Developers often say that there is a steep learning curve with Windows Workflow Foundation (WF4). I won't deny that... instead, allow me to share three simple rules that will help you to get over that curve sooner and to make them easy to remember, they all begin with "U" which is appropriate because they do all begin with you. Use Tracking Unit Tests Use Timeouts In this episode I'll show you some sample code that illustrates these three rules Three Simple Rules ... (Blog Post) Download Sample Code Ron Jacobs twitter: @ronljacobs blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/rjacobs Note: The audio and video are out of sync but if you close your eyes you won't mind...
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With WF3, a lot of people wrote apps that enabled/disabled controls based on the current state of a StateMachine and the possible transitions but to do this with WF4 you had to write a fair bit of code. In this episode I'll show you how you can take advantage of the new classes in Microsoft.Activities.Extensions that support tracking state machines and persisting the current state and possible transitions. For more info see Tracking a StateMachine with WorkflowApplication Tracking a StateMachine with WorkflowServices Ron Jacobs twitter: @ronljacobs blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/rjacobs
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With WF3, a lot of people wrote apps that enabled/disabled controls based on the current state of a StateMachine and the possible transitions but to do this with WF4 you had to write a fair bit of code. In this episode I'll show you how you can take advantage of the new classes in Microsoft.Activities.Extensions that support tracking state machines and persisting the current state and possible transitions. For more info see Tracking a StateMachine with WorkflowApplication Tracking a StateMachine with WorkflowServices Ron Jacobs twitter: @ronljacobs blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/rjacobs
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Imagine you want to create a library that supports different versions of .NET. Of course there are multiple ways to do this but this is the technique that I have adopted for my CodePlex projects. In this episode I'll show you the sample project I used to test out my targets files and how it works. Ron Jacobstwitter: @ronljacobsblog: http://blogs.msdn.com/rjacobs
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What do you do if you want to store state in an activity? Use a field? Be careful—you can get into trouble. In this episode, I show you the right way to manage state in Workflow Activities using Variable<T>. Windows Workflow Foundation (WF4) - Activity State Sample Ron Jacobshttp://www.ronjacobs.comTwitter: @ronljacobs
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In this episode I'll show you our new and improved activities for loading XAML and invoking child workflows. About 6 months ago we did a first release of these activities and the feedback came back with some changes we needed to make. Now you can Load XAML and set the LocalAssembly context for the XamlXmlReader Load assemblies Invoke loose XAML, Code activities or Compiled activities
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Create custom activities with Windows Workflow Foundation is easy, but creating a fully featured activity designer is not quite as easy. In this episode I'll show you the tips and tricks of creating an activity designer to get you up and running quickly. Links How to create a Custom Activity Designer with Windows Workflow Foundation (WF4) Windows Workflow Foundation (WF4) - Custom Activity Designer (sample code) Ron Jacobshttp://www.ronjacobs.comtwitter: @ronljacobs
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In this video Steve Danielson, a Programming Writer on the WF team, gives a walkthrough of the WF4 State Machine Getting Started Tutorial from the MSDN documentation. Links Getting Started Tutorial Completed Version of the WF4 Getting Started Tutorial .NET Framework 4 Platform Update 1 Overview Windows Workflow Foundation (WF4) - Introduction to State Machine Hands On Lab
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Wondering how you can secure your Workflow Service? On this episode, I'm joined by Dave Cliffe who explains how Workflow Security works with WCF Security. Links: Windows Workflow Foundation (WF4) - Role Based Security for Workflow Services (Sample Code) Workflow Security Pack Ron Jacobs http://blogs.msdn.com/rjacobs Twitter: @ronljacobs http://twitter.com/ronljacobs
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What happens to a Workflow if an attacker can lure the workflow host into running XAML which references an assembly replaced by the attacker? This is what I call an Activity Assembly Spoofing attack. On this episode I'll show you how it can happen, what you need to know about the security model and what you can do to prevent it. Links XAML and Activity Assembly Spoofing Windows Workflow Foundation (WF4) XAML Activity Spoofing Ron Jacobs http://blogs.msdn.com/rjacobs Twitter: @ronljacobs http://twitter.com/ronljacobs
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Customers often ask me How can I store my Workflow Service definitions (xamlx files) in a database with IIS and AppFabric? On this episode I'll show you how you can create a VirtualPathProvider that enables you to build a Workflow respository with a database. Links Windows Workflow Foundation (WF4) - Workflow Service Repository Example How To Load WF4 Workflow Services from a Database with IIS/AppFabric Ron Jacobs http://blogs.msdn.com/rjacobs Twitter: @ronljacobs http://twitter.com/ronljacobs
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Wizards are a part of the web. Maybe you haven't thought of them as wizards, but multi-step processes such as checkout or registration are utilized by many websites. In this episode, Muhammad Usman from the Microsoft Product Quality team will show you the new system they are building to create product support wizards with Windows Workflow Foundation. In the past, even simple changes to a support wizard required a coding project. With ASP.NET MVC and WF4 together, support analysts will be able to author a self-help wizard using a custom built authoring tool and deploy it to the web as a XAML workflow. Sample Code from this episode Windows Workflow Foundation (WF4) - ASP.NET MVC2 Wizard Activ...
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Wizards are a part of the web. Maybe you haven't thought of them as wizards, but multi-step processes such as checkout or registration are utilized by many websites. In this episode, Muhammad Usman from the Microsoft Product Quality team will show you the new system they are building to create product support wizards with Windows Workflow Foundation. In the past, even simple changes to a support wizard required a coding project. With ASP.NET MVC and WF4 together, support analysts will be able to author a self-help wizard using a custom built authoring tool and deploy it to the web as a XAML workflow. Sample Code from this episode Windows Workflow Foundation (WF4) - ASP.N...
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Our friends in the ASP.NET team have built a very cool infrastructure known a Nuget. It is a really great way to bring libraries that you want to use into your project. When I first saw it I thought I've got to find a way to deliver WF4 activities and designers into your project. On this episode I'll show you how you can quickly add Microsoft.Activities.Extensions or Microsoft.Activities.UnitTesting into your project. Update: 12/3/11 - Microsoft.Activities has been renamed to Microsoft.Activities.Extensions Ron Jacobs http://blogs.msdn.com/rjacobs Twitter: @ronljacobs http://twitter.com/ronljacobs
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If you want to get deep inside State Machine and understand how it works this episode is for you. I'm going to show you the details of how it schedules, executes and cancels child activities. For more see WF4 Advanced StateMachine Stuff Sample Code - Windows Workflow Foundation (WF4) - Exploring State Machine Ron Jacobs http://blogs.msdn.com/rjacobs Twitter: @ronljacobs http://twitter.com/ronljacobs
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Have you ever wanted to create a Workflow that starts when the system boots, does some work and at the same time responds to query and stop messages? In this episode I'll show you the Windows Workflow Foundation (WF4) - Workflow Services and Auto-Start sample which shows you just how to do this. Links Download Windows Workflow Foundation (WF4) - Workflow Services and Auto-Start How to create a WF4 WorkflowServiceHostFactory for AppFabric Auto-Start Ron Jacobs http://blogs.msdn.com/rjacobs Twitter: @ronljacobs http://twitter.com/ronljacobs
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In this episode I'm going to show you exercise 4 of the Windows Workflow Foundation (WF4) - Introduction to State Machine Hands On Lab. In this exercise we implement the Main Menu scenario where we will use an inner state machine. For more information on the State Machine activity see Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Platform Update 1 State Machine Hands On LabGetting Started (Video) Exercise 1 - States (Video) Exercise 2 - Card Inserted Scenario (Video) Exercise 3 - PIN Entry (Video) Exercise 4 - Implement the Main Menu (Video) Ron Jacobs http://blogs.msdn.com/rjacobsTwitter: @ronljacobs http://twitter.com/ronljacobs
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In this episode I'm going to show you exercise 3 of the Windows Workflow Foundation (WF4) - Introduction to State Machine Hands On Lab. In this exercise we implement the PIN Entry scenario where we will deal with scenarios like PIN entry timeout and cancellation. For more information on the State Machine activity see Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Platform Update 1 State Machine Hands On LabGetting Started (Video) Exercise 1 - States (Video) Exercise 2 - Card Inserted Scenario (Video) Exercise 3 - PIN Entry (Video) Exercise 4 - Implement the Main Menu (Video) Ron Jacobs http://blogs.msdn.com/rjacobsTwitter: @ronljacobs http://twitter.com/ronljacobs
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In this episode I'm going to show you exercise 3 of the Windows Workflow Foundation (WF4) - Introduction to State Machine Hands On Lab. In this exercise we implement the PIN Entry scenario where we will deal with scenarios like PIN entry timeout and cancellation. For more information on the State Machine activity see Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Platform Update 1 State Machine Hands On LabGetting Started (Video) Exercise 1 - States (Video) Exercise 2 - Card Inserted Scenario (Video) Exercise 3 - PIN Entry (Video) Exercise 4 - Implement the Main Menu (Video) Ron Jacobs http://blogs.msdn.com/rjacobsTwitter: @ronljacobs http://twitter.com/ronljacobs
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In this episode I'm going to show you exercise 2 of the Windows Workflow Foundation (WF4) - Introduction to State Machine Hands On Lab. In this exercise we implement the Card Inserted scenario with a focus on State Transitions. For more information on the State Machine activity see Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Platform Update 1 State Machine Hands On LabGetting Started (Video) Exercise 1 - States (Video) Exercise 2 - Card Inserted Scenario (Video) Exercise 3 - PIN Entry (Video) Exercise 4 - Implement the Main Menu (Video) Ron Jacobs http://blogs.msdn.com/rjacobsTwitter: @ronljacobs http://twitter.com/ronljacobs
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In this episode I'm going to show you exercise 1 of the Windows Workflow Foundation (WF4) - Introduction to State Machine Hands On Lab. In this exercise we will focus on States and Entry / Exit actions. For more information on the State Machine activity see Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Platform Update 1 State Machine Hands On LabGetting Started (Video) Exercise 1 - States (Video) Exercise 2 - Card Inserted Scenario (Video) Exercise 3 - PIN Entry (Video) Exercise 4 - Implement the Main Menu (Video) Ron Jacobs http://blogs.msdn.com/rjacobsTwitter: @ronljacobs http://twitter.com/ronljacobs
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The Windows Workflow Foundation (WF4) State Machine activity has officially shipped in the .NET Framework Platform Update 1 bits. In this episode I'll show you what you need to download to get started using the State Machine and the new State Machine Hands On Lab State Machine Hands On LabGetting Started (Video) Exercise 1 - States (Video) Exercise 2 - Card Inserted Scenario (Video) Exercise 3 - PIN Entry (Video) Exercise 4 - Implement the Main Menu (Video) To download the .NET Framework Platform Update 1, there are two options. Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Platform Update 1 - Design-time Update for Visual Studio 2010 SP1 (KB2495593) which includes Visual Studio updates and framew...
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In the next installment of the Versioning Spike Series I'm going to walk you through my test application that demonstrates the use of Promoted Properties to store extra information I need to make a decision about the safety of upgrading a persisted instance. For more information see this blog post Ron Jacobs http://blogs.msdn.com/rjacobsTwitter: @ronljacobs http://twitter.com/ronljacobs
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Versioning is always a hard problem. When you add to this problem long running workflows then it gets really tricky. In this series I'm exploring possible solutions for versioning workflows and activities. In this episode I'm going to take a step back and frame the problem so we can think about a solution. For more information see this blog post Ron Jacobs http://blogs.msdn.com/rjacobsTwitter: @ronljacobs http://twitter.com/ronljacobs
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Versioning is a hard problem. I have to admit I've been slow to address this but I've finally had enough. We have to come up with some kind of solution for you. At this point I don't have the answers worked out but I decided to take you with me on this journey of discovery. For more information see this blog post Ron Jacobs http://blogs.msdn.com/rjacobsTwitter: @ronljacobs http://twitter.com/ronljacobs
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Suppose you have a workflow that needs to call another workflow. How do you do it? In this episode, I show you how to do so by using the InvokeWorkflow activity of the Microsoft.Activities project. For more info see this blog post Ron Jacobs http://blogs.msdn.com/rjacobsTwitter: @ronljacobs http://twitter.com/ronljacobs
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I recently received an email from an endpoint.tv viewer asking a question about why his Workflow Service didn't work properly. He sent me a repro and I could see that it wasn't working right but it was difficult to know why. In this episode I'm going to show you how you can use Microsoft.Activities.UnitTesting to understand what is going on under the covers by using tracking to learn why this application didn't work as expected. Ron Jacobshttp://blogs.msdn.com/rjacobsTwitter: @ronljacobs
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I'm committed to building better samples. In this episode I'm going to show you a new sample for WF4 Collection Activities and some of the new things we are doing to make better samples for you. Ron Jacobshttp://blogs.msdn.com/rjacobsTwitter: @ronljacobs
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