Skelta Workflow.NET
is a fully embeddable workflow engine. It
has several developer-friendly features that
allow it to be integrated with other applications
with ease. These features also ensure that
once embedded, Skelta is completely hidden
from the end user of the application. Skelta
can be added to your application through a
few easy steps that are listed below:
Step 1: Configure the Application
Configure the application and the workflows
associated with it in the Skelta Workflow.NET
Configuration file - WorkflowNET.Config.xml
Step 2: Configure the Resource Handler
Skelta can query a resource and extract
the resource properties from any source, like
databases and active directories, through
a Resource Handler. Identify the resource
properties required by the application and
configure the properties in an XML file. The
path of this file has to be configured in
the Skelta Workflow.NET Configuration file
- WorkflowNET.Config.xml, for the specific
application. Workflow.NET provides a default
database handler. This database handler can
be used for all the applications that get
the resource information from the database.
Step 3: Develop and Configure Custom
Actions for the Application
Skelta Workflow.NET provides more than a
dozen standard actions, which can be used
for most workflows. However, for some workflows
you might need to extend standard actions
or develop completely different actions. In
such cases, you can develop the custom actions
by implementing the IActionRun interface.
After developing the custom action(s), you
need to configure it in the Actions.xml file.
When you have configured the action(s) in
the Actions.xml file, the action gets added
to the list of actions in the Process Designer.
Step 4: Develop and Configure Custom
Properties for the Custom Actions
Skelta Workflow.NET provides a set of properties
for the actions. You can also develop custom
properties. If the custom action needs a custom
property, it has to be developed and configured
in the Actions.xml file. All the properties
implement the IPropertyType interface. For
rendering the HTML for the property in the
Process Designer, a web user interface and
the property page has to be implemented for
the property. The property type and the property
web user interface have to be configured in
the Actions.xml file. For displaying the property
in the Process Designer implement the IPropertyTypeWebUI.
The custom property has to be configured
in the Actions.xml file. The custom property
will be displayed in the Properties pane of
the Process Designer for the custom action.
Step 5: Develop and Deploy the Workflow
Process using the Process Designer
After creating and configuring Custom Resource
Handlers, Actions and Properties for the application,
create and deploy a workflow process using
the Skelta Workflow.NET Process Designer.
Once the workflow process is designed and
deployed, it can be executed.
Step 6: Create the Activity List
for the Resources to view activities
After creating and deploying the workflow
process, create the Activity List for the
resources. Embed the Activity List control
in the web form in your application and specify
the application name in the ApplicationName
property. Also specify the resource identifier
in the UserIDInteger property or the UserIDString
property.
The activity list will now display the activities
for the resource who has logged in. The activities
will be displayed with Action specific web
controls. The view for the activity list is
loaded from HTML templates. You can edit the
templates to give a different look and feel
to the activity list. The HTML templates are
stored under the path configured in the WorkflowNET.Config.xml
file.
Step 7: Develop Custom Document
Views
After creating the Activity List do the
following to create the document views for
different actions.
- Identify the document view format for
different Actions.
- Develop document view by implementing
the IActivityWebUIHandler interface and
inheriting the WebControl class.
- Configure the custom document view in
WorkflowNET.Config.xml file.
Step 8: Configure the Calendars for
the Organization and the Resources
Configure the Organization and Resource
Calendars by embedding the corresponding controls
in web forms in your application. These calendars
are used to compute and track the business
hours.
Configure the Organization Calendar by adding
holiday and shift details for the organization.
For more details, see Organization Calendar
Reference. Similarly configure the Resource
Calendar by adding the holiday and shift details
for the resource. For more details, see Resource
Calendar Reference. The Resource Calendar
inherits the Organization Calendar details.
Step 9: Execute the workflow
Use the Client class to execute the workflow
with the content data.
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