Tracking is the ability to specify and capture information about workflow instances and store that information as the instances execute. Windows Workflow Foundation provides the SqlTrackingService, which is a tracking service that uses a SQL database to store the collected tracking information. You can also write your own tracking service to collect and store this information in any format that your application requires.

When a new workflow is created, the tracking service requests a tracking channel to be associated with that workflow. All of the tracking information from the workflow is then sent to this tracking channel.

The tracking service can track three types of events: Workflow instance events, Activity events, and User events. You can configure the type and amount of information that your service wants to receive for a particular workflow instance or type of workflow by providing a tracking profile.

The tracking framework also provides the ability to extract information about activities or the workflow during an event. If a specific property or field in your activity or workflow needs to be tracked, you can provide this information in the extracts section of the tracking profile, and that information will be extracted during the specified event.

For more information about tracking, see Windows Workflow Tracking Services, SqlTrackingService, and Creating Custom Tracking Services.

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