Programming Windows Workflow Foundation: Practical WF Techniques and Examples using XAML and C#: A C# developer's guide to the features and programming interfaces of Windows Workflow Foundation [Paperback]

K. Scott Allen (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1904811213 | ISBN-13: 978-1904811213 | Publication Date: December 22, 2006

A fast-paced and practical developer's road map to working with Windows WF, from compilation to the base activity library to runtime services. This book is for .NET developers who want to enhance their applications with flexible workflow capabilities using Microsoft Windows Workflow Foundation. The author assumes that you have read other texts on the overall architecture of WF and on WF application design strategies, and instead focuses on real-work implementation issues for C# developers.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

K. Scott Allen is the Chief Software Architect for Medisolv, Inc and holds MCP and MCSD certifications. In 12 years of software development Scott has worked on everything from real time firmware in 8 bit embedded devices to highly scalable Internet applications connecting COM+ and J2EE components with web services. Living in Hagerstown, Maryland, Scott tries to play as much softball as possible during the summer. Scott is a cofounder of the site http://www.OdeToCode.com, a .NET developer resource built using the Community Starter Kit.

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: Packt Publishing (December 22, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1904811213
• ISBN-13: 978-1904811213
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,490,362 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reads like an Insider's Guide, February 4, 2007

By 

Derek Strickland "Application Architect" (Clearwater, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Programming Windows Workflow Foundation: Practical WF Techniques and Examples using XAML and C#: A C# developer's guide to the features and programming interfaces of Windows Workflow Foundation (Paperback)

The reader gets the feeling they are being led through a guided tour by a trusted collegue rather than a book. This volume is loadeed with little tidbits of information that the author likely had much more difficulty in discovering than you will if you read his book. Tired of WWF books that read like a marketing document? This book is definitely about the code. Whether WWF is for you or your project is your decision, but if you decide it is or you want to know more, this is a great place for a seasoned technologist to quickly acquire perspective on this emerging technology.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If I could write like this..., March 20, 2007

By 

Jesse Liberty (MA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Programming Windows Workflow Foundation: Practical WF Techniques and Examples using XAML and C#: A C# developer's guide to the features and programming interfaces of Windows Workflow Foundation (Paperback)

Every once in a while an author is able to take a subject that others struggle with but fail to make understandable, and succeeds in making so crystal clear that it seems obvious. Allen brilliantly illuminates Windows Workflow, and his book is required reading.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very practical book that will get you going in WF fast, April 25, 2007

By 

Microsoft Coder (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Programming Windows Workflow Foundation: Practical WF Techniques and Examples using XAML and C#: A C# developer's guide to the features and programming interfaces of Windows Workflow Foundation (Paperback)

I have been working with WF for quite a while and one of the hardest things about this technology is getting your hands around everything it can do. Scott has done a great job of walking you through the technology in a manner that enables you to not only grasp the concepts but also get some code up and running quickly. The progression of the book was well thought out getting you started on creating workflows [Chapter 2] and then progressing through sequential workflows [Chapter 3], base activities [Chapter 4], custom activities [Chapter 5], hosting workflows [Chapter 6], State Machine Workflows [Chapter 7], workflow communication [Chapter 8] and finally rules and conditions [Chapter 9]. The thing that I like about this approach is typically in most projects you will have a team of varying roles and skills and the book in my view caters to this by tackling WF development from the perspective of a workflow developer (Chapters 1,2,3,4,7,9) early on in the book and then moving to a host developer (Chapters 5,6,8) for the final half of the book. You will notice I grouped chapters 7 and 9 in with the first half of the book since I feel these topics are very workflow developer centric and the introduction to the local communication service in chapter 3 should give you enough information to tackle these topics earlier than they are presented.

This book is a fast paced book that is designed to get you up and running quickly but at the same time is not so huge that you can't get through it quickly. It's size (233 pages) limits what you can cover but I think Scott does a good job of presenting the topics in a detailed enough manner that you can then dive into the SDK if you need to go deeper and know what you are looking for when you do. The book has all of code online at Packt Publishing which makes it easy to follow along as you read the book. I would recommend this book to someone who is new to WF and needs a book that can quickly guide them through getting started with the technology.