Office Business Applications Workshop

Defining Business Process and WorkflowsDefining Business Process and Workflows

Office Business Applications Workshop

Lesson 3 – Windows Workflow FoundationLesson 3 – Windows Workflow Foundation

Introducing workflows and the Windows Workflow FoundationThe WF Runtime Engine and ServicesWorkflow Basics and Terminology

Office Business Applications Workshop

Encapsulated logic for coordinating business processes Provides abstractions to model real world processesValuable for modeling long running and stateful behaviorWorkflows in WF are decomposed into activities

What are workflows?What are workflows?

Sequential workflows

modeled as flowchart

State machine workflow

modeled as state diagram

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Sample Business ProcessSample Business Process

Request Approval

Send Task to Approver

Decision

Approval Completed

Request change

Revise proposal

Proposal Rejected

Approver Delegates

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Simplified Business ProcessSimplified Business Process

Request Approval

Send Task to Approver

Decision

Approval Completed

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Windows WorkFlow FoundationWindows WorkFlow Foundation

Single workflow technology for WindowsExtensible framework & toolsetBase for Microsoft products and customer solutionsTransform workflow from niche to mainstream paradigmExposed to developers via .NET 3.0

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Host Process

Windows Workflow Foundation

WF Runtime Engine And ServicesWF Runtime Engine And Services

WF Base Activity Library

My custom workflow

Runtime Services: pluggable implementations with defaults

Persistence Communication Tracking …

Runtime Engine: provides intrinsic behaviors to activities

TrackingInfrastructure

State Management

WorkflowExecution

DynamicUpdate

Office Business Applications Workshop

Workflow BasicsWorkflow Basics

Custom Workflow consists out of one or more activities

Activity LibrariesWF Base Activity LibrarySharePoint Activity LibraryCustom Libraries

Activity is a classEvents/PropertiesMethods called by WF Runtime engine

WF created using Visual Studio.NET

Deployed as .NET assembly

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Workflow TerminologyWorkflow TerminologyTemplate

Feature scoped at the site collectionDefines the forms and association options

AssociationCreated when connecting template with container or content typeStores parameter info for the workflow

InstanceCreated at the moment the workflow is startedInstance of association, not of templateWorkflow instances run as System Account!

• Workflow Task– Human-based interventions

stored as normal task items in a task list

– Internally linked with the instance

– Notify instance when changes occur

– Can be associated with custom task form

• Workflow History Item– Logging of events in history list– Normal list items with Workflow

specific meta-data like instance id, association id, etc…

Office Business Applications Workshop

Workflow in SharePoint and the Office ClientsWorkflow in SharePoint and the Office Clients

demo

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Lesson 4 – Building Custom WorkflowsLesson 4 – Building Custom Workflows

Workflow Life CycleYour Options for Creating Custom WorkflowsCustom Workflows with the Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007Custom Workflows with Visual Studio 2005

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WorkFlow Life CycleWorkFlow Life CycleDeveloper develops a workflow template.

Server box administrator deploys the template to a site collection.

List administrator associates a workflow template with a list or content type on that site collection to create a new association.

User starts an instance of a workflow association on an item (or workflow instance starts automatically on event).

Workflow executes, perhaps creating some tasks and history items on the Tasks and Workflow History lists specified in the association.

Office Business Applications Workshop

Workflow Authoring for Office 2007Workflow Authoring for Office 2007SharePoint Designerfor corporate Web designers

ActivitiesRe-use OOB/deployed activities

FormsAutogenerated Forms-ASPX

Deployment Workflow authored live against serverRuntime compilation

Development ModelWizard-based workflow designer

Visual Studio Workflow Designerfor professional developers

ActivitiesRe-use OOB/deployed activitiesCan author new activities

Forms Designed Forms-InfoPath-ASPX

DeploymentSolutions package generatedBox administrator installable

Development ModelVisual workflow designer

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Visual Studio & Workflow SDK

Out-of-the-BoxSolutions

(with customization)

SharePoint Designer Workflows

Document Review(parallel)

Document Approval(serial)

Custom Routing

Stru

ctured

Ad

Ho

c

Signature Collection

Server FeaturesList Moderation

Publishing ProcessDocument ExpirationTranslation ProcessRingi (eApproval)

Task & Issue Tracking(WSS, Access, & Project)

LOB Integration

(BizTalk)

Custom Form ActionsEmail Notification

Exception Handling

Document ProcessesSpec Review

Weekly Status Report

Custom Tracking AppsService Requests

Asset Tracking

Purchase Order Processing

ScenariosScenarios

Office Business Applications Workshop

The Workflow DesignerThe Workflow Designer

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Workflows with the Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007Workflows with the Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007

demo

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Five Steps to Develop a VS.NET WorkflowFive Steps to Develop a VS.NET Workflow

1. Model your workflow in Visual Studio2. Create and bind your forms3. Code your workflow4. Deploy your

workflow to the server

5. Debug

Before you startInstall the VS.NET Extensions for WFInstall the ECM Starter Kit

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Custom Workflows with Visual Studio 2005Custom Workflows with Visual Studio 2005

demo

Office Business Applications Workshop

What you have learnedWhat you have learned

• Workflow definition• Workflows in OBA applications are running with the help

of the Windows Workflow Foundation• Custom workflows can be build with Microsoft products

but don’t forget that there are some very good third-party products that built on top of everything you saw

Office Business Applications Workshop