Chapter 17. Workflow Patterns

So far we've used workflow for simple task approval in conjunction with the worklist application. However, human workflows are often more complex, often involving multiple participants as well as requiring the task list to be integrated into the user's existing user interface rather than accessing it through a standalone worklist application.

In this chapter, we look at these common requirements. First, we examine how to manage workflows involving complex chains of approval, including parallel approvers and the different options that are available. Next, we look at the Workflow Service API, and how we can use that to completely transform the look and feel of the workflow service.

Managing multiple participants in a workflow

The process for validating items that have been flagged as suspicious, is a classic workflow scenario that may potentially involve multiple participants.

The first step in the workflow requires an oBay administrator to check...