SharePoint Workflow Development Drip (3)

You often switch to other windows when developing workflows using templates in ECM Starter kit BETA2, such as generating class files for InfoPath form templates, installing workflows, and so on.

Can you integrate all of this work into the Visual Studio.NET?? Yes, it's easy to do with the external tools features of the vs.net.

Method

Clicking on an external tool under the Tools menu will pop up a very easy to understand external Tools dialog box where you can add, delete, modify, and sort the external tools.

Here's how to make the development workflow easier with external tools.

Generate GUID

When configuring Feature.xml and workflow.xml, you need to configure different GUIDs for these two files, vs.net a gadget that generates GUIDs Guidgen and adds it to the external tool by default. If you find that you don't have this external tool, open the External Tools dialog box and fill in the following information:

Title	Generate GUID
Command	C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\common7\tools\guidgen.exe
Initial directory	C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\common7\tools\

* If you're like me again if you don't find GUIDGEN.exe in the initial directory, you can download it at Microsoft's Download Center (why am I so unlucky?).

To generate a form template class file

If you use an InfoPath form template in your workflow and you need to generate class files for this form template (for example, to get the values in the associated form), you can add an external tool like this:

Title	To generate a form template class file
Command	C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\sdk\v2.0\bin\xsd.exe
Parameters	"\myschema.xsd"/c/o:$ (ProjectDir)
Initial directory	$ (ProjectDir)
Using the Output Window	√
Prompt for input parameters	√

When used, a dialog box pops up, filling the "\" of the parameter bar with a directory path that contains the template schema file (. xsd).

such as: "C:\tempdir\myschema.xsd"/c/o:$ (ProjectDir)

(where bold is the directory path that you added)

Install Workflow

Title	Install Workflow
Command	$ (ProjectDir) Install.bat
Initial directory	$ (ProjectDir)
Using the Output Window	√

Once you have configured the Install.bat file, call this external tool directly to complete the installation, and you can view progress information in the Output window.

The external tools also have a lot of helpful applications to see if you can figure it out.