Introduction

Now that you have picked up this book and are curious enough to read this introduction, let me share with you how Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) can help you to be a better developer. WF is a Microsoft .NET technology that provides a fascinating way to develop software by defining workflows instead of writing conventional code.

Building workflows is an exercise in which visual models or diagrams represent how logic will flow. The first chapter quickly explains why workflows are important and walks through different ways of modeling scenarios outside of WF. Since building workflows is quite different from writing code, this chapter will give you a visual grounding in modeling processes if you are new to modeling.

My passion for Windows Workflow (WF) started when I watched it being demoed (for the very first time) by Microsoft. Hopefully that passion will infect you too, as you begin to understand how WF fits within your development toolbox.

With the appearance of Visual Studio 2012 and .NET Framework 4.5, a new version of WF has been released, referred to as WF4.5. Whether you are familiar with WF or not, this book will help you understand the new features in WF4.5 and how they can be used in real-world scenarios. I have taken pains to make sure that this book does not leave WF beginners in the dark, while showing experienced developers how to use its very latest features to accomplish practical tasks.