Customer Reviews

Professional Microsoft SharePoint 2007 Workflow Programming

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was looking for a book that satisfied 4 criteria: 1. Must be SharePoint 2007. 2. Must have a large section about custom workflows. 3. Must be written with Visual Studio 2008 in mind. 4. Must be able to answer the questions I needed answer to.
Had I found this book when I was just starting off with custom workflows, I would have been elated! The author has some really good bits of information and he did indeed answer the questions I needed answers to.
The downside of this book is that it is filled with lots of "fluff". Code snippets were repeated over and over and sections of text seemed to be cut from one section of the book and pasted into another.
He also goes into detail about how the Windows workflow API would be coded when, in Visual Studio with SharePoint extensions, you just drag and drop a control and it writes the required code for you. I'm sure there are those who want to know every detail about how the controls work, but I am not one of those. Interestingly, he delved deeply into the API, but skipped over setting up the environment (VS2008). It would have been nice to see how he structured the projects in VS 2008 since the layout is completely different from VS 2005.
Of the almost 600 pages, probably 250 of those were useful. I would recommend this book to those working with custom workflows, especially to those just starting off with them. Just skip a few pages now and again and you will be happy.

I am way out of my SharePoint depth as far as this book is concerned, and cannot competently discuss its pros and cons. (Too bad I cannot leave a blank rating). I just wish to caution prospective buyers that this is a book about advanced Visual Studio-aided SharePoint development, not about workflows that can be made with SharePoint Designer. (SPD is discussed in Chapter 8, but not in a way that would be instructive for a Designer developer).

For me, the book was not very helpful. It seemed overly academic at times, and then at other times it seemed to just be a very wordy rehash of what is available in MSDN.

I got this book when it first came out a month or two ago because it was one of the few books that purported to be about sharepoint and workflow programming.

This book basically seems to be a re-iteration of the available API and reads more like a laundry list of the various APIs. I don't see how it's an improvement over the API documentation available at [...].

It seems to be lacking in any real understanding of Sharepoint and how to use it effectively.

If you are considering getting this book, definitely skim it first at a local bookstore so that you know what you are getting into.

Definitely not recommended..

I have had this book for over a year now. It is by far the most in depth workflow developer book out there. I found it heavy going but also worthwhile. It is one of the few books that covers custom workflows from a SharePoint perspective. I found that some things are missing from the book such as the Replicator activity. I suspect the book is current to WWF 3.0. I would buy an updated version.

This book is superb. There are no other books on SharePoint Workflow out on the market that compare to the broad view and depth of this book.
If you are a experienced Workflow developer and not have any development experience with SharePoint take it. I think the author has done a good job covering the essential technology and given good examples.