Creating Templates

A template is a complete copy of a workflow application that contains all of the information required to create another instance of the application, including the database schema, Web pages, and database roles.

Templates make it easy for you to distribute your applications to other servers that have Workflow Services for SQL Server installed. For example, an expense reporting application created for your main office could be distributed as a template to branch offices. Each branch could create instances of the application and use it as-is or modify it to meet the branch's special requirements.

The template created for a workflow application can incorporate a broad scope of possible contents. When you create an instance of a workflow application template, new objects are added to several areas of your server. You can see a new workflow process in the Solution Explorer, a new database in the SQL Server Enterprise Manager, and a new Web site in the Web server directory. In addition, there might be Help documents and other files saved in the template.

Templates also provide a quick way to create several customized applications based on your original schema. You can create an instance of an existing application, modify it to suit your requirements, and then save your changes as a new template.

See Also

Developing Workflow Applications for SQL Server | Template Contents | Creating a Template for a Workflow Application for SQL Server | Saving a Template to a Server | Testing a Template