Windows Workflow Foundation (RSS)

Moving my blog to http://blogs.msdn.com/davbosch/

Since I joined Microsoft Belux last year I've been thinking about moving my blog to MSDN. But ever since I didn't really saw the added value of moving my blog as both sites are using the same platform: CommunityServer. But since a couple of weeks I've heard a lot of very positive feedback on the recently deployed 2.0 version of CommunityServer that powers the MSDN and TechNet blogger sites. So far the experience is far better than on DonNetJunkies. Today I finally decided to move my blog to http://blogs.msdn.com/davbosch/. I want to thank Donny for hosting my blog since August 2004.

So please subscribe to my new blog on the MSDN blogs:

Thanks for reading my blog and I hope you will continue to do so at http://blogs.msdn.com/davbosch/default.aspx!

WinFX Runtime Components January CTP and Go-Live License

WCF (Windows Communication Foundation / “Indigo”) and WF (Windows Workflow Foundation) have announced Go Live licenses, which allow customers to use the January Go Live releases of WCF and WF in their deployment environments. 

More information about the Go Live program is at http://msdn.microsoft.com/winfx/getthebeta/golive/default.aspx

More information on this Go Live license and technical resources can be found on Tim Sneath's blog:

The Vista “where to get the beta” site will also point to the WinFX Runtime January CTP.

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System.Workflow (Beta 1.2) for Office 12

The Windows Workflow Foundation is one of the core components of WinFX, the next generation .NET Framework that will be available to all users of Windows running Windows Vista, Windows Server 200X, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. The Windows Workflow Foundation is an engine and a framework - a set of assemblies System.Workflow and not a product - that can be used across many scenarios:

  • workflow within line-of-business applications
  • user interface page flow
  • document-centric workflow
  • human workflow
  • composite workflow for service-oriented applications
  • business rule-driven workflow
  • workflow for systems management

Typically developers and ISVs are very interested in this extensible approach to workflow.

One of the many scenarios where this workflow approach will be very valuable is in Office 12. One of the key requests for the next version of Office was the capability to collaborate on documents using workflow. The great news is that Office 12 uses the Windows Workflow Foundation engine that is embedded in SharePoint host for workflow. This means that the workflow is executed on SharePoint. Of course several prebuilt workflows like review, approval and document expiration will ship with Office 12  Also custom workflows will be supported. There's even a wizard interface in FrontPage 12 that you can use for developing workflow for Office.

The excellent news is that for the professional developers using Visual Studio 2005 there is now the Windows® Workflow Foundation Beta 1.2 for Office "12" (Beta 1). It's important to know that for this wokflow beta you have to use the release versions of .NET Framework 2.0 and Visual Studio 2005, as well as Office "12" (Beta 1). The Windows Workflow Foundation Beta 1.2 runtime components are required for Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services "3.0" (Beta 1), Office "12" servers (Beta 1), and "FrontPage 12" (Beta 1) and the Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for Windows Workflow Foundation are required for customers who are designing workflows in Visual Studio 2005 and/or require the Windows Workflow Foundation SDK.

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