1. SharePoint 2013 Workflows Architecture
Presented by
Srini Sistla
@srinisistla

2. MICROSOFT MANIACS USER GROUP
SPONSOR(S)
AUDIENCE
thank you

3. about me AUTHOR SPEAKER BLOGGER
Pro SharePoint 2013 Business Intelligence (Apress)
Pro SharePoint 2010 Business Intelligence (Apress)
Pro SharePoint Migration (Apress)
SharePoint 2013 Development Machine ** (Self Published)
SPEAKER
INETA, SharePoint Saturday, CAPAREA.NET, SUGDC
BLOGGER
SHAREPOINT 2010 ARCHITECT / CONSULTANT / SME
about me

4. agenda ARCHITECTURE DETAILS YOUR DEVELOPMENT MACHINE FOR WORKFLOWS
DEMO
agenda

5. comparison

6. 2010 vs. 2013
SharePoint 2010 hosted the Workflow Foundation (WF) workflow runtime
Tightly coupled workflow to SharePoint 2010
Workflow data kept in SharePoint content databases
Challenges:
Designed for on-premise deployments (scale)
In SharePoint, extending WF meant you had to be a box admin
Analytics on current/previous workflow instances hard to acquire
Executed in the context of SharePoint as super user
Workflow now treated as a service in SharePoint 2013
Moved to Windows Azure Workflow
No longer runs in the content farm
No longer runs on SharePoint WFE / App servers
Harnesses the latest workflow technology from Microsoft
Windows Azure Workflow available for on-prem deployments
Improves stability, scalability & transparency

7. architecture SharePoint SharePoint Designer Visual Studio
OAuth
Access Control
Visual Studio
SharePoint Designer
SharePoint
Events
Content
People
Sharing
2010 WF
_API (REST OM)
Workflow Manager
Workflow Services Manager
Workflow Client
Instances
Interop
Service Bus
Deployment
Messaging
WF Service Application Proxy
architecture

8. SharePoint 2013 and Workflow Service
OAuth
Access Control
Visual Studio
SharePoint Designer
SharePoint
Events
Content
People
Sharing
2010 WF
_API (REST OM)
Workflow Manager
Workflow Services Manager
Workflow Client
Instances
Interop
Service Bus
Deployment
Messaging
WF Service Application Proxy

9. architecture

10. IMPROVEMENTS Rapid design with the Visual and Text-Based Designers
Copy & Paste in the Text-Based Designer
New “Assign A Task” & “Start a Task Process” actions
Do “App-Level” operations with App Step
NEARLY 50 NEW/IMPROVED FEATURES AND ACTIONS THIS RELEASE!!!!
Stages!
Looping!
Enhanced portability & packaging through WSP and VSDX files
Enhanced parallel blocks
Leverage web services(HTTP/REST)
Complex data types with ‘Dictionary’ variables
Support classic 2010 workflow type and interoperability
Full integration with Project Server workflows

11. IMPROVEMENTS Enhanced parallel blocks
Do “App-Level” operations with App Step
Leverage web services(HTTP/REST)
Copy & Paste in the Text-Based Designer
Stages!
Rapid design with the Visual and Text-Based Designers
Complex data types with ‘Dictionary’ variables
Looping!
New “Assign A Task” & “Start a Task Process” actions
Enhanced portability & packaging through WSP and VSDX files
Support classic 2010 workflow type and interoperability
Full integration with Project Server workflows
NEARLY 50 NEW/IMPROVED FEATURES AND ACTIONS THIS RELEASE!!!!

12. IMPROVEMENTS Rapid design with the Visual and Text-Based Designers
Copy & Paste in the Text-Based Designer
New “Assign A Task” & “Start a Task Process” actions
Do “App-Level” operations with App Step
NEARLY 50 NEW/IMPROVED FEATURES AND ACTIONS THIS RELEASE!!!!
Stages!
Looping!
Enhanced portability & packaging through WSP and VSDX files
Enhanced parallel blocks
Leverage web services(HTTP/REST)
Complex data types with ‘Dictionary’ variables
Support classic 2010 workflow type and interoperability
Full integration with Project Server workflows

13. IMPROVEMENTS Introducing “Stages” Declarative workflows have loops
Provides support for repeating & skipping workflow steps
Declarative workflows have loops
Loop # times / with condition / with expression
Declarative workflows can call REST/SOAP services
SharePoint 2010 required developers when:
Call SharePoint API
Connect & query databases
Consume feeds (ATOM / REST)
Call Web Services / REST
SharePoint 2013 enables workflow authors to do all this declaratively
IMPROVEMENTS

14. Workflows in designer Improved visual designer Stages & Loops
Integrated the Visio designer into SharePoint
Can switch between visual designer & sentence-style
Editable properties helper
Stages & Loops
Calling REST Web Services
Designer supports cut / copy / paste / undo / redo / select-all
Improved editor (rich formatting)
Each stage has an entry point & gate
Gate: conditional transition point where workflow exits
Underlying core in WF4 flow step in a flowchart
Can contain multiple steps
Mitigates SharePoint Designer loop limitations
Workflows in designer

15. Workflows in visual studio
Can create WF 3.5 or WF 4 workflows
For WF 4, Azure Workflow required
For WF 3.5, see Workflow Interop Bridge…
Focus is around declarative workflows
Push custom code logic to Web services
Programmatic workflows still possible, but only in Windows Azure Workflow
Workflow tools: SharePoint Designer & Visual Studio
Workflows in visual studio

16. Designer vs visual studio
SharePoint Designer
Visual Studio
Reusability
Create reusable WF
Create WF templates
Include in SP App
Custom Code
Custom Actions
Consume, not create
Yes; underlying activities
Visio Integration
Debugging
Designer vs visual studio

17. Interop bridge Enables SharePoint 2010 workflows to work in 2013
Execution engine hosted in SharePoint 2013
Interop bridge:
Negotiates between two execution engines (SP2010 & SP2013)
Delegates SP2010 workflows to SharePoint from WAWS
Invoke SP2010 workflow action from WAWS with InvokeSharePointWorkflow action

18. INTEROP BRIDGE

19. Processing SharePoint Workflow Backend Service Bus
SPC Developer
12/31/2018
Processing
SharePoint
Workflow Backend
Assign Task
GET 1
_API
Lookup User
POST 2
Reserve Task Id
Site
Users
Tasks
POST 3
Create Task
GET /…/web/siteuserinfolist/items?$filter=id eq {0}
POST /…/web/lists(guid'{0}')/reservelistitemid
Persist
Service Bus
POST /…/web/lists(guid'{0}')/items
REST/OData message format
Retry on failure
Repeatable (idempotent) Create, Read, Update and Delete
Merge update with conflict resolution (HTTP ETag)
Instances
© 2012 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, and other product names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries.
The information herein is for informational purposes only and represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this presentation. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

20. Processing SharePoint Workflow Frontend Workflow Backend Service Bus
SPC Developer
12/31/2018
Processing
SharePoint
Workflow Frontend
Workflow Backend
Assign Task (cont)
_API
Register Interest
Wait For Notification
Site
Users
Tasks …
Service Bus
Receive &
Persist
Messages
Instances
© 2012 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, and other product names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries.
The information herein is for informational purposes only and represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this presentation. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

21. Collocated Topology Farm Node Farm Node Farm Node SharePoint
WF Manager
Farm Node
Database
load balancer
SharePoint
WF Manager
Farm Node
SharePoint
WF Manager
Collocated Topology

22. Federated Topology SP Farm 1 Workflow Cluster SP Farm 2
Workflow Client
Workflow Cluster
load balancer
SP Farm 2
Each SP farm targets a different Workflow Manager scope
Independent security realms
Workflow Client
Federated Topology

23. Configure

24. Configure

25. Configure

26. Configure

27. Configure Register-SPWorkflowService –SPSite “http://sp/sites/awfs”
–WorkflowHostUri “ –AllowOAuthHttp
Configure

28. demo
how-to?

29. business requirement
A very famous actor, and producer wants to direct movie. He wants to engage, collaborate and send information to his cast and crew in timely fashion. His tech Manager delivers views in Visio diagram. Requirements at high level are –
Need a very quick solution
Find the actor information from local first and additional information from IMDB
Send financial information to the producer
Monitor if the finance statement is approved
Send daily schedule and notes to the actors
Learn if the actors have any schedule conflicts or questions on the notes and are reviewed and approved
Maintain all the notes and finance statements in one website and invite the producer, actors and crew to collaborate on the overall progress .
Use the provided Visio if possible to build the workflow

30. actors Will Leo Ann Jenny Actor, Director
SP Role: Site Owner, Approver
Actor, Producer
SP Role: Designer, Visio Expert
Actress, Producer
SP Role: Content Owner, Reviewer
Actress
SP Role: Content Owner, Approver

31. Solution
Leverage SharePoint 2013 out of the box features as much as possible for
Quick and Rapid App Development and delivery
Use SharePoint Designer 2013 workflows and in specific
HTTP/REST Web Services
Use Dictionary Variables
Assign A Task
Stages
Demonstrate on the list what stage of the workflow currently the status is in
Use new features
Use the provided Visio diagram

32. Migrating from 2010 to 2013
2013 is based on new architecture – Workflow Manager
Runs on Workflow Foundation 4
Declarative and is in XAML Format
2010 workflows run as-is on 2013 platform
Recreate them if you need to use them
Use workflow interop – allows 2010 workflows to run within 2013.

33. questions, thank you and my contact
@srinisistla
questions, thank you and my contact

34. USEFUL DOWNLOADS / links
SharePoint Designer 2013 – What's new in WF in 2013 – Getting Started - Develop using VS Setup configure WF Manger - Workflow Manager
USEFUL DOWNLOADS / links