Professional Windows Workflow Foundation

Professional Windows Workflow Foundation
| 2007-03-26 00:00:00 | | 0 | Windows


If you want to gain the skills to build Windows Workflow Foundation solutions, then this is the book for you. It provides you with a clear, practical guide on how to develop workflow-based software and integrate it into existing technology landscapes. Throughout the pages, you'll also find numerous real-world examples and sample code that will help you to get started quickly.

Each major area of Windows Workflow Foundation is explored in depth along with some of the fundamentals operations related to generic workflow applications. You'll also find detailed coverage on how to develop workflow in Visual Studio(r), extend the framework with custom code, and utilize the framework with Microsoft(r) technologies such as SharePoint(r) 2007 and Windows Communication Foundation (WCF). You&'ll then be able to use Windows Workflow Foundation to create innovative business solutions that provide value to organizations.

What you will learn from this book
* The different areas of the Windows Workflow Foundation architecture
* Details about workflow hosting, execution, and communication
* How to build workflow-based solutions without constructing the underlying workflow logic
* Tips for developing solutions using the out-of-the-box functionality
* Techniques for extending the base APIs
* How to apply each piece of the Windows Workflow Foundation platform to real-world scenarios
* Best practices for debugging workflows

Who this book is for
This book is for developers and architects interested in learning more about Windows Workflow Foundation. You should have some familiarity with the .NET Framework.

User review
Good Book But
Some sections of the book might have been written better. But all together a good book to have.

User review
Good book for Visual Studio 2005/Framework 3.0
This book has a really good workflow introduction, and the author does a really good job with hosting workflows in ASP.NET and using the workflow for page flowing. However, like all .NET framework 3.0 books currently available, they do not include Visual Studio 2008 (Orcas beta 2) improvements in hosting and external communications with Framework 3.5 send and receive activities.


Update in March, 2008: The status of workflows for Microsoft is currently in transition between Framework 3.0 and 3.5. Framework 3.0 workflows are extremely complicated, and communications with a workflow host (e.g., WinForms, Webforms, or WCF services) and a client have dramatically changed with Framework 3.5. Unfortunately, even Microsoft MVPs admit that very little is known about the new methodology for local and remote communications and with the WF/WCF integrated send and receive activities.Currently, Microsoft has no consistent model for the amazing technology among the workflow implementations in BizTalk (Framework 3.0), SharePoint 3.0 (Framework 3.0), and Visual Studio 2008 (Framework 3.5).


Until there is a unified, consistent, and well-documented paradigm for incorporating workflows into applications, this reviewer will not implement workflows to a large extent in production applications, but sparingly will use workflows in a minor way to provide experience only.