BY Kathryn Birstein, SharePoint Architect August 2010

SharePoint 2010 Workflows in Action

by Phil Wicklund Download Early Access Edition for $34.99 at http://www.manning.com/wicklund/

      Now three types: lists, reusable, site SharePoint Designer workflow designer much more complex and can deploy workflows as features Can easily edit workflow forms in InfoPath Can edit the OOTB workflows Can model workflows in Visio (Business Analyst) and import into SharePoint Designer VS2010 workflow tools – templates for sequential and state machine workflow plus new workflow events and pluggable data exchange

   Uses ASP.NET 3.5 framework (alas! No 4.0!) Can programmatically interact with workflows primarily via three object models:  System. Workflow   Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow

Examples of object model techniques:  Microsoft.SharePoint

Get a list of running workflows on a SharePoint object  Delete and delete orphaned workflows  Start or stop a workflow on a SharePoint object

   Sequential workflows always proceed step by-step, never go back to a previous step SharePoint Designer can only create sequential workflows A beginning sequential workflow video tutorial can be found at: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en us/vbasic/ff623018.aspx

   State machine workflows transition from state to state rather than from activity to activity Visual Studio can create state machine as well as sequential workflows Beginning state machine workflow video tutorial can be found at: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en us/vbasic/ff623023.aspx

List, Reusable and Site

   This is the type you had in SharePoint 2007 Pro: Because context of the workflow is the list, list workflows automatically have access to the custom field values of the list they are attached to Con: List workflows work only for the list they are attached to, they can’t be copied to another list

    Can’t be associated with external list directly Can have a workflow read and update from an external list Workflows accessing BCS external lists always run as a service account (usually app pool account) even in impersonation step Using SPD list item activities against external lists very similar except no Document ID, but identifying column instead

    Can create at the top site or subsite level Can export from one site and upload and activate into another site—great for moving from test to prod Can associate to lists to gain access to their custom fields Can also associate to a site content type and workflow is then available throughout the site to all items using that content type

   Not associated with any list, library or content type Can view from All Site Content, Site Workflows next to “Create” Site workflows are useful for administrative purposes  A site workflow to request site permissions  A site workflow to request and provision a new site

     Feature rich user interface instead of just a simple wizard as in 2007 Buttons in the ribbon make it simple to get started Declarative workflows are available for copying and editing Help actually has help in it!

“Round-tripping” workflows between SPD and Visio enable business user collaboration

 http://philwicklund.com/archive/2009/10/20/n ew-event-handlers-in-sharepoint-2010.aspx