SHAREPOINT
WORKFLOW IN 2013
PRESENTED BY:
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STEVE BOLDT
AGENDA
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Workflow and SharePoint Through the Years
SharePoint Workflow Today
SharePoint 2013 Workflow Architecture
Workflow Manager
Design Tools with SharePoint 2013
• SharePoint 2013 Designer
• SharePoint 2013 & Visio 2013
• SharePoint 2013 & Visual Studio 2012
• SharePoint 2013 Workflow Demonstration(s)
• Q&A
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SHAREPOINT WORKFLOW THROUGH
THE YEARS
SharePoint 2007 / WSS 3
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SHAREPOINT WORKFLOW THROUGH
THE YEARS
SharePoint Designer 2007
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SHAREPOINT WORKFLOW THROUGH
THE YEARS
SharePoint 2010 Workflow
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New actions and conditions for SharePoint Designer
Site based workflows
High Privilege Workflows
Added 4 new SharePoint Event Receivers (list-based)
SPTimer Location
Visio Integration
• Process mapping
• Workflow visualization
SHAREPOINT WORKFLOW THROUGH
THE YEARS
SharePoint 2010 stencil-set for Visio Premium
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SHAREPOINT WORKFLOW THROUGH
THE YEARS
Visualization of workflow status via Visio Services in SharePoint 2010
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SHAREPOINT WORKFLOW TODAY
• Workflow moved to Workflow Manager (WM)
• Does not run in SharePoint anymore
• WM is built on WF 4
• WF 4 is part of Microsoft .Net 4.5
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SHAREPOINT 2013 WORKFLOW
AT A GLANCE
• 2 Distinct workflow platforms: 2010 and 2013
• Complete redesigned workflow infrastructure
• Workflow Manager 1.0 (WM)
• Windows Azure Workflow Service (WAWS)
• More robust task management.
• Design Tool Enhancements
• Call Web Services
• Fully Declarative
• Visual Designer (with SP Designer)
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WORKFLOW AND SHAREPOINT 2013
Installs OTB
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Requires Workflow Manager
SHAREPOINT DEPLOYMENT
LOCATIONS
On-Premise Deployment:
• WM can be installed on the WFE or separate server
• Must be connected to the SharePoint 2013 farm
SharePoint Online / Office 365 (Off-Premise) Deployment:
• No Deployment necessary, already installed
• No configuration necessary
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SHAREPOINT WORKFLOW TODAY
SharePoint 2013 Workflow Architecture
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WORKFLOW MANAGER
WHAT IS WORKFLOW MANAGER?
New host which introduces new capabilities for authoring, hosting
and managing workflows. Also hosts the execution processes for
workflow instances.
Key Points:
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High Density & Multi-tenancy
Elastic Scale
Activity / Workflow Artifact Management
Tracking and Monitoring
Instance Management
Fully Declarative Authoring (Trusted Surface)
REST and Service Bus Messaging
WHAT IS TRUSTED SURFACE IN WM?
A set of trusted types and activities to author workflows. This is
accomplished through a “white-list” that ensures only allowed
types are used.
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KEY ARCHITECTURE CHANGES IN 2013
• Powered by Windows Workflow Foundation 4 (WF)
• SharePoint 2013 workflow is now executed in Windows Azure
Workflow Services (WAWS)
• Communicates with SharePoint using Azure service bus using
common protocols (I.E HTTP)
• Based on .NET framework 4.5
• Enhanced connectivity to enable cloud-based execution of
workflows.
• SharePoint Events are routed to WM and returned via REST
API
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INTEROP BRIDGE
• Allows for creation of 2010 workflows in SharePoint 2013
• Is put in place for backwards compatibility between SharePoint
2013 and SharePoint 2010 workflow engines
• WAWS will delegate workflows or portions of workflows to the
2010 Interop engine.
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OUT OF THE BOX WORKFLOWS
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No native 2013 workflows come out of the box. However all 2010 and some
2007 workflows can be activated.
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Disposition Approval Workflow
Publishing Approval workflow
Three state workflow
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SharePoint 2010 Workflows (Must be activated)
SharePoint 2007 Workflows (Must be activated)
IMPROVEMENTS IN SHAREPOINT
DESIGNER 2013
• Introducing Stages.
• Finally mitigates the lack of support for Loops
• Provides for a state machine like experience
• Declarative workflows can now have loop like functionality.
• Loop x # of times.
• Loop while condition is true
• Workflows can now call REST/SOAP Services
• Improved Email editor
• Now supports rich formatting
• Designer supports Cut, Copy, Paste, Undo, Redo, Select-all
• Improved Visual Designer. Visio is now embedded. Can
switch between visual and text-style.
• Can build 2010 or 2013 workflows
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STAGES AND GATES
Stage
Gate
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IMPORTANT TASK ACTION
Assign a task - This Action is to assign a Task to a single User that
outputs a Variable an a TaskId. You can use the people picker to select
the person or group to whom you are assigning the task.
Start a Task Process – This action allows you to assign multiple tasks to
multiple users and then use the results in a task process.
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Workflow Example using
SharePoint Designer 2013 and
Visio 2013
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LOOPS
Visio 2013 and SharePoint Designer 2013 support two types of loops:
• Loop n Times
• Loop with Condition
Loops must also conform to the following rules:
• Loops must be within a stage, and stages cannot be within a loop.
• Steps may be within a loop.
• Loops may have only one entry and one exit point.
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CALL HTTP WEB SERVICE
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• Accesses SharePoint 2013 via CSOM
• Expects JSON format
• HTTP Methods:
• Get
• Delete
• Merge
• Put
• Post
New Actions in SPD
Action
Description
Assign a Task
Assigns a single workflow task to a user or group.
Start a Task Process
Initiates execution of a task process.
Go to This Stage
Specifies the next stage in a workflow to which flow control
should be handed.
Call HTTP Web Service
Functions as a method call to a (REST) endpoint
Start List Workflow
Starts a list scoped workflow (2010)
Start a site workflow
Starts a site scoped workflow (2010)
Build Dynamic value
Creates a new variable of type DynamicValue.
Get Property from Dynamic
Value
Retrieves a property value from a specified variable of type
DynamicValue.
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New Actions in SPD
Action
Description
Count Items in DynamicValue
Returns the number of rows in a variable of type
DynamicValue.
Trim String
Removes all leading and trailing white-space characters
from the current string.
Find Substring in String
Returns 1-based index of the first occurrence of one or
more characters, or the first occurrence of a string, within a
string.
Replace Substring in String
Returns a new string in which all occurrences of a specified
character or string are replaced with another specified
character or string.
Translate Document
Functions as a wrapper around the HTTP activity that calls
the synchronous translation API. You must configure a
Machine Translation Service Application for the SharePoint
site on which you run the workflow.
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New Actions in SPD
Action
Description
Set Workflow Status
Updates workflow status as specified in
message string.
Create a Project from Current
Item [Microsoft Project]
Creates a Project Server project based on the
current item.
Set the current project stage
Sets the two status fields within the current
status to this value [MS Project] stage of the project.
Set the status field in the idea
list item to this value [MS
Project]
Updates the status field of the original
SharePoint list item.
Wait for Project Event [MS
Project]
Pauses the current instance of the workflow to
await a specified Project event
Set this field in the project to
this value [MSProject]
Sets the value for the enterprise custom field for
a specified project.
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What's Gone for 2013 workflows?
Actions
Conditions
Features and Functions
Stop Workflow
If Current Item Field
Equals Value
Association Columns
All Document Set Actions
Check List item
permissions levels
Content type association
All Records Management Actions
Check List Item
Permissions
Globally reusable workflow
type
Add List item
Workflow visualization option
All Permissions Actions
Require Manage List/Web
Permission' feature for list/site
workflow
Lookup Manger of user function
InfoPath is not supported for
SharePoint Designer 2013
workflows.
Collect Data From User
Start Approval Process
Start Custom Task Process
Start Feedback Process
Copy List Item
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VISIO 2013
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Must Be Visio Professional 2013
Carries through traditional method of building workflows
Contains a dedicated SharePoint workflow stencil set
Matches SPD with Stages and Gates
Can Still go back and forth between Visio and SPD
• Can now see properties set by SPD
• Cannot add to them from Visio only
• Custom Actions now can appear in the stencil pane
• Still unable to add workflow properties to shapes.
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VISUAL STUDIO 2012
& SHAREPOINT 2013
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Can still Import from SPD Reusable workflows
o Both 2010 and 2013
New Project types, examples include:
o Custom Activity
o Workflow (SharePoint 2013 / Workflow Manager style)
All Declarative
New project item templates
Custom Activities
Allows for richer debugging capabilities
VISUAL STUDIO 2012 PROJECTS
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Visual Studio Toolbox
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COMPARING DESIGNERS
SharePoint
Designer
Visual Studio
2012
Yes
Yes
Create Reusable
Workflows
Create
Templates
Build into SP App
No
Yes
Use Custom Code
No
Yes
Custom Actions
Consumer of
Actions
Yes, using
custom project
Visio Integration
Yes
No
Debugging
No
Yes
Create Declarative Workflow
Reusability
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Questions?
Steve Boldt – Technical Specialist
Email: [email protected]
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