1. Windows Workflow Foundation
Introduction to
Windows Workflow Foundation
Keith Pijanowski
Platform Strategy Advisor
Developer Platform Evangelism
Microsoft Corporation

2. Agenda What is Workflow Foundation?
Introduction to the WF Development Environment
WF Activities
BizTalk and WF
Questions

3. Windows Workflow Foundation
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Windows Workflow Foundation
The workflow platform for Microsoft products and partner/customer ecosystem
Single workflow technology for Microsoft
A framework for building workflow into apps
Part of .NET Framework 3.0 (formerly WinFX)
Makes declarative workflow a mainstream paradigm
Abbreviation: WF 3
© 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista and other product names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries.
The information herein is for informational purposes only and represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this presentation. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

4. What is a Workflow? A program declared as set of activities
Coordinates people and software
Has real-world control flow
Runs durably and transparently
Tolerates dynamic change
Like a flowchart….
or a state diagram….
or based on rules.
Think of EscalateToManager as a blocking activity. While it is waiting, it no longer needs to take CPU or system resources. It only needs a small stub to wait for a reply. It could also time out. DecrementInventory could fail and a whole set of compensating activities could need to occur as a result.
Three are a few styles. Start at the top and go to the bottom. Or states can be transitioned between and actions can be taken when events occur. You can create other styles as well. 4

5. Visual Studio 2008 and WF

6. Activity Basics Activities are the building blocks of workflows
The unit of execution, re-use and composition
Basic activities are steps within a workflow
Composite activities contains other activities
Composite activities contains other activities EG: Sequence
Partners and customers author custom activities EG: “ApproveOrder”
Base Activity Library provides out-of-the-box activity set
Partners and customers author custom activities

7. Summary Windows Workflow Foundation
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Summary Windows Workflow Foundation
What is Workflow?
Visual Studio Designer
Workflow is the software implementation of business process or business logic
A Workflow
Activity
What’s the value of Workflow?
Activity Library
Transparency
Workflow Runtime Engine
Flexibility
Extensibility
Runtime Services
Host Process 7 7
© 2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
This presentation is for informational purposes only. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, in this summary.
© 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista and other product names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries.
The information herein is for informational purposes only and represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this presentation. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

8. Building A Workflow

9. Categorizing the WF Activities
Execution
Code
Sequence
Parallel
InvokeWorkflow
CallExternalMethod
Coordination
TransactionScope
CompensatableTransactionScope
Compensate
CompensatableSequence
SynchronizationScope
Events
EventDriven
Listen
HandleExternalEvent
EventHandlingScope
Delay
State
StateInitialization
StateFinalization
SetState
Flow
IfElse
While
ConditionedActivityGroup
Policy
Replicator
Throw
Suspend
Terminate
FaultHandler
Web Services
InvokeWebService
WebServiceInput
WebServiceOutput
WebServiceFault
Send (.NET 3.5 only)
Receive (.NET 3.5 only)

10. Authoring Modes Markup Only Markup + Code Code only Markup Only
XAML
Markup Only
XAML
C#/VB
Markup + Code
C#/VB
Code only
Workflow Compiler
XAML
Markup Only
C#/VB Compiler
Workflow Instance
NET Assembly
Workflow Runtime

11. Idle! Workflow Execution Host Application XAML Loader Persistence
Workflow Runtime
Workflow Instance
Runtime Services
Loader
Persistence
XAML
Host Application
Workflow Instance 11
© 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista and other product names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries.
The information herein is for informational purposes only and represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this presentation. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

12. Workflow and BizTalk Server
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Messaging
Design
Tools
Business
Activity
Monitor
And
Admin
Orchestration
Transformation
Adapters
BizTalk Server
Accelerators
Premium BPM server
Distinct server product
Use in B2B, EAI, BPM scenarios
Deployable solutions
Manageability, Scale-out
Workflow
Future version will migrate to Windows Workflow Foundation for orchestration
** Re-emphasize point that same engine as SharePoint.
BizTalk Server is a business process and integration server; It delivers value added services such as
Application to Application integration
Business to Business integration with complex mapping and communication tools
Business Process Automation that integrates applications, trading partners, and touches employees
Deployment, management and monitoring tools for the IT Professional
Real time business process visibility
.NET 3.0
Visual Studio Designer
Windows Workflow
Foundation
Workflow framework
Future technology exposed via .NET 3.0
Broad set of scenarios
Used to build solutions
Enables manageability and scale-out in solutions
Use for building workflow into apps or workflow enabled servers
© 2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
This presentation is for informational purposes only. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, in this summary.

13. How to Choose? BizTalk Server or Workflow Foundation
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BizTalk Server provides workflow across existing applications and between trading partners as part of its business process and integration feature set
“If you are integrating multiple applications with some interaction that involves system workflow you should use BizTalk Server”
“If you want runtime scalability, fault tolerance and administration tools you should use BizTalk Server”
BizTalk Server EAI, B2B & BPM
For more on how to choose see the paper “Introducing Windows Workflow Foundation” by David Chappell.
Extract:
“Windows Workflow Foundation and BizTalk Server
Perhaps the most well-known Microsoft implementation of workflow today is in BizTalk Server. BizTalk Server lets developers create system workflows for business process management (BPM), enterprise application integration (EAI), and business-to-business (B2B) integration. The release of the product that follows BizTalk Server 2006 will add support for creating WWF workflows targeting these areas.
BizTalk Server and WWF have some obvious similarities. To a developer, for example, the BizTalk Server Orchestration Designer looks much like WWF’s Workflow Designer. This commonality is no accident—the same group at Microsoft is responsible for both technologies. For the most part, however, deciding which one to use for a particular problem isn’t hard. What follows are some guidelines to help in making this decision.
Use WWF when:
An application will itself host workflows. WWF lets workflow be built into an application, allowing the workflow to be deployed and managed as a native part of the application. Because it’s focused on integrating diverse applications rather than providing a general workflow framework, BizTalk Server always runs orchestrations within the BizTalk Server process.
The business process being implemented requires human workflow. BizTalk Server addresses system workflow, and so it lacks WWF’s support for things such as state machine workflows and dynamic update. A scenario that requires both human workflow and more complex system integration services could be addressed by using WWF and BizTalk Server together, however. For example, the Office “12” support for document-centric workflows, based on Windows SharePoint Services, might be used for the human aspects of the problem, while BizTalk Server handles the system integration aspects. The two can interoperate using the BizTalk Server Adapter for SharePoint.
The workflow will execute on a client system. BizTalk Server is a server-focused product, and so it’s less well-suited to run on desktop machines.
Use BizTalk Server when:
Solving an EAI problem that requires communication with diverse applications on diverse platforms. Because of its focus on cross-platform integration, a large set of adapters is available for BizTalk Server that allows communication with a range of other software. WWF is focused solely on workflow, not EAI, and so it doesn’t provide these things.
B2B services are required. WWF doesn’t address this area, while BizTalk Server provides tools for working with trading partners, accelerators for RosettaNet, SWIFT, and other industry standards, and more.
BPM services, such as Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) are needed. While the WWF tracking infrastructure can be used to create these services, BizTalk Server provides important extras, such as tools that let information workers define their own BAM views.
A complete management infrastructure and support for increased scalability are necessary. Unlike WWF, BizTalk Server includes a full set of tools for administering and scaling a production environment.”
Windows Workflow Foundation is a framework for adding workflow inside a custom application
“If you are building a complete application that includes workflow you should use Windows Workflow Foundation”
Windows Workflow Foundation
© 2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
This presentation is for informational purposes only. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, in this summary.

14. Next Generation Business Solutions Platform Strategy Review
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For More Information …
.NET Framework Technology Samples
WF on the Microsoft Developer Network
Microsoft .NET Framework Community
Windows Vista Technologies
© 2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
This presentation is for informational purposes only. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, in this summary.

15. Workflow Web Sites MSDN® Workflow Page Forums Community Site
Download the Microsoft® Visual Studio® Extensions
Download 10 Hands-on Labs
msdn.microsoft.com/workflow
Forums
Ask questions in the forums
Forums
Community Site
Download samples, tools, and runtime service components
wf.netfx3.com
MSDN Virtual Labs
msdn.microsoft.com/virtuallabs/NETFramework