Sams Teach Yourself Windows

In just 24 sessions of about an hour, you’ll learn how to build robust, efficient business workflows with Windows Workflow Foundation (WF). Using a straightforward, step-by-step approach, each lesson builds the real-world foundation you need to succeed with WF from the ground up.

Filled with hands-on code examples, this book walks you through creating every type of workflow supported by .NET 3.5’s powerful new version of WF. One step at a time, you’ll discover how to host workflows, manage workflow lifecycles, integrate with Web services and WCF applications, create custom activities, and moreeverything you’ll need to solve real-world problems with WF!

Step-by-step instructions carefully walk you through the most common WF questions, issues, and tasks.

Q&As help you build and test your knowledge.

Notes point out shortcuts, solutions, and potential problems to avoid.

New terms are clearly defined and explained.

Learn how to...

• Understand the value of workflows and their role in general .NET and advanced business process management systems

• Run workflows from and exchange data with .NET applications

• Create sequential, state-machine, and data-driven workflows

• Define multi-level approval workflows that execute in parallel and escalate

• Develop rulesets and manage them from SQL databases

• Track your workflows to make them more agile and governable

• Use Dynamic Update to change running workflows

• Work with exceptions, compensation, and transactions

• Expose workflows as Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) services and call Web services from workflows via WCF

• Expose workflows as Web services and call Web services from workflows

• Create basic, queued, event-driven, and composite custom activities