Getting started with Windows Workflow Foundation 4 and the different workflow authoring models

In this short screencast, DevelopMentor instructor, freelance developer and MVP Maurice de Beijer demonstrates how to get started with Windows Workflow Foundation 4. He explains the difference between the workflow styles, sequential and flowchart, and shows how to expose a workflow as a WCF service.

Executing workflows

In this short screencast DevelopMentor instructor, freelance developer and MVP Maurice de Beijer demonstrates the basics of hosting workflows. He shows how to use the WorkflowInvoker and the WorkflowApplication when executing workflows and explains when each is the best choice. 

Working with data in workflows

In this short screencast DevelopMentor instructor, freelance developer and MVP Maurice de Beijer demonstrates how to work with data in a workflow. He explains passing data in and returning data from a workflow using argument. Next he explains how to use variables inside of a workflow and how to use Visual Basic expressions to manipulate these variables.

Developing custom activities

In this short screencast DevelopMentor instructor, freelance developer and MVP Maurice de Beijer demonstrates how to create custom activities. He explains the difference between composite XAML activities, the CodeActivity and the NativeActivity and when to use which one.

Activity designers

In this short screencast DevelopMentor instructor, freelance developer and MVP Maurice de Beijer demonstrates how to create custom activity designers and how to accosiate these with their control. He demostrates how to use the ExpressionTextBox to edit activity expressions on the design surface and how to add child activities using the WorkflowItemPresenter.

Workflow services

In this short screencast DevelopMentor instructor, freelance developer and MVP Maurice de Beijer demonstrates how to create a workflow service using the Receive and the SendReply activities. He also shows how to use this workflow service form both a regular .NET client application as another workflow using the Send and ReceiveReply activities.

Hosting Workflow services

In this short screencast DevelopMentor instructor, freelance developer and MVP Maurice de Beijer demonstrates how to use the WorkflowServiceHost to self host workflow services.

Workflow services and message correlation

In this short screencast DevelopMentor instructor, freelance developer and MVP Maurice de Beijer demonstrates how to use message correlation, or how to send a message to the correct workflow instance, with workflow services.

Developing asynchronous activities

In this short screencast DevelopMentor instructor, freelance developer and MVP Maurice de Beijer demonstrates how to create asynchronous activities. He demonstrates how to use the AsyncCodeActivity for short running IO work and how to use the NativeActivity with its bookmarks for long running asynchronous work.

Long running workflows using the SqlWorkflowInstanceStore and a WorkflowApplication

In this short screencast DevelopMentor instructor, freelance developer and MVP Maurice de Beijer demonstrates how to create long running workflows by adding a SqlWorkflowInstanceStore to a WorkflowApplication. He shows when a workflow is persisted to the SQL Server database and how to reload a previously saved workflow.

Long running workflows using the SqlWorkflowInstanceStore and a WorkflowServiceHost

In this short screencast DevelopMentor instructor, freelance developer and MVP Maurice de Beijer demonstrates how to create long running workflows by adding a SqlWorkflowInstanceStore to a WorkflowServiceHost. He shows how to control when a workflow is persisted to the SQL Server database.

Error handling using the WorkflowApplication.OnUnhandledException, the WorkflowServiceHost WorkflowUnhandledExceptionBehavior and the TryCatch activity

In this short screencast DevelopMentor instructor, freelance developer and MVP Maurice de Beijer demonstrates how to handle errors inside of a workflow using the TryCatch activity and how to determine the result of unhandled errors in a WorkflowApplication using the OnUnhandledException callback or workflow services using the WorkflowUnhandledExceptionBehavior.

Working with WF Tracking Profiles

In this video, CSD MVP Matt Milner from PluralSight guides the viewer through how to work with WF tracking profiles (both SQL and custom tracking services). Matt expands on tracking profiles, detailing out to create a profile via code and SDK sample apps, serialize the profile out for use in applications, and how to use the profiles within your workflow activities and workflows.

Using the WF Replicator Activity

In this short video, CSD MVP Matt Milner from PluralSight guides the viewer through how to using the WF replicator activity to add more advanced flow control capabilities to your WF workflows. He introduces the replicator activity, which allows you to implement ForEach-like semantics on workflow data. He adds the replicator to an existing workflow, binds the activity to the incoming data, and demonstrates how the replicator activity runs child activities. For this screencast, Matt uses an example sending e-mail notifications to persons in a data list.

Working with Transactions in WF

In this short video, CSD MVP Matt Milner from PluralSight guides the viewer through how to work with Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) transactions, from the simple use case of scoping activities to participate in a transaction to the more advanced scenario of queue up work to participate in a transaction from an activity or the WF host application.

Fault Handling in WF

In this short video, CSD MVP Matt Milner from PluralSight guides the viewer through how fault handling works in Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) 3.5.

Using the Listen Activity in WF 3.5

In this short video, CSD MVP Matt Milner from PluralSight guides the viewer through how to use the listen activity in Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) to listen for multiple events.

Declarative XAML Workflows in WF 3.5

In this short video, CSD MVP Matt Milner from PluralSight guides the viewer through how to use declarative XAML workflows.

WF: "Hello World"

In this session we'll look at the Workflow Foundation for the first time and build a simple "Hello World" style application using a code-first approach and then a designer-first approach.

WF: Exceptions

Workflow Foundation has specific capabilities for handling exceptions in your code, let's take a look at how it's done.

WF: Passing Parameters to Workflows

Sometimes Workflows need to be passed parameters from their hosting environment. In this slot, we'll explore how we can feed data into a Workflow instance before it runs.

WF: Working in Parallel

Workflow has built in capabilities for executing sets of activities in parallel. In this session we'll explore the Parallel activity and what it can do for us.

WF: Logic and Looping

Simple programming constructs such as looping and conditional logic are represented in Workflow. Here we take a look at how we can model conditions and loops.

WF: Listening for Events

A common pattern in Workflow is to wait for a event to occur and Workflow Foundation supports this natively. Here we examine how we can use the Listen activity to wait for events to occur.

WF: Cancellation Handlers

At times, Workflow may have to cancel your executing code. When it does so, you can receive notification in the form of a cancellation handler. This session explores cancellation handlers.

WF: Workflow to Host Communication

Workflows are hosted by your application. When a Workflow instance needs to communicate with the "outside world" it will do so through your application's hosting code. Here, we'll see how that is done.

WF: Two-Way Host/Workflow Communication

Here we put together two previous sessions and show how we can get asynchronous two-way communication going between a Workflow instance and its host environment.

WF: Transactions

Workflow has rich capabilities for dealing with transactional work. In this session we'll explore how we can make use of the TransactionScope activity and also how to compensate for atomic transactions in circumstances where the Workflow has to reverse work already done.

WF: State Machine Workflows

Workflow Foundation has native support for modelling finite state machines. In this session we'll build a simple example and look at how we model states and the transitions between them.

WF: Host to Workflow Communication

A host process communicates with Workflow instances by firing events on a shared interface. In this session we'll take a look at how that works.

WF: Custom Activities

Workflow Foundation is an extensible framework based around adding custom activities. In this session we'll build our first activity and make use of it from a Workflow instance.

WF: Using Tracking

A core capability of the Workflow Runtime is to track information as activities and workflows execute. The Workflow Foundation ships with a SQL Tracking service, and this session explores how to configure and make use of it.

WF: Using Scheduling

The Workflow Runtime uses a pluggable scheduling service in order to execute activities and workflows on threads. In this session we'll take a look at the two scheduling options that come with the Foundation today.

WF: Using Persistence

It is possible to save Workflow Instances into a persistent format in order to save resources or to allow a Workflow host to be recycled. In this session we'll look at using the SQL Persistence Service to achieve this.

WF: Synchronising Activities

Within a Workflow, it is sometimes important to ensure that a group of activities are scheduled for execution as a single block. This session looks at the Synchronization Activity that enables this.

WF: Modifying Workflows

The Workflow Runtime provides capabilities to modify Workflow Instances after they have started running. In this session we'll look at the code to achieve this.

WF: Building Persistence Services

WF comes with its own persistence service that uses SQL Server. However, it is also possible to build your own, and in this session we explore the basics of achieving that.

WF: Declarative Workflows

One of the ways of building Workflows is to model them entirely declaratively in an XAML file. This session takes a look at how we can do this.

WF: Calling Web Services

This session looks at how to make a call to a Web Service from a Workflow.

WF: Building Tracking Services

Whilst Windows Workflow comes with a SQL Tracking Service, it is also possible to implement your own to track information as activities and workflows execute. This session explores the basics of writing a tracking service.

WF: Building Scheduling Services

It is possible to implement your own scheduling service to underpin the Workflow Runtime as it executes activities and workflows. This session takes a look at the basics of writing such a service.

WF: Exposing Web Services

Workflow Foundation has built-in capabilities that allow a Workflow to be published as an ASP.NET Web Service - in this session we'll look at how this is done and how it works.

WF: Correlation

Workflow Foundation has automatic capabilities for correlating messages that leave a Workflow instance with messages that are received by that same instance, making message exchange easier to deal with. In this session we'll look at how that's achieved.

WF: Composite Activities

Workflow Activities partition into the 'basic' activities which perform a single task and 'composite' activities which act as a container for other Activities. In this session we'll take a brief look at writing a custom composite activity.

WF: Calling Other Workflows

Workflow solutions can be decomposed into multiple workflows where one calls another just like one subroutine in a program calls another. There are differences such as the asynchronous nature of invoking a Workflow, and in this session we'll look at how this is done.

WF V3.5 - Building WCF Services Using Workflow Foundation

In .NET Framework V3.5, Workflow Foundation comes together with Communication Foundation in order that we can easily build a Workflow and make it available as a WCF service. In this video, we'll take a look at doing that.