Programming Windows Workflow Foundation

A fast-paced and practical developer's road map to working with Windows WF, from compilation to the base activity library to runtime services.

Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) is a technology for defining, executing, and managing workflows. It is part of the .NET Framework 3.0 and will be available natively in the Windows Vista operating system.

Windows Workflow Foundation might be the most significant piece of middleware to arrive on the Windows platform since COM+ and the Distributed Transaction Coordinator. The difference is, not every application needs a distributed transaction, but nearly every application does have a workflow encoded inside it.

In this book, K Scott Allen, author of renowned .NET articles at www.odetocode.com, provides you with all the information needed to develop successful products with Windows Workflow.

From the basics of how Windows Workflow can solve the difficult problems inherent in workflow solutions, through authoring workflows in code, learning about the base activity library in Windows Workflow and the different types of workflow provided, and on to building event-driven workflows using state machines, workflow communications, and finally rules and conditions in Windows Workflow, this book will give you the in-depth information you need. Throughout the book, an example "bug reporting" workflow system is developed, showcasing the technology and techniques used.

Fast-paced and to-the-point, this book takes you through the important topics of Windows WF development with clear explanations and practical example code. The book's selection of topics is driven by what the working developer needs to know. It is neither a comprehensive reference to the whole WF architecture, nor a strategy guide to the complete application development lifecycle. It's just what you as a C# developer need to know to use WF in your applications.

This book is for .NET developers who want to enhance their applications with flexible workflow capabilities using Microsoft Windows Workflow Foundation. The author assumes that you have read other texts on the overall architecture of WF and on WF application design strategies, and instead focuses on real-work implementation issues for C# developers.