As the drumbeat for Windows Vista and the .NET Framework 3.0 grows louder, Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) like InnerWorkings are getting to grips with these important new releases from Microsoft. Like every company focused on the needs of .NET developers, InnerWorkings has jumped headlong into the .NET Framework 3.0 in all it’s various Release Candidate and Beta variations - I still get cold sweats just thinking about those version changes now. This month we’re announcing the availability of three new Drills on Windows Workflow Foundation, which have just been published to our online catalog:

• Programming Sequential Workflows examines basic techniques
  for developing and running sequential workflows, which include building
  and consuming custom activities, using compensation handlers, using the
  ReplicatorActivity, dynamic updating, and policy.
• Programming State Machine Workflows explores basic techniques for developing and running state machine
  workflows, such as building and consuming Local Services for
  communication between the workflow and host, using workflow queue data to
  determine the available actions for a particular state, and using role-based
  authorization.
• Developing Custom Activities covers the development of
  custom workflow activities like creating a simple custom activity,
  and attaching to it a custom designer and toolbox item class. Other topics
  include enhancing custom activities with validation and compensation logic, and
  grouping child activities into a composite sequential activity.

I’ve always wondered how developers keep the tangle of business rules and endless branches of a typical business process straight in their heads. Trying to translate a “basic” workflow into an application that manages annual vacation schedules (for example) might seem simple enough at first glance, but then you start to realize that it must include definitions of all the key roles in that business process, determine approval criteria, synchronize group schedules, and talk to the HR system that allocates annual leave. Phew! Try finishing that workflow before your morning coffee break…

Then along comes the Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) as part of the .NET Framework 3.0 to make this whole process more manageable for developers working in Visual Studio 2005. It’s billed as a means of creating workflow-enabled applications across a variety of complex human and software interactions. MSDN bravely attempts to define WF as a way to create “workflow within line of business applications, user
interface page-flow, document-centric workflow, human workflow, composite
SOA workflow, business rule-driven workflow, and
workflow for systems management”. Thanks for that snappy definition, folks! Not to be too opportunistic here, but isn’t it good to know that companies like InnerWorkings are around to help you navigate this tangled web of creating workflow-enabled applications?

If you’re keen to get started with WF right away, please note that you need to have the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 and the Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for .NET
Framework 3.0 (Windows Workflow Foundation) installed on your computer. In fact, maybe you should grab a coffee first…