Building Workflow Applications With Microsoft ® Exchange 2000 Jim Reitz Program Manager Exchange Enhanced Platform Product Unit Microsoft Corporation

Different Kinds Of “Workflow” Ad-hoc, unstructured Ad-hoc, unstructured Team process automation Team process automation Line-of-business, production Line-of-business, production Inter-Organization Inter-Organization

BackOffice ® Workflow Strategy Simplify adding workflow code to Simplify adding workflow code to  SQL Server ™  Exchange 2000 Work with off-the-shelf applications Work with off-the-shelf applications  File.Save or Post can trigger workflows Focus on team process automation Focus on team process automation  Approval, Review, Routing, Tracking  Target “Office developer” skill set

Exchange 2000 Infrastructure Platform enhancements for robust workflow Platform enhancements for robust workflow  Single store for documents and properties  Synchronous store events  Multi-object transactions

Exchange 2000 Infrastructure Platform enhancements for robust workflow cont. Platform enhancements for robust workflow cont.  Document-level access control  OLE DB and ADO data access  Extensible CDO object model  Supports both Web-based and mail-based apps

Exchange 2000 Workflow Extends Exchange 2000 Web Store for simple workflow Extends Exchange 2000 Web Store for simple workflow  Add workflow to existing folder apps  Works with Outlook ® forms, Web Store forms, etc.

Exchange 2000 Workflow Declarative workflow definition Declarative workflow definition  State-machine table  Easy for tools to manipulate

Components Workflow Engine Workflow Engine  Applies state-transition rules (Action Table) to a document  Evaluates conditions  Executes actions on transitions

Components Workflow Event Sink Workflow Event Sink  Traps changes to items in a folder  Uses OnSyncSave, OnSyncDelete, OnTimer store events  Validates user/author security  Calls workflow engine

Exchange Workflow Designer WF Designer product family WF Designer product family  Access Workflow Designer for SQL Server  NEW! Workflow Designer for Exchange 2000

Exchange Workflow Designer Visual editor for workflow code Visual editor for workflow code  Targets Visual Basic ® Script developers Exchange WF Designer beta in Exchange 2000 RC1 Exchange WF Designer beta in Exchange 2000 RC1 Final packaging TBD Final packaging TBD

Workflow Process Definition Persists a “workflow” as a document Persists a “workflow” as a document WF Designer creates/edits ProcessDefinition documents WF Designer creates/edits ProcessDefinition documents

Workflow Process Definition Process Definition Elements: Process Definition Elements:  Action Table  CommonScriptURL  Mode (security)  AuditTrailProvider

Workflow Action Table Table of valid state-transitions Table of valid state-transitions Conditions and actions are VBScripts Conditions and actions are VBScripts WF Engine evaluates conditions WF Engine evaluates conditions WF Engine executes actions WF Engine executes actions SubmitApprove PendingApproved Reject

Actions OnCreate Document was created OnChange Document was modified OnDelete Document was deleted OnEnter / OnExit New state is entered, old state is exited OnExpiry Document has been in current state too long OnReceive Received response correlating to document

Writing Scripts CDO WorkflowSession intrinsic object CDO WorkflowSession intrinsic object  Provides scripts with access to run-time data  Provides Fields collection on workflow item

Writing Scripts CDO WorkflowSession intrinsic object CDO WorkflowSession intrinsic object  Set item-level ACLs on workflow item  Send mail; manage received responses  Provides access to audit logging

Runtime Object Model WorkflowSession.StateTo.StateFrom.Sender.ErrorNumber.ErrorDescription.ActiveConnection.Domain.Server.TrackingTable.ReceivedMessage.AddAuditEntry().GetNewWorkflowMessage().DeleteWorkflowItem().DeleteReceivedMessage().IsUserInRole().GetUserProperty() Properties GetPut ItemReaders, ItemAuthors Fields AddDeleteClearCount Same as ADO Record

Workflow Engine Security Restricted Mode Restricted Mode  Actions are VBScript only  Script engine “sandboxed”, no CreateObject()  Only use WorkflowSession object

Workflow Engine Security What can Restricted Mode do? What can Restricted Mode do?  Modify properties on triggering item  Send mail (WorkflowMessage)  Set item-level ACL on triggering item  Write to AuditTrail

Workflow Engine Security Privileged Mode Privileged Mode  Actions can be script or COM objects  Script engine allows CreateObject()  Actions execute under privileged Windows NT ® account (in Exchange Servers group) What can Privileged Mode do? What can Privileged Mode do?  Almost anything

Workflow Event Sink WF Designer automatically registers WF Event Sink in your folder WF Designer automatically registers WF Event Sink in your folder WF Event Sink as COM+ Application WF Event Sink as COM+ Application  Manage from Windows 2000 Administrative Tools->Component Services

Workflow Event Sink WF Event Sink enforces security via COM+ Roles WF Event Sink enforces security via COM+ Roles  CanRegisterWorkflow  PrivilegedWorkflowAuthors Configure runtime account Configure runtime account

Resources Exchange 2000 RC1 Exchange 2000 RC1  Default Exchange 2000 Setup installs WF Engine, WF event sink, CDOWF objects  WF Designer beta included on CD  \support\workflow directory

Resources Exchange 2000 SDK Exchange 2000 SDK  SDK setup on RC1 CD  \support\sdk directory Important! Follow SDK doc instructions Important! Follow SDK doc instructions  Concepts & Architecture\Workflow\Deployment

Call To Action Build entire application in the Web Store Build entire application in the Web Store Navigate, query, and manipulate the Web Store using CDO, ADO 2.5 and OLEDB 2.5 Navigate, query, and manipulate the Web Store using CDO, ADO 2.5 and OLEDB 2.5 Navigate, query and manipulate the Active Directory ™ with ADSI Navigate, query and manipulate the Active Directory ™ with ADSI

Call To Action Add Store Events and Workflow to Build Powerful and Reliable Server- Side Logic Add Store Events and Workflow to Build Powerful and Reliable Server- Side Logic Build rich Web-Based applications using Web Store Forms and OWA components Build rich Web-Based applications using Web Store Forms and OWA components Add enhanced collaboration Features to applications Add enhanced collaboration Features to applications  Instant Messaging, Wireless, Exchange Conferencing Server and Content Indexing