Video: Windows Workflow Foundation: Custom Activities

Presenter:Mike Taulty

Workflow Foundation is an extensible framework based around adding custom activities. In this session we'll build our first activity and make use of it from a Workflow instance.

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Minute 0

Hello and welcome to stop men in this session is one in a series of short sessions will be spent and is also looking out to do things with visual studio at the framework I told him I wouldn t and platform group in Microsoft and UK business etc s workflow foundation which is part of a suite of technologies which will ship at the same time as winners blistering 2006 is it for Windows XP service Pack 2 and server 2003 s surcharges look at how you start to build your own custom activities to plug into the workflow environment to the and build a simple activity I ll be working with visual studio 2005 with the February preview of winners with their and their effects are it s only a visual studio that operating in sequential workflow project and wooded Gaullists are lying activities

Minute 1

Visual studio gives you a design service to drag activities unto assuming that you want to build a composite activity that contains other activities a third of the simple activity so you disclose the properties you change the base class our database glass from composite activity to activity and visual studio they knows that does nothing to be dragged and dropped onto here ago so the Gulf of this ashtray and has it occurred to those and eventually had to defuse a classic as it arrived in activity fell to copy files only to a source value to lead a station farm at their properties to this class for thought file ban destination file and so on a single likely that with the workflow foundation

Minute 2

Will work with dependency properties as a coastal plain properties on the class struggle in a dependency properties our of dependency properties is partially to reduce this days new properties so we ve got a son rather badly typed her into tuition administering a romantic at this storage class and if we have 5000 ounces of this class will need 5000 copies of this story even though 94 000 or so other things done that you change your values and use that value is one of a dependency properties is soaring property values in one and centralised location rather stronger every single instance of class and ultimately what assistant or you Ashtead or a dictionary of some sort is still dependency properties for you are a dependency properties and land them in well to do change notifications on dependency

Minute 3

That is we know her property basis for any other kind of property ladder when we got here with workflow is well fine is that if you build dependency properties you can use them to bind the cloud of whom the designer to properties are other types of particularly all their activities those with playing properties like this one you find that I will work so than the properties I think are encouraged to look at what defining there are dependency property looks like a council house in Poole code snippet that helps me into his dependency properties has gone on year and will talk about what it s doing so property fuss source file and regarding inserted to This is a property consul is well attached with s news update activity at the

Minute 4

And you are the particular dependency property and this is the dependency property here to have his third value as property developers property comes from is by using the register method on the dependency property class which gives us back a dependency property if we are in name the type of the property itself and the type of the class that owns the property UNESCO is my class here so we s ticket was at a one off static property that we can then use inside of his methods here and considered as a storage associated with its own particular property in my class to another property for my destination file and hopelessly properties in here think it in the insincere of it in this activity is to go and override

Minute 5

The Belfast method or execute an elderly can do inside and execute wealth rose what landed it is it if I ll got copied I should go and bring inwhether got we finally saw smile to the destination file I know if the return is a status anywhere will do so just that our work synchronously here and we have done another activity soldiers go ahead and will build this code back to a little and design mode and we should find that all toolbox we get a new activity the war which is created within fact that over here we can look at the properties for an but it is a destination file and source file note is that the designer is offering me the list behind these two of the properties that can see kicking around and design surface as because it used to

Minute 6

Properties with his little adhesive launches at the copy from my temporary folder and file test txt analytical Deluxe who copy txt legislation will those files exist southerly test txt every long run solution at this point and we should have a final copy they only should ill suited a copy of our original farmer proposals if we can build our first activity will come that in future sessions look up to more things we can do that diet building activity is fundamental to workflow as as you extend the environmental league activities from third parties in Seoul as a building is exactly fundamental to creating

Minute 7

Useful applications inside of the workflow environment just a similar in a short session with the link of the activities we saw that we derived from activity bellies and properties it can be set because of their dependency properties verses and plain old and properties only looked at your variety execute method to get you can executed was allowed echo to shotgun the Toolbox drag and drop to make use of a okay so where can you go if you want more information on the Windows workflow foundation of the Christian developer Centre HennessyandMicrosoft com when effects are not lead you to information on all the effects presentation communication and workflow orders and you dedicated site at www Windowsworkflow net it is surely about the Windows workflow foundation is lots of great samples and examples of their should feel free to mail me my e mail address

Minute 8

There on the screen and and provide feedback and so on under the data listening will detach ago

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