Developing Workflow Applications for Exchange Server
Generally, the term "workflow" is used to describe applications that are modeled as business processes. Typical workflow applications include forms routing/approval, document review/publishing, and issue tracking. While you can implement such applications in nearly any programming language or development environment, you can simplify the task with the use of a workflow engine and specialized workflow modeling tools.
- Modeling tools make it possible for the overall design, or "flow," of a business process to be specified in a simple, high-level representation called a process definition. You can modify or extend the process definition easily without rewriting all of the low-level application code.
- The workflow engine executes and manages individual instances of a process definition, also known as process instances.
To develop a workflow application
- Plan your application before starting. Numerous considerations make application development much easier if they are addressed from the start — for example, security and schema. For more information, see Workflow Applications Architecture for Exchange Server and Planning a Workflow Process for Exchange Server.
- Create the workflow process for your application. For more information, see Building a Workflow Process for Exchange Server.
- Add script to your application if desired to provide customized functionality. For more information, see Scripting in the Workflow Designer for Exchange Server.
- Create the user interface with a separate program that has read/write capabilities with Exchange 2000 Server or SharePoint Portal Server. For more information, see Developing the User Interface for Exchange Workflow.
- Activate your workflow. For more information, see Enabling a Workflow Process for Exchange Server.
- Test your workflow application. For more information, see Testing Your Workflow for Exchange Server.
Related Sections
- Developing Applications with Microsoft Office Developer
Projects are the building blocks of an Office Developer application. If a project is a building block for an application, then an application is the foundation. - Creating Projects
A project consists of separate components that are stored as individual files in an application. A simple project might consist of a form or HTML document, a database, source code files, and a project file. - Developing Office Applications Using VBA
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