Workflow Team

Workflow Manager 1.0 Now Supported on Windows Server 2016 with CU4

Steve Danielson — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 22:39:38 GMT

We have completed our validation work and are pleased to announce that Workflow Manager Server 1.0 now supports the following platforms when used in a SharePoint Server 2016 environment:

.NET 4.6+ (when using Service Bus Server 1.1 with KB3086798)
Windows Server 2016
Windows 10 x64 (for development purposes)
SQL Server 2014 & SQL Server 2016

To install the supported Workflow Manager Farm on a Windows Server 2016 machine:

Install WFM 1.0 Refresh from WebPI. This would install SB 1.1 and includes KB3086798.
Install WFM 1.0 Cumulative Update 3 from WebPI.
Install WFM 1.0 Cumulative Update 4 from WebPI.

Workflow Manager 1.0 Cumulative Update 4 (WFM CU4) is now available on the Microsoft Download Center

Steve Danielson — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 22:34:58 GMT

Workflow Manager 1.0 Cumulative Update 4 (WFM CU4) is now available on the Microsoft Download Center. WFM CU4 contains fixes for Workflow Manager 1.0 (server) and Workflow Manager Client 1.0. WFM client CU4 is backward compatible with WFM servers 1.0, CU1, CU2, Refresh and CU3. WFM CU4 (server) is compatible with ServiceBus 1.0 CU1 and 1.1. You can install CU4 on a fresh machine in one of two ways. Through WFM 1.0 (Only for existing installs of WFM 1.0. Use WFM 1.0 Refresh for all new installs):

Install WFM 1.0 from WebPI. This would install SB 1.0 if SB is not installed on the machine.
Install SB 1.0 Cumulative Update1 from WebPI.
Install WFM 1.0 Cumulative Update 3 from WebPI.
Install WFM 1.0 Cumulative Update 4 from WebPI.

Through WFM 1.0 Refresh:

Install WFM 1.0 Refresh from WebPI. This would install SB 1.1 if SB is not installed on the machine.
Install WFM 1.0 Cumulative Update 3 from WebPI.
Install WFM 1.0 Cumulative Update 4 from WebPI.

You can download msi/patches from download center and install in the order specified if WebPI is not installed on the machine. You may need to install winfabric prior to SB. Please find more details and download links on CU4 in the following KB article: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/4019220 WebPI has the following entries for Workflow Manager:

Workflow Manager 1.0 – This is 1.0 RTM. This would install SB 1.0 if SB not already installed. Use this only for existing installs. All new installs should be using WFM 1.0 Refresh.
Workflow Manager 1.0 Cumulative Update 3 – The CU3 patch that can be applied on 1.0 RTM, CU1, CU2, or 1.0 Refresh.
Workflow Manager 1.0 Cumulative Update 4 – The CU4 patch that can be applied on 1.0 RTM, CU1, CU2, 1.0 Refresh or CU3.
Workflow Manager Client 1.0 Cumulative Update 4 – MSI that can install the client on a fresh machine or upgrade 1.0 RTM, CU1, CU2 or CU3.
Workflow Manager Tools 1.0 Cumulative Update 4 for Visual Studio 2012 – MSI that can install the tools on a fresh machine or upgrade 1.0 RTM, CU1, CU2 or CU3.
Workflow Manager 1.0 Refresh (CU2) – MSI that can install CU2 on a fresh machine. This would install SB 1.1 if SB not already installed.

Workflow Manager 1.0 Tools are supported only on Visual Studio 2012. Workflow Manager Tools chained in Microsoft Office Developer Tools are supported on Visual Studio 2012, 2013, 2015 & 2017.

Building C# expressions support and IntelliSense in the rehosted workflow designer

Steve Danielson — Wed, 20 Jul 2016 20:25:48 GMT

The Workflow Foundation Designer can be rehosted in environments outside of Visual Studio for the purposes of creating, modifying, and monitoring workflows. Hosting the workflow designer inside a Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) application is a common rehosting scenario for the workflow designer. Prior to .NET Framework 4.5, all expressions in workflows could only be written in Visual Basic in both Visual Studio and Rehosted scenarios. Visual Studio 2012 introduced a fully functional C# expression editor with capabilities such as Syntax highlighting and IntelliSense that could be used for authoring workflow. Visual Basic expressions are used for projects created using Visual Basic and Visual C# projects use C# for expressions. When rehosting the workflow designer outside Visual Studio, the default expression editor doesn’t support IntelliSense or C# expressions. A custom expression editor can be implemented to build the support for IntelliSense and C# expressions. The following high level steps describe the process to implement the custom expression editor:

Implement the IExpressionEditorService interface. This interface manages the creation and destruction of expression editors.
Implement the IExpressionEditorInstance interface. This interface implements the UI for expression editing UI.
Publish the IExpressionEditorService in your rehosted workflow application.
Implement a custom Expression Activity Editor with C# expression support using a WPF based text editor component like AvalonEdit (https://github.com/icsharpcode/AvalonEdit) and register it to the ExpressionTextBox used by the workflow designer.
Use Roslyn to parse the code into syntax trees that can be used for IntelliSense.

A sample that shows how these steps can be used is at https://github.com/dmetzgar/wf-rehost-roslyn. While it is not a fully working custom expression editor implementation, it implements a custom Expression Activity Editor and shows how to work around the following .NET workflow runtime issues you hit when performing the previous steps. Expression Editor defaults to VB expressions when implementing custom expression editor. When rehosting the workflow designer, the workflow runtime uses .NET framework 4.0 by default and this should be set to .NET 4.5 or higher to use the C# expression support. You can do this by using the DesignerConfigurationService class as shown in the following example.

DesignerConfigurationService configurationService = wd.Context.Services.GetService();
configurationService.TargetFrameworkName = new FrameworkName(".NETFramework", new System.Version(4, 5));

By default, the workflow runtime does not allow loading XAML from an untrusted source. You can again use the DesignerConfigurationService class to configure the workflow designer as shown below. configurationService.LoadingFromUntrustedSourceEnabled = true; When loading custom XAML, the workflow runtime defaults to VB in the rehosted designer. Set the following XAML attached property to indicate workflow runtime that you are using C# expressions in your workflow. sap2010:ExpressionActivityEditor.ExpressionActivityEditor="C#"

Workflow Manager 1.0 Cumulative Update 3 (WFM CU3) is now available on Microsoft Download Center

Steve Danielson — Mon, 25 Jan 2016 13:13:37 GMT

Workflow Manager 1.0 Cumulative Update 3 (WFM CU3) is now available on Microsoft Download Center. WFM CU3 contains fixes for Workflow Manager 1.0 (server) and Workflow Manager Client 1.0. WFM client CU3 is backward compatible with WFM servers 1.0, CU1, CU2, and Refresh. WFM CU3 (server) is compatible with ServiceBus 1.0 CU1 and 1.1.

You can install CU3 on a fresh machine in two ways.

Through WFM 1.0:

Install WFM 1.0 from WebPI. This would install SB 1.0 if SB is not installed on the machine.
Install SB 1.0 Cumulative Update1 from WebPI.
Install WFM 1.0 Cumulative Update 3 from WebPI.

Through WFM 1.0 Refresh:

Install WFM 1.0 Refresh from WebPI. This would install SB 1.1 if SB is not installed on the machine.
Install WFM 1.0 Cumulative Update 3 from WebPI.

You can download msi/patches from download center and install in the order specified if WebPI is not installed on the machine. You may need to install winfabric prior to SB.

Please find more details and download links on CU3 in KB article https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3104066.

WebPI has following entries for Workflow Manager:

Workflow Manager 1.0 – This is 1.0 RTM. This would install SB 1.0 if SB not already installed.
Workflow Manager 1.0 Cumulative Update 3 – The CU3 patch that can be applied on 1.0 RTM, CU1, CU2, or 1.0 Refresh
Workflow Manager Client 1.0 Cumulative Update 3 – MSI that can install the client on a fresh machine or upgrade 1.0 RTM, CU1, or CU2
Workflow Manager Tools 1.0 Cumulative Update 3 for Visual Studio 2012 – MSI that can install the tools on a fresh machine or upgrade 1.0 RTM, CU1, or CU2
Workflow Manager 1.0 Refresh (CU2) – MSI that can install CU2 on a fresh machine. This would install SB 1.1 if SB not already installed.

Workflow Manager 1.0 Tools are supported only on Visual Studio 2012. Workflow Manager Tools chained in Microsoft Office Developer Tools are supported
on Visual Studio 2012, 2013 & 2015.

Side by Side Versioning with a Web-Hosted Xamlx Workflow Service video and download on Code Gallery

Steve Danielson — Fri, 24 May 2013 14:45:00 GMT

I have created a video walkthrough of implementing side-by-side versioning with a web-hosted xamlx workflow service here:

Side by Side Versioning with a Web-Hosted Xamlx Workflow Service

This project provides a demo of implementing side-by-side versioning with a web-hosted xamlx workflow service, as described in the accompanying MSDN topic Side by Side Versioning in WorkflowServiceHost.

The WorkflowServiceHost side-by-side versioning introduced in .NET Framework 4.5 provides the capability to host multiple versions of a workflow service on a single endpoint. The side-by-side functionality provided allows a workflow service to be configured so that new instances of the workflow service are created using the new workflow definition, while running instances complete using the existing definition. It is very easy to configure and implement, and this code gallery project provides a running sample and a video walkthrough that demonstrates how to do it.

New Workflow Manager 1.0 Getting Started Tutorial

Steve Danielson — Thu, 16 May 2013 07:32:46 GMT

A new Getting Started Tutorial for Workflow Manager 1.0 has been posted here:

Workflow Manager 1.0 Getting Started Tutorial

This is a 3 step tutorial which covers creating a custom activity, using it in a workflow, and publishing and invoking the workflow. It covers the use of the HttpSend activity, several of the DynamicValue activities, and also includes troubleshooting steps for common issues related to authoring, publishing, and invoking workflows.

There is also a video walkthrough and a download of the completed tutorial here:

Workflow Manager 1.0 Getting Started Tutorial Download and Video Walkthrough

This download also includes the starter files for the tutorial.

I have also started a thread for discussing the tutorial on the Workflow Manager 1.0 MSDN Community Forum. Please feel free to make comments or suggestions to the thread, but if you have any questions, please start a new thread for the question.

Thanks,

Steve Danielson [Microsoft]

Cumulative Update 1 Released for Workflow Manager 1.0

Jurgen Willis — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 20:23:00 GMT

I am pleased to announce the release of the first Cumulative Update (CU) for Workflow Manager 1.0; you can find the associated KB article here. The Workflow Manager CU has a dependency on Service Bus CU1 (KB is here), which was also just released.

There are a couple of options for the installation:

Direct installation from the Microsoft Download Center; the appropriate links are in the KB articles above
Via the Web Platform Installer:

Web PI link for Workflow Manager CU1
Web PI link for Service Bus CU1

This CU aggregates a number of fixes, as discussed in the KB. It also adds support for suspending and resuming workflow instances.

Suspending & Resuming Workflow Instances

Workflows can be suspended via 3 mechanisms:

Using the WorkflowManagementClient:

public WorkflowInstanceResult Suspend(string workflowName, string instanceName, string reason)

Via the Suspend activity, which you can use in your workflow definitions
Via an unhandled error: most unhandled errors - which would have previously terminated the instance - will now suspend the instance

Instances can be resumed via the WorkflowManagementClient:

public WorkflowInstanceResult Resume(string workflowName, string instanceName)

New Book on WF 4.5

Jurgen Willis — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 05:53:00 GMT

Congratulations to Bayer White on his recently published book, Pro WF 4.5 !

Windows Workflow Foundation Case Studies

Jurgen Willis — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 16:10:08 GMT

Happy New Year!

I’ve gotten a few requests for WF customer examples, so I thought I'd kick off 2013 with a list of some published case studies. These are case studies specific to the use of WF directly; there are numerous additional case studies for other Microsoft products that build on top of WF, e.g. SharePoint, CRM, Axapta, TFS, PowerShell, System Center, etc.

If you have any questions or would like to work with us to publish a case study with your company, please let me know. You can send me mail at JWillis, here at Microsoft. (or you can click on “Email Blog Author” in the Options section of this page)

Hope you find these helpful, and many thanks to the customers who worked with us on these case studies!

Customer	Link
PayGlobal	Developers Gain Productivity Using Windows Workflow Foundation for Complex Workflows
PAR Springer-Miller	ISVs Cloud Solution Helps Cut Costs, Transform Business in the Global Hospitality Industry
Icertis	Technology Firm Transforms Business with Scalable Cloud Solution
Xerox Corporation	Transportation Solution Provider Screens Commercial Vehicles with Cloud Service
Softeng	Major IT Provider Deploys Web Solution in the Cloud, Avoids Thousands in Costs
RedPrairie	BPM Solution Provider Significantly Increases Developer Productivity with New Tools
Aderant	Solution Provider Upgrades Development Tools to Improve Customization, Productivity
Dataract	Solution Provider Streamlines Processes, Will Speed Some Development by 50 Percent
SYSPRO	Global Software Company Cuts Development Time for Workflow Solution by 80 Percent
Darwin Dimensions	Avatar Developer Speeds Time-to-Market By Choosing Windows, .NET, Over Linux
Department of Environment and Climate Change	Department of Environment and Climate Change introduces a new software platform for the delivery of Property Vegetation Plans
BT (formerly British Telecom)	Telecommunications Firm Reduces Overheads by 90 Per Cent with Automated Solution
Unilin	UNILIN integrates business unit processes from around the world
Gold Systems	Voice-Based Password-Reset Solution Boosts Security, Saves Time and Money
Farm Credit Services	Farm Credit Company Boosts Loan Processes, Speeds Development with Workflow Solution
MSIT	Microsoft Increases Developer Productivity by 40 Percent with Workflow Modeling Tools
Vanderbilt University Medical Center	Medical Center Develops Patient Screening Tool Using Enhanced Web Technologies
New Zealand – Dept of Corrections	Corrections Department Upgrades System to Meet Changing Business Needs
Thomson Financial	Cutting-Edge Financial Software Puts Asset Managers in Control
Polizia Ferroviaria	Italian Railway Police Automates its Document Management and Workflow

Updated Workflow Developer Center

Jurgen Willis — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 22:15:00 GMT

We've updated our Workflow Developer Center on MSDN. We've simplified the design and refreshed the site with updated links. As part of this work, we've also pulled together a list of key WF samples.

Our goal is for this to be a go-to site that aggregates key Workflow resources, including documentation, samples, videos, and other important links.

Let us know what other content you think is important and what else you'd like to see on the site.