Authoring Workflows at runtime

I want to implement a designer at runtime for my clients so they can create their own Workflow.
As there is no out-of-the-box control to implement this I suppose I have to work with the workflowview class explained in lab 12. I implemented this functionality but now I'm having some problems:

1) When I try to move activities in the workflow I get an error stating "Component Serialization Service is missing".

2) I've tried some variants of DoDragDrop from a listbox to drag a new activity to the workflow but the toolboxservice is missing and I think the workflowview also is missing the dragdropmanager at runtime.

Basically, I think, it comes down to the fact designservices are missing at runtime. I've been looking around if I can find more information on this but can't find it.
Can someone give more information on how to accomplish these tasks

Thanks in advance

Bart Devriendt
LCP nv
Belgium

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Authoring Workflows at runtime

Russel Harvey
Oops, I didn't realize this wasn't included. We're looking to see if we can release it shortly.

Thanks,
Arjun
farming
Our application uses ToolboxService.GetToolboxItems to get all of the toolbox items in an Activity library. We then add these toolbox items to our custom toolbox, which stores them as ToolboxItemContainers.

When it's time to do a drag/drop, we get the selected ToolboxItemContainer and use the value returned from it's ToolboxData property as the first parameter to DoDragDrop. For the second parameter, we use DragDropEffects.All.

No matter what we do, we cannot get the designer to accept the drag. It just always shows the circle with a line through it. What are we missing
Hr_Ind
Hi Arjun,

Thanks for your reply.

I checked the samples directory but can't find a DesignerHosting sample. It's not in the zip.
I found the DesignerHosting sample in the Labs (Lab 12) but this one doesn't explain the drag & drop features.

Did I forget to download something next to the WWF Beta1

Bart
cgsteve

[Deleted]
jmealing
I agree with Bart. This is missing and a badly needed sample.
saadsal
Hi Bart,

Have you taken a look at the DesignerHosting sample included in the SDK It is located under Technologies\Applications\DesignerHosting and is in the samples.zip file that is by default installed to [Program Files]\Microsoft SDKs\Windows Workflow Foundation.

It demos rehosting both the drag-and-drop from toolbox & supports moving activities inside the workflow, and would probably be a great starting point for your application.

Hope this helps!
Arjun
kcwallace
This sample only implements SequentialWorkflow.

I've been able to tweak a copy of the sample to support StateTransitionWorkflow.
NPR

We posted the links to the designer hosting example on another thread:
http://forums.microsoft.com/msdn/ShowPost.aspx PostID=95682

James Conard
Architect Evangelist - Windows Workflow Foundation
http://www.WindowsWorkflow.net
http://blogs.msdn.com/jamescon
Authoring Workflows at runtime

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