Windows Workflow Foundation
"There is no joy in Mudville - the mighty Casey has struck out." I've been spending some time lately reviewing and bolstering my old WF Execution code. Part of this refactoring included a revamped approach at Exception handling. With so many different kinds of activities, implementing a "standard" fault handler is proving more challenging than I had originally thought. Managing exceptions in base workflow activities is one thing, but handling exceptions in custom business activities is quite another....
I'm currently working on a WCF/WF project where we've replaced .NET's DataContractSerializer default with the NetDataContractSerializer. The following is from the MSDN help file: The NetDataContractSerializer differs from the DataContractSerializer in one important way: the NetDataContractSerializer includes CLR type information in the serialized XML, whereas the DataContractSerializer does not. Therefore, the NetDataContractSerializer can be used only if both the serializing and deserializing ends...
Microsoft has extended the deadline for the .NET 3.5 technologies certification exam betas. There are certification tests available for WCF, WPF and Windows Workflow. You can take the exams for free, if you pass they will count towards your overall MS certification. Interested? Read more about it here...
Any C# project can contain Workflow definitions. They're just code file and/or XAML files. The trick is getting Visual Studio to recognize the project as supporting worfklows for design-time support and compilation. To enable a project for Windows Workflow,: Open the project in visual studio. If you're using source control check out the project file so it becomes writable In the Solution Explorer, right click and select Unload Project . The project tree will disappear from the solution explorer and...
Sometimes too many options is a bad thing. After all just because I create a property in my custom activity doesn't mean I want it displayed on the design surface. To Microsoft's credit, most of the design behavior of workflow is customizable and often pluggable, making it possible and practical to extend the user experience. Microsoft provides a Browseable attribute which can be placed on properties that according to the help file : specifies whether a property or event should be displayed in a...
XAML only workflows (those are xoml files without a code attribute and code beside file), do not support debugger breakpoints. Right clicking on the activity in the workflow and selecting insert breakpoint does (as far as I can tell) nothing. Since XAML only workflows have no associated code and therefore no IL, it makes sense that you can't set a breakpoint, after all what exactly are you attaching the breakpoint to? XAML only workflows are all about process orchestration and flow control, we really...