Workflow Activities

The Windows Workflow Foundation framework includes a default set of activities that provide functionality for control flow, conditions, event handling, state management, and communicating with applications and services. When designing workflows, you can use the activities that are provided by Windows Workflow Foundation, or you can create your own activities.

The following table lists the Windows Workflow Foundation framework out-of-box activity set. Many, but not all, of these activities are represented on the workflow designer Toolbox.

Activity	Description
CallExternalMethodActivity	Used with the HandleExternalEventActivity activity for input and output communications with a local service. For more information, see Using the CallExternalMethodActivity Activity.
CancellationHandlerActivity	Used to contain cleanup logic for a composite activity canceled before all the composite activity's children are finished executing. For more information, see Using the CancellationHandlerActivity Activity.
CodeActivity	Enables you to add Visual Basic or C# code to your workflow. For more information, see Using the CodeActivity Activity.
CompensatableSequenceActivity	A compensatable version of SequenceActivity. For more information, see Using the CompensatableSequenceActivity Activity.
CompensatableTransactionScopeActivity	A compensatable version of TransactionScopeActivity. For more information, see Using the CompensatableTransactionScopeActivity Activity.
CompensateActivity	Enables you to call code to undo or to compensate for operations already performed by the workflow when an error occurs. For more information, see Using the CompensateActivity Activity.
CompensationHandlerActivity	A wrapper for one or more activities that perform compensation for a completed TransactionScopeActivity activity For more information, see Using the CompensationHandlerActivity Activity.
ConditionedActivityGroup	Executes child activities based on a condition that applies to the ConditionedActivityGroup activity itself and based on conditions that apply separately to each child. For more information, see Using the ConditionedActivityGroup Activity.
DelayActivity	Enables you to build delays in your workflow that are based on a time-out interval. For more information, see Using the DelayActivity Activity.
EventDrivenActivity	Wraps one or more activities that are executed when a specified event occurs. For more information, see Using the EventDrivenActivity Activity.
EventHandlersActivity	Provides a framework for associating events with an activity. For more information, see Using the EventHandlersActivity Activity.
EventHandlingScopeActivity	Executes its main child activity concurrently with an EventHandlersActivity. For more information, see Using the EventHandlingScopeActivity Activity.
FaultHandlerActivity	Used to handle an exception of a type that you specify. For more information, see Using the FaultHandlerActivity Activity.
FaultHandlersActivity	Represents a composite activity that has an ordered list of child activities of type FaultHandlerActivity. For more information, see Using the FaultHandlersActivity Activity.
HandleExternalEventActivity	Used in conjunction with the CallExternalMethodActivity activity for input and output communications with a local service. For more information, see Using the HandleExternalEventActivity Activity.
IfElseActivity	Tests a condition on each branch and performs activities on the first branch for which the condition equals true. For more information, see Using the IfElseActivity Activity.
IfElseBranchActivity	Represents a branch of an IfElseActivity. For more information, see Using the IfElseBranchActivity Activity.
InvokeWebServiceActivity	Enables your workflow to invoke a Web service. For more information, see Using the InvokeWebServiceActivity Activity.
InvokeWorkflowActivity	Enables your workflow to invoke another workflow. For more information, see Using the InvokeWorkflowActivity Activity.
ListenActivity	A composite activity that contains only EventDrivenActivity child activities. For more information, see Using the ListenActivity Activity.
ParallelActivity	Provides a way to schedule two or more child SequenceActivity activity branches for processing at the same time. For more information, see Using the ParallelActivity Activity.
PolicyActivity	Use to represent a collection of rules. A rule consists of conditions and resulting actions. For more information, see Using the PolicyActivity Activity.
ReplicatorActivity	Creates multiple instances of a single child activity. For more information, see Using the ReplicatorActivity Activity.
SequenceActivity	Provides a simple way to link multiple activities together for sequential execution. For more information, see Using the SequenceActivity Activity.
SetStateActivity	Specifies a transition to a new state. For more information, see Using the SetStateActivity Activity.
StateActivity	Represents a state in a state machine workflow. For more information, see Using the StateActivity Activity.
StateFinalizationActivity	Used in a StateActivity activity as a container for child activities that are executed when leaving the StateActivity activity. For more information, see Using the StateFinalizationActivity Activity.
StateInitializationActivity	Used in a StateActivity activity as a container for child activities that are executed when entering the StateActivity activity. For more information, see Using the StateInitializationActivity Activity.
SuspendActivity	Suspends the operation of your workflow to enable intervention in the event of some error condition that requires special attention. For more information, see Using the SuspendActivity Activity.
SynchronizationScopeActivity	Executes contained activities sequentially in a synchronized domain. For more information, see Using the SynchronizationScopeActivity Activity.
TerminateActivity	Enables you to immediately end the operation of your workflow in the event of an error condition. For more information, see Using the TerminateActivity Activity.
ThrowActivity	Enables you to capture business exceptions thrown as part of the process metadata for a workflow. For more information, see Using the ThrowActivity Activity.
TransactionScopeActivity	Provides a framework for transactions and exception handling. For more information, see Using the TransactionScopeActivity Activity.
WebServiceFaultActivity	Enables you to model the occurrence of a Web service fault. For more information, see Using the WebServiceFaultActivity Activity.
WebServiceInputActivity	Receives data from a Web service. For more information, see Using the WebServiceInputActivity Activity.
WebServiceOutputActivity	Responds to a Web service request made to a workflow. For more information, see Using the WebServiceOutputActivity Activity.
WhileActivity	Enables your workflow to loop until a condition is met. For more information, see Using the WhileActivity Activity.

For more information about how to create custom activities, see Developing Custom Activities and Using the Activity Designer.

In This Section

• Activity Views
  Describes the different design views of activities.

• How to: Add Activities to the Toolbox
  Shows how to add activities to the toolbox.

• How to: Create a Declarative Rule Condition
  Shows the steps to create a declarative rule condition.

• How to: Create a PolicyActivity Rule Set
  Shows the steps to create a PolicyActivity rule set.

• How to: Implement a Windows Communication Foundation Contract Operation
  Shows the steps to implement a WCF contract operation.

• How to: Invoke a Windows Communication Foundation Contract Operation
  Shows the steps to invoke a WCF contract operation.

See Also

Other Resources

Windows Workflow Foundation Activities
Developing Workflows
Developing Workflow Activities

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