Windows workflow foundation (WF), christened “dub f”, is a developer focussed workflow technology. WF is a core component of .NET 3.0. Rather than taking the traditional “define a workflow language” approach, WF sees workflows as simply a set of “chained" activities. Workflows can be designed graphically, created as xml mark-up (XAML) or created in .NET code.
It is important to realise that WF is both a publicly available workflow framework and the internal workflow solution for Microsoft products. It impetus for building WF at Microsoft arose from the discovery that many of the Microsoft product teams were actively creating their own (competing) workflow frameworks.
WF is already integrated in Microsoft SharePoint server 2007 (MOSS) and will shortly be available in Biztalk 2006 R2. WF is included by default in Windows Vista and is available via windows update for XP. Consequently, Microsoft has a considerable vested interest in continuing to develop and upgrade WF. WF should be considered as a ubiquitous platform for building “workflow enabled” applications on the Microsoft platform. WF is designed to be capable of addressing all of the following workflow scenarios:
- Document centric – e.g. the flow of a document in an organisation for review or approval.
- Process centric – e.g. “machine to machine” business process (BPM) and enterprise application integration scenarios
- Human centric – long running workflows where the “user is in control” of what happens next.
- Internal application workflow – the flow of business logic within a custom line of business (LOB) application.
- Page flow – the logical flow between a series of user interfaces.
It is essential to grasp that WF is a framework, not a product. WF can be used as the starting point for a custom workflow development or to construct workflow “power tools” for use by end users in particular vertical markets.
Supported platforms for the WF framework are Windows XP (SP2), Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista.
WF was “released to manufacture” on 10th November 2006 to coincide the Tech Ed developers conference in Barcelona.