Developing Applications with Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) (Video Training)

The complete video training kit for developers who want to apply the power of Windows Workflow Foundation in their own apps.

Brian Noyes is a software architect, trainer, writer, and speaker with IDesign (www.idesign.net), a premier .NET consulting and training company. He has been developing software systems for more than fifteen years, speaks at many major software conferences around the world, and writes for a variety of software journals and magazines. He is the author of Data Binding with Windows Forms 2.0 and Smart Client Deployment with ClickOnce (both from Addison-Wesley).

This LiveLesson is designed to expose you to all the key concepts, design-time steps, and coding techniques required to write applications that use Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) for implementing complex business process logic. It consists of 20 lessons of recorded video instruction that will lead you through performing the development tasks you need to know how to do to effectively use WF. The LiveLesson format is especially relevant for a technology like WF, because developing WF workflows is mostly done through interactive actions in the Visual Studio designer. Trying to capture those actions in text is possible, but you can learn the steps much faster by seeing them done in the Visual Studio environment by an instructor. Along with the demonstrations in the video, I explain the steps, why they are needed, what variations are available, and what is going on behind the scenes. Basically, through the LiveLesson videos, you get a compact training course that you can take with you anywhere. LiveLesson Structure Each LiveLesson follows the same basic structure. It starts with a brief video introduction describing the objectives of the lesson. It then transitions to a screen capture of my workstation, leading you through the steps required to perform and understand the objectives. Finally, it finishes with another brief video summarizing what was covered in the lesson. Because WF is a new technology, the first two lessons deviate from this format. They are conceptual and presented through a combination of slides and instructor discussion to get you up to speed on some of the most important concepts about WF as a technology before you dive into the steps to start building applications with it. The pace of the lessons is intentionally fast. Because the video delivery mechanism makes it easy for you to back up and review portions of the video, I tried to pack as much information into the lessons as possible. That means I don't spend any time after presenting lines of code or designer interaction steps to let you soak in what you just saw; I just move quickly to the next step. Of course, you can pause the video at these points and replay a section if you'd like to review the material. Code Samples The DVD contains all the completed code samples used in Lessons 6-20. Up through Lesson 5, no full samples were developed, so no code is included for those lessons. Who Should Use This Product The content of this video is designed for experienced .NET developers and architects who are new to Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) as a technology. I expect that you have had some exposure to the purpose of WF, have an idea of what it is for and how to get your hands on it, and are ready to start developing applications using the technology. However, I cover all the basics of WF, so I don't expect you to have any deep experience employing the technology. As a result, you could say this LiveLesson is a broad introductory course in WF for intermediate to advanced .NET developers. LiveLesson Outline The following are the 20 lessons in this LiveLesson. Lesson 1, Windows Workflow Foundation Overview,introduces the key concepts behind WF, including the tools you need, workflow types, the kinds of activities in the Base Activity Library, and the design process of WF applications. Lesson 2, WF Architecture and Services,covers the architecture and services in WF, as well as the dependency properties. Lesson 3, Visual Studio 2005 Project and Item Templates,describes the project types and project items that you can add for developing workflows and workflow applications. Lesson 4, Sequential Workflow Basics,introduces the basics of defining sequential workflows, including the designer experience for workflows in general. Lesson 5, State Machine Workflow Basics,covers the basics of defining state machi