SHAREPOINT AND PROJECT CONFERENCE ADRIATICS 2013

ZAGREB, NOVEMBER 27-28 2013

Advanced SharePoint 2013 Workflow for DevelopersPAOLO PIALORSI, PIASYSPAOLO@PIALORSI.COM

sponsors

Something about me• Consultant, project manager and trainer• More than 40 Microsoft certification exams passed

• Microsoft Certified Solution Master – Charter SharePoint

• Focused on SharePoint since the beginning• Author of 10 books about XML, SOAP, .NET, LINQ

and SharePoint• Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Developer Reference, Microsoft Press• Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Developer Reference, Microsoft Press• Build Windows 8 Apps with Microsoft Visual C# and

Visual Basic Step by Step, Microsoft Press

• Speaker at main IT conferences

Agenda• SharePoint 2013 and Workflow Manager (quick recall)• Advanced workflows with SharePoint Designer 2013• Custom actions and activities with Visual Studio 2013• Workflow Security• Workflow Forms

SHAREPOINT 2013 AND WORKFLOW MANAGER

SharePoint 2013 and Workflow Manager

Sharing

ContentEvents People

Vis

ual S

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Poin

t D

esig

ner

SharePoint 20132010 WF

_API (REST OM)

Workflow Services Manager

Service Bus

Instances Interop

Deployment

Messaging

WF Service Application Proxy

Workflow Manager

OAuth

Access Control

Work

flow

Clie

nt

ADVANCED WORKFLOW WITH SPD2013

Native Actions/Conditions are not enough …

But something is missing …• Move File• Upload File• Search• Publish/Approve Document• Save data on a backend database• Etc.

BUT WE HAVE REST APIS

Click icon to add picture

• Support XML/OData/JSON format

• Can be used to query (OData) contents

• Can be used to manage (add, update, delete) content

• Make the Client Side Object Model (CSOM) remotely available via REST

• Useful for JavaScript/jQuery consumers

• But also for workflows in SPD2013 or Visual Studio 2012/2013

JavaScript Library

Silverlight Library

.Net CLR Library

Custom Client Code

Client

Server

_api is new alias for _vti_bin/client.svc

RESTODataJSON

CSOM

_api Reference

http(s)://{Host Name}/{site}/_api/{namespace}/

{object}{property}{indexer(index)}{method({parameter},{parameter},…)}

Web Application Hostname

Site Collection (Optional)

API Namespace

Operation

Sample URLs• _api/web/lists• _api/web/lists/getByTitle(‘Documents')• _api/web/Lists/getByTitle('Documents')/Items • _api/web/Lists/getByTitle('Documents')/Items(4) • _api/web/CurrentUser • _api/web/SiteUsers • _api/web/getAvailableWebTemplates(lcid=1033)• _api/web/RoleAssignments/GetPrincipalId(1)/Member

USING REST API FROM WORKFLOWS IN SPD2013

CUSTOM ACTIONS AND ACTIVITIES WITH VISUAL STUDIO 2013

Custom Activities vs Custom ActionsCustom Activity

• Custom element from Visual Studio perspective

• Minimal functional element of a workflow definition• Defined one time, reusable many

times

• Come in two flavors• Declarative: XAML• Code based: .NET Type

• Reusable in Visual Studio and in SharePoint Designer

• Complex deployment• Not available in Office 365!

Custom Action

• Custom element from SPD2013 perspective• Wraps an activity or an

aggregation of activities• Can be an Action or a

Condition• Reusable in SharePoint

Designer• Deployable through

Sandboxed Solutions• Supported in Office 365!

We can create libraries of custom actions• Reusable in multiple workflow definitions• Reusable in multiple site collections• Maintainable (are based on WSP, and WSP are

upgradable …)

• Some «common» examples• Create New List/Library• Delete List/Library• Publish a document «Pending» approval• Invoke remote HTTP services (REST/JSON/OData)

CREATING A CUSTOM ACTION FOR SPD2013 IN VS2013(PART 1)

Creating a Custom Action (recap)• Create a Sandboxed Solution• Add a «Workflow Custom Activity»• Design the markup-based activity• You can’t use code

• Define the .actions4 file• It will be registered in the target site collection

• Package and deploy the WSP• Close SPD2013 and clear cache• C:\Users\{UserName}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WebsiteCache\

{site}

• Restart SPD2013 and use the custom action

Creating a Custom Activity (reference only)• Create a Workflow «Activity Library» project• Add a class and inherit from the proper base Activity type

• CodeActivity, CodeActivity<T>• AsyncCodeActivity, AsyncCodeActivity<T>• NativeActivity, NativeActivity<T>

• Implement .NET code• Create an .actions4 file

• It will be placed in \TEMPLATE\{LCID}\Workflow folder

• Add the assembly to the Global Assembly Cache (GAC)• Create an AllowedTypes.xml file

• %ProgramFiles%\Workflow Manager\1.0\Workflow\Artifacts• %ProgramFiles%\Workflow Manager\1.0\Workflow\WFWebRoot\bin

• IISRESET + Restart «Workflow Manager Backend» service• Close SPD2013, clear cache, restart SPD2013 and use the activity

WORKFLOW SECURITY

A Workflow is like an App• The workflow engine has an App Principal• You can manage app principals:

• https://{hostname}/sites/{site}/_layouts/15/appprincipals.aspx?Scope=Web

• https://{hostname}/sites/{site}/_layouts/15/appinv.aspx• https://{hostname}/sites/{site}/_layouts/15/appregnew.aspx

Default permission model• By default a workflow has write only permissions• And while working leverages both• User permissions• Workflow App permissions

User Permissions

App Permissions

Workflow Permissions

CREATING A CUSTOM ACTION FOR SPD2013 IN VS2013(PART 2)

App Step and AppOnlySequence (recap)• You can configure a web site to «Allow workflows to use

app permissions»

• Assign «Full Control» to the workflow App Principal (appinv.aspx)

• And Trust it!

<AppPermissionRequests><AppPermissionRequest Scope="http://sharepoint/content/sitecollection/web"

Right="FullControl" /></AppPermissionRequests>

WORKFLOW FORMS

Understanding Workflow Forms• Every workflow definition can have• Association Form: to associate a workflow definition to a target

(0 or 1)• Initiation Form: to start a workflow instance on a target (0 or

1)• Task Forms: to provide custom UI for tasks (0 or more)

• Are common ASPX pages• Visual Studio 2012/2013 provides item templates for• Association and Initiation

• You need to manually define task forms• Leveraging custom Workflow Task content types and custom

task lists

Workflow Forms and Kind of Projects• In Full Trust workflow projects• Can run server-side code (SharePoint Server Object Model)• Can do averything (they are full-trust)• Are not support for cloud-based (Office 365) deployments

• In App for SharePoint projects• Workflows are available in app-web only• In a SharePoint-hosted app-web you can run only JavaScript

code (!)• The form templates provided by Visual Studio are JavaScript

based

• You will have to interact with the Workflow Services Manager

Workflow Services Manager

Workflow Services Manager

Deployment

Service

InstanceService

Subscription

Service

MessagingService

InteropService

CREATING CUSTOM WORKFLOW FORMS

questions?

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@PAOLOPIA

thank you.

SHAREPOINT AND PROJECT CONFERENCE ADRIATICS 2013

ZAGREB, NOVEMBER 27-28 2013