Windows Workflow Foundation Using C#

All HOTT courses are available face-to-face, remote-live, on-demand or on-site at your facility. 

Microsoft's Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) provides a framework for creating scalable applications consisting of independent program units called activities. This course covers WF 4.5 and uses Visual Studio 2015, which provides a visual designer for creating workflows. The course begins with an overview of the concepts of workflow and the programming model provided by WF. 

The essentials of WF programming are then covered followed by a systematic treatment of the major features of WF, including the Built-In Activity Library. Primitive and control flow activities are discussed, and the alternatives to hosting workflows are covered. Collection and parallel activities are covered. The creation of custom activities, both using the designer and code, is explained. Flowchart and state machine activities are covered. Persistence and bookmarks are discussed. Workflow Services, using Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) is covered. 

The course concludes with coverage of debugging, error handling, transactions and compensation. Comprehensive hands on exercises are integrated throughout to reinforce learning and develop real competency.

Course Prerequisites: 

C# programming experience.

Course Outline:

Windows Workflow Foundation Overview

• How Windows Workflow Foundation Supports Workflow Applications
• Concepts of Workflows and Activities
• Runtime Services Provided in WF
• Differences Between WF 3 and WF 4/4.5

Getting Started with WF

• Overall Structure of Workflow Programs
• Implementing Workflows Using C# Code
• Using the Sequence Activity to Implement Workflows Consisting of Multiple Activities
• Creating Workflow Projects Using Visual Studio 2015
• Implementing Workflows Declaratively in XAML by Using the Visual Studio Workflow Designer
• Using the WriteLine and Assign Activities in Workflow Programs
• Use of Variables, Arguments and C# Expressions in Workflow Programs
• Control Flow Activities
• Illustrate Using the While Activity

Primitive and Control Flow Activities

• Using the InvokeMethod Activity to Call Both Your Own Methods and Methods of the .NET Framework Class Library
• Performing Input in Your Workflow Programs
• Using the Delay Activity in Workflow Programs
• Using Control Flow Activities:
  - Parallel
  - If
  - While
  - DoWhile
  - Switch
• Implementing More Complex Workflows that Have Nested Control Structures

Custom Activities

• Overview of Using Custom Activities in Workflow Foundation
• Approaches for Authoring Custom Activities
• Explaining the Use of Arguments in Custom Activities
• Outlining the Activity Class Hierarchy
• Implementing Custom Activities Using the CodeActivity Class
• Implementing Custom Activities in the Workflow Designer Using the Activity Class

Workflow Hosting

• Methods for Hosting Workflows in Workflow Foundation
• Using the WorkflowInvoker Class to Invoke a Workflow as if it were a Method Call
• Using the WorkflowApplication Class to Host Workflows in More Complex Scenarios
• Assigning Code to Delegate Members of the WorkflowApplication Class to Respond to Life Cycle Events of the Workflow
• Methods of Manually Stopping a Workflow
  - Cancel
  - Terminate
  - Abort
• Hosting Workflows in a Windows Application
• Hosting Workflows in a Web Application

Collection and Parallel Activities

• Using the Collection Activities Provided by the Built-In Activity Library
  - AddToCollection
  - RemoveFromCollection
  - ExistsInCollection
  - ClearCollection
• Using the ForEach<T> Activity
• Using ParallelForEach<T> Activity
• Implementing Asynchronous Behavior in Workflows Using AsyncActivity