What's new in SharePoint 2013

Editor's Notes

• #4: • Introduced Persistence• Workflow Types Supportedo Sequentialo State MachineDeep Dive:Begin the discussion of where SharePoint used to be back in the day with SharePoint 2007 (or also known as MOSS back then). In MOSS, we saw the introduction of the Business Data Catalog (BDC) to enable integration with LOB, Document & Web Content Management, Excel Services, and InfoPath Form Services. In SharePoint 2007, a workflow could be user initiated, or automated based off an event (i.e. created or changed). The workflow run-time engine provided sequencing, state management, tracking, and even transaction support. SharePoint hosted the WF engine, and exposed it through the SharePoint Services Object Model as shown in the diagram. To alleviate scenarios of long running workflows that require some user interaction (think document approval), persistence was introduced to persist the workflow instance data in memory. In addition, WF supported sequential workflow that represented a progression of steps that were executed in order. On the flip side, WF also supported state machine workflows that were presented with a set of states, transitions and actions
• #5: New ProductWorkflow DesignerSimpler DeploymentsAssociation of conditions & actionsDeep Dive:SharePoint 2007 was the first time we saw SharePoint designer. It was the successor to FrontPage and enabled users to help with building workflow-enabled applications with SharePoint. Benefits that were seen using the new designer were that workflows could now be created quicker. In addition, deployments were less complex and could be executed quicker. One key point is the fact that non-development individuals could now create workflows with this tool. Less problems arose from deploying workflows because a trusted list of conditions and actions were provided to the user in the designer. Some SharePoint 2007 Designer drawbacks and limitations:Actions are site bound to the site they are run from.Limited support for advanced complexity and scope in building out workflow.No re-use capability, is authored against a specific list of document library cannot then be used again on another list.No ability to modify in flight.Must use SharePoint ASPX pages.* Limited customizability of these ASPX forms.Cannot be accessed directly from Office applications, must be accessed with a web browser other than through email notifications etc. * One thing to put emphasis on is the fact that it must use ASPX forms. We’ll come back to this when we’re talking about SharePoint 2013 later on in the presentation.
• #6: In MOSS, workflows ran under the identity of the logged on user. In SP 2010, high privilege workflows allow for an account to run a workflow to give additional permissionsWith the SPTimer location, can set the preferred server where the SPTimer service runs
• #9: Workflow not in SPWorkflow is in WMWM is on WF4WF 4 if part of .Net 4.5SP 2010 is automatically installedDeep Dive:With the introduction of SharePoint 2013, the 2013 workflow platforms now has moved off of the SharePoint server and is now part of Workflow Manager. When SharePoint 2013 is installed, it still comes with the 2010 workflow platform automatically configured and working. In order to utilize the new 2013 workflow, workflow manager has to be installed on and configured with the farm. The main difference here is that the 2013 workflows are run by Windows Workflow Foundation 4 (WF). In addition, WF which utilizes .Net 4.5, provides new capabilities surrounding the designers, activates, and the overall development model. One thing to note is that workflows built on this framework are not backwards compatible.
• #10: With workflow being fully declarative - All your custom logic should be put outside of SharePoint, inside WCF Service. Then you will call the service from workflow to implement your custom logic in code Declarative – can only be defined in XML. No C# code.
• #11: In addition to the SharePoint 2013 Workflow platform, the SharePoint 2010 Workflow platform that came with SharePoint Server 2010 is still available in SharePoint Server 2013. The SharePoint 2010 Workflow platform installs with SharePoint Server 2013 just as it did with SharePoint Server 2010.
• #13: SharePoint events for which a workflow is listening, like itemCreated, itemUpdated, and so on, are routed to Workflow Manager Client 1.0 using the Windows Azure service bus. For the return trip, the platform uses the SharePoint Representational State Transfer (REST) API to call back into SharePoint.
• #14: Workflow Manager 1.0 builds on the continuum of hosting options that the .NET framework provides today with WorkflowApplication and WorkflowServiceHost, to provide a new, managed host for executing and managing workflows. The multi-tenant hosting capabilities provide for safe, high efficiency and high performance execution of workflow instances, as well as the ability to organize and manage tenants of the serWith this offering, organizations can focus more of their energies on the design of the workflow logic itself - and integration with their applications - instead of spending time on building infrastructure. vice.
• #15: Associations for SharePoint workflows are represented by their workflow service within Windows Azure. Workflow instances carry a pointer back to their respective workflow service, which means it allows for correct association.SharePoint events for which a workflow is listening, like itemCreated, itemUpdated, are routed to WM
• #16: SharePoint workflow interop enables SharePoint 2010 workflows (which are built on Windows Workflow Foundation 3) to be called from SharePoint 2013 workflows, which are based on WWF4. This allows you to execute 2010 workflows from within 2013 workflows.This is important because you may have SharePoint 2010 that you may use to reuse in conjunction with your SharePoint 2013 workflows. Additionally, you may wish to use activities or features from SharePoint 2010, which are not yet implemented in SharePoint 2013
• #18: Main PointsIf SharePoint Designer detects Visio Professional it will allow you to switch to Visual mode and allow for modeling AND configuring of workflow and workflow parameters/properties. However while SPD enables this if you use Visio by itself you still are limited and cannot add properties or configurations to each step.http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sharepointdesigner/archive/2012/10/22/introducing-the-new-visual-designer.aspx
• #19: Every workflow starts with an empty container called a Stage. Each Stage contains all the actions that make up a logical section of a workflow. A workflow will have 1 to many stages. All actions must be within a stage but decision shapes can be used to determine the flow between stages. With Stages you have what's called a gate, once all the steps and conditions are done and evaluated it hits the gate or the exit for that stage. At this gate you specify where to go next. (ie. What stage.) This can be anywhere in your WF, up the stack or down.CaveatsOne Stage at a time. Can have parallel tasks in a stage but stages cannot run in parallelMany people need to run different paths of a workflow in parallel. It is important to note that only actions within a stage can be run in this fashion. You cannot have Parallel stages.
• #20: It is important to highlight the differences in task processes between 2010 and 2013. The next few screens attempt to showcase what this. Where in 2010 the task processes where very configurable and you could specify advanced parameters. In 2013 these task processes are limited in terms of what you can configure.
• #21: SharePoint 2013 workflow demonstration walkthrough
• #27: Highlight some of the big things that are gone for 2013 based workflows such asAssociations to content typesWorkflow visualization.EtcWhere SharePoint Designer 2010 is concerned, InfoPath forms were integrated in workflows as initiation and association forms.When you install SharePoint Designer 2013, you only have the option to create SharePoint 2010 Workflows, which are the same types of workflows you were able to create in SharePoint Designer 2010 for SharePoint 2010. InfoPath forms are still integrated in such workflows.the best news is that InfoPath forms are no longer recommended... you should instead use ASP.NET pages & have your pages communicate with the workflow engine via the client side object model (CSOM) improvementsRead more at http://www.andrewconnell.com/blog/Creating-Custom-Forms-for-SP2013-Workflows#HVUU8MAxTLZf3RHQ.99 http://www.bizsupportonline.net/blog/2013/infopath-2013-upgrade-or-not.htmhttp://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/sharepoint-server-2013-known-issues-HA102919021.aspx
• #28: SharePoint 2013 workflow demonstration walkthrough
• #29: Highlight a few key points about building workflow in Visio. Such as…In Visio you are still unable to add workflow properties to each shape, they must be added in SPD.
• #30: Custom activities allows for reusable grouping of activities with action file, and can be consumed in Visual Studio or SharePoint Designer authored workflows
• #31: Good list of SharePoint related project types in VS 2012. Including importing of workflows both 2010 and 2013
• #32: This is your toolbox in VS 2012 when building out a SharePoint 2013 workflow.Workflows cannot be packaged as an app, but workflows can be part of an app. You must package and deploy your WF separately