Transcript Spring 2006 Connections Conference Template

VWF308
Designing and Building Workflow
Solutions for SharePoint 2007
Tim Huckaby
InterKnowlogy, CEO
Microsoft RD & MVP
About…
• InterKnowlogy (www.InterKnowlogy.com)
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Tim Huckaby, CEO - ([email protected])
Custom App Dev / Consulting / Software & Systems Engineering
Firm headquartered in Carlsbad, CA
Microsoft Gold Partner managed in SoCal and Redmond
Design, Architect, Build and Deploy enterprise class applications
Industry Experts:
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90% of the company is published
Microsoft .NET Application development for 5+ years!
Microsoft .NET Smart Client pioneers / industry leaders
Information Worker Solutions
Integration / Messaging, B2B / B2C, Wireless / Mobility
Microsoft BizTalk Web Services, Microsoft Active Directory, Security, SSO,
Authorization, Authentication
• Solutions on the emerging Microsoft servers
• Largest Client: Microsoft
Session Objectives And
Key Takeaways
• Session Objective:
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Office workflow development in Microsoft Visual Studio 2005
Windows SharePoint Services V3 & 2007 Microsoft Office system
workflow built on top of Windows Workflow Foundation platform
Workflow is a powerful tool for driving customer business processes
Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 enables symmetric rich/reach form
authoring
• Key Takeaways:
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Windows Workflow Foundation is a framework for building
workflow into applications
A single workflow technology for Windows
WF has good integration into 2007 Office system & OSS
Solution Architecture is necessary
Agenda
• 5 Options for SharePoint Workflows
• The business processes we will model
• Describe the design, develop, debug
& deploy steps
• Demos:
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Implementing Extensible “canned” Workflows in SPS 2007 &
Office 2007
Designing & Implementing Extensible Workflows for SPS
2007 in SharePoint Designer
Building, Implementing and deploying workflows for
SharePoint & Office 2007 in VS.NET 2005 (and Orcas)
Building SharePoint Workflows with K2
Using WF in SharePoint 2007 &
2007 Office System
Tim Huckaby
CEO – InterKnowlogy
Microsoft Regional Director
Microsoft MVP – .NET
Windows Workflow Foundation Vision:
Deliver best-in-class workflow platform & tools for
Microsoft products and partner/customer ecosystem
Single workflow technology for Windows
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Base for Microsoft products and ISV/customer solutions
One technology for human and system workflow
• A framework not a server product or application
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An extensible framework based on Microsoft .NET
Ships as Part of .NET 3.0, which ships in Windows
• Make workflow mainstream for .NET developers
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Strong workflow partner & solution ecosystem
Reach mainstream application developer
Workflow Scenarios
Microsoft Visual Studio
and workflow SDK
Office SharePoint
Designer workflows
Purchase Order
Processing
Product lifecycle
management
Custom Tracking Apps
Service Requests
Asset Tracking
Custom Form Actions
Email Notification
Exception Handling
Document Processes
Spec Review
Weekly Status Report
Application Task and
Issue Tracking
(with customization)
Office Server Features
List Moderation
Publishing Process
Document Expiration
Routing & Approval
Review
Approval
Signature collection
East Asian workflow
Ad Hoc
Out-of-the-Box
Solutions
Structured
LOB
Integration
Using SharePoint Designer to
Build Custom Workflows
Tim Huckaby
CEO – InterKnowlogy
Microsoft Regional Director
Microsoft MVP – .NET
Development Steps
1. Model workflow in Microsoft Visual Studio
2. Create and bind Microsoft Office InfoPath
forms
3. Deploy to Microsoft Office SharePoint
Server
4. Debug the running workflow (if necessary)
Model & Building Workflows In Visual
Studio 2005
• Prerequisites:
● Office SharePoint Server 2007
• .NET 3.0 Runtime Components
● Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for
Windows Workflow Foundation
● Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit
(SDK) Microsoft Windows Vista
• Create project of type “SharePoint Sequential Workflow Library”
• Create the workflow
Create and Bind InfoPath Forms
Types of InfoPath forms in Workflows
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Association form
● User adds workflow to a list
● For setting options on WF
Initiation form
● For manual workflow start
● Collects workflow parameters
Task completion form
● A user to edit a task from WF
● User edits or enters data
Modification form
● Linked off WF status page
● Can modify in-flight WF
Create and Bind InfoPath Forms
InfoPath forms are used in these places
Create and Bind InfoPath Forms
SharePoint hosts the InfoPath form
Hosting Environment
InfoPath Form
Templates
Create and Bind InfoPath Forms
Data from SharePoint is passed in
Hosting Environment
SharePoint
object
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InfoPath Form
Templates
Create and Bind InfoPath Forms
Submit the form, saves data to SharePoint
Hosting Environment
SharePoint
object
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InfoPath Form
Templates
Create and Bind InfoPath Forms
SharePoint starts the workflow
Hosting Environment
SharePoint
object
InfoPath Form
Templates
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SharePoint -> Task/WF Host
Create and Bind InfoPath Forms
Pushing data from WF task into InfoPath
SharePoint
Task
•instructions =
“Please do this.”
Task data as xml
<z:row xmlns:z=“#RowSetSchema”
ows_MetaInfo_instructions=“”/>
InfoPath Task Form
Deploy to SharePoint Server
• Generate Metadata files
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Feature.XML
Workflow.XML
• Install/activate the “feature”
• IISReset
• Associate workflow to the list/library
Debug the Running Workflow
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Visual Studio running on server machine
Open the workflow in Visual Studio
Attach to all of the W3WP Processes
Start the workflow
Building the Workflow
Tim Huckaby
CEO – InterKnowlogy
Microsoft Regional Director
Microsoft MVP – .NET
WWW.K2.COM
EXTENDING SHAREPOINT WORKFLOW WITH K2 BLACKPEARL
SharePoint Workflow
K2 blackpearl
Data auditing
Available via SharePoint metadata and document
library/list versioning
Workflow designers have the ability to specify data auditing options at design
time. All audit information is available in the K2 Reporting environment
Process auditing
Available via the “Activity Duration” or “Cancellation &
Error” reports found on the list or library where the
workflow is deployed
Available within the K2 Reporting environment in the out-of-the-box reports
provided with K2 blackpearl as well as available as data in ad-hoc, user
designed reports
Versioning
Versions of the workflow can be stored per document
library or list. Options can be configured to set the
workflow version used for new instances as well as active
instances.
A new version of the process is automatically stored each time it is deployed.
Versions can be managed via the K2 Management Console which allows
rollback to any previous version of the workflow.
State management
State information will be maintained in the document library State is managed within the K2 blackpearl server and data is available within
or list that the workflow is associated with.
the K2 Reporting environment.
Chaining workflows
Via Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) custom
development.
K2 blackpearl provides the functionality natively within the Inter-Process
Communication event wizard. The IPC wizard provides the ability to call a
sub-process synchronously or asynchronously
Actions spanning
across multiple sites
Limited to the current site
Support for actions across SharePoint sites, site collections, servers and farms
Content type
association
Not supported
Fully supported
Access to originator
information
Access to author of the library or list item, but not the user
who started the workflow if different
Out-of-the-box access to workflow originator information, including the
originator’s manager
Escalations
Via Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) custom
development.
Provided via out-of-the-box escalation wizards, including email, redirection, go
to another step, custom code
Task list
Includes an “Assign a Task” activity that can be used to
assign a task to a user within a MOSS task list. MOSS
task lists are shared among all users so users with the
correct permissions can act on anyone’s task
Tasks are available via the K2 Task List or K2 Task List web part. Task lists
are specific to an individual user so users will only see tasks that they are
allowed to action.
Host server
Provided via Windows SharePoint Services. The workflow
engine runs in process with SharePoint and cannot be
separated out onto a dedicated workflow server
Provided via the K2 blackpearl Host server. Servers can be dedicated to
workflow transactions only and can be set up as a farm of server dedicated
specifically to workflow processing
Process Capacity
Suggested limit of 15 running workflow processes per
SharePoint server
No set limitations per K2 server.
K2 Workflows
Tim Huckaby
CEO – InterKnowlogy
Microsoft Regional Director
Microsoft MVP – .NET
Call to Action
• WF plugs a large hole in the platform that used
to be hard because it had to be built by hand
• WF provides a design time environment
that makes it easy to build even the most complex
workflows
• The 2007 Office system and SharePoint 2007 WF
integration is fantastic; consequently, integrated solutions
are easy to design and build
For More Information…
WorkFlow on the .NET 3.0 Developer Center:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa663328.aspx
Downloads:
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Visual Studio 2005 extensions for .NET Framework 3.0 (Windows
Workflow Foundation)
Hands-on Labs for Windows® Workflow Foundation
Experience the 2007 Microsoft Office system
Microsoft® Windows® Software Development Kit for Windows Vista™
and .NET Framework 3.0 Runtime Components
Windows SharePoint Services Software Development Kit (SDK)
Tim Huckaby, InterKnowlogy
• More info on InterKnowlogy:
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www.InterKnowlogy.com
• Contact me: Tim Huckaby
● E-mail: [email protected]
or [email protected]
● Phone: 760-930-0075 x201
● Blog: http://blogs.InterKnowlogy.com/TimHuckaby
• About Tim Huckaby
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Microsoft® Regional Director – Southern California
Microsoft® .NET Partner Advisory Council Founder / Member
Microsoft® MVP - .NET
Microsoft® Prescriptive Architecture Group Advisory Council
Microsoft Office® Developer Advisory Council
Microsoft® MSF advisory board member
INETA Speaker – International .NET Users Group Association
Windows and .NET Magazine Advisory Board Member
.NET Developers Journal Magazine Advisory Board Member
Author / Speaker
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