Exploring Microsoft workflow foundation 4 capabilities and ability to create dataflow or state machine codeless diagrams

1. Mohammed AlSolh & Hassan AlNajjar
Supervised By: Dr.Khaled ElFakih
introducing
Microsoft Workflow Foundation
4 & SCP Implementation

2. Outline
WF4
Introduction
Demos
More
Capabilities

3. WF4 Introduction
Less coding, more outcome

4. What is a workflow?
• A workflow is a set of activities
that are organized into a
process that coordinates
people and/or software.
• The Activity is the unit of
execution, encapsulation and
reuse within the workflow
framework.
• Out of the box you can create
Sequential Workflows, State
Machine Workflows, Flow
Chart Workflow.

5. Microsoft Workflow Foundation
4 & SCP Implementation
Why Workflows?
WF can be used in a
variety of scenarios:
• Document review
processes.
• Automated system
processes.
• Help desk ticket
management systems.
• Business processes
tracking, such as HR
compliance systems.
• Page or application flow.
Think about the
process used when
you purchase
something online.

6. Microsoft Workflow Foundation
4 & SCP Implementation
Why Workflows?
Workflows can
• Be long running AND
stateful.
• Increase your developer
productivity as what they are
assembling looks exactly
like the process being
modeled.
• Provide transparency into a
process.

7. What is a workflow?
Visual Designer
Key Concepts
An Activity
• Workflows are a set of Activities
• Workflows run within a Host Process:
any application or server
• Developers can build their own
Custom Activity Libraries
Custom Activity Library
Components
Windows
Workflow Foundation
• Base Activity Library: Out-of-box
A Workflow
Base Activity Library
Runtime Engine
Runtime Services
Host Process
activities and base for custom activities
• Runtime Engine: Workflow execution
and state management
• Runtime Services: Hosting flexibility
and communication
• Visual Designer: Graphical and codebased construction

8. Microsoft Workflow Foundation
4 & SCP Implementation
Pre-requisites
To have the WF4 demo
working with state machine
functionality:
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2010
SP1 or later
•
•
https://www.dreamspark.com/Student/De
fault.aspx
http://www.microsoft.com/enus/download/details.aspx?id=23691
• .Net framework 4.0.1 (both
designer and runtime
updates)
•
•
•
http://www.microsoft.com/enus/download/details.aspx?id=608
http://www.microsoft.com/enus/download/details.aspx?id=11705
http://www.microsoft.com/enus/download/details.aspx?id=8483

9. Demos
Stylize, edit, and animate your media

10. Demo 1: SCP State
Machine

11. Demo 2: SCP Flow
Chart

12. Demo 3: Unit
Testing

13. Demo 4: Visual
Tracing

14. The future of programming:
Code Less, Build
More!

15. More Capabilities

16. WF4 Capabilities
»
»
»
»
»
Long Running Workflows
Bookmarking
Persistence
Versioning
Live Runtime Changes

17. ?
Questions?

18. Microsoft Workflow Foundation
4 & SCP Implementation
•
•
•
•
•
•
References
http://blogs.interknowlogy.com/downloads/adamcalderon/Introduction_20to
_20Windows_20Workflow_20Foundation.ppt
http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/E/5/EE5B57C1-B448-484781A0-8E4E36FD0249/WorkflowFoundation.ppt
http://www.mvwood.com/downloads/Go+With+the+Flow+presentation.zip
http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/7fe6f504-a58d-456e-8f55e64bddc81a41/
http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/Windows-Workflow-164557c3
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mcsuksoldev/archive/2012/03/26/workflowfoundation-wf4-rehosting-the-workflow-designer.aspx