Hands-on Labs for Windows Workflow Foundation Get Updated

Whether you code in C# or in VB.NET, or both, you will be happy to know that Microsoft has made available for download updated Hands-on Labs for Windows Workflow Foundation. In this regard, developers will now be able to leverage the refreshed content, including manuals and even sample code for building workflow enabled applications on Windows. Cliff Simpkins, senior product manager, indicated that all 10 Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) hands-on labs had been updated. The refreshed content went live on the Microsoft Download Center on June 30, 2009.

“These ten labs were initially posted when WF was new to the world and .NET 3.0 was hot off the presses. This past winter, the product management team worked with David Starr to get the labs converted to .NET 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008, make the manuals consistent, and bring the VB.NET code up par to follow the same best practices as the C# code,” Simpkins stated.

The labs are designed to provide developers with an insight into the Windows Workflow Foundation. In this regard, the resources cover a variety of topics from getting started with WF, to putting together custom activities, to hosting Workflows; creating State Machine Workflows; communicating with the Host Application; but also to WF and Web Services; creating Rules Driven Workflow; transactional Behavior; modifying Workflow Models at Runtime with Workflow Change; and embedding the Workflow Designer.

Microsoft has introduced updates or cleaned up the content made available in approximately half of the labs. The Redmond company indicated that it had integrated feedback from developers that took the labs in order to improve the resources. “While we were at it, we added an eleventh lab to the mix. Because the labs were developed before the new WCF activities were introduced, we dug into the excellent Visual Studio 2008 training kit done by the DPE folks, we updated and cleaned up the lab that walked a user through using the new WCF Send and Receive activities for WF in .NET 3.5: WF11: Workflow Enabled Services and Other New Features in the .NET Framework 3.5,” Simpkins added.

No less than three additional items will be added to the current lineup of Hands-on Labs for Windows Workflow Foundation in the near future, Simpkins also mentioned.