SharePoint workflow forms development with ASP.NET 2.0 pages... without the pain!

One of the biggest value add propositions of SharePoint's integration of Windows Workflow Foundation is the introduction of a human element. The biggest piece of this is likely the forms. Developers are given two options: ASP.NET pages (for WSS 3.0 or MOSS 2007) or InfoPath forms (as long as you have a MOSS 2007 license). I usually prefer InfoPath forms because you can build and deploy a fully functioning form with zero or no code pretty quick. However, you're limited to just MOSS deployments...

When it comes to WSS 3.0 sites, your only option is ASP.NET pages. Unfortunately this means no slick designer and lots of code in just to implement the necessary plumbing.

... until now! Fellow Ted Pattison Group instructors Wouter Van Vugt (OpenXML MVP) and Chris Predeek have a project on CodePlex they posted as a final RTM stable release that helps you with this: WSS3 Workflow Tools. As Wouter says on his blog, it consists of:

Base classes for all workflow form types
UserControl framework, quite similar (but better …eh..) to what InfoPath is providing in MOSS
Visual designers for InputForm, InputFormSection, InputFormControl and ButtonSection
Visual Studio templates for VS2005 / VS2008, for all forms and controls
Easy to use installer

Very cool stuff... it's worthy of a download and kicking of the tires!

» CodePlex: WSS3 Workflow Tools

Technorati Tags: sharepoint,wss,moss,workflow

posted on Tuesday, December 16, 2008 12:15 AM

Feedback

# re: SharePoint workflow forms development with ASP.NET 2.0 pages... without the pain! 12/16/2008 3:19 AM Edgar Maucourant

Hi Andrew,

As said on Wouter's blog, the first link to the projet don't work as it links to codeproject instead of codeplex and there is no wss3workflow project on this hosting site.

Thank you for let us discover this amazing project.

cheers,
Edgar

# re: SharePoint workflow forms development with ASP.NET 2.0 pages... without the pain! 12/25/2008 7:41 AM Mike Walsh

You might want to change the link under

"WSS3 Workflow Tools. As Wouter says on his blog, it consists of:"

to http://www.codeplex.com/wss3workflow

(the same as the final link -"CodePlex: WSS3 Workflow Tools")

The present one (https://www.codeples.com ...)doesn't work.

Mike

Post Feedback

Title:
Name:
Email:	(email will not be displayed)
Url:
Comments:
Please add 7 and 1 and type the answer here: Remember Me?

All Comments Are Filtered & Moderated
Unfortunately comment spammers are just too effecient and are constantly dirtying up blogs with irrelevant and unwanted comments trying to improve their standing on search engines. All comments on this blog are moderated. I do not censor comments, but I don't approve comments with vulger language or those soliciting products. Most of the time comments are approved within a few hours of being submitted with the only exception when I'm traveling.

Why are you asking for my email address?
The only reason I'm asking for your email address, which isn't required to submit a comment, is to provide a gravatar if you've created an account for yourself and associated your email address with a small image. If you have a gravatar created for the email address you submit, it will appear next to your comment. Otherwise nothing will appear.

What is a gravatar?
A gravatar is a "globally recognized avatar." You can get more information about gravatars, as well as create your own for free, at www.gravatar.com. You can also view my gravatar here.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License
Site design by Heather Solomon.