Creating a Workflow Designer

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Hi,
I have developed a small Workflow Engine in .Net which gets stored in the form of xml
configuration. Right now we don't have any graphical designer for it so we do it through a
simple grid based configuring. But now I want to create a Workflow Designer with drag and
drop facilty to make it easier and more interative for end user to configure it.
But I have no clue from where to start and what all things I can use. If anyone has knowledge
about this please share it with me and explain me how can I implement this.

Thanks in Advance

Posted 24-Jan-11 18:32pm

Saurabh Bhasin

Updated 24-Jan-11 18:33pm

Dave Kreskowiak

v2

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Dave Kreskowiak 25-Jan-11 0:33am

Removed bold tags around entire post.

2 solutions

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Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov · Answer 1 · 2011-01-24T18:45:00

Solution 1

I used to develop Workflow Designer few years ago (plus some components close in functionality, such as 2D CAD, plotting, etc.) -- it was Borland Delphi. Based on my experience, I would use WPF, but then you need .NET Framework 3.5 or 4.0.
Please see my previous answer -- to this question: How to draw a 2D line plot using C#?[^]. In that answer I overview what's involved. With v.2.0 you're bound to System.Windows.Forms, which I also consider.

You could also try and find some component library which could help you. At this moment I don't know anything I really like, but maybe this is because I keep in mind nice patterns to use, so I would do it from scratch. WPF is really powerful and much more oriented to diagramming compared to traditional rendering/drawing approach.

Posted 24-Jan-11 18:45pm

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov

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Saurabh Bhasin 25-Jan-11 1:47am

Hi SAKryukov,
Thanks for sharing your experience.Can u help a bit by telling me any good resources where I can learn WPF. Because I cannot spend too much time in reading everything regarding WPF.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 25-Jan-11 14:02pm

I only used regular Microsoft help which has good introductory matter. I'm not familiar with books, but there are a lot -- someone else may answer this question.
Good luck!
--SA

Alaa'.Kabbani 24-Apr-11 18:52pm

I asked the same question, but non asnwsered me.
I just want to ask you if my appliction is a ASP.NET form, can I use WPF??
Thank you.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 24-Apr-11 21:29pm

Alaa'.Kabbani, please put a link to you question if you need an answer.

You should understand that ASP.NET makes a Web based; and WPF a desktop application.
These are very different kinds of solution, but it is possible that you have some universal and application-specific part of it which can be used in a desktop solution as well, WPF for example.

If you still have a question about WPF implementation of some application, please ask a separate question about it or put a link to your past question; I'll try to answer if I can.
--SA

Espen Harlinn 6-Feb-11 14:42pm

Good answer, a 5 - this way he will have full control :)

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 6-Feb-11 18:16pm

Thank you, Espen, that's the point.
Only I did not recommend good bootstrap reading in the right direction through WPF (I usually search from MSDN and usually find).
Could you also help OP in this way?
--SA

Espen Harlinn · Answer 2 · 2011-02-06T08:44:00

Solution 2

In addition to the comprehensive solution proposed by SAKryukov, you could consider
Re-Hosting the Workflow Designer
[^], it might be easier :)

Regards
Espen Harlinn

Posted 6-Feb-11 8:44am

Espen Harlinn

Comments

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 6-Feb-11 18:14pm

Espen, this is very interesting topic, along the different line.
My 5.
--SA

Espen Harlinn 7-Feb-11 11:18am

Thanks SAKryukov! Thought you would find it interesting :)

Alaa'.Kabbani 24-Apr-11 18:52pm

I asked the same question, but non asnwsered me.
I just want to ask you if my appliction is a ASP.NET form, can I use WPF??
Thank you.