Screencasts - Your First Workflows

These last two weeks represent a shift in Endpoint WF/WCF Developer Screencast series. The first four screencasts in the series concentrated on Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) development; we will now focus on Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) for four screencasts. We will then alternate back and forth every four screencasts.

This (and last) week, CSD Matt Milner from PluralSight walks you through how to create your first sequential workflow, and how to create your first state machine workflow. Compared to the WCF screencasts, these may seem to be a lot more to digest up front, but these screencasts provides a good starting overview, that we will drill into as we move through the series.

Last week, Matt covered how to create your WF Sequential Workflow. The screencast takes you on a quick tour of putting together a sequential workflow - creating the workflow, adding the business logic using flow control activities, and using custom activities to do the work. As an example, Matt uses the example of processing an eCommerce order - processing a customer purchasing transaction and working with back-end inventory. As we create the workflow, Matt discusses custom activities, using base activity library activities, and binding activity properties to custom workflow properties.

This week, Matt walks you through how to create your first WF state machine workflow. The screencast takes you on a quick tour of putting together a state machine workflow - creating the workflow, adding the states, and using custom activities to do the work. As an example, Matt uses the example of processing an eCommerce shopping cart - and lifecycle/events that go along with it. As we create the workflow, Matt discusses custom activities, using states, and handling multiple state events (both listening for an event to happen and timing out).

As mentioned above, the WF screencasts are a weekly series of Channel9 videos done in conjunction with the folks at PluralSight to help developers new to WF/WCF see how the technology is used. It’s worth noting that Aaron and the PluralSight folks are now offering online training courses (in a format similar to these screencasts) as a compliment to their catalog of instructor-led training courses covering Microsoft connected systems technologies. Their training topics range from .NET v3.5 (including an excellent WF/WCF Double Feature course) to WSS to BizTalk server.