6.11. Miscellaneous Improvements
WF 4 also contains a number of other enhancements:
WF version 4 is 10 to 100 times faster than WF3, and performance of the WF designer is much improved.
The programming model has been simplified.
Expressions now have IntelliSense (which can be utilized by activities you create as well).
WF4 has support for running workflows in partial-trust environments.
It has improved support for declarative (XAML-only) workflows.
Breakpoints can be added to XAML directly. If breakpoints are added in design view and you switch to XAML view, they will be shown (and vice versa). See Figure 6-21.
Figure 6.21. Debugging XAML
E2E (end-to-end) tracing with WF support ensures that traces are tied together to make debugging easier.
Tracking profiles enable you to be notified when specific events occur in your workflows. Profiles can be created programmatically or through the configuration file, and you have fine-grained control over the level of detail returned. For more information, please refer to http://blogs.msdn.com/endpoint/archive/2009/06/19/workflow-tracking-profiles-in-net-4-0-beta-1.aspx.
You can run your workflows on Dublin or Azure platform (see Chapters 7 and 16).
I talked to an experienced WF user, John McLoughlin, a freelance .NET consultant specializing in WF and coordinator of the UK user group Nxtgen Southampton.