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Windows Workflow Foundation is the programming model, engine and tools for quickly building workflow enabled applications on Windows. It consists of a WinFX namespace, an in-process workflow engine, and designers for Visual Studio 2005. Windows Workflow Foundation is available (currently in beta) for both client and server versions of Windows. Windows Workflow Foundation includes support for both system workflow and human workflow across a wide range of scenarios including: workflow within line of business applications, user interface page-flow, document-centric workflow, human workflow, composite workflow for service oriented applications, business rule driven workflow and workflow for systems management.
A workflow is a set of activities stored as a model that describe a real world process. Work passes through the model from start to finish and activities might be executed by people or by system functions. Workflow provides a way of describing the order of execution and dependent relationships between pieces of short or long running work. While it is possible to write a workflow completely in code, workflow is often best viewed graphically. Once a workflow model is compiled it can be executed inside any Windows process including console apps, forms- based apps, Windows Services, ASP.NET web sites and web services. |
The Windows Workflow Foundation namespace in WinFX is called System.Workflow. Windows Workflow Foundation provides a consistent and familiar development experience with other WinFX technologies such as ASP.NET, Windows Communication Foundation and Windows Presentation Foundation. Windows Workflow Foundation provides full support for Visual Basic .NET and C#, debugging, a graphical workflow designer and the ability to develop your workflow completely in code. Windows Workflow Foundation also provides an extensible model and designer to build custom activities which encapsulate workflow functionality for end-users or for re-use across multiple projects. Windows Workflow Foundation will be used across many future Microsoft products including The Microsoft Office System, BizTalk Server and the Microsoft Dynamics Products (previously known as Microsoft Business Solutions products). Most applications can benefit from the asynchronous state management features of the workflow model, the rapid development features of the designer, the potential for end-user flexibility, and the increased visibility into run-time code execution.http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista/building/workflow/
用过biztalk的HWS都知道，biztalk 2004版本的工作流是很难用的，我收到微软的beta1版本2006也没有什么关于HWS的改进，但是我看了微软网站说，biztalk 2006将支持上述的“Windows Workflow Foundation ”，按照微软的计划，biztalk 2006计划2006年第一季度发布，但是“Windows Workflow Foundation ”计划是2006年上半年发布，按照微软一般都会推迟发布的规则，估计会不会两者都要到2006年下半年才能发布，如果真是这样，那么可能还要一年的时间这些产品才能发布，
我真的不知道，如果现在开发基于Biztalk2004的HWS的产品应该采取什么样的原则，如果刚好开发完，新的更加容易开发的引擎就出来了岂不吐血？
所以，现在使用biztalk2004开发的朋友是不是该考虑微软新产品发布带来的风险？