SharePoint 2010 Workflows

SharePoint 2010 Workflows

A quick view on whats new with SharePoint 2010 Workflows :

1. SharePoint 2010 workflows are build upon the workflow engine provided .Net
Framework 3.5.

2. List and Site workflows - In addition to the SharePoint lists we can now create
workflows for SharePoint sites as well. These are called as "Site Workflows".

3. SharePoint Designer 2010 Changes - MS has provided a new graphical workflow
designer for designing workflows. These workflows can be deployed in SharePoint
Server directly from the designer.

4. Editing Out-of-Box workflows - Another Improvement in SharePoint Designer
2010 workflows is that it now allows you to edit the out-of-the-box workflows that
come with SharePoint.

5. Re-usable Workflow - In addition to above, with Designer 2010 you can also
create reusable declarative workflows. That means unlike SharePoint 2007 designer
workflows, you don't have to bind a workflow to a specific list. You can resuse them
by binding it to more than one list or multiple lists.

6. User profile in Workflow - User Profile data can now be bound to properties in
workflow. This will make it possible to get information about the SharePoint user
profile in the workflow itself.

7. Moving SharePoint Designer Workflows - The resuable designer workflows can
now be moved to another SharePoint server or to Visual Studio 2010 with a
workflow .wsp file. "Save as Template" command can be used to create the WSP
file for the workflow.

8.Changes in List Events - SharePoint 2010 adds four new workflow Event
Receivers for list based workflows. The four workflow event receivers available are
Starting, Started, Postponed and Completed. These are similar to other SharePoint
list\library event receivers and they execute code on the server in response to the
event.

9. Workflow Templates - To make development easier, Visual Studio 2010 includes
event receiver project types to make using the workflows and events fairly simple.

Now to Start developing workflows what do you need.

1. SharePoint designer - If you need to customize the Out-of-box workflow or wants
to create a "not so complex" reusable workflow. You can however, deploy your
designer workflow in any sharepoint enviornment using a wsp file. See Move
Designer workflow using wsp

2. Microsoft Visio - If you want to design a workflow which has complex workflow
chart, you can design it in Viso and later it can be pulled in to SharePoint designer.
Also, note that you can only create Sequential workflows in viso.

3. Creating Worflow in VS - Visual Studio 2010 provides templates to create
workflows and creates events for the workflow.

Lets look at some of the Videos available for creating workflows using all above
methods.