Imagine that you work for Adventure Works Cycles, a sports store franchise that sells bicycles worldwide. This company has sales representatives that visit different countries to help new franchisees open new sports stores. You are asked to build a simple Expense Reporting OBA workflow solution. In this solution, sales representatives will start by filling out a simple expense report form that provides their name, the expense purpose, the expense total, and their direct manager’s name and e-mail address. When sales representatives submit the expense report, the workflow business rules need to verify that the expense total does not exceed $5,000. If the expense total exceeds $5,000, the workflow will submit an e-mail to the direct manager asking for approval. If the expense total is less than or equal to $5,000 the system will send an e-mail to the accounting department asking it to reimburse the sales representative with the expense total amount. Since this is a simple scenario that needs no coding, you decide to use Office SharePoint Designer 2007 to author this OBA workflow solution.

To create this workflow solution, first create a document library in Office SharePoint Server 2007. For this scenario, you name the document library Expense Reports. You must add an Expense Total column of type number to the document library. Once that is configured, use Office SharePoint Designer 2007 to associate the OBA workflow solution you are creating. Figure 7-10 shows the document library you use for the expense reporting solution.

To create the workflow solution, you open Office SharePoint Designer 2007. Next you select the Open Site option from the File menu to select the SharePoint site where you want to create the workflow. Next, in the File menu, select New and click Workflow. This step will launch the Workflow Designer window, as shown in Figure 7-11.

The Workflow Designer window allows you to configure the name of the workflow. In this case, you will name the workflow ExpenseReport. Site visitors see this name when they view the Workflow pages and Workflow status in the Web browser. The Workflow Designer window enables you to select the SharePoint list or document that you want to use and associates it with the workflow. In this case, you will select the Simple Expense Reporting Demo document library that you created previously. Finally, the Workflow Designer window provides three checkboxes that enable you to select whether you want to:

Figure 7-10. Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 document library for the expense reporting solution

Figure 7-11. The Workflow Designer window in Office SharePoint Server 2007

For the expense reporting solution, you must select the first two checkboxes, as shown in Figure 7-11.

The Workflow Designer also provides an Initiation button that enables you to define the workflow parameters to collect data from participants who manually start workflows. In this case, you can define parameter values for the employee name, the expense purpose, the expense total, the manager’s name, and the manager’s e-mail address. Figure 7-12 shows the workflow initiation parameters for the expense reporting workflow scenario.

Figure 7-12. Workflow initiation parameters for the Expense reporting workflow scenario

Once you are done defining the workflow initiation parameters, you can define the set of business rules for the workflow. The requirements of the OBA workflow solution define business rules that are specific for this scenario. We explained earlier that when sales representatives submit an expense report, the workflow business rules need to verify that the expense total does not exceed $5,000. If the expense total exceeds $5,000, the workflow submits an e-mail to the direct manager asking for approval. If the expense total is less than or equal to $5,000 the system sends an e-mail to the accounting department asking it to reimburse the sales representative with the expense total amount. The Workflow Designer window enables you to define business rules by using a set of predefined conditions that apply to your scenario. You can compare fields in a current list and perform actions based on satisfied conditions. For this solution, you need to define an if-then-else condition to compare if the expense total field is greater than $5,000. If this condition is satisfied, the manager will receive an e-mail notification, else the accounting department will receive an e-mail notification. Figure 7-13 shows the business rules definition process.

Once you click the Finish button in the Workflow Designer window, the workflow is saved and attached to the list you specified. Each time a sales representative submits an expense report, Office SharePoint Server 2007 launches a workflow instance and validates the business rules.

Figure 7-13. Business rules definition process

As we explained earlier, sequential workflows execute activities in a predefined pattern and represent a workflow as a procession of steps that must be executed in order until the last activity is completed. As shown in Figure 7-14 Visual Studio 2008 has a new SharePoint Sequential Workflow project template that provides a graphic workflow designer, a complete set of drag-and-drop activity controls, and the necessary assembly references you need to build a sequential workflow solution.

Previously, we talked about a scenario in which you have to build a vacation leave notification system for your company. When an employee saves a document, the direct manager receives an e-mail notification to let her know that she has to approve vacation time for an employee. If the manager approves the document, the system sends an e-mail to the employee. If the manager rejects the vacation request, the employee receives an e-mail with comments from the manager. In either case, the workflow reaches an end and terminates the execution. Because you want to add more customization and use debugging, you decide to use Visual Studio 2008.

To create this solution, you start by creating a simple "Vacation and Time Off" document library. You should add the following four columns to the document library, as shown in Figure 7-16:

Workflow participants will use this document library to store vacation approval forms. Next, in Visual Studio 2008, you start by opening the New Project dialog box and selecting the SharePoint 2007 Sequential Workflow project located under the Office node. In the name box, you type OBAVacationApprovalDemo. This last step opens the New Office SharePoint Workflow wizard, as shown in Figure 7-17.

The next window prompts for a workflow name and a site for debugging the page. Click Next to accept the default settings. The next step requires that you select the document library, task list, and history list you want to use when debugging. In this case, you accept the default settings. The last step of the wizard requires you to define the conditions for how your workflow is started. Visual Studio 2008 allows you to automatically associate a workflow to a document library or list. Additionally, you can choose to handle the association step manually. In this case, you will associate the workflow with the "Vacation and Time Off" document library you created previously. Finally, the wizard asks for the conditions for how your workflow is started. In this case, you choose "Manually by users" and "When an item is created."

Figure 7-16. "Vacation and Time Off" document library

Figure 7-17. New Office SharePoint Workflow wizard

Next, you open the Windows Workflow activities and the SharePoint Workflow activities in the toolbox to drag and drop activities to the Visual Studio 2008 design surface. Visual Studio 2008 enables you to create workflow diagrams just as you can create flowchart diagrams using Visio 2007. Figure 7-18 shows a completed sequential workflow diagram for the vacation leave notification system.

Figure 7-18. Sequential workflow diagram for the vacation leave notification system

You can double-click each activity to customize code behind just as you can double-click buttons on Windows forms solutions to add custom code. You can also define properties for each activity using the Properties window in Visual Studio 2008. Example 7-3 shows the contents of the OBAVacationApprovalDemo sequential workflow class.

[C#]
using System;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.ComponentModel.Design;
using System.Workflow.ComponentModel.Compiler;
using System.Workflow.ComponentModel.Serialization;
using System.Workflow.ComponentModel;
using System.Workflow.ComponentModel.Design;
using System.Workflow.Runtime;
using System.Workflow.Activities;
using System.Workflow.Activities.Rules;
using Microsoft.SharePoint;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.WorkflowActions;
using Microsoft.Office.Workflow.Utility;

namespace OBAVacationApprovalDemo {
   public sealed partial class Workflow1 : SequentialWorkflowActivity {

      private bool _taskCompleted = false;

      public Workflow1() {
         InitializeComponent();
      }

      public Guid workflowId = default(System.Guid);
      public SPWorkflowActivationProperties workflowProperties = new
      SPWorkflowActivationProperties();
      public static DependencyProperty approveTaskIdProperty =
      DependencyProperty.Register("approveTaskId", typeof(System.Guid),
      typeof(OBAVacationApprovalDemo.Workflow1));
[DesignerSerializationVisibilityAttribute(DesignerSerializationVisibility.Visible)]
      [BrowsableAttribute(true)]
      [CategoryAttribute("Misc")]
      public Guid approveTaskId {
         get {
            return
((System.Guid)(base.GetValue(OBAVacationApprovalDemo.Workflow1.approveTaskIdProperty)));
         }
         set {
            base.SetValue(OBAVacationApprovalDemo.Workflow1.approveTaskIdProperty, value);
         }
      }

      public static DependencyProperty approveTaskPropertiesProperty =
      DependencyProperty.Register("approveTaskProperties",
      typeof(Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWorkflowTaskProperties),
      typeof(OBAVacationApprovalDemo.Workflow1));
   [DesignerSerializationVisibilityAttribute(DesignerSerializationVisibility.Visible)]
      [BrowsableAttribute(true)]
      [CategoryAttribute("Misc")]
      public SPWorkflowTaskProperties approveTaskProperties {
         get {
            return
((Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWorkflowTaskProperties)(base.GetValue(OBAVacationApprovalD
emo.Workflow1.approveTaskPropertiesProperty)));
         }
         set {
base.SetValue(OBAVacationApprovalDemo.Workflow1.approveTaskPropertiesProperty, value);
         }
      }

      private void approveTaskCreation(object sender, EventArgs e) {
         try {
            approveTaskId = Guid.NewGuid();
            approveTaskProperties = new
               Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWorkflowTaskProperties();
            approveTaskProperties.AssignedTo =
               System.Threading.Thread.CurrentPrincipal.Identity.Name;
            approveTaskProperties.Title = "Vacation and Time off Workflow Task";
            approveTaskProperties.Description = String.Format(
               "This is a vacation and time off request " +
               "submitted by {0} [Employee Name] to {1} [Manager's Name]. " +
               "The employee is planning to take {2} days off.",
CustomFieldValue("Employee Name"),
                    CustomFieldValue("Manager's Name"),
                    CustomFieldValue("Planned days off"));
                 approveTaskProperties.PercentComplete = (float)0.0;
                 approveTaskProperties.StartDate = DateTime.Now;
                 approveTaskProperties.DueDate = DateTime.Now.AddDays(10);
                 approveTaskProperties.EmailBody = "Your vacation and time off request
                                                   was approved by your manager.";
                 approveTaskProperties.SendEmailNotification = true;
              }
              catch (Exception ex) {
                 throw (new Exception("Unable to initialize workflow task.", ex));
              }
           }
           private string CustomFieldValue(string fieldName) {
              object item = this.workflowProperties.Item[fieldName];
              string s = this.workflowProperties.Item.Fields[fieldName]
                         .GetFieldValueAsText(item);
              if (s != null) {
                 return s;
              }
              else {
                 return String.Empty;
              }
           }
              private void approveTaskNotCompleted(object sender, ConditionalEventArgs e){
              e.Result = !_taskCompleted;
           }

              public static DependencyProperty afterApproveTaskPropertyChangeProperty =
              DependencyProperty.Register("afterApproveTaskPropertyChange",
              typeof(Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWorkflowTaskProperties),
              typeof(OBAVacationApprovalDemo.Workflow1));
[DesignerSerializationVisibilityAttribute(DesignerSerializationVisibility.Visible)]
            [BrowsableAttribute(true)]
            [CategoryAttribute("Misc")]
            public SPWorkflowTaskProperties afterApproveTaskPropertyChange {
               get {
                  return
((Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWorkflowTaskProperties)(base.GetValue(OBAVacationApprovalD
emo.Workflow1.afterApproveTaskPropertyChangeProperty)));
              }
              set
{base.SetValue(OBAVacationApprovalDemo.Workflow1.afterApproveTaskPropertyChangeProperty,
value);
              }
           }

           private void onTaskChanged1_Invoked(object sender, ExternalDataEventArgs e) {
              if (afterApproveTaskPropertyChange.PercentComplete == 1.0) {
                 _taskCompleted = true;
              }
           }
        }
}

Once you are done writing code for the vacation leave notification system, you can test the solution by using the Visual Studio debugger. When you debug the solution, Visual Studio deploys the solution to a SharePoint site and it adds the workflow template to a library or list. You can start an instance of the workflow template to test the solution while using standard debugging tools that help you debug your code as you would do with any other Visual Studio solution.

As we explained earlier, state machine workflows respond to external events as they occur and represent a group of states, transitions, and events, which trigger transitions between these states. As shown in Figure 7-14 Visual Studio 2008 also provides a new SharePoint State Machine Workflow project template that provides a graphic workflow designer, a complete set of drag-and-drop activity controls, and the assembly references you need to build a state machine workflow solution.

To create state machine in Visual Studio 2008, start by creating a document library or list that you want to use for a custom solution. Next, in Visual Studio 2008, open the New Project dialog box and select the SharePoint 2007 State Machine Workflow project located under the Office node. In the name box, type the name of your solution. This last step opens the New Office SharePoint Workflow wizard, as shown in Figure 7-16.

The design, development, and debugging of state machine workflows is almost identical to that of sequential workflows. As mentioned before, the only difference is that state machine workflows are event-driven, and therefore, you can create event-driven workflow solutions. Figure 7-19 shows a state machine workflow diagram for the article publishing workflow application scenario we discussed earlier.

Figure 7-19. State machine workflow for document approval

Visual Studio 2008 simplifies the deployment process by providing a deployment wizard that helps you create a workflow template package that you can use to deploy in different servers. Additionally, when you debug a workflow solution, Visual Studio 2008 deploys the workflow template and required configuration files to the SharePoint development site you used to create your solution. However, if you want to deploy the workflow template to a different server, you must perform additional deployment and configuration steps.

You can create a feature package to encapsulate a workflow solution and deploy it to different servers. A feature package is a CAB file with a .wsp file-name extension that contains the following files:

[XML]
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Feature Id="cf5c48e7-3428-4982-a039-898cbff616c2"
   Title="OBAVacationApprovalDemo feature"
   Description="Vacation and Time Off Approval Feature"
   Version="12.0.0.0"
   Scope="Site"
   ReceiverAssembly="Microsoft.Office.Workflow.Feature, Version=12.0.0.0,
Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c"
   ReceiverClass="Microsoft.Office.Workflow.Feature.WorkflowFeatureReceiver"
   xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
<ElementManifests>
   <ElementManifest Location="workflow.xml" />
</ElementManifests>
   <Properties>
   <Property Key="GloballyAvailable" Value="true" />
   <!-- Value for RegisterForms key indicates the path to the forms relative to feature file
   location -->
   <!-- if you don't have forms, use *.xsn -->
   <Property Key="RegisterForms" Value="*.xsn" />
 </Properties>
</Feature>

[XML]
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
<Workflow
   Name="OBAVacationApprovalDemo"
   Description="Vacation and Time Off Approval Workflow"
   Id="36cc9d57-d857-42ea-ad90-e461d58203ac"
   CodeBesideClass="OBAVacationApprovalDemo.Workflow1"
   CodeBesideAssembly="OBAVacationApprovalDemo, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,
   PublicKeyToken=6f9ec6d2f579b3c8">
   <Categories/>
   <MetaData>
      <StatusPageUrl>_layouts/WrkStat.aspx</StatusPageUrl>
   </MetaData>
 </Workflow>
</Elements>

Note

You can install InfoPath forms automatically to the server if you define the forms using the element of the feature.xml file.

[XML]
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Solution SolutionId="36cc9d57-d857-42ea-ad90-e461d58203ac"
                    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
   <FeatureManifests>
      <FeatureManifest Location="OBAVacationApprovalDemofeature.xml"/>
   </FeatureManifests>
   <Assemblies>
      <Assembly DeploymentTarget="GlobalAssemblyCache"
                                Location="OBAVacationApprovalDemo.dll"/>
   </Assemblies>
</Solution>

.OPTION EXPLICIT
.Set CabinetNameTemplate=OBAVacationApprovalDemo.wsp
.Set DiskDirectoryTemplate=CDROM
.Set CompressionType=MSZIP
.Set UniqueFiles="ON"
.Set Cabinet=on
.Set DiskDirectory1=OBAVacationApprovalDemo

Solutionmanifest.xml manifest.xml

.Set DestinationDir=OBAVacationApprovalDemo
OBAVacationApprovalDemoFeature.xml
OBAVacationApprovalDemoworkflow.xml
OBAVacationApprovalDemoindebugOBAVacationApprovalDemo.dll

makecab /f Solutionsolution.ddf

stsadm –o installfeature –filename <path of the Feature.xml file relative to the
12TEMPLATEFEATURES folder >

stsadm –o activatefeature –name < folder in FEATURES directory containing the Feature
.xml file > -url http://Server/Site/Subsite