Windows Workflow

[Author]

I searched this group and did not find a whole lot discussion about
Windows Workflow. So I am just trying my luck here.

I am just trying to learn a little about windows workflow. I've read
some articles and tried out a couple of sample applications, watched
some webcasts.

What exactly is the advantage of the Workflow framework? Sure, I
understand that it can persist the states of an order status, but this
can be done without Workflow, right? And of course, in the design
view of Visual Studio, we can see the graphic flow chart and it is
easy to present that to clients. But it is not hard to draw such flow
chart.

I believe that there must be a strong rationale in the Workflow
framework, but I need more input in order to understand it. Any
hint? Thanks.

 

[Massood]

I searched this group and did not find a whole lot discussion about
Windows Workflow. So I am just trying my luck here.

I am just trying to learn a little about windows workflow.  I've read
some articles and tried out a couple of sample applications, watched
some webcasts.

What exactly is the advantage of the Workflow framework?  Sure, I
understand that it can persist the states of an order status, but this
can be done without Workflow, right?  And of course, in the design
view of Visual Studio, we can see the graphic flow chart and it is
easy to present that to clients.  But it is not hard to draw such flow
chart.

I believe that there must be a strong rationale in the Workflow
framework, but I need more input in order to understand it.  Any
hint?  Thanks.

As you mentioned, we are able to use traditional coding instead of
using workflows. But workflows have some advantages over plain coding.
Two of them, in my opinion, are as follows:
First, conceptual workflows are produced during earlier stages of
software development, i.e., during analysis and design. So if we use
workflows instead of traditional coding when we want to implement a
design, a direct mapping between design and implementation is created.
That is, we have a seamless transformation from design to
implementation. It's a very important issue from software engineering
perspective. Through this seamless mapping we gain, among other
things, traceability from conceptual design to implementation and vice
versa. Changes to the design can also be easily forwarded to
implementation.

Second, the visual representation of workflows allows us to easily
understand and manipulate the program logic. Changing the order of
actions, adding new ones, and removing some actions can be done by
just some dragging and clicking, without having to thoroughly
inspecting the code to locate possible points to be changed. The
workflows establish a high level view of the program logic. This also
is an important issue for software engineers.

 

[Author]

As you mentioned, we are able to use traditional coding instead of
using workflows. But workflows have some advantages over plain coding.
Two of them, in my opinion, are as follows:
First, conceptual workflows are produced during earlier stages of
software development, i.e., during analysis and design. So if we use
workflows instead of traditional coding when we want to implement a
design, a direct mapping between design and implementation is created.
That is, we have a seamless transformation from design to
implementation. It's a very important issue from software engineering
perspective. Through this seamless mapping we gain, among other
things, traceability from conceptual design to implementation and vice
versa. Changes to the design can also be easily forwarded to
implementation.

Second, the visual representation of workflows allows us to easily
understand and manipulate the program logic. Changing the order of
actions, adding new ones, and removing some actions can be done by
just some dragging and clicking, without having to thoroughly
inspecting the code to locate possible points to be changed. The
workflows establish a high level view of the program logic. This also
is an important issue for software engineers.

Thank you very much for sharing.