and allow the non-developer types (a.k.a. business people) to design and edit workflows.

Can we host the article in a web application?
That is i create my set of custom activities and create a web page that shows the designer with my custom activiteis and the standard one and any non-developer type person can use it to design and edit workflows ?
Is there some demo example of this, so that i can get a better picture of it.

One more question :: "Activities can be viewed as instructions to the workflow engine."
Are they part of the workflow engine or can we have a set of activity dlls that can be fed to a workflow engine?

Thanks a Lot
Sonali

# re: New Article On Windows Workflow

by Scott at 8/22/2006 12:58 AM

Sonali:

There is no easy way to host the designer in a web form, but I think Jon Flanders worked out an approach on his blog.

You can create custom activities as "new" instructions for the workflow engine.

SQL is only required for the persistence service. Sql Server express will work. If you want to use Oracle or DB2, etc, you need to write a custom persistence provider.

# re: New Article On Windows Workflow

by Sonali at 8/22/2006 5:32 PM

Scott,

Thanks for your quick and helpfull reply.

I saw the example by Jon but it still doesn't provide the end user (non - developer types)the capability to drag and drop activities and create links between them on the web page. Is what i am thinking of doing possible or will i have to use some third party tool to draw flowchart (using ajax technology like the GoDiagram tool by goWeb )and then use it to create a XAML file on backend.

I was also wondering if it was possible to send OPC data from one node (activuty ) in the workflow to another.

Thanks a lot,
Sonali

# re: New Article On Windows Workflow

by Sowmya at 10/2/2006 7:51 AM

Hi Scott,

This is indeed a wonderful aricle on Workflows...i enjoyed reading it....very useful information for any beginner

# re: New Article On Windows Workflow

by Jay at 10/5/2006 6:26 PM

Scott,

If you can help me out from one doubt; which are the ways to store / save current workflow instance to retrieve it later. Even if i store instance id, how would Workflow will be able to retrieve and start process further from same state where i saved instance?

Regards,

# re: New Article On Windows Workflow

by scott at 10/7/2006 7:08 PM

Jay:

See my article on "Hosting Windows Workflow": http://www.odetocode.com/Articles/457.aspx.

You can use the builtin SQL Persistence service which serializes workflow instances to the database (or you can write your own to plugin as a service).