Workflow - Component - Developer Guide - Setup

Published on Wednesday, 9 November 2016
Workflow Component Developer Guide

In this Article I'm going to explain how setup your environment for creating a Component.

Table of Contents

You will need Visual Studio, download a version if you haven't already.

A Workflow Workflow Server to get the necessary DLLs.

Go to this server.

We need to get the necessary DLLs from the GAC (Global Assembly Cache)

C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\assembly\GAC_MSIL\

This may not show a list of DLLs as the viewer is configured using a RegKey.

*Warning modifying the Registry can be dangerous, make sure you know what you're doing before you edit these. Take a copy first as a backup.

  1. Launch RegEdit.
  2. Navigate to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Fusion
  3. Add a DWORD called DisableCacheViewer and set the value to 1.

Now search for 3 Libraries:

  • LogicBase.Components.Default.dll
  • LogicBase.Core.dll
  • LogicBase.Framework.dll

Now we have the libs, we can create the VS project.

Start by creating a new Project - Class Library Class Library.

In the Project Folder add a new Folder Folder 'External Dependencies' (In Explorer)

Add the 3 Symantec libs

  • LogicBase.Components.Default.dll
  • LogicBase.Core.dll
  • LogicBase.Framework.dll

Make sure these are the correct versions from the correct WF box i.e. 7.5 / 7.6 / 8.0.

Now in the VS Project

Right Click -> Add -> New Solution Folder

Add Existing Item -> Browse to the 3 DLLs and add them

References References -> Right Click -> Add Reference

Expand Browse then right click Browse button

Go to this Folder and add the 3 DLLs again.

Update the Properties Properties, double click to open the window.

Click on Assembly Information,

Add the Description and Company info - this is used in the Component within Workflow.

Assembly_Information

Check the Target Framework for .NET in Properties.

Now back to the .cs file that was created.

Rename this to the name of your component - i.e. cs.png Concat.cs

Add the using for the new namespaces

using LogicBase.Core;
using LogicBase.Core.Data;
using LogicBase.Core.Data.DataTypes;
using LogicBase.Core.PropertySheets;
using LogicBase.Framework;

using LogicBase.Core.Data.TypeEditors;
using System.ComponentModel;

We also need to add a couple of .NET References for

System.Drawing

System.Drawing.Design

Then add a using statement

using System.Drawing.Design;

Next add an Image to the project (Protirus.Workflow.Protirus.png), this will be the Component image,

Change the Build Action to Embedded Resource

Protirus.Workflow.Protirus

You could use images from WF:

[Install Drive]:\Program Files\Symantec\Workflow\Designer\Images\
  • general
  • processmanager

Next we want to add some metadata to the project.

This can be done between the namespace and the public class

/// <summary>
///     Custom component for joining two strings.
/// </summary>
/// 
[Serializable,
ComponentCategory("Protirus"),
ComponentImage("Protirus.Workflow.Protirus.png"),
ComponentName("Protirus Concat"),
ComponentDescription("This component joins two Strings."),
ComponentHelp("http://www.protirus.com/components/"),
ComponentUsage("Requires two strings."),
ComponentExample("String a = 'Hello' String b = 'World', this will return 'Hello World', if Add Space is True."),
ComponentPublisher("Protirus", "www.protirus.com")]
[PropertyPageOrder("General", "Configuration", "Settings")]

Not all properties are used in the component and will need to update in the corresponding .libconfig file.

These are located:

[Install Drive]:\Program Files\Symantec\Workflow\Designer\Help\

I'll explain how to create/update these in a later tutorial.

Now we need to conform to some protocols for the components to be useable in Workflow.

Extend the Class

public class Concat : AbstractSinglePathProcessComponent, ISinglePathDataAdded

Now implement the required methods.

First "AbstractSinglePathProcessComponent"

public override void Run(IData data)
{
}

public override void ReadFromStream(ObjectReadStream info)
{
}

public override void WriteToStream(ObjectWriteStream info)
{
}

And the "ISinglePathDataAdded"

public DataDefinition[] GetAddedData()
{
}

Now we have all the necessary method stubs but nothing actually happens, onto the next Article Simple Component to create a working item.

Protirus