Workflow Changes in SharePoint Foundation

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Applies to: SharePoint Foundation 2010

In Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, the Windows Workflow Foundation was used to provide the SharePoint platform with a highly extensible workflow model. Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 continues to build on the development capabilities in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 to improve and expand the options that you have as a workflow developer to build rich workflows that can accommodate the most complex business scenarios. This topic presents the new features available for workflows in SharePoint Foundation 2010.

New Features

The following is a list of the improvements and additions available in SharePoint Foundation and the topics that introduce them.

New Workflow Activities

There are several new workflow actions available in the core installation of SharePoint Foundation. Workflow activities (also known as actions) are the building blocks of all workflows, and the addition of new activities gives developers greater flexibility in workflow design.

For more information, see New Workflow Activities for SharePoint Foundation

Pluggable Workflow Services

Pluggable workflow services add the ability for workflows to interact and receive data from external sources.

For more information, see Pluggable Workflow Services

Workflow Events

Workflows in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 were built to respond to a limited number of events. In SharePoint Foundation, the number of events with which workflows can interact has increased. As developers, you now also have the ability to create your own custom events and event receivers.

For more information, see New Workflow Events

Site Workflows

Site workflows in SharePoint Foundation break the dependency of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 workflows on list items. Now you can develop site workflows that can be associated with events and other activities.

For more information, see Site Workflows

Reusable Declarative Workflows

In the previous version of this product, workflows were associated only with a specified list or document library and could not be packaged, deployed, or copied to other lists or document libraries. SharePoint Foundation workflows can be reused, which allows all the work that you have done on a workflow for one list to be used in multiple places.