SIVANANDA REDDY GANGIREDDY: Introduction to Workflow Services using .NET Framework 4

Description

This hands-on lab is intended to introduce developers to writing workflow services using .NET Framework 4. You will examine the different messaging activities of Windows Workflow, and learn how to configure them to create a distributed application. This lab is built around a specific HR business scenario where candidates submit their applications and are hired or rejected based on an evaluation process.

Overview

Windows Workflow Foundation (WF4) in .NET Framework 4 introduces a new way to create web services that combines the power of Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), and the flexibility of WF4. In this lab, you will learn how to use the WF4 messaging activities to implement an HR business workflow scenario. You will also experience the improved hosting, deployment, tracking and troubleshooting capabilities of the new Windows Server AppFabric.

Note:

Do I have to do all the exercises?

This lab is long. To do all of it will probably take close to 2 hours. The lab is designed so that each exercise can be done independently. Just open the solution found under the Begin folder for the exercise. For example, if you wanted to learn how Windows Server AppFabric makes it easier to deploy an application you would start with Exercise 5 and open the solution from the Source\Ex5 \Begin (choosing the folder that matches the language of your preference) folder.

Contoso has a business process for filling the open job requisitions in the company. The process will be divided in three tiers: a smart client application, a web site, a middle-tier workflow service, and a data layer.

The applicant submits an application to a workflow service using a Windows Forms client app
The workflow service screens the applicant’s education background by calling an Education service
If the education screening passes, a human reviewer will receive an email with a link to the website to review the application
The web site will call the workflow service to pass the result of the human review
The applicant is notified by an email and a callback to the client application

Figure 1

Services Diagram for the lab solution

Objectives

In this Hands-On Lab, you will learn how to:

Use Messaging activities to send data in and out of workflows
Configure the Messaging activities for a specific scenario
Invoke Add Service Reference to create activities that consume another service
Utilize Activity Templates to create pre-configured request-reply patterns
Set up Content Based Correlation to correlate messages from the same client

System Requirements

You must have the following items to complete this lab:

Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 – Download
Microsoft .NET Framework 4 – Download
SQL Server 2008 Express (included with Visual Studio 2010) – Download
Microsoft Outlook or Windows Live Mail Client – Download
Windows Server AppFabric – Download using the Web Platform Installer – Donwload

Exercises

This Hands-On Lab comprises the following exercises:

Submit Application Service
Email Notification
Applicant Screening
Deploy the Solution
Troubleshooting

Starting Materials

This Hands-On Lab includes the following starting materials.

Visual Studio solutions. Depending on the exercise you will find Visual Studio solutions that you can use as starting point for the exercises.

Note:

What if I get stuck?

The source code that accompanies this hands-on lab includes an end folder where you can find a Visual Studio solution with the code that you would obtain if you complete the steps in each exercise. You can use this solution as a guide if you need additional help working through the exercises.

Remember to build the solutions before opening any file using the workflow designer.

Setup

All the requisites for this lab are verified using the Dependency Checker. To make sure that everything is correctly configured, follow these steps:

Run the Dependency Checker if you have not done so previously. To do this, browse toSource\Setup folder of this lab and double-click the Dependencies.dep file. Install any pre-requisites that are missing (rescanning if necessary) and complete the wizard.

Note:

The Configuration Wizard is used for checking dependencies and setting up the environment. If the Configuration Wizard is not installed on your machine, you must install it running the DependencyChecker.msi file located on the %VS2010TKInstallationFolder%\Assets\DependencyChecker folder (e.g. by default the Training Kit is installed under C:\VS2010TrainingKit).

For convenience, much of the code you will be managing along this lab is available as Visual Studio code snippets. The Dependencies.dep file launches the Visual Studio installer file that installs the code snippets. If you cannot find the snippets when you write the solutions, make sure you installed the code snippets inside Visual Studio 2010 Code Snippets Repository.

Note:

This script file creates a persistence database by invoking the SQL scripts included with the .NET Framework. You can also use AppFabric to create persistence databases.
If you are installing Windows Server AppFabric for the first time, you will be prompted to configure it. If you want to reconfigure it later just search for the Configure AppFabric menu shortcut. To configure AppFabric, perform the following steps:
1. Start Configure AppFabric from the Start menu if it is not already running after installation.
2. On the Configure Hosting Services page tick the Set monitoring configurationcheckbox.
3. Select the monitoring provider System.Data.SqlClient.
4. Tick the Set persistence configuration checkbox.
5. Select the persistence provider sqlStoreProvider.
  
  Figure 2
  Configuring AppFabric monitoring and persistence stores for SQL Server
6. Click the Configure button next to the Monitoring provider, and select the following options in the Monitoring Store Configuration Window:
  1. Check Register AppFabric monitoring store in root web.config.
  2. Check Initialize monitoring store.
  3. In the Database field, enter the name of the database to be created for monitoring data, or select an existing database from the list.
7. Click OK to return to the AppFabric Configuration Wizard.
  
  Figure 3
  Register and Initialize the monitoring store
9. Click the Configure button next to the Persistence provider, and select the following options in the Persistence Store Configuration Window:
  1. Check Register AppFabric persistence store in root web.config.
  2. Check Initialize persistence store.
  3. In the Database field, enter the name of the database to be created for persistence data, or select an existing database from the list.
  4. Click OK to return to the AppFabric Configuration Wizard.
  Figure 4
  Register and Initialize the monitoring store
Click the Next button to proceed to the next screen of the wizard.
Uncheck Start Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
Click Finish to complete the configuration.

Exercise 1: Submit Application Service

In the first exercise you will create a simple service that receives an Application from the smart client application and returns a response.

Task 0 – Opening the Solution

Start Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 from Start | All Programs | Microsoft Visual Studio 2010.
Open the starting solution for Exercise 1 located under the Source\Ex1\Begin folder (choosing the folder that matches the language of your preference.) Use it as the starting point for this exercise.

Note:

What is in this solution?

This solution contains a web site created from the WCF Workflow Service template, and a data layer project you will be using in this lab. The Web.config file has some minor modifications to include an appSettings section, and connection string for the database.
Press CTRL+SHIFT+B to build the solution.

Task 1 – Adding a new a Workflow Service

Add a new Workflow Service. To do this, right-click on HRApplicationServices, and select Add / New Item… (CTRL+SHIFT+A), in the Workflow Templates select the WCF Workflow Servicetemplate, name the service to SubmitApplication.xamlx, and then click Add.

Figure 5
Create a New Workflow Service in C#

Figure 6
Create a New Workflow Service in Visual Basic

Task 2 – Exploring the Workflow Service

You probably have some questions about your service. What is the service contract? What binding does it use? What address is it hosted at? In this task, you will explore your service and how it interacts with the world.

Figure 7

The default Workflow Service

Workflow Services have an implicit contract that is defined by the messaging activities contained in the service. SubmitApplication.xamlx already has a working contract that might look familiar if you have built a WCF service before. Look at SubmitApplication.xamlx in the workflow designer. Notice that it has a sequence with two activities, a request labeled ReceiveRequest and a response labeled SendResponse. The request determines the parameters to the service. To see the message content, click View messagein the ReceiveRequest activity, next to the Contentlabel.

Figure 8
The message content – the parameters are implied by the data
Click OK to dismiss the Content Definition dialog.
The content of the message is a variable named data. To see this variable; click the Sequential Service activity and then click the Variables button in the lower left of the design surface.

Figure 9
Variables created by the Workflow Services template
There are two variables. The first variable handle is used to correlate the request and response messages. The second variable data defines the message content that you expect to receive.
To see what the return value is, in the SendResponse activity click View message.

Figure 10
The response message will be the data converted to a string
Click OK to dismiss the Content Definition dialog.
You now have a workflow service, but it does not have Metadata publishing enabled. To add this, you can use the new “tagless” syntax for WCF configuration in .NET 4. Open the Web.config file, and add the following section. Also notice that there is no <service> definition. The simplified configuration for WCF will supply a default binding (basicHttpBinding) address and contract as required.
(Code Snippet – Introduction to WF Services Lab – WCF serviceMetatdata XML)
XML
```
<system.serviceModel>
 <behaviors>
 <serviceBehaviors>
 <behavior>
 <serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true"/>
 </behavior>
 </serviceBehaviors>
 </behaviors>
</system.serviceModel>
```
You now have a working Workflow Service. To see it in action, right-click theSubmitApplication.xamlx file, and select View in Browser (CTRL+SHIFT+W). You should see a familiar site for WCF developers.

Figure 11
The service running in the browser

Task 3 – Creating Service Implementation Outline

Your service has three phases to it. It will receive, screen and notify. Throughout the lab, you will be implementing these phases. To begin with, you will add placeholders for each phase.

Switch back to SubmitApplication.xamlx in the workflow designer.
Change the Display Name property of the outermost sequence from Sequential Service toApplication Service. You can change it directly on the design surface or in the Properties window.

Figure 12
Change the name of the service to Application Service
The first placeholder will require a transaction because you will be updating a database as well as persisting your workflow to the persistence database. Drag a TransactedReceiveScope from the Messaging group in the Toolbox and drop it at the top of the Application Service sequence. Set the Display Name to Receive Application.
Drag the existing ReceiveRequest inside the Request area of the Receive Application activity. When the message is received it will create a transaction.

Figure 13
Drag the existing ReceiveRequest inside of the Request area of the Receive Application
In the body area you want to put the work that will be done inside of the transaction. You will have more than one activity here so drop a Sequence from the Control Flow Toolbox group inside of the body and set the properties.
1. Display Name: Save and Respond
Drag the SendResponse and drop it inside of the Save and Respond sequence.

Figure 14
The Service with the TransactedReceiveScope containing the messaging activities
Collapse the Receive Application activity ().
The second phase of the service will be to screen the applicant. You will implement this later but for now drag a Sequence activity from the Control Flow group and drop it below the Receive Application shape and set the Display Name to Screen Applicant then collapse the sequence.
The third phase will be notifying the applicant via email and by sending a notification message to the smart client application. Drop another Sequence, set the Display Name to Notify Applicantand collapse the sequence.

Figure 15
Collapsed view of the workflow service with three phases

Task 4 – Adding Custom Activities

Your service will accept a job application from the smart client app. In this task, you will make the modifications necessary to prepare the service to accept a job application.

Add existing projects containing the solution's data contracts and custom activities. To do this, in Solution Explorer right-click the solution node, and select Add / Existing Project. In the Add Existing Project dialog, browse to Source\Assets folder of this lab (choosing the folder that matches the language of your preference) and select the following project(s):
1. HRApplicationServices.Contracts
2. HRApplicationServices.Activities
In the HRApplicationServices project, add references to the HRApplicationServices.Contractsand HRApplicationService.Activities projects. To do this in Solution Explorer, right-click theHRApplicationServices project and select Add Reference. In the Add Reference dialog, switch to the Projects tab, and select the projects. Click OK to add the references.
Your workflow is going to be long running. It will do some initial work and then wait for a human to respond. This means that you need to configure a persistence store. To add this, open theWeb.config from the HRApplicationServices project and add the following settings.
1. To the <connectionStrings> section add the following connection string which will use the WF4Persistence store you created in the setup for the lab.
  (Code Snippet – Introduction to WF Services Lab – WF4 Persistence XML)
  XML
```
<connectionStrings>
```
```
 <add name="WF4Persistence" 
 connectionString
="Data Source=.\sqlexpress;
 Database=WF4Persistence;
 Integrated Security=True"
/>
```
2. To the <behavior> section add the sqlWorkflowInstanceStore behavior right after theserviceMetadata behavior.
  (Code Snippet – Introduction to WF Services Lab – WF4 sqlWorkflowInstanceStore XML)
  XML
```
<serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true"/>
```
```
<sqlWorkflowInstanceStore connectionStringName="WF4Persistence" />
```
  Note:
  
  When you deploy the website to AppFabric you can configure the persistence store within IIS manager. While working with the ASP.NET Development server you have to create the persistence stores and add the persistence behavior manually.
To make the custom activities available to your service you must build the solution. From the menu select Build / Build Solution (CTRL+SHIFT+B). Ensure that the build succeeded by inspecting the Output window. If you look at SubmitApplication.xamlx in the workflow designer, you should now see a HRApplicationService.Activities group in the toolbox.

Task 5 – Receiving a Job Application

Open SubmitApplication.xamlx and create variables to store the application request and response. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Select the Application Service activity by clicking over the shape surface.
2. Click the Variables button located in lower left side of the workflow designer. A panel that displays the available variables for the Application Service activity appears.
3. Delete the data variable by selecting it and pressing the DELETE key.
  
  Note:
  
  When you delete the data variable the workflow designer will show warning icons indicating that the workflow is invalid until you update the activities that used the datavariable.
4. Click Create Variable.
  
  Figure 16
  Adding a new variable
5. Type ApplicationRequest in the Name box.
6. In the Variable type dropdown list select Browse for Types.
7. In the Type Name box of the dialog box, type the first few characters of the type you are looking for such as SubmitJob. As you type matching names will show up in the list. Click on the SubmitJobApplicationRequest type to select it.
  
  Figure 17
  Selecting the SubmitJobApplicationRequest type from the type picker box
8. Click OK to finish.
  
  Figure 18
  Variables window
Repeat the previous process to add another variable named ApplicationResponse of typeSubmitJobApplicationResponse.
You need to create a response object to store the response. Set the Default value of theApplicationResponse variable to New SubmitJobApplicationResponse(). Remember that expressions must be written with Visual Basic regardless of the language of the project.
Now you can change the contract to receive a job application. To do this, expand the Receive Application sequence and select the ReceiveRequest activity in the designer and press F4 to display the Properties Window. Set the following values:
1. OperationName: SubmitJobApplication
2. ServiceContractName: {http://contoso.com/hr/}IApplicationService
3. Content: Click the … button to display the content definition dialog and change the Message data to ApplicationRequest.
4. Check the CanCreateInstance checkbox. This will cause every incoming message received by the Receive Job Application activity to create a new workflow instance.
  
  Figure 19
  Properties of the ReceiveRequest activity

Task 6 – Saving the Job Application

You need to store the job application data in the HR database. The provided SaveJobApplicationcustom activity does this using the ADO.NET Entity Framework. When the job application is saved the database will generate an Application ID that you will use as the primary key for the application.

Drop a SaveJobApplication activity from the HRApplicationServices.Activities group inside the Save and Respond sequence above the SendResponse activity.

Figure 20
The SaveJobApplication activity
Set the properties of the SaveJobApplication activity:
1. AppRequest: ApplicationRequest
2. Result: ApplicationResponse

Task 7 – Configuring the Response

Though you have stored the application in the database, you are not finished processing it. You want to let the user of the client application know that you have received and are processing their job application. And you have to initialize the correlation handle that you will use to identify messages bound for this workflow instance using content based correlation.

First, you need to create a correlation handle that will be used to correlate messages for this workflow instance. Select the Application Service scope, click the Variables button and just as you did before, add a new variable ApplicationIDHandle of type CorrelationHandle to theApplication Service scope.
Next set the response data. In the SendResponse activity, click on View message… to display the content definition dialog. Change the Message data to use the variable ApplicationResponse.

Figure 21
Set the message data of the response to ApplicationResponse
Now you can define the CorrelationInitializers. The initializer will extract data from the outgoing message using an XPath expression. The extracted key will be used to identify the persisted workflow instance. With the SendResponse activity selected, in the Properties window click beside CorrelationIntializers to display the Add Correlation Initializers dialog.
Click Add initializer and add ApplicationIDHandle.
With the ApplicationIDHandle initializer selected, in the XPath Queries window double-click theApplicationID : Int32 message content.

Figure 22
Double-click the ApplicationID : Int32 message content
Click OK to dismiss the dialog.
The default namespace for types in your workflow service is tempuri.org. If you want to change the default namespace you will need to edit the XAMLX file using the XML editor. To do this, in Solution Explorer right-click on SubmitApplication.xamlx and select View Code.
Locate the Name= attribute and insert p: in front of the name as shown. This will cause the service to use the namespace of the operation contract as the default namespace for the WSDL types.
XML
```
<WorkflowService 
```
```
 mc:Ignorable="sap" 
```
```
 ConfigurationName="SubmitApplication" 
```
```
 sap:VirtualizedContainerService.HintSize="252,435" 
```
```
 Name="p:SubmitApplication" 
```

Task 8 – Adding the Client Application

Add the existing HRClient project. To do this, in Solution Explorer right-click the solution node, and select Add / Existing Project. In the Add Existing Project dialog, browse to Source\Assetsfolder of this lab (choosing the folder that matches the language of your preference) and select the HRClient project.
Add a Service Reference to the SubmitApplication.xamlx service, to do this:
1. Right-click on the HRClient project and select Add Service Reference.
2. In the Add Service Reference dialog click on the Discover button to discover services in the solution. Visual Studio will find the SubmitApplication.xamlx file. Double-click it to see the details of the service. This will launch the service in the ASP.NET Development server.
3. Set the namespace of the service to SubmitApp.
  
  Figure 23
  Configuring the service reference
4. Click the Advanced button, check the Generate asynchronous operations checkbox and click OK.
  
  Figure 24
  Check the Generate asynchronous operations checkbox in the advanced settings
Click OK to save and dismiss the Add Service Reference dialog.
From the menu select Build / Build Solution (CTRL+SHIFT+B).

Exercise 1: Verification

In this verification, you will run a client application verify that you have created a working service.

Verification 1 – View the Service in the Browser

Building the solution does not insure that your workflow is functional. The quickest way to determine if the workflow has any major problems is to view it in the browser. Right-ClickSubmitApplication.xamlx and select View in Browser. You should see the Workflow Service.

Figure 25
The Workflow Service

Note:

If your workflow is invalid in some way you will see an ASP.NET Error page.

Verification 2 – The Client Application Can Send and Receive Messages

Right-click the HRClient project, and select Set as StartUp Project.
Make sure that the service is already launched in the ASP.NET Development server and press F5to debug the client application.
When the Candidate Information form comes up, press the Submit button.

Figure 26
The Candidate Information Form
You should see the application being submitted.

Figure 27
The submit message text

Then you should see the response message from the server.

Figure 28

The response from the server – the applicant ID may vary

Exercise 2: Email Notification

One of the advantages of Workflow Services is that they can do work beyond the initial request/response. In your workflow service you have completed only the first of three phases. In this exercise, you will implement the third phase of your workflow, where you will notify the client of the result by email. Later you will implement the second phase to screen the application.

Task 0 – Opening the Solution

To begin this exercise you can use the solution you finished from Exercise 1. Alternatively, you can follow the following steps to begin with Exercise 2.

Start Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 from Start | All Programs | Microsoft Visual Studio 2010.
Open the starting solution for Exercise 2 located under the \Source\Ex2\Begin folder (choosing the folder that matches the language of your preference.) Use it as the starting point for this exercise.
Press CTRL+SHIFT+B to build the solution.

Task 1 – Modifying the Workflow Service

Your service has work to do after sending the initial response. In this task, you will send a hire notification email to the client.

In the HRApplicationService project, open the SubmitApplication.xamlx file.
Select the Application Service sequence.
Add a Variable named Hire of type Boolean at the Application Service scope with a Default value of False.
To make it simple to send an email, a code activity called NotifyApplicant is provided that will send an email. Drag a NotifyApplicant activity from the HRApplicationServices.Activitiesgroup, drop it in the Notify Applicant sequence and set the following properties:
1. Display Name: Notify Applicant Email
2. Hire: Hire
3. Resume: ApplicationRequest.Resume
Create the following folder if it does not exist already: C:\Mailbox.

Note:

Where will the email go?

For testing purposes the Web.config file is set to drop mail messages into a folder (C:\Mailbox). You can view these email messages with the Outlook or the free Windows Live Mail client application.

Exercise 2: Verification

In this verification, you will run the HRClient application to verify that it sends the hire notification email.

Right-click the HRClient project, and select Set as StartUp Project.
Make sure that the service is already launched in the ASP.NET Development server and press F5to Debug the solution.
Click Submit to send the job application, you should see a thank you message as you did before.
Look in the C:\Mailbox folder. You should see an email message. If you have Outlook or Windows Live Mail client you can open it.

Figure 29
Open the message with Outlook or Windows Live Mail
Open the message. The candidate will not be hired because the Hire variable defaults to False.

Figure 30
The notification email

Exercise 3: Applicant Screening

Due to the high volume of résumés that Contoso receives, they want to automate a portion of the résumé screening process. In this exercise, you will send a message to a Flowchart Workflow Service that screens candidates based on education, and then you will notify the HR reviewer of applications that need review by a human.

Task 0 – Opening the Solution

To begin this exercise, you can use the solution you finished from Exercise 2. Alternatively, you can follow the following steps to begin with Exercise 3.

Start Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 from Start | All Programs | Microsoft Visual Studio 2010.
Open the starting solution for Exercise 3 located under the \Source\Ex3\Begin folder (choosing the folder that matches the language of your preference.) Use it as the starting point for this exercise.
Press CTRL+SHIFT+B to build the solution.

Task 1 – Adding the Education Screening Activity

In this task, you will add an existing activity that screens résumés based on the level of education.

Open ScreenEducation.xaml file of the HRApplicationServices.Activities project and explore it. This activity is implemented as a Flowchart that will be used to automatically screen out applicants based on the level of education. While the other activities in our HRApplicationServices.Activities library were implemented in code, this activity is implemented in XAML. You can create and share activities implemented in code or XAML using the Workflow Designer.

Figure 31
The ScreenEducation Flowchart

Task 2 – Calling the ScreenEducation Activity

Open SubmitApplication.xamlx.
Expand the Screen Applicant sequence.
Add a new variable EducationPassed of type Boolean to the Screen Applicant scope. To do this:
1. Click the Variables button
2. Click on Create Variable
3. Name the variable EducationPassed
4. In the type select Boolean
From the HRApplicationServices.Activities group drop a ScreenEducation activity onto the Screen Applicant sequence and set the following properties:
1. Display Name: Auto Screen Education
2. Education: ApplicationRequest.Resume.Education
3. EducationPassed: EducationPassed

Task 3 – Conditionally Notifying a Human Reviewer

Not all applicants will pass the education screening. For those that do not, you need to update the database and notify them. For those that do pass you need to notify a human reviewer to check the application and make a decision.

Drop an If activity from the Control Flow group below the Auto Screen Education activity and set its properties:
1. Display Name: If Education Screen Passed
2. Condition: EducationPassed
If the applicant failed the education screen, you will simply update the database. Drop anUpdateHireApproved activity from the HRApplicationServices.Activities group on the Else part of the If activity and set the properties. The Hire variable defaulted to False so the applicant will not be hired in this branch.
1. Display Name: Update No Hire
2. ApplicantID: ApplicationResponse.ApplicationID
3. HireApproved: Hire
If the applicant passed the education screen you need to notify a human reviewer and wait for a response. Drop a Sequence activity from the Control Flow group on the Then part of the If activity and set the properties.
1. Display Name: Human Screening
You need to send an email to the HR Administrator to let them know there is an application to review. To do this, drop the RequestHumanScreening activity from theHRApplicationServices.Activities group to the Human Screening sequence and set the properties.
1. Display Name: Request Human Screening
2. ApplicationID: ApplicationResponse.ApplicationID
3. ApplicationRequest: ApplicationRequest
Now you need to wait for a response from the HR Administrator. They will be using a web page to send a message to your workflow with the result of the screening. Drop aTransactedReceiveScope activity from the Messaging group below the Request Human Screening activity and set the properties.
1. Display Name: When Human Screening Complete
Add a variable HumanScreening of type HumanScreeningResult to the When Human Screening Complete scope.
Drop a Receive activity from the Messaging group in the Request area and set the following properties:
1. Operation Name: HumanScreeningCompleted
2. Service Contract Name: {http://contoso.com/hr/}IApplicationService
3. Content: Click to display the Content Definition dialog and set the Message data toHumanScreening
Because this message is sent to a workflow that already exists you must use correlation to provide a way for the WorkflowServiceHost to locate the correct workflow instance. To establish correlation for this Receive activity, do the following.
1. CorrelatesOn: Click to display the CorrelatesOn Definition dialog
2. CorrelatesWith: ApplicationIDHandle
3. Key: Double-click the AppID : Int32 value
4. Click OK to dismiss the dialog
Figure 32
The Correlation definition for the Human Screening Receive activity
Once the message is received you need to update the database and send a reply. Since you have more than one activity in the Body drop a Sequence and set the following property:
1. Display Name: Update Human Screening Result
Now you can set the actual Hire value from the human screening result. Because Hire was initialized to False, the only way Hire is actually set to true is if the applicant passes both automated and human screening. Drag an Assign activity from the Primitives group and drop it into the Update Human Screening Result sequence and set the properties.
1. Display Name: Assign Hire
2. To: Hire
3. Value: HumanScreening.HiringApproved
Drop an UpdateHireApproved activity from the HRApplicationServices.Activities group below the Assign Hire activity and set the properties.
1. Display Name: Update Hire Result
2. ApplicantID: ApplicationResponse.ApplicationID
3. HireApproved: Hire
Now you need to send a response to the web application. To create a SendReply activity, right-click the Receive activity, and select Create SendReply. Because the Receive activity is inside the Request area and the reply cannot be placed there the SendReply activity will be placed on the clipboard.

Figure 33
Create a SendReply for the receive

Figure 34
Worflow Designer message saying that the SendReply activity was copied to the clipboard
Paste the SendReply below the Update Hire Result activity and set its properties.
1. Display Name: Send Human Screening Reply
2. Content - Message data: True
Figure 35
Human Screening Completed
From the menu select Build / Build Solution (CTRL+SHIFT+B).

Task 4 – Sending Human Screening Results

The HireApproval.aspx page will need to call the SubmitApplication.xamlx workflow. Even though they are in the same website the way you call into the workflow is by sending it a message. In this task, you will modify the page to send the hire message.

Next we need to Add a Service Reference to send a message to the receive activity of theSubmitApplication.xamlx workflow that is waiting for the human screening result. To do this right-click the HRApplicationServices project and select Add Service Reference.
In the Add Service Reference dialog click Discover to find the service SubmitApplication.xamlx.

Name the service reference Application, and click OK to generate the reference. After the proxy was generated by Visual Studio, make sure that the Web.config file has the following endpoint configuration.

XML


<endpoint address="http://localhost:62305/SubmitApplication.xamlx" 
    binding="basicHttpBinding"
    bindingConfiguration="BasicHttpBinding_IApplicationService"
    contract="Application.IApplicationService"
    name="BasicHttpBinding_IApplicationService" />

In the HRApplicationServices project, right-click HireApproval.aspx, and select View Code (F7).
Add the following namespace directives.
(Code Snippet – Introduction to WF Services Lab – HireApprovalNamespace CSharp)
C#
```
using HRApplicationServices.Contracts;
using HRApplicationServices.Application;
```
(Code Snippet – Introduction to WF Services Lab – HireApprovalNamespace VB)
Visual Basic
```
Imports HRApplicationServices.Contracts
Imports HRApplicationServices.Application
```

Locate the SendHumanScreenComplete method, and modify the code as shown.

(Code Snippet – Introduction to WF Services Lab – SendHumanScreenComplete CSharp)

private void SendHumanScreenComplete(bool hire)


 ApplicationServiceClient proxy = new ApplicationServiceClient();
 try
 {
 // Create the result
 HumanScreeningResult result = new HumanScreeningResult()
 {
 AppID = Convert.ToInt32(LabelAppID.Text),
 HiringApproved = hire,
 };
 // Wrap it in a request
 HumanScreeningCompletedRequest request = 
 new HumanScreeningCompletedRequest(result);
 // Call the workflow service
 proxy.HumanScreeningCompleted(result);
 proxy.Close();
 }
 catch (Exception)
 {
 proxy.Abort();
 throw;
 }

(Code Snippet – Introduction to WF Services Lab – SendHumanScreenComplete VB)

Private Sub SendHumanScreenComplete(ByVal hire As Boolean)

 Dim proxy As ApplicationServiceClient = New ApplicationServiceClient()
 Try
 Dim result As New HumanScreeningResult With
 {
 .AppID = Convert.ToInt32(LabelAppID.Text),
 .HiringApproved = hire
 }
 proxy.HumanScreeningCompleted(result)
 proxy.Close()
 Catch ex As Exception
 proxy.Abort()
 Throw
 End Try

End Sub

Press CTRL+SHIFT+B to build the solution.
Note:

If you are using Visual Basic and get a compilation error stating that theApplicationServiceClient type is not defined, add the SubmitApplication.vb file located atAssets\VB\HRApplicationServices to the HRApplicationServices project.
Exercise 3: Verification

In this verification, you will create a new application and verify the screening process.
1. Delete any mail messages from the C:\Mailbox folder.
2. Right-click the HRClient project, and select Set as StartUp Project.
3. Make sure that the service is already launched in the ASP.NET Development server and press F5to Debug the solution; the HRClient application should start.
4. Submit a new application where the education level is Bachelors.
5. The workflow should automatically reject this application and you should see a new email message in the C:\Mailbox folder. You can view the message if you like. Delete this message when finished.
6. In the Contoso HR Tool click Start Again to submit a new Candidate Information Form. This time submit a new application where the education level is Masters.
7. Look in C:\Mailbox. There should be a message, only this one is sent to the HR Reviewer. Right-click and open the message.
  
  Figure 36
  Request for Application Review
8. Click the link in the message to go to the HR Job Application Approval web page
  
  Figure 37
  The HR Job Application Approval page.
9. Click Hire to hire the applicant. This will send a message to the workflow.
10. You should see a second mail message with the hire message.
Exercise 4: Deploy the Solution

In this exercise, you will deploy, configure and monitor the solution using Windows Server AppFabric; a set of extensions to the Windows Application Server and the Windows Process Activation Service (WAS). The goal of Windows Server AppFabric is to simplify the deployment, configuration, management, and monitoring of Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) and Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) services built on .NET Framework 4.

Note:

Is AppFabric installed?

AppFabric is not installed as a part of the .NET Framework 4 installation. It comes as a separate install delivered through a Windows Update package for Windows that you can install it using the Microsoft Web Platform Installer (recommended) or download Windows Server App Fabric from the Download Center

To determine if AppFabric is installed open IIS Manager. If AppFabric is installed when you open the Default Web Site you will see AppFabric at the top of the features window.

Task 0 – Opening the Solution

To begin this exercise you can use the solution you finished from Exercise 3. Alternatively, you can follow the following steps to begin with Exercise 4.
1. Start Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 from Start | All Programs | Microsoft Visual Studio 2010.
2. Open the starting solution for Exercise 4 located under the \Source\Ex4\Begin folder (choosing the folder that matches the language of your preference.) Use it as the starting point for this exercise.
3. Press CTRL+SHIFT+B to build the solution.
Task 1 – Creating Configuration Transformations

Your application has several service references that were created in your development environment. When you deploy the application you need to transform the Web.config file so that it uses the correct URIs from the production environment.
1. To create the configuration transformations in the HRApplicationServices project right-click theWeb.config file, and select Add Config Transforms.
  
  Figure 38
  Right-click Web.config, and select Add Config Transforms in C#
  
  Figure 39
  Right-click Web.config, and select Add Config Transforms in Visual Basic
2. You should now see two additional config files under the original Web.config file.
  
  Figure 40
  You should now have config transforms
  
  Note:
  
  In Visual Basic these files are hidden by default. You must make them visible by enabling the “Show All Files” button in the Solution Explorer.
3. Open the Web.Release.config file. In this file, you will add transformation instructions for how you want the Web.config file to look after deployment. Modify it as shown.
  (Code Snippet – Introduction to WF Services Lab – WF4 web.Release.Config XML)
  
  XML
  
  <?xml version="1.0"?>  <configuration xmlns:xdt= "http://schemas.microsoft.com/XML-Document-Transform">  <appSettings> <add key="BaseURI" value="http://localhost/HRApplicationServices" xdt:Transform="SetAttributes(value)" xdt:Locator="Match(key)"/> </appSettings> <system.serviceModel> <client>  <endpoint address="http://localhost/HRApplicationServices/SubmitApplication.xamlx" binding="basicHttpBinding" bindingConfiguration="BasicHttpBinding_IApplicationService" contract="IApplicationService" name="BasicHttpBinding_IApplicationService" xdt:Transform="SetAttributes(address)" xdt:Locator="Match(name)"/> </client> </system.serviceModel> <system.web> <compilation xdt:Transform="RemoveAttributes(debug)" /> </system.web> </configuration>
4. Switch the current configuration to Release to do a release build by selecting it from the toolbar.
  
  Figure 41
  Switch to Release build
Task 2 – Creating the Deployment Package

In this task, you will use the Web Deployment feature inside Visual Studio to create a deployment package.
1. In the Solution Explorer, right-click the HRApplicationServices project, select Package/Publish Settings and set the options as follows.
2. Items to deploy (applies to all deployment methods) section
  
  Only files needed to run this application
  
  Figure 42
  Items to deploy
3. Web Deployment Package Settings section
  
  Create deployment package as a zip file
  
  Location where package will be created:obj\Release\Package\HRApplicationServices.zip
  
  IIS Web site/application name to use on the destination server: Default Web Site/HRApplicationServices
  
  Figure 43
  Web Deployment Package Settings
4. Press CTRL+SHIFT+S to save all files – this will save your changes.
5. In the Solution Explorer right-click the HRApplicationServices project, and select Build Deployment Package. You should see Publish succeeded as the status in the bottom left corner when the action has completed.
Task 3 – Deploying the Package
1. In this task, you will use the Web Deployment feature inside IIS Manager to deploy the package to the local web server.
2. Open Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager using the Start menu.
3. Expand the Server node, expand Sites and right-click the Default Web Site. Point to Deploy and select Import Application.
  
  Figure 44
  Import Application in the IIS Manager
  
  Note:
  
  If you don't see a Deploy menu option it could mean that IIS Web Deployment Tool is not installed or may need to be reconfigured. To fix this you should do the following
  
  Download the IIS Web Deployment tool from http://www.iis.net/extensions/WebDeploymentTool
  
  Start the setup
  
  If setup shows you the Change / Repair / Remove screen select Change and install the IIS Manager UI module.
4. For Package path browse to the location where the package was created. By default this was in the obj\Release\Package folder for the HRApplicationServices project. SelectHRApplicationServices.zip.
  
  Figure 45
  Select the package
5. Click Next 3 times to use the defaults on the rest of the Import Application Package wizard pages. When asked if you want to run this application in the default .NET 4 application pool clickYes.
6. Click Finish when the wizard has finished.
Task 4 – Enabling the net.pipe Protocol on the Application

AppFabric installs a Workflow Management Service (WMS) that works with the workflow persistence store to provide reliability and instance control. WMS communicates with the workflow service via the net.pipe protocol. Therefore, this protocol must be enabled on the application.
1. In IIS Manager, right-click on the Default Web Site and select the Edit Bindings option.
2. Ensure that net.pipe is added with * for its Binding information. If it is not, add it using theAdd… button.
  
  Figure 46
  Enable the net.pipe site binding
3. Click the Close button.
4. Expand the Default Web Site and right-click the HRApplicationServices application in the tree. Point to Manage Application and select Advanced Settings.
5. In the Enabled Protocols section add net.pipe after http as shown in the following figure.
  
  Figure 47
  Enable the net.pipe protocol
  
  Note:
  
  Why enable the net.pipe protocol?
  
  The net.pipe protocol must be enabled so that the Workflow Management Service can communicate with the Workflow Control standard endpoint of workflow services. This is how it can manage workflow services.
6. Click OK.
Task 5 – Changing the Application Configuration

While you were developing the solution you were using the WF4Persistence database for persistence. In the IIS environment you are going to use a different persistence database. You also want to configure AppFabric to suspend workflows with unhandled exceptions.
1. In IIS Manager, expand the Default Web Site, right-click the HRApplicationServices application, point to Manage WCF and WF Services and select Configure.
2. Click the Workflow Persistence category.
3. Under SQL Server Workflow Persistence select defaultSqlPersistenceStore.
  
  Figure 48
  Configure persistence to use DefaultPersistenceConnectionString
4. Click OK to dismiss the dialog. Click Yes when you are warned about recycling the application.
Exercise 4: Verification

The Dashboard shows the activity for the services at a particular scope in the IIS tree. For example, if you click the server node at the top of the tree and then click the AppFabric Dashboard you will see activity for all the WCF and WF services on the computer. In this verification, you will look at the Dashboard at your application level.

Note:

To follow this verification, it is required to follow the steps in Exercise 4. Opening the End solution will not be sufficient to follow the verification since there are some IIS configuration tweaks to perform.
1. In IIS Manager, expand the Default Web Site, and select the HRApplicationServices application in the tree.
2. At the bottom of the IIS Manager window, click Content View to see the content of the website.
3. Right-click the SubmitApplication.xamlx file, and select Browse.
4. You should see a browser window, with the Submit Application Service. If there are any problems with the configuration for the website this page will not appear.
5. At the bottom of the IIS Manager window click Features View.
6. Double-click on the AppFabric Dashboard icon.
  
  Figure 49
  Open the Dashboard
  
  Note:
  
  What is on the Dashboard?
  
  Persisted WF Instances: This section shows the number of workflow instances that are live or in flight. These are the instances that have persisted to the database but have not yet completed.
  
  WCF Call History: This section shows the number of WCF calls the have been received. The heading shows counts of the calls that were completed or that encountered exceptions.
  
  WF Instance History: This section shows the number of workflow instances that have been activated, have failed, or completed.
  
  Figure 50
  The Dashboard showing no activity for the HRApplicationService application
7. Switch back to Visual Studio 2010.
8. Open the App.config file in the HRClient project. Unlike the Web.config which transformed when you deployed it, the app.config file must be manually edited. Change the endpoint address as shown in bold text below.
  
  (Code Snippet – Introduction to WF Services Lab – WF4 ClientConfig XML)
  
  XML
  
  <client>
  
  <endpoint address="http://localhost/HRApplicationServices/SubmitApplication.xamlx" binding="basicHttpBinding" bindingConfiguration="BasicHttpBinding_IApplicationService" contract="SubmitApp.IApplicationService" name="BasicHttpBinding_IApplicationService" />
  
  </client>
9. Right-click the HRClient project, point to Debug and click Start new instance.
10. In the Contoso HR Tool, set the Education to Masters, and click the Submit button. After a few moments you should see a confirmation message that the resume is being processed.
11. In IIS Manager, refresh the AppFabric Dashboard. You should see activity in each of the three sections.
12. Click 1 beside Active in the Persisted WF Instances section to see a list of the active persisted instances.
  
  Figure 51
  The SubmitApplication Workflow instance is active
  
  Note:
  
  The host is configured by default to put active instances into the idle state after 60 seconds. If you do not have any instances in the Active state refresh the Dashboard and look for the instance in the Idle state.
13. Click on the hyperlink on the word Active or Idle in the Persisted WF Instances pane. This will open a query page with Persisted WF Instances.
14. Click on the persisted instance. The Details pane at the bottom of the screen will show some information about the instance. In this example, you can see that the SubmitApplication Workflow has an active bookmark named HumanScreeningCompleted. That is the operation name of the bookmark created by the receive activity that it is currently waiting on.
  
  Note:
  
  The active bookmark is visible only for instances that were idle.
  
  Figure 52
  Information about the persisted SubmitApplication workflow
15. In the picture above you can see that there are a number of tracked events. To see these events, right-click the instance, and select the View Tracked Events action. This action will take you to theTracked Events page populated with all the monitoring information that was collected for the instance, sorted with the newest data at the top.
  
  Figure 53
  Monitoring collected Information for the instance in the Tracked Events feature
16. The last activity to execute was the Request Human Screening activity. Click on this row and notice in the Details pane at the bottom of the screen you will see information about this event. Its state is Closed, indicating that the Request Human Screening activity has finished executing.
17. In Windows Explorer, go to C:\Mailbox and find the latest message. Open it and click the link to review the application.
18. In the review web page, click the Hire or No hire button. This will send a message to the SubmitApplication workflow using the HumanScreeningCompleted operation.
19. Return to IIS Manager (still on the Tracked Events page), and click Refresh button to refresh the data in the list (it may take up to a minute before the new events appear). You will now see that the remainder of the SubmitApplication workflow activities have executed.
20. Return to the Dashboard and refresh it. You should now see no active or idle instances in thePersisted WF Instances section. In the WF Instance History section you should see that theSubmitApplication workflow instance has been activated and completed.
  
  Figure 54
  The Dashboard showing the completed workflow
  
  Exercise 5: Troubleshooting
  
  What happens when a workflow encounters an error? If the workflow is responding to a web service message it can send a SOAP fault to let the caller know there was an error. But if the workflow is doing work after it sent a response you need a way to find out what went wrong so you can take action. What would happen if your SubmitApplication workflow was unable to send the Request Human Screening email? In this exercise, you will force an error that simulates a mail failure then use AppFabric to troubleshoot and correct the problem.
  Task 0 – Opening the Solution
  
  To begin this exercise you can use the solution you finished from Exercise 4. Alternatively, you can follow the following steps to begin with Exercise 5.
  
  Start Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 from Start | All Programs | Microsoft Visual Studio 2010.
  
  Open the starting solution for Exercise 5 located under the \Source\Ex5\Begin folder (choosing the folder that matches the language of your preference.) Use it as the starting point for this exercise.
  
  Press CTRL+SHIFT+B to build the solution.
  
  Task 1 – Simulating an Error Condition
  
  Using Windows Explorer, rename the C:\Mailbox folder to C:\Mailbox2 and delete any mail messages in the folder. When the workflow tries to send the email it will now fail at this step.
  
  Switch back to Visual Studio 2010, right-click on the HRClient project and select Set as StartUp Project.
  
  Press CTRL+F5 to start the HRClient project without debugging.
  
  In the Contoso HR Tool set the Education to Masters, and click the Submit button. After a few moments you should see a confirmation message that the resume is being processed. From the client perspective it appears that everything is working.
  
  In IIS Manager expand the Default Web Site, and select the HRApplicationServices application in the tree. Double-click the AppFabric Dashboard icon.
  
  In the Persisted WF Instances section at the top of the Dashboard you should see 1 instance in the Suspended state. Click the 1 to go to the Persisted WF Instances page.
  
  Figure 55
  You should see a suspended instance
  
  Select the one suspended instance in the list, and look at the Details pane at the bottom.
  
  Click the Errors tab. You should see Failure sending mail.
  
  Figure 56
  Errors tab explains why the workflow was suspended
  
  At this point, you know the problem has something to do with a failure to send email. To get more information about the error right-click the suspended instance, and select the View Tracked Events action.
  
  Figure 57
  To get more detail, view tracked events
  
  You will see some Warning and Error events in the list. Click on these, and then the Errors tab to see more information about the error.
  
  Figure 58
  The WorkflowInstanceAbort record showing the cause of the failure
  
  You can see from the error that the mail system could not find the path C:\Mailbox because you renamed it earlier to C:\Mailbox2.
  
  Task 2 – Correcting the Error and Resuming the Workflow
  
  Switch back to Windows Explorer, and rename the C:\Mailbox2 folder to C:\Mailbox.
  
  Switch to the IIS Manager, and click the back button to return to the Persisted WF Instancespage.
  
  Figure 59
  Click the back button to return to the Persisted WF Instances page
  
  Right-click the suspended instance, and select the Resume action. This will queue the command to resume the instance from its last persist point.
  
  Figure 60
  Resume the suspended instance
  
  Wait a few seconds, and click the Refresh button. You should see an empty list because the workflow resumed and completed.
  
  Return to the AppFabric Dashboard and refresh it. You should now see 1 persisted WF instance in the Active or Idle state depending upon how long it takes you to view it.
  
  In Windows Explorer go to C:\Mailbox and find the latest message. Open it, and click the link to review the application.
  
  In the review web page click the Hire or No hire button. This will send a message to the SubmitApplication workflow using the HumanScreeningCompleted operation.
  
  In the C:\Mailbox folder you should see another message with the result.
  
  Switch back to IIS Manager, and refresh the AppFrabric Dashboard. You should see the Completions count incremented by 1. Click Completions: you will be able to review the statistics about the Submit Application workflow as shown.
  
  Figure 61
  The completed workflow
  
  Summary
  
  In this lab you have learned how to build, send and receive messages using Workflow Services. You’ve also seen how you can deploy, monitor and troubleshoot services using Windows Server AppFabric.
  
  Note:
  
  Feedback
  
  What do you think of this lab? What do you think of the new Windows Workflow 4? Your feedback is important; it will help us build the best product for you. Please take a moment to provide it. Send your comments to wfwcfhol@microsoft.com.