Incorporating Workflow into forms Processing

Abstract

In the previous chapter we discussed how InfoPath 2007 and Share Point Forms Server 2007 allow developers to quickly create enterprise forms solutions that can be deployed to a user desktop and to the Web, giving information workers the ability to work both online and offline as well as in a thin-client setting. In this chapter we are going to build on that concept by introducing the ability to automate the business processes that these solutions typically feed. When we think of business-process automation we usually associate it with some type of workflow. There are three basic types of workflow: application-oriented or structured, human-oriented or ad-hoc, and those that span both. Historically Microsoft has had a somewhat disjointed workflow story with several different implementations in several different products, many of which overlapped; this made it difficult for developers to choose the right technology for the task at hand. Take for example the workflow capabilities exposed in Exchange 2003 and those in BizTalk Server. Exchange gives power users the ability to construct ad-hoc email-based workflow. BizTalk Server provides the ability for developers to construct highly scalable, declarative, rules-based workflow and introduces a framework for developing human-oriented workflow—called Human Workflow Services (HWS). To solve this problem Microsoft developed a workflow platform called Windows Workflow Foundation (WF). Built on the .NET Framework 3.0 (WinFX) namespace, it provides a workflow engine and a Visual Studio .NET visual designer that for the first time gives developers a common programming model, engine, and set of tools to build workflow applications of any type in a consistent manner on the Windows platform. The release of WF also provides a common platform for Microsoft to build its own products on—for example, Microsoft Office 2007 now has support for WF workflows in its clients and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 ships with several standard workflows.